Banking on International Financial Stability

In their search for the root causes of international financial meltdowns, politicians and bureaucrats have been looking in the wrong places. The best defense against economic crises is good, solid banks.

Helping Hands

Whether they are selling clothes in a mall or books on a website, retailers have to walk a fine line. They must offer help to customers who want assistance, while taking pains not to intrude on their privacy.

Carl Pascarella

When I was at Stanford a professor of organizational behavior told a bunch of us, “You folks kill me. You’ve spent all your time on economics, on statistics, on policy, on accounting. Those of you that are going to end up running businesses, you’re going to hire economists and CFOs and IT people and statisticians. But what it’s all about is motivating people; it’s getting … [ Read more ]

Flights of Fancy

A top of the line corporate jet can cost a company up to $35 million. But a new study shows that when chief executive officers trade in first-class commercial tickets for private planes, the cost to shareholders can be far greater.

Editor’s Note: I am not sure what, if any value, this article offers but I must admit it was an interesting read…

The Scarlet F

Executives and directors associated with corporate failures can get branded for life. But the stigmatization process is not always rational or efficient. Why are some executives tarred with failure while others seem to be Teflon-coated?

Thinking Ahead: The 20th Century’s Theorist of 21st Century Entrepreneurship

Management journals and New Economy magazines are filled with an unending stream of thinking and writing about entrepreneurship. But amid the proliferation of management gurus, there’s one theorist whose voice pierces through the clutter: Joseph Schumpeter. More than a half-century ago, the Moravia-born economist coined the enduring term “creative destruction” as a great metaphor for capitalism. But his understanding of the dynamics of capitalism and … [ Read more ]

Creative Destroyer

“Creative destruction” is the term economist Joseph Schumpeter coined to de- scribe the way entrepreneurs create new wealth through innovation that destroys existing market structures used by incumbents to derive competitive advantage. Of course, technological change – like the advent of the Internet – can be the basis for creative destruction. And the term has been much in vogue in recent years as the New … [ Read more ]

Yes, There Is a New Economy

The dot-com phenomenon may have been a bust. The Nasdaq hovers around 1400. Chastened venture capitalists are struggling to stay afloat. And many options are as deep underwater as the wreck of the Titanic. But the information technology revolution of the past few decades has produced some significant macroeconomic changes – and it should continue to do so in the years to come.

What Makes Rolex Tick?

Over the past century, Rolex has built and defended a strong position in the high-end watch market. And it has remained independent even as many competitors have sought the shelter of conglomerates. Today, Rolex is the largest single luxury watch brand, with revenues of about $3 billion and annual production of between 650,000 and 800,000 watches. The secret to its success: a strategy that eschewed … [ Read more ]

Full Disclosure

The SEC’s Regulation FD, which required companies to share all important data with all investors – rather than with analysts – has proved controversial. Critics said it would impair analysts’ ability to forecast earnings and create havoc in the markets. Supporters argued that it would merely level the informational playing field. Who was right? One of the first efforts to measure the quantitative effects of … [ Read more ]

Sally Blount-Lyon

As psychologist Melvin Lerner demonstrated in the 1960s, people have a need to believe that life is controllable, and that life’s outcomes are fair. But life isn’t “fair.” People’s life circumstances are quite diverse and subject to chance events. Thus considered, any sense that fairness exists at all is an illusion – albeit a widespread one!

Jack Welch

It’s the worst thing in the world, the layoff. You shouldn’t have a manager in your company that enjoys doing it. But you shouldn’t have one there that can’t do it.

Jack Welch

Big companies don’t communicate as well as small companies, so they have a lot going against them. What do they have going for them? Muscle. Strength. Capital. So what does that say to you? Go to bat more often. Take more swings. The small company’s got to be right. They can knock themselves out of the water with a bad move. Big companies don’t have … [ Read more ]

Grand Illusion

Until recently, most business people possessed a bedrock of faith in the efficiency, power, and fairness of markets. And a great deal of it was justified. When trade occurs freely, the maximum amount of wealth is created for the largest number of people. There is no more effective social system for organizing people and allocating resources than markets. But while markets are efficient, there’s nothing … [ Read more ]

Brand New: Wal-Mart’s Foray Into Private Labels

Private labels have come a long way since the low-quality, low-priced, generic canned goods of the 1970s. Today, the world’s largest retailer is taking on its biggest customers at their own game, developing an ever-increasing number of private-label goods. Who will emerge victorious from this clash of retail titans?

Sounds of Silence

“Oorganizational silence” is a potentially dangerous impediment to organizational learning and change. It can hamper the development of truly pluralistic organizations – ones that value and allow for the expression of multiple perspectives and opinions. But to date, there has been little systematic academic exploration of why “organizational silence” is pervasive, or of the consequences of widespread silence – even in an era in which … [ Read more ]

Kenneth Laudon

Kenneth C. Laudon is professor of information systems at NYU’s Stern. He joined Stern’s faculty in 1982. Since then, he has taught courses on e-commerce, managing the digital firm, IT and corporate strategy, and the links between technological developments and society. Laudon is the author, or co-author, of a dozen books, including the most widely adopted textbook on Management Information Systems in the world. His … [ Read more ]

Going for Brokers

This article examines the phenomenon of white entrepreneurs and business owners operating in central city locations. The authors’ suggestion: social brokers – institutions and individuals that can bridge the gaps between minority neighborhoods and non-minority business people – can help facilitate growth, profits, and development.

Ties That Bind

When corporate directors serve together on multiple boards, the chief executive officers tend to earn more money and enjoy longer tenures. Such mutual interlocks are plainly good for the bosses. But are they good for shareholders? Not necessarily.