Executive pay disparity – as when the CEO earns significantly more than the other top managers – has become a red flag issue for investors. Moody’s, for instance, sees high disparity as a credit risk. It can also affect the cost of equity capital, as a study by Zhihong Chen, Yuan Huang and K.C. John Wei has shown. The cost of capital is one of the key ... Read More

Brand alliances bring together two or more brands in joint marketing events that in theory should benefit all participants. But the science behind which brand alliances make the best “fit” has been weak, complicated by the difficulty in collecting data and determining the best measures. The reason is that brands are strategically combined into alliances ... Read More

Assume you are the head of R&D at a high-tech firm that develops new accessories for cell phones. One year ago, $200 million was budgeted to develop a new cell phone battery instead of developing a new cell phone screen. To date, $100 million has been spent, and the project is 75% complete. Then the company hears that a competitor has just marketed a cell ... Read More

Large firms often grapple with hundreds of simultaneous decisions relating to investments in information systems (IS). But the question of why some decisions are approved and others rejected, and how that relates to the firm’s IS strategy, has not been properly studied. A new study addresses that gap by developing a model and applying it to actual decision ... Read More

At the cashier of a fast-food restaurant, online, in the supermarket – there are countless opportunities every day when we are likely to see others make consumption decisions. There are even times when those same customers watch us subsequently make our choice, perhaps when they see us drop the same product in our basket. A study by researchers Young Eun Huh ... Read More

If you see that a bottle of Chardonnay has dropped in price from $7.00 to $6.99, does it feel like you’re getting a bargain? The chances are it does – and you decide to buy it. In fact, the product is only one cent cheaper – so not such a great deal, after all! You probably wouldn’t buy it if it had fallen from $7.08 to $7.07. It is all because the left-hand ... Read More

Ostracism or being ignored or excluded by others is a pervasive phenomenon that surveys show a large majority experience at work and among loved ones. It has many undesirable consequences, such as aggressive intentions and actions against those who are doing the ostracising. People who are ostracised are also more likely to experience distress and an ... Read More

Buyers are spoiled for choice when it comes to platforms to post their buying requests to sellers – think Alibaba.com, ECEurope.com and ECPlaza.com. Users may select one site to be their preferred place, or “home”, for posting requests, but they can also use multiple homes. What does that mean for the platforms, and also for users? Most researchers have ... Read More

New products and services are fundamental to organisational performance and survival. New knowledge and information are fundamental to developing new products and services. Yet how top management teams (TMTs) search for and incorporate such information has rarely been investigated. “It is well recognised that TMTs are directly involved in strategic ... Read More

News media channels have undergone fundamental shifts over the past decade in the wake of digitisation. For instance, mobile consumers can access and consumer information via either mobile websites or apps. These two channels offer advantages and disadvantages to consumers since websites offer more news contents while apps offer better usability and ... Read More