Forefront

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting some differences into stark relief, writes Management and Human Resources Professor Tanya Menon. Among them is how varying socioeconomic status impacts individuals' professional networks. For those facing job losses, these networks are more critical than ever. 

As part of the “There’s a Better Way” podcast, Aravind Chandrasekaran, associate director of the Center for Operational Excellence, talks with Dennis Hirsch, professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, about the implications of poor corporate data ethics management for both the consumer and companies.

Research from Rene Stulz, the Everett D. Reese Chair of Banking and Monetary Economics, and his colleagues is cited as being helpful in determining if there is a way of forecasting which Chinese companies would most likely be hurt the most by any eventual delisting from the U.S. Stock Exchange.

As our reliance on delivery services increases amid a backdrop of unrest, Associate Professor of Logistics Terry Esper, a recognized expert in "last-mile" logistics, shares his thoughts and professional insights about the tough conversations and safety considerations necessary to protect black delivery drivers.

It’s now on states to seek more information about nonprofit donors if they want it, after the IRS rolled back disclosure requirements. The language in the rules suggests states can require the donor information, but that would require additional state-level rules, according to Brian Mittendorf, the Fisher Designated Professor of Accounting.

As workplaces begin to re-open and safety jumps to the forefront, research by Fisher's John Gray and his colleagues shows that ensuring workplace safety doesn't necessarily equate to the long-term survival of a business. In fact, companies that provide safe workplaces are more likely to go out of business than those that do not. 

Apologies can be tricky, but combining a dose of gratitude with a gesture that costs you something can help smooth ruffled feelings. Says Fisher's Xiaoyan Deng: "By offering your appreciation for their contributions, you increase their self-esteem. That boost of self-esteem leads to higher levels of satisfaction.” 

As part of the “There’s a Better Way” podcast, Aravind Chandrasekaran, associate director of the Center for Operational Excellence, talks with Lynn Kelley, PhD and retired continuous improvement professional, who argues for the methods and effectiveness of turning competitors into collaborating teammates.

The stock market and the economy have been intertwined in the American psyche since the 1929 stock crash and the onset of the Great Depression. But stocks are not a reliable gauge of overall economic health, said Rene Stulz, the Everett D.

A forthcoming paper from Lu Zhang, the John W. Galbreath Chair and professor of finance, and his colleagues, details 130 years of unemployment rates in the U.S. as part of an examination of the impact of COVID-19 on the labor market.

A study by Ray Noe, the Robert and Anne Hoyt Designated Professor of Management and Human Resources at Fisher, and his colleagues discovered a link between informal learning, which is a common way employees pick up new skills that improve their job performance, and having fun at work.

Despite the fact that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is very different than past events that have disrupted supply chains, it holds lessons for sourcing managers.

In principle, a company's board of directors reports to the shareholders and represents their interests. In practice, however, there is much variation in director quality and the extent to which they serve shareholders’ interests. A study by Isil Erel, the David A. Rismiller Chair in Finance, and Michael Weisbach, the Ralph Kurtz Chair in Finance, and a colleague shows how a 21st-century technology, machine learning, can help companies select higher quality directors.

Aravind Chandrasekaran, associate director of the Center for Operational Excellence, in a Think Op-Ex piece, highlights the importance of process-driven approaches to safely reopening parts of the economy and other institutions following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

A new working paper by Rene Stulz, the Everett D. Reese Chair of Banking and Monetary Economics, and his colleagues has quantified the divide between the haves and have-nots when it comes the riskiest of all corporate asset classes -- equity -- and has found that when the going gets tough, the financially flexible get going.

The virus outbreak supercharged a continuing shift in the markets, with a few giant companies now exerting the most influence over the direction of stocks since the tech boom. Research by Rene Stulz, the Everett D. Reese Chair of Banking and Monetary Economics, shows as bigger companies have steadily grown, they’ve also snagged a larger share of profits.

As part of the “There’s a Better Way” podcast, Aravind Chandrasekaran, associate director of the Center for Operational Excellence, talks with Jason Reeder (MBOE '19), a pilot, who explains how airline companies are adjusting to changes in demand and attempting to minimize the spread of the virus aboard  aircrafts.

As technology evolves, risk managers will need to be more agile than ever before as they develop creative risk solutions for the future. By far and away, risk managers and university risk management professors identified new technologies and cyber threats as being one of the biggest contenders of risk that future risk managers will have to understand. 

Many failure modes have been attributed to the awful mess that has occurred across the U.S. in supplying frontline healthcare workers and other first responders with sufficient protective equipment. But are Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory practices to blame for the current situation? Peter Ward, the Richard M. Ross Chair in Management at Fisher, explains JIT strategies, their limitations and the importance of contingency planning in a Think Op-Ex piece.

Middle-market businesses may be bracing for tough times, according to the National Center for the Middle Market. In a late March survey of 250 executives in that business sector, half say the impact of the virus downturn will be "major," and 44 percent say their companies "will undergo major restructuring as a result of the crisis." That's bad news for Chicago's private-equity firms because most of them focus on that segment of the U.S. economy.

How can we leverage data analytics to help us make informed decisions during this COVID-19 crisis?

As part of the “There’s a Better Way” podcast, Aravind Chandrasekaran, associate director of the Center for Operational Excellence, talks with Tim Judge, executive director of the Fisher Leadership Initiative, to discuss leadership knowledge in a world where we are looking in all the wrong places.

Despite government changing advice on wearing masks, few people are warming to the new advice in Columbus. This might be the norm for a while, said Grant Donnelly, an assistant professor of marketing at Fisher who has researched how public campaigns and messages influence public behavior. “Effective messaging requires consistent messaging to instill trust.”

A report by the National Center for the Middle Market reveals that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will derail middle market performance. But executives believe they have the resilience to recover.