108 Posts found for Source: IESE Insight

When two companies band together to form an alliance, and sit down to negotiate the contract, what exactly determines the contract’s content? And why are some contracts so much more complex than others? The paper “Strategic Alliance Contracts: Dimensions and Determinants of Contractual Complexity” examines the complexity of contractual provisions. It determines the importance of several factors that influence the design of collaborative agreements: the … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: África Ariño, Jeffrey J. Reuer | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Management, Strategy

In contrast to the more traditional shareholder approach, the newly emerging stakeholder theory insists that business is about more than just making money. It’s about all stakeholders’ interests, and declares that companies have a social and environmental responsibility to the community at large. In the paper “Maximizing Stakeholders’ Interests: An Empirical Analysis of the Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Governance,” Silvia Ayuso, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Roberto … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Miguel Ángel Ariño, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Roberto García, Silvia Ayuso | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

In today’s society, no organization, whether corporate, political, educational, sports or family related, can survive without teamwork. Is there any doubt about whether teamwork allows people to take on more and more complex tasks in a changing environment and get better results than an individual could when working alone? Tasks are interrelated and we need one another. However, we have all experienced situations where working … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Helen Wilkinson, Pablo Cardona | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Organizational Behavior

In the business world, there’s a lot of talk about “fit.” “He failed to ‘fit’ into the corporate culture,” they might say, or “Yes, he ‘fits’ in well.” Despite so much conservation, little is known about how national culture affects this buzzword. For example, will a Taiwanese employee ‘fit’ better into a certain work environment than, say, a German? In the award-winning paper “Satisfaction With … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: John Antonakis, Yih-Teen Lee | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: International, Organizational Behavior

The simple act of people communicating with each other is what ultimately grew high-risk startups like Hotmail, Skype and You Tube. Word of mouth is powerful and electronic word of mouth even more so because it’s fast, persistent and can be measured. In the paper “Electronic Word of Mouth: What Do We Know About This Powerful Marketing Tool?” Julián Villanueva and Guillermo Armelini of IESE … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Guillermo Armelini, Julián Villanueva | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Marketing / Sales

In his paper “Ethics in Management: Exploring the Contribution of Mary Parker Follett,” IESE Business Ethics Professor Domènec Melé Carné explores Follett’s work and concludes that she was a real pioneer for ethics in management even though most of her ideas required further development.

Content: Thought Leader | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Management

CEOs shake hands and strike deals. But who do the deals benefit – the company or the chief executive? Researchers have recently uncovered evidence of CEOs’ ability to influence the board of directors and to obtain favorable contractual conditions such as golden parachutes and accelerated cash outs, which are not necessarily in line with shareholders’ interests. In the paper “CEOs Social Capital and Corporate Governance … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Corporate Governance

Private equities are an important and growing part of the worldwide capital markets, and include early stage investments, often backed by venture capital. In the article “Venture-Backed Private Equity Valuation and Financial Statement Information,” Professors Antonio Dávila of IESE, and George Foster and Chris Armstrong of Stanford analyze how financial statement information impacts the valuation of firms by private equity investors in the U.S. market. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Antonio Dávila, Chris Armstrong, George Foster | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Venture Capital

The widely used Fed model leads too many analysts, portfolio managers and financial commentators down the wrong road. It often leads investors to believe that by comparing two numbers – earnings yields and bond yields – they can easily determine whether the stock market is mispriced. Even worse, some investors believe that such a simple comparison is the shortcut to abnormal returns.

