Discussion of corporate social responsibility is typically framed within the either-or debate on the purpose of a corporation pitting those who believe the purpose of a corporation is to increase shareholder value against those who believe the purpose of a corporation must incorporate the interests of all stakeholders. The concept of Enlightened Shareholder Value (ESV) […]
The appearance of a new competitor with a new business model can disrupt an industry and knock down a once dominant incumbent. A classic example of this type of disruptive competitor is Netflix, which entered the movie rental industry with a brand new business model (first DVDs through the mail, later streaming videos), and put […]
In pure economic theory, policy making involves applying economic levers — taxes, regulations and economic incentives — to problems that have economic roots. These problems can take the form of: Externalities — when people are impacted through no fault of their own (e.g. second-hand smoke) Misaligned incentives — when people are impacted because the interests […]
That low-income purchasers face challenges in the marketplace is no surprise, given that they have less money to spend than other groups. However, low-income buyers face an additional, unexpected challenge: based on their financial circumstances, low-income buyers are judged much more harshly by others for making identical purchases. This is most evident with purchases that […]
What is the role of social movements in inspiring or sparking corporate social responsibility? To answer this question, Panayiotis Georgallis of the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise builds on the academic research related to social movements and to corporate social responsibility, which are two distinct fields of research. Social movements are […]
Megaprojects are large, technically complex, multi-year, billion-dollar (or more) engineering and financial ventures that somehow overcome challenges, turbulence, risk and resistance to eventually meet the needs for which they are built. To better understand the success factors of megaprojects, it is more useful to think of them as games of innovation, rather than the linear, […]
The word ‘scenarios’ has many different meanings in a variety of fields and disciplines. In strategic planning, scenarios refer to a small set of carefully structured and tailored narratives about the future context a company or an industry might inhabit. These narratives are developed through interviews and workshops with a broad range of stakeholders related to the focal […]
When overseas earnings by U.S. multinationals are brought back to the U.S., those earnings are taxed as income. However, multinational companies have the option of leaving those earnings abroad and for accounting purposes may designate all or some of those earnings as Permanently Reinvested Earnings or PRE. Tax policy makers and the U.S. Securities and […]
Progressive corporate leaders have been at the forefront of many societal changes, and climate change is no different. While different surveys show between 62% and 76% of the general public believes that humans are a factor in global warming, 85% of business leaders agree with the overwhelming consensus of climatologists and scientists on climate change […]
The link between talent and competitiveness and sustainable economic development is now well-established. In all regions of the world, countries are reforming education systems, reducing gender and other inequalities to increase their ‘homegrown’ talent pool, and trying to find ways to attract qualified and entrepreneurial people from abroad. Talent has become the key resource of […]