Management - Leadership

Research on California shoppers revealed that those who brought reusable bags to the grocery store tended to buy organic versions of goods, but also were more likely to purchase items such as candy or chips.

The author attributes the firm's success to a company-wide focus on improving customer delight, and by engaging all employees in the product-design process. Boosting customer experience included alleviating confusion and discerning how clients use their products.

Despite the widely accepted ideal of "shared value," research led by Harvard Business School's Kasturi Rangan suggests that this is not the norm - and that's OK. Most companies practice a multifaceted version of CSR that spans theaters ranging from pure philanthropy to environmental sustainability to the explicitly strategic.

Authenticity has become the gold standard for leadership. But as INSEAD professor Herminia Ibarra argues, a simplistic understanding of what authenticity means can limit leaders' growth and impact. All too often, we tend to latch on to authenticity as an excuse for sticking with what's comfortable. But few jobs allow us to do that for long.

For organizations to prosper, managers in the middle ranks must feel empowered to identify and promote the need for change.

Giant suburban stores with tacky displays always have the best prices, right? Just as urban stores with beautiful gourmet sections have the highest ones? New research suggests that people persist in believing these stereotypes, even though they're not always true.

Anticonsumption pundits have long told us that cool is just a manipulative notion companies use to separate us from our cash. Marketers create the images; we buy into them. But the authors of two recent books suggest that more is at play than succumbing to ads, self-indulgence, or keeping up with the Joneses.

Performance management that relies on assessment of past performance, cascading objectives, and/or annual reviews are increasingly seen to be less effective in driving future performance. Deloitte Services LP has adopted a new approach that separates decisions regarding compensation from daily performance management.

In an interview, Andris Zoltners - author of The Power of Sales Analytics - answers various questions, including: 1. What are the most common mistakes companies make in compensating a sales force? 2. Do sales leaders rely too much on compensation as a motivator? 3. Should different reps have different pay plans?

Northern Europe in the 1500s was just hitting its commercial stride. Swiss artist Jost Amman documented scenes from this emerging mercantile economy in The Allegory of Trade (1585), an engraving that depicts the variety of forces that can bring success or failure to a business. A printing of this engraving is presented.