Bribery and corruption arising from procurement are rampant in developing countries. According to the World Bank, bribery is involved in US$1.5 trillion worth of government contracts for goods and services. Organizations worldwide are joining hands to tackle this endemic and growing problem. Filling an important knowledge gap, HKUST’s Ying-Ju Chen and co ... Read More

An algorithm can be simply defined as a set of instructions for solving a problem or accomplishing a task. Within many business domains, algorithms are rapidly taking over the decision-making abilities of humans. However, full automation of business activity is only found in certain industries, such as manufacturing, where robots can work in a well ... Read More

Investors, analysts, and other stakeholders rely on a slew of materials when measuring how businesses perform. Some of those materials are issued directly by company executives, and they typically include a particularly important set of documents: management earnings forecasts. Unsurprisingly, management forecasts do not always perfectly predict actual ... Read More

Nowadays, the high demand on companies for innovation and adaptability has meant that employees are increasingly being asked to take the initiative more often and demonstrate leadership qualities, even if being a leader was not part of the original job description. However, while this phenomenon has led scholars to look at the aspects that lead people not in ... Read More

Innovation plays an essential role in economic growth. Every year, governments, private enterprises, and venture capitalists (VCs) invest billions of dollars and other resources in research and development (R&D) to foster innovation. Often, they are targeting the same group of consumers. This raises a crucial question for innovation investors. How should ... Read More

Cybersecurity breaches leading to compromised personal data and violations of privacy are an increasing concern for both organisations and individuals, and despite people becoming more alert to such threats, they are still the “weakest link in the cybersecurity chain”. It is therefore vital to heighten individuals’ cybersecurity awareness and ensure that ... Read More

Insider trading—buying and selling shares based on non-public information—can threaten the equilibrium of the stock market by giving some traders an advantage over others. Although the term “insider trading” often carries the implication of illegal activity, top managers can legally trade company stock if they report their trades to the authorities in a ... Read More

Multinational enterprises (NMEs) operate in vastly different international environments. The intellectual property (IP) held by their foreign subsidiaries is thus at risk of appropriation by outsiders—sometimes even more at risk than the IP of the parent company. While legal and other external measures are obviously important to reduce such risk, Jiatao Li ... Read More

Firms return capital to their equity investors through their “payout policy.” In the case of “dividend payouts,” money is usually transferred to shareholders’ accounts at regular intervals. Despite the tax disadvantage, dividend payouts remain economically significant and resilient. However, we do not yet know how dividend payout raises and cuts affect ... Read More

The Internet has revolutionized not only how we search for information but also how we communicate and interact with others. Central to the ever-expanding digital infrastructure for human connection are online matching platforms. Also known as two-sided markets, these platforms connect users with mutual interests in a range of markets, from ride-sharing (e.g ... Read More