Lion's Share: The Research Cast

ENTR 502 | Session 1 | Orientation Entrepreneurial Mindset

Summary:

An entrepreneurial mindset is a multifaceted set of mental attitudes and behaviors, such as resilience, adaptability, and proactivity, that drive individuals to recognize opportunities and innovate in uncertain conditions. According to the sources, this mindset is a universal necessity across all sectors, including government and large corporations, to solve complex global challenges like climate change and healthcare. Core traits include calculated risk-taking, creative problem-solving, and self-motivation, which can be cultivated by setting clear goals, networking, and viewing setbacks as learning experiences rather than endpoints. While sources debate age—suggesting th...

FIN 588 | Session 1-3 | Foundations and Frontiers of Corporate Finance Research

Summary

This is an overview of the optional readings for Sessions 1-3. The sources examine the evolution of corporate finance from the Modigliani-Miller irrelevance propositions to complex frameworks that incorporate agency costs and incomplete contracts, where ownership is primarily defined by residual rights of control. Research indicates that a firm's capital structure is often remarkably stable over decades, typically driven by unobserved time-invariant effects or historical market timing rather than current optimal trade-offs. Debt maturity and seniority are strategically used to manage creditor conflict and control, ye...

FIN 588 | Session 3 | Corporate Financing and Investment without Information - 1984

Stewart C. MYERS, Nicholas S. MAJLUF

Summary

FIN 588 | Session 1 | The Modigliani-Miller Theorems: A Cornerstone of Finance - 2005

Marco Pango

Summary:

The Modigliani-Miller (MM) theorems are regarded as the foundational cornerstone of modern finance for both substantive and methodological reasons. Substantively, they serve as "irrelevance propositions," providing a clear benchmark in which a firm's value is unaffected by its capital structure or dividend policy. This invariance holds under specific idealized conditions: the absence of taxes, no bankruptcy costs, and perfectly competitive, frictionless markets free of informational asymmetry. By establishing this neutral baseline, the theorems have driven the subsequent development of corporate finance...

ENTR 810 | Session 12 | Netflix, IP Strategy, and Entertainment Trends

Introduciton:

Netflix established itself as a global entertainment leader by successfully pivoting from DVD rentals to streaming, notably overcoming Blockbuster, which declined the founders' $50 million sale offer in 2000. Guided by a culture of reinvention and leadership from figures like co-founder Reed Hastings and co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Netflix secured its competitive edge by shifting to an original content strategy—highlighted by the 2013 success of House of Cards—that emphasized diversity, global reach, and substantial investment to attract top talent. Today, Netflix maintains its position as the subscription streaming lead...

MBADM 850 | Session 12 | Business Models and Innovation Monetization

Introduction:

A business model is a framework that supports a product or company's viability by showing how it creates, delivers, and captures value and revenue while meeting customer needs. Monetization involves generating income from assets or actions, effectively turning product or service usage into profit. Common strategies include offering products for free while earning from advertising, using the freemium model where basic services are free but premium features require a subscription (e.g., LinkedIn and Spotify), charging a recurring low fee (e.g., Netflix), applying tiered pricing based...

MKTG 556 | Session 9 | Augmented Reality in Retail and Its Impact on Sales - 2022

Yong-Chin Tan, Sandeep R. Chandukala, and Srinivas K. Reddy

Introduction:

The rise of augmented reality (AR) technology offers marketers exciting opportunities to engage customers and enhance their brand experience. Although companies are eager to invest in AR, research showing its real-world impact is limited. In this article, the authors identify four main ways the technology is used in retail settings. They focus specifically on AR's role in helping customers evaluate products before buying and analyze its effect on online retail sales...

MKTG 556 | Session 9 | AI–Human Hybrids for Marketing Research: Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) as Collaborators - 2025

Neeraj Arora, Ishita Chakraborty, and Yohei Nishimura

Introduction:

The authors' main idea is that a hybrid approach combining humans and large language models (LLMs) improves efficiency and effectiveness in marketing research. In qualitative research, they show that LLMs can help with both data generation and analysis; LLMs effectively create sample characteristics, generate synthetic respondents, and conduct and moderate in-depth interviews. The AI–human hybrid produces information-rich, coherent data that exceeds human-only data in depth and insightfulness and matc...

