A Symphony of Agency and Stewardship Values Ensures Family Business Success

Idea posted: May 2015

Institutions: Indian School of Business   

Both agency theory and stewardship theory help explain organizational dynamics, although starting from very different assumptions. Agency theory describes the relationship between the shareholders (called ‘principals’) and the company’s managers…

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A Lower Voice Can Take You Higher Up the Leadership Ladder

Idea posted: February 2015

Institutions: Duke University Fuqua School of Business    Rady School of Management   

Research in academic laboratory settings — that is, within controlled experiments with voluntary participants — has shown that individuals with deeper voices are perceived as having more leadership capabilities. Different…

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A Lesson from China: Growth Is Not Eternal So Be Prepared

Idea posted: March 2015

Institutions: ESMT European School of Management and Technology    Tongji University   

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), a company that specialized in the large-scale cranes used to load containers onto ships, burst on the heavy machinery landscape in 1992. At that time,…

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5 Practices to Avoid Knowledge Differences in Cross-functional Teams

Idea posted: September 2020

Institutions: University of Southern California Marshall School of Business    McGill University   

Teamwork is never easy, and cross-functional teamwork is especially challenging given the starkly different experiences, knowledge and perspectives that team members bring to the team. To span the divisions, participants…

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4 Nextsensing Skills to See What the Future Holds

Idea posted: September 2016

Institutions: IE Business School   

Behind all human progress is the question: What’s Next? Asking “What’s Next?” led humankind from the invention of the wheel to the building of the pyramids, the establishment of common…

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“I respect your opinion”: How to Improve the Exchange of Opposing Views

Idea posted: December 2023

Institutions: Harvard Business School    Harvard Kennedy School    University of British Columbia   

Individuals engaged in contentious conversations about controversial issues rarely communicate to others in the discussion that they are willing to respectfully consider opposing viewpoints—what social scientists “receptiveness.” One reason may…

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