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Manage the Risks of Privatization

While privatization comes with benefits — like not being beholden to market speculation — it also carries risks. Research by Smith School professor Hanna Lee suggests that going the public route may be better for the risk-averse. 

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Here’s What’s Missing From Dodd-Frank Reforms

As Congress reexamines the Dodd-Frank law, the Smith School's Clifford Rossi offers this advice: Draw the credit-reporting agencies into its scope.

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Shield Your Brand From Customer Misbehavior

Smith School professor Amna Kirmani explores how a company's corporate social responsibility activities might influence whether consumers will try to cheat the company.

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Boost Accounting Transparency

Accounting information that individual firms report can have a big impact on the economy. Smith School professor Rebecca Hann says the reason is because economic forces prevent markets from weeding out under-performing firms.

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Stop Flaunting Your Upscale Brands

If you've got it, don't flaunt it. That's the conclusion Smith School professor Rosellina Ferraro and two colleagues came to when they studied how people display the brands they use. Using brands in a conspicuous manner is a turnoff for many others.

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Give Outdated Tech a Second Life

In the technology world, what's old is rarely new again, which can be problematic for tech manufacturers. Smith School professor Wedad Elmaghraby says online liquidation auctions have emerged as a potential solution, operating as secondary marketplaces.

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Fix Pay Gaps to Boost R&D

Companies that want to boldly go into new knowledge domains should start by looking inward at compensation design. A working paper co-authored by Smith School professor Waverly W. Ding shows that large pay gaps among research and development professionals at the same job level within an organization can stifle exploratory innovation — the kind that leads to U.S. patent filings.

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Create Ethical Hiring Processes

Hiring managers invite harsh moral judgments when they give jobs to friends and acquaintances referred by high-powered individuals within their organizations, new research from Smith School professor Rellie Derfler-Rozin and two co-authors shows.

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The Wisdom of Women Leading Women

BET Networks executive Donna Blackman applauds the courage of women who speak up about sexual harassment in the workplace. But she is cautious when it comes to giving advice to people who might face retaliation.

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How the New Tax Law Could Affect Your 2017 Returns

While the newly adopted tax code didn't go into effect until 2018, it might actually create a soft spot in the 2017 tax returns Americans are filing now. And it's all because of the things that the new law strips from the tax code, says the Smith School's Samuel Handwerger.

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Transform from the Bottom Up

How best should companies seek to evolve? The Smith School's M. Susan Taylor says continuous organizational change is likely to have its roots at lower "work unit" levels and wind its way upward. Her model helps explain why.

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Optimize Executive Incentives

Leaders might deserve dismissal when they behave badly, but some lose their jobs for simply having the right skills at the wrong time. "Over time changes in business conditions may call for a change of top management," Smith School professor M. Cecilia Bustamante says.

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