Author: EconLearner

If you feel like TV commercials have gotten louder, faster, and busier—in a word, more energetic—you’re right. A Kellogg study of more than 27,000 ads shows that ad power has increased over time.And in general, more active ads get viewers to watch longer—especially for certain types of programming.This is the conclusion of a marketing professor’s research Lakshman Krishnamurthyalong with a Ph.D Yingkang Xie at Kellogg, a former Kellogg PhD and postdoctoral researcher at Stanford Joonhyuk Yang (now assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame) and Purush Papatla, professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They were able to…

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But sourcing parts from distant companies can have hidden costs. In a new study, Rob Bray, associate professor of operations at Kellogg, and colleagues analyzed supply chains for more than 600 car models. The researchers found that the farther a part traveled to reach the vehicle assembly plant, the greater the risk that consumers would report defects in that part.Why might distance lead to more defects? First, designing effective auto parts and improving them in subsequent iterations requires the supplier and assembler to communicate and learn about each other’s needs—something that’s most easily done face-to-face, Bray says. “Proximity facilitates that…

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Taking a selfie can also work as a professional snapshot.getty In the digital age we are currently working in, your online presence is essential. If an employer is interested in interviewing you or a potential client wants to work with you, there’s a good chance they’ll Google your name. First impressions are everything and a professional image includes decent headshots on your profile pages. Can You Use a Selfie Headshot for Business? Hiring a photographer is your best option, but if you don’t have the money to invest in one right now, instead of using a selfie headshot, you can…

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This week, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN) celebrated and recognized colleges and universities, as well as students, faculty and staff, presidents and chancellors, coaches, partner organizations and election officials for their nonpartisan efforts to engage students in the 2022 midterm elections. These stakeholders helped ensure that college students across the country registered to vote and cast informed ballots despite nationwide efforts to undermine democracy through restrictive voting laws. ALL IN believes in developing an inclusive democracy. We envision a country where the electorate reflects the makeup of our country and university students participate in our democracy on…

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But how effective are these activists at getting companies to change? And what are the best ways for companies to respond to activist demands while keeping the interests of their organizations front and center?“You only have to turn on the news to recognize that the public is interested in these movements, and increasingly, in these movements [corporate] Targets also deal with them,” he says Brayden Kingprofessor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School.King has spent much of his career researching the impact of activists on corporations. He shared some of his findings during a recent The Insightful Leader Live…

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But many of those headlines were misleading. In poor countries, around 80 percent of all calories come from grains. Most important is rice, which accounts for 27 percent of per capita caloric intake in the developing world and is the main staple in Asia. In countries like Myanmar and Cambodia, rice makes up 80 percent of calories.Maize is the most important subsistence cereal in Africa. About 30 percent of the world’s maize is consumed by African countries, with people in Malawi, Lesotho, and Kenya consuming an average of 90–180 kg (198–397 lb) per year. Wheat, which is the second most…

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As impressive as that number is, it pales in comparison to many other drugs on the market, some of which cost as much as seven figures for a typical course of treatment.In the US, such high drug prices can limit access for many and drive up insurance costs, fueling the ongoing debate: Do biopharma companies really need to charge as much as they do?”The industry response has been as consistent as the complaints,” he says David Dranov, professor of strategy at Kellogg. “They say they have to cover their research costs and if they don’t, they have to cut the…

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Two veteran rate watchers offer dramatically different takes on a dangerous security: the 30-year Treasury. With William BaldwinSenior Contributor Tbull market bonds which lasted four decades stopped in 2020. The yield on long-term government bonds has quadrupled. And now what? Faced with this question are two extremists, both longtime yield curve analysts, both stubbornly clinging to their long-held views. One, a bond bull, was spectacularly right for 38 years and then just as spectacularly wrong. The other has a history that is almost a mirror image. The bull is Gary Shilling, Ph.D. economist whose A. Gary Shilling’s Insight The newsletter…

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But Kellogg researchers challenged that conventional wisdom in a recent study. While moving up the government ladder gives more power, it also puts politicians under the microscope as the media and other organizations closely monitor their activities for signs of corruption. If the incumbent wants to be re-elected, the harsher spotlight could discourage them from doing favoritism.”There’s more scrutiny at the highest levels,” he says Kieu-Trang Nguyen, assistant professor of strategy at Kellogg. Although the politician has more power to distribute favors, “this entails greater risk.” And if control is strong enough, the researchers hypothesized, the trend might actually go…

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