Publications

06 Jun 2008
What Do You Think?

Why Don’t Managers Think Deeply?

possibility that " managers are not trained for it." Dianne Jacobs cited the possibility that persisting assumptions borne out of success serve as "roadblocks to act on needed change" (proposed by those who engage in... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

November 2018 (Revised December 2018)
Case

CalSTRS Takes on Gun Violence

By: Vikram S Gandhi and Caitlin Reimers

In Spring of 2018, Chris Ailman, CIO of the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers (CalSTRS) was mandated by his board to “prioritize engagement with makers and retailers of firearms in California” following a series of gun-related tragedies in... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Pension Plan; Asset Allocation; Screening; ESG; Gun Violence; Business and Government Relations; Values and Beliefs; Education Industry; California; United States

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

It’s never been easy to make money in the restaurant industry. A highly fragmented sector dominated by 70 percent independent owners and operators, the average restaurant’s annual revenue hovers around $1 million and generates an... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

24 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Distance Still Matters in Business, Despite the Internet

this way, rich offline communication might make online communications more valuable, suggesting complementarity between face-to-face and digital communications.” The book chapter, “How Geography Shapes—and is Shaped By—the Internet,” was written View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Transportation; Telecommunications; Shipping; Publishing; Technology

07 Jul 2003
What Do You Think?

Can We Have Too Much Productivity Improvement?

whether or not too much money is a good or bad thing... it depends upon what you do with the money." An equally strong set of voices doubted whether an economy could have too much productivity. Chris Walker summed up many of these... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Research Summary

Intangible Resources

Getting Known by the Company you Keep: Publicizing the Qualifications and Associations of Skilled Employees to Indicate Producer Quality (with Peter Roberts) Under second review at Industrial and Corporate Change.

In a second paper with Peter Roberts (Emory... View Details

April 2023
Case

Drive Capital: A New Road for Venture

By: Paul A. Gompers and Alicia Dadlani

Founded by two former Sequoia Capital partners, Columbus-Ohio-based Drive Capital’s mission was to build a world-class venture capital firm in the middle of the U.S., an area historically overlooked by VCs. Drive faced early challenges of attracting investors, sourcing... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States; Ohio

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

Mitchell B. Weiss has heard it too many times: government doesn't work. Too slow. Too bureaucratic. Too burdened by procurement rules and performance measures. "Some of that is fair, and some of that is unfair, but it adds up over... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

23 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Will the “Long Tail” Work for Hollywood?

Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More is currently one of the more visible proponents of this perspective. Could the long tail really provide increased profits for Hollywood? And is it true... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation

04 Mar 2002
What Do You Think?

Why the Bull Market in Leadership Books?

... leadership of (especially people) assets." The timing of this "bull market," Chris Wolfington writes, may be accounted for by "the wave of managers who were hired at fast growing... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 Nov 2005
What Do You Think?

Is Less Becoming More?

the cause. F. Chircu helped frame the discussion by writing that "When producers want to differentiate themselves, up to a point the safest and quickest way . . . is to add features or increase product complexity. . . . Choice... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Consumer Products

08 Jun 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Twenty-first Century Skill: Trading Carbon Credits

Cap and trade has become an increasingly popular mechanism used by governments to induce green behavior among corporate polluters, with news emerging almost daily. Just recently New Jersey Governor Chris... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

December 2009 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Sony and the JK Wedding Dance

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Executives at Sony Music Entertainment faced a dilemma: a user-generated video featuring controversial artist Chris Brown's music was netting millions of views per week on YouTube. Sony held the copyright to the song, and was entitled to issue a takedown notice to the... View Details

Keywords: Music Entertainment; Copyright; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet; Music Industry

June 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Membership Rewards® from American Express

By: Shelle Santana, Frances X. Frei and Lauren G. Pickle

Credit and charge card issuer American Express (Amex) had developed a strong reputation among consumers due in part to its Membership Rewards (MR) loyalty program, first established in 1991. Through MR, all Amex cardholders could accumulate and redeem “points” based on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Services; Customer Loyalty; Credit Cards; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Customer Value and Value Chain; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; North America; United States