IESE Insight - Research Papers

Benchwarming or bias? Do coaches in the NBA discriminate based on race?

Maoret, Massimo; Ertug, Gokhan Recent research suggested that basketball coaches in the NBA were more likely to assign playing time to players of their own race. But Massimo Maoret and Gokhan Ertug found that the bias evaporated when a common strategy called "resting the starters" was factored in.

Keys to confronting crises, from a hospital fighting COVID-19

IESE Insight Anticipating problems, protecting your people, and working in close cooperation with your stakeholders: these are some of the lessons the University of Navarra Clinic takes from its fight against COVID-19 in Spain.

Approaches to HRM in Non-Western Countries

Lee, Yih-Teen; Elvira, Marta; Dávila, Anabella; Brewster, Chris; Mayrhofer, Wolfgang; Wood, Geoff; Collins, Ngan; Zhu, Yin Approaches to HR management (HRM) differ from culture to culture. IESE's Yih-teen Lee and Marta Elvira, along with an international team of academics, sought to deepen their understanding of HRM in emerging economies. Their presentation, one of three finalists for the Best International Symposium Award at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, helps HR practitioners gain nuanced insights into HRM in emerging economies.

Building a Creative Culture in an Organization

Miller, Paddy; Brankovic, A. Does innovation depend on "Eureka!" moments, experienced only by a lucky few? Creativity and innovation may seem like moving targets, but building a culture that encourages systemic creativity in an organization is possible, as IESE's Paddy Miller and Azra Brankovic explain.

Changing the Rules of the Game

IESE Insight Sometimes the best way to get a jump on rivals is to rewrite the norms. When your turn comes, be ready to go! This executive dossier includes the following articles: Get on Top of Your Game, The High Stakes of Low-Cost Competition, Shaping an Industry in Your Favor, and Decentralization Is the New Center of Command.

A Little Emotional Assurance Goes a Long Way

Attracting stakeholders is essential for keeping any new company afloat during its formative years. Though many may tick all the right boxes on an investors checklist, it takes more to ensure the cash keeps coming and that you hang on to top talent. In their study, Emotional Assuring, Trust Building and Resource Mobilization in Start-Up Organizations, Quy Huy and Christoph Zott show that emotional intelligence plays a part in making or breaking a budding firms fortunes.

Do Private Labels Always Benefit the Supply Chain?

Martínez de Albéniz, Victor Private label products, or store brands, can bolster a stores market share and positively impact retail sales. But what effect do private label products have on the supply chain? Is introducing a store brand always a good idea, or can it have detrimental effects as well? Marc Sachon and Víctor Martínez de Albéniz propose a model that can help retailers determine whether introducing a private label product is a wise idea.

Customer Evangelists: What Are They Worth?

Armelini, Guillermo; Villanueva, Julián If you were looking to choose an Internet service provider, which would you trust more: a recommendation from a friend or an ad? Probably your friend. Recognizing the huge impact of word of mouth, Julián Villanueva and Guillermo Armelini set out to measure the value of customer referrals on consumer behavior.

Three Strategies to Build a Winning Portfolio of Alliances

Ozcan, Pinar How do firms generate high-performance portfolios? This is a question that IESE Prof. Pinar Ozcan and Stanford Prof. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt seek to answer in this article that looks at alliance portfolios and their relationship to firm performance. Studying six entrepreneurial rivals from the wireless gaming industry, the authors analyze portfolio formation strategies and suggest three strategies to ensure success.

Work Longer, Retire Better

Díaz Giménez, Javier The aging population and economic uncertainties have cast doubt over whether we will still be able to rely on a state pension when we retire. In their paper, Javier Díaz-Giménez and Julián Díaz-Saavedra calculate the effects that prolonging retirement by three years would have on Spains current pension system, and recommend that policy makers give it serious thought.