The coronavirus epidemic has generated an abundance of literature on past pandemics. In these publications, the Justinianic plague in the 6th century is often described as one of the deadliest in history. Yet a recent study challenges this idea by…
The weather affects sales of most products The sales of many products can be influenced by weather conditions, positively or negatively. The risk for manufacturers is to incur lower than expected sales because of adverse weather conditions. Moreover, the variability…
In the current coronavirus pandemic, our societies are being confronted with a risk that many believed had been left in the past, at least in the West: mass death. What does this crisis tell us about our relationship to death?…
To cope with the high influx of patients, European hospitals called for additional intensive care beds. What if this shortage, in this time of pandemic, was the consequence not of a lack of resources but rather of a dilemma caused…
Interview with Peter Spier, Professor of Marketing at SKEMA Business School Peter, can you please tell us about the Sales Challenge and the programme it was developed in? The Sales Challenge is organised in the spring semester of the MSc…
During the coronavirus pandemic, the virus has several times been called “the great equalizer”, indifferent to the social status or age of its victims. A more thorough analysis of the data reveals that this is not the case at all.…
Top management teams (TMTs) – comprising the most influential executives in an organization – are important because of their influence over strategic choices and performance. Prior studies have shown that TMT characteristics such as age, education, and functional background affect…
Before the COVID-19 crisis erupted, several signals warning of a possible pandemic had been emitted. Certain scientific studies, some of them published in prestigious journals , reported the risk of zoonotic disease outbreaks and propagation, notably linked to SARS type viruses, as…
Organisations must contend with a staggering level of uncertainty: climate change, energy transition, Brexit, etc. Yet, the way we make decisions to act seems to disregard this new reality. Are we even conscious of the way we reason to make…
In the early 2010s, a Geneva bank believed that the new banking regulations presented an opportunity for growth. Its strategic intent was to develop finance software that would enable it to comply with all rules imposed by the authorities, then…
This article focuses on how companies can cope with online contest games to motivate consumers to share their personal information with the brand and to recommend the game to others. Research results show that pleasure and enjoyment obtained through the game increase players’ game forwarding and personal data sharing behaviors. The value of rewards also motivates…
Evolution in macroeconomic volatility Time-varying uncertainty about macroeconomic conditions, generally measured by the variance of its GDP growth (what we will call here macroeconomic volatility) has been shown to be harmful for economic activity in many countries. The main reason…
Globalisation is underpinned by the trust that binds and connects its stakeholders. Yet the health crisis we are currently experiencing is creating a growing sense of mistrust between countries, resulting in increased risks for their populations. To counter the temptation…
