Idea posted: September 2013

Institutions: Vlerick Business School   

  Troubled manufacturing company the KSV is at crisis point. Its Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) program has failed to deliver the expected benefits, and two of its biggest customers, Avobus…

Idea posted: September 2013

Institutions: Vlerick Business School   

  The KSV plastics company is in trouble. A myopic cost control program has created supply chain and production problems and made it difficult to deliver orders on time and…

Idea posted: September 2013

Institutions: Harvard Business School    Rady School of Management    Stanford Graduate School of Business   

In a classic Harvard Business Review article published in 1981, Harry Levinson said “managing others… creates unending stress… Today’s managers face increasing time pressures with little respite.” Levinson’s view is…

Idea posted: September 2013

Institutions: North Dakota State University    University of New Mexico    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill   

Have you heard of the ‘pink elephant in the room?’ If you are a woman in the US, you might be one of up to 70% of women that have…

Idea posted: August 2013

Institutions: University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business   

Networking has been linked to a number of indicators of individual attainment and success within organizations, including promotions and career satisfaction. But despite its acknowledged importance, little is known about…

Idea posted: August 2013

Institutions: Southern Methodist University Edwin L. Cox School of Business    Stanford Graduate School of Business    University of Illinois College of Business    University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School   

Hierarchies are everywhere, and the business world is no exception; the distribution of power and status has become a defining feature of today’s organizations. What role, if any, do such…

Idea posted: August 2013

Institutions: HEC Paris    University of Innsbruck    ESSEC Business School    Adelphi University   

Decision-making on the financial markets is driven by information and by trust. But trust can be flagrantly abused. This was amply demonstrated by the Bernard Madoff scandal, considered to be…

Idea posted: July 2013

Institutions: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University   

A growing number of studies in both the field and the laboratory demonstrate that people are imperfect co-operators — they tend to co-operate only if others do so, and a…

Idea posted: July 2013

Institutions: HEC Paris   

Economic theory tells us that human capital, i.e. employee ability, is positively linked to productivity and that high performers should be rewarded. Strong financial incentives for performance, however, can carry…