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

The diversity of social ties and its influence on creativity has long been a key focal area for scholars. Social ties are simply interpersonal connections that provide access to resources, while creativity can be described as the formulation of new or useful ideas. Previous studies on social ties and its association with creativity have largely taken an ... Read More

In general, people lived longer than expected in the last century, largely as a result of economic development and improvements in healthcare. Nevertheless, changes in life expectancy can be rather volatile, with negative shocks occurring from economic recessions, epidemics, natural disasters, wars, and social and political disturbances. In the United States ... Read More

Few people leave home without their smartphones or other mobile devices, which now dominate almost every aspect of our personal lives — including shopping. We already know that purchase behavior differs between mobile- and PC-based shopping, but the exciting potential to optimise recommendation systems for mobile channels has been largely untapped—until now ... Read More

“Save from 30% to 50% today!” Range offers like this—advertising flexible price options within a fixed range—are a popular marketing strategy. Surprisingly, however, we know little about how customers react to such offers. Shedding light on this underexplored topic, HKUST’s Prof. Linying (Sophie) Fan and her colleagues propose and test a novel theory: the ... Read More