IESE Insight - Research Papers

9 things keeping CEOs up at night

Julián Villanueva; Luis Ferrándiz; Juan Manuel de Toro; Francisco Iniesta The digital revolution and the pandemic have transformed the way products reach customers. In this new context, which factors are keeping business leaders on edge?

Is promoting agile, self-directed ways of working always wise?

Tobias Dennerlein; Bradley Kirkman When employees are granted autonomy and authority, they tend to be more committed, creative and satisfied at work. But there are times when empowered employees are more likely to behave unethically. New research roots this out.

Innovative DEI? Diversity, entrepreneurship and inclusion

Raffaele Conti; Olenka Kacperczyk; Giovanni Valentini When discrimination is banned from workplaces, what are some of the knock-on effects in entrepreneurship? In his research, Giovanni Valentini uncovers some surprising and so-far overlooked impacts of increasing diversity at work, as he explains in an interview.

ESG investing to the rescue?

S. Yan; John Almandoz; Fabrizio Ferraro Our planet needs saving. Can green investing help? Or is it merely diverting our attention from public leadership failures at a critical time? New research analyzes this financial-meets-environmental practice in 20 countries to better understand where and how it works.

Green reporting: getting the numbers to add up

Patrick Bolton; Marcin T. Kacperczyk; Christian Leuz; Gaizka Ormazabal; Stefan Reichelstein; Dirk Schoenmaker Transitioning to a greener economy and reaching sustainability goals start by measuring and reporting emissions as well as intangibles like climate risk. In this interview, IESE's Gaizka Ormazabal discusses the challenges of accounting for future change.

The positive spillover effects from support at work and at home

Jakob Stollberger; Mireia Las Heras; Yasin Rofcanin Support from coworkers and support from family are more interrelated than one might think. New research finds a link that also translates into being more creative at work.

Rethinking choice overload: when the world needs more options

Elena Reutskaja; Nathan Cheek; Sheena Iyengar; Barry Schwartz Despite recent alarm about choice overload, a new global study finds it's usually better to have too much choice than not enough.

A safe simulation to help slow a pandemic's spread

Jan K. Woike, Sebastian Hafenbrädl, Patricia Kanngiesser, Ralph Hertwig A new analytical tool sheds light on what does and doesn't help promote compliance with public health measures.

Resource flexibility: how it can unlock better decision-making through learning

Jiri Chod; Mihalis Markakis; Nikolaos Trichakis Investing in flexible resources -- as opposed to dedicated (task-specific) ones -- can yield better data from which managers can learn more about underlying business trends. Discover the previously unexplored learning benefits of flexibility.

Why are wages so low in so many markets?

José Azar; Ioana Marinescu; Marshall Steinbaum; Bledi Taska When a large company comes to town, many rejoice that new jobs come, too. But an award-winning paper in Labour Economics shows that 60% of U.S. labor markets have a high degree of labor market concentration, which seems to suppress workers' wages in those areas.