Firms increasingly outsource their information technology (IT) provisions to save money, improve the quality of their services and get access to scarce resources. Revenue from outsourcing in the U.S. is well over $700 billion, but transactions are not as simple as handing over a difficult job to an expert. When firms seek vendors for strategic or ... Read More

The idea that sex sells is as old as the hills, but its use in advertising has become increasingly unsubtle and gratuitous. There is evidence that both men and women find such advertising unethical and manipulative, so why does it continue to be used? Perhaps men and even some women don't really mind this advertising after all, suggest Jaideep Sengupta and ... Read More

Generally accepted accounting principles - or GAAP - are meant to give investors and others a more transparent picture of a company's financial position. However, companies often disclosure non-GAAP earnings in press releases by excluding a number of GAAP earnings components. While corporate managers often claim non-GAAP earnings disclosures help them convey ... Read More

Competition on supermarket shelves is intense and manufacturers and retailers consistently grapple with how to make their brands stand out. Packaging, advertising, placement and consumers' own goals all come into play. A new study sifts through these factors to offer pointers on which matter most. Ralf van der Lans, Rik Pieters and Michel Wedel tracked the ... Read More

The impact of CEO quality on firm decisions is a question that has not been much explored from an accounting point of view. Yet there is strong evidence that CEO reputation can matter here. For instance, manager reputation and career concerns have been shown to affect the assessments of users of financial statements on reporting quality, as well as the ... Read More

In markets for fashion or seasonal goods, such as clothing and cosmetics, or markets characterized by proliferation of new products, such as cars and electronics, manufacturers and retailers both face a challenge. How can they know whether the product will appeal to consumers? Manufacturers typically have more resources to find out this information through ... Read More

Financial regulations are often born out of financial crises, a response intended to reduce the impact of future upheavals. A pertinent question for our times is: how much of a difference do they make? Ryan LaFond and Haifeng You ponder this question in looking at a recent study of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (FDICIA), which was ... Read More

Target search is important in a number of fields, from industrial engineering and radiology to product searches and navigation. The processes involved have had to be inferred in the past based on final choice, but the evolution of eye movement tracking has opened the way to following closely just how people look for targets. Ralf van der Lans and his co ... Read More

Good quality financial reporting has been shown to improve capital investment efficiency, but this finding to date has been incomplete. While reporting quality is related to general improvement, it has not been clear whether it reduces over-investment or under-investment, or both. Gary Biddle, Gilles Hilary and Rodrigo Verdi investigate and find higher ... Read More

People willingly pay different prices for the same goods and the advent of the Internet, which was supposed to provide consumers with more and better information so they could find the best deal, has not changed things. That finding, from a study comparing US airline tickets, shows that companies are still able to use pricing strategies to brand themselves ... Read More