In the paper “The … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Javier Estrada | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Economics, Finance

The rate at which dollars are exchanged for euros impacts our daily lives. So, it’s no surprise that this and other currency fluctuations are studied and debated. What could be called the “classical approach” attributes changes in the exchange rate to changes in GDP and other such variables. Yet, Meese and Rogoff overturned this theory in 1983 by showing that exchange rate changes are unpredictable. … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Miguel Ángel Ariño, Miguel Ángel Canela | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Finance, International

When it comes to corporate strategy, managers, like parents, manage and organize companies in different ways. Some focus on strategic planning, others on financial control and still others on strategic control. In the research paper, “A Formal Evaluation of the Performance of Different Corporate Styles in Stable and Turbulent Environments,” Professors Adrián A. Caldar and Joan Enric Ricart test the relationship between “parenting style” and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Adrián A. Caldart, Joan Enric Ricart | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Strategy

Existing research focuses on many interesting aspects of social entrepreneurs and their initiatives, for example, the social entrepreneur as change agent, or the role of the founder and his or her vision and individual traits. However, a number of questions remain unanswered: How do social entrepreneurs actually create social and economic value by setting up self-sustained organizations? And how do strategies for building specific networks … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Johanna Mair, Oliver Schoen | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Television advertisements, public presentations, business negotiations, the opening arguments in a courtroom… persuasive communication is critical in many contexts. But how can speeches move people and mobilize masses? Where does the power of words come from? The answer is not so much in what it is said, but in how it is said, or rhetoric. The term rhetoric embraces all public speaking and interpersonal communication … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Brian O’C. Leggett | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: Personal Development

Despite its strategic importance, international expansion causes many companies to stumble. They often trip up because of haste, misjudged acquisitions or cultural misunderstandings. In the third edition of the Anselmo Rubiralta Center’s “Notes on Globalization and Strategy,” Harry G. Barkema, Professor of Strategy and International Business at the University of Tilburg (Netherlands), presents “Five Successful Strategies” to help companies avoid pitfalls and reinforce their expansion … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: IESE Insight | Subject: International

While there’s a great deal of literature o­n the different constituent elements of good governance, little has been said about how these measures affect each other mutually. To fill this gap, the authors have carried out a study o­n how existing corporate governance systems are evolving in order to integrate sustainable development into them.

Content: Article | Authors: Joan Enric Ricart, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Pablo Sánchez | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Social Responsibility (ESG)

The orator persuades by moral character when his speech is delivered in such a manner as to render him worthy of confidence; for we trust such persons to a greater degree, and more readily. This is generally true for all types of arguments, and absolutely true when there is uncertainty and room for doubt.

Content: Quotation | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Communication, Persuasion

The global spread of technology can improve nations’ productivity and growth. Oftentimes, multinational companies are the ones that trade or carry technology across borders. To better understand this phenomenon, Pedro Mendi has studied how Spanish multinationals transfer technology to their subsidiaries. His paper, “Contracting for the Transfer of Technology Within Multinational Corporations: Empirical Evidence From Spain,” sheds light on important considerations such as contracts, methods … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Pedro Mendi | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Economics, International

International logistics partnerships are a key class of strategic alliance, but until now little has been known about their performance. The paper “Measuring the Performance of Intenational Logistics Outsourcing Partnerships: A Dyadic Perspective Analysis” introduces, for the first time, a reliable methodology to measure the performance of a partnership between a logistics provider and its customer. Using data from 75 top European logistics companies and … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: África Ariño, Alejandro Lago, Joan Jané | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Operations, Outsourcing / BPO

In order to evaluate projects, value firms, optimize capital structures and implement investment strategies, companies and investors need to know the risk variables that ultimately determine expected returns. While in developed markets there is at least a “model to beat,” the CAPM, in emerging markets there is no standard, widely accepted way of estimating required returns on equity. In this article, the authors perform a … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Ana Paula Serra, Javier Estrada | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Finance, International

We are still seeking to understand the astonishing rise and then sharp fall of U.S. stock prices in 2000. The paper “U.S Public and Private Venture Capital Markets, 1998-2001,” describes what happened in a new light, by looking through the lens of underlying company financial fundamentals. The research reveals some important insights. For instance, contrary to popular belief, there was no single “bubble point” at … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Antonio Dávila, Chris Armstrong, George Foster, John R.M. Hand | Source: IESE Insight | Subjects: Economics, Finance