One the silliest things that academics do is compare the number of ‘A’ publications people have. Who thinks that a career can be summarized by a single number? It is clearly an absurd idea. Even if research publications are all that count (and I think that is obviously nonsense) ‘A’ publications aren’t all the same….
Transformative Innovations, An Important Part of the Puzzle
I value grand intellectual sweeps. if you are a tenured professor it seems wrong not to try and give the world your grand vision. So what can we say about transformative innovations? Transformative Innovations Tellis and Rosenzweig take a grand sweep in examining the role of transformative innovations in world history. The book moves from…
Is Sustainable Competitive Advantage A Useful Goal
I must confess to being a bit dubious about the idea of sustainable competitive advantage. It seems designed to allow people to pontificate with a pronouncement that sounds meaningful. Yet, speaking about sustainable competitive advantage often requires little actual evidence given the underlying idea is a bit vague. Sustainable Competitive Advantage A competitive advantage isn’t…
Misunderstanding Economics
Leiser and Shemesh consider the problem that the public makes a lot of judgments that rely on economic knowledge. Still, it isn’t always clear that the decisions are made with great knowledge of economics. Indeed I would go as far as to say that the authors are disappointed in the rest of us. They show…
Mathematical Thinking, Cons, And Finding Results
Jordan Ellenberg tells us how to use mathematical thinking to “not be wrong”. He tells us about mathematical thinking, cons, and finding results. Good Advice The advice is often very good. If he wants to call it as a result of mathematics that works for me. Following his advice will help us have better judgment….
Fixing Marketing’s Perception Problem
Thomas Barta discusses marketing’s perception problem. He is interested in fixing marketing’s perception problem. Unaccountable Not Sleazy By the problem, Barta means more an internal perception problem within firms than an external view (of marketers as sleazy). Internally marketing is seen as unaccountable, it is a bit of a black hole for funds. As marketers,…
Who Thinks Brands Should be Involved in Social Issues?
YouGov is a survey firm and [in 2018] they uncovered what consumers think of firms getting involved in social issues. What was the result? Who thinks brands should be involved in social issues? Political Involvement From Brands I think this is a fascinating topic. I would expect more and more political involvement from brands. If…
Fairness In Business
A tricky problem in business research is understanding the role of fairness concerns. It is pretty obvious from just a cursory look at social interactions (of which business relations are a special type) that fairness matters to a lot of people a lot of the time. Often consumers and workers complain about lack of fairness….
Logical Problems
Logic is a challenge for all of us. To get through life we make a lot of leaps that are probably not justified. That said it is helpful to sit back and think through the leaps we are making. Bo Bennett has put together a compilation of logical fallacies. These range from some classic ones…
Innumeracy And The Problems It Causes
John Allen Paulos’ book Innumeracy tackles the fact that much of what is talked about in the public sphere shows an alarming lack of mathematical fluency. I had to agree with many of his points. (Though it might need a new edition; some of the writing seemed a bit dated, there were a frightening number…
