How can we go about understanding intuition and does it matter? Thinking Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow, has undoubtedly had a significant impact on managerial thinking. In a recent piece for the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) Tony Grundy, an academic and consultant, discusses the perils of cognitive bias….
Do You Trust Business?
Movie villains are often business people. So do you trust business? Evil Business People The remake of the Magnificent Seven was understandably keen to change the villain from the, let’s just say dated, villain portrayal in the original. The writer went for an evil businessman. Audiences seemed fine with it. They find it plausible that…
Banishing Bias in Audit
Humans beings behave in ways that do not show great decision-making. Auditors are human beings. They will have bias too. How can auditors improve their behavior? How can we go about banishing bias in audit? Bias in Audit People’s decisions do not always correspond to the decisions of an optimizing robot. The same is true…
Academics As Thinkers, Managers As Doers
In an interesting interview Gary Bridge, Managing Director of Snow Creek Advisors, shared his thoughts on the managerial/academic divide. He is pretty critical about academia but I think he is largely right. What does he have to say about academics as thinkers, managers as doers? Thinkers, Doers & Academic Gamesmanship Bridge starts with the comforting thought…
Not Real Is Not The Same As Hard To Measure
Haskel and Westlake’s new book, Capitalism without Capital, is on my reading list for the new year. For now I’ll just concentrate on comments made in The Economists’ review of the book. The key point I want to make is that not real is not the same as hard to measure Intangible Assets Are On…
The Perils Of Empathy (And Definitions)
A special holiday post on why empathy isn’t necessarily a good thing, the perils of empathy. Paul Bloom’s book Against Empathy argues that empathy isn’t the panacea that it is sometimes held up to be. Definitions Matter At its heart Bloom makes a relatively plausible argument seem outrageous. He does this by relying on our…
Using Non-Financial Indicators
Using non-financial indicators to predict future profits. The problem of rewarding the right things Establishing the right reward structure is extremely challenging. O’Connell and O’Sullivan aim to help in this. They tackle the problem that traditional finance/accounting measures are quite backwards looking. (They can also be manipulated to reward those who prioritize short-term, over long-term,…
A Sustainable Standard When Accounting For Marketing
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) seems to have been remarkably successful. They have recruited some well-known board members. These have included Michael Bloomberg, Mary Schapiro (former SEC chair), and Laura Tyson (former London Business School Dean). This has helped them raise their profile. They have been working on a sustainable standard when accounting for…
Academics Need To Seriously Engage With The World
There are few things in the world more frustrating than people who list problems but offer no meaningful solutions. Such people often seem to be drawn to academia. I think academics need to seriously engage with the world. Citicism But No Solutions This brings us to Lawrence Busch’s Knowledge for Sale. Busch makes many good…
Listening Versus Leadership
One of the most interesting problems in marketing is how much to listen to consumers. There are certainly challenges with listening to consumers. Sometimes it is probably fair to say that consumers don’t have a great idea what they want. That said, in for profit businesses there rarely is a good reason to ignore consumers’…
