“Fair value” is a gold standard in valuation, but there is no consensus on its usefulness in other areas, such as evaluating management performance. HKUST’s Mingyi Hung and her colleagues settle this dispute in important new work, contending that fair value accounting may actually be unhelpful when it comes to contracting. This finding is particularly ... Read More

For Chinese firms, gaining patents for innovations may be a promising way to gain influence in the international arena, according to HKUST’s Jiatao Li and a co-researcher. Such patents act as a powerful signal of technological quality and market potential for U.S. firms who seek to introduce such innovations at home. This research offers novel insights into ... Read More

We have entered a new phase of business dominated by digital platforms, i.e. platforms that have a modular architecture and provide interface that facilitates multilateral transactions and exchanges among users and providers of complementary products and services (i.e., complementors). This platform-centric ecosystem allows enterprise to exploit ecosystem ... Read More

Employees may advance their career by achieving internal job changes (i.e., changes in jobs within an organization) and external job changes (i.e., changes in jobs across organizational boundaries), and both changes may render different implications for the organization and the employee. To fill the gap in prior careers research, this study examines the ... Read More

Firms’ survival often depends on their political participation, such as campaign donations and lobbying efforts. This is especially true in emerging markets, where the government has tight control of the economy and society. However, the success of firms’ political strategies hinges on what politicians think about interacting with the business sector. Are ... Read More

Personal pride can sometimes get in the way of accepting the truth. There are many reasons for why this is the case, but little is known about the self-presentational consequences of this behaviour. Specifically, how others might perceive someone who refuses to back down, even when factual evidence is presented to them. This shortcoming translates into ... Read More

Every so often, a company learns that its product has unanticipated additional benefits. For instance, the brand StriVectin found that their stretch-mark cream also had a powerful anti-wrinkle effect. Unexpected benefits might seem like a bonus, but should they be marketed as deliberate? HKUST researchers J.Christine Kim and Wenbo Wang and their colleagues ... Read More

Key talents, such as executives and innovators, play a crucial role in driving a firm’s success and shaping public perceptions of its operations. However, such talents can also pose a risk to their firms. HKUST’s Yan Ji and his collaborators reveal that firms whose reputation rests more on the shoulders of leaders and innovators generate higher expected ... Read More

‘Freemium’, a pricing strategy whereby a firm offers a basic product or service at no cost to the user, has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Having led to the rapid rise of companies such as Skype and Dropbox, countless startups have also adopted freemium as their business model. After all, there are obvious reasons why freemium is ... Read More

Whether transported by air, sea, or land, perishable goods must reach their destinations on time. The sooner they arrive, the fresher they will be. But speed comes at a price. To keep shipping costs down while meeting customers’ diverse expectations of quality, most suppliers (“shippers”) today use multiple transportation service providers (“carriers”) for ... Read More