ACCTG 502 | Session 9 | The Timeliness of Bad Earnings News and Litigation Risk - 2012

Dain C. Donelson, John M. Mclnnis, Richard D. Mergenthaler, Yong Yu

Introduction:

This study examines whether the prompt disclosure of bad earnings news is linked to a lower rate of litigation. The promptness of earnings news is measured by a new metric based on the progression of the consensus analyst earnings forecast. After controlling for total bad earnings news and other factors influencing litigation, we find that earlier disclosure of bad earnings news decreases the likelihood of litigation. This finding applies...

ACCTG 502 | Session 9 | Rules-Based Accounting Standards and Litigation - 2012

Dain C. Donelson, John M. Mclnnis, Richard D. Mergenthaler

Introudction:

Some claim that rules-based accounting standards shield firms from litigation, while others argue that violations of detailed rules give plaintiffs a "roadmap" to successful litigation. We inform this debate by investigating whether rules-based standards are associated with the incidence and outcome of securities class action litigation. Overall, our results suggest that rules-based standards are associated with a lower incidence of litigation but are not associated with litigation outcomes. These results are of interest in the...

ACCTG 502 | Session 7 | Fair value accounting standards and securities litigation - 2025

Musaib Ashraf, Dain C. Donelson, John McInnis, Richard D. Mergenthaler

Introduction:

We examine the effect of fair value standards on firms' litigation risk. The discretion required by fair value allows plaintiffs to "second guess" managers' judgments, potentially increasing litigation risk. Alternatively, the complexity of fair value may decrease litigation risk if it's more difficult to demonstrate scienter. Our evidence suggests firms that rely more on fair value standards are relatively less likely to be sued. We find no evidence of a relation between...

MBADM 850 | Session 11 | Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis for Innovation

Introduction:

The essential practices of competitor analysis and benchmarking are important for both startups and established companies seeking innovation and a competitive edge. Competitor analysis for a startup involves identifying rivals, understanding their products and market segments, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, and using this information to anticipate reactions or attract customers. For new markets, the traditional X/Y axis competitive graph is often inadequate, so the recommended "Petal Diagram" is used to visualize potential customer segments from neighboring markets. Benchmarking is a systematic process, separate from...

ENTR 810 | Session 11 | AI: Von Neumann to Altman Hardware Evolution

Introduction:

The history of Artificial Intelligence (AI) ranges from its foundational theories to its present role as a transformative technology, illustrating the close connection between software models and the hardware that supports them. Early pioneers like Alan Turing, who helped crack the Enigma code and introduced the Turing Test for machine intelligence, and John McCarthy, who coined the term "Artificial Intelligence" at the 1956 Dartmouth Workshop, laid the groundwork for the field. John von Neumann also made significant contributions by imagining adaptive systems and defining the "von...

MBADM 850 | Session 10 | Innovation, Organization, and Culture: Building Creative Workplaces

Introduction:

A thriving culture of innovation is vital for any business to survive, driving results like increased revenue and higher employee engagement. This culture promotes questions, conversations, and new ideas from everyone, greatly benefiting from diverse perspectives—a philosophy called "Innovation By All." Building this environment involves specific practices such as fostering psychological safety where failure is seen as a learning opportunity, recognizing employees' efforts, investing in everyone's growth, democratizing idea generation, and dedicating time for experimentation. Innovative cultures are naturally paradoxical, requiring a balance between "soft...

ENTR 810 | Session 10 | Manufacturing, 3D Printing, and Genomics

Introduction

This compilation offers a comprehensive overview of breakthroughs in advanced manufacturing, 3D printing, and personalized medicine, emphasizing a global technological shift toward precision, customization, and efficiency. In the industrial sector, companies are adopting Industry 4.0 digital technologies, such as flexible automation and AI-powered inspections, to enhance agility, sustainability, and productivity. A significant advance in additive manufacturing is the development of Laser-Assisted Cold Spray (LACS), a technique that uses localized laser heating to repair and construct high-strength components with less thermal impact and without the high cost of helium...

ACCTG 502 | Session 8 | The Information Content of Business Combination Disclosure Level - 2009

Ron Shalev

Introduction:

This study examines how the level of disclosures in business combinations relates to the acquirers' subsequent performance. It finds that acquirers with higher-than-expected disclosure levels tend to perform better in the future, as measured by return on assets (ROA) and abnormal stock returns. Conversely, firms that allocate unusually large portions of the purchase price to goodwill tend to disclose less information. These findings support disclosure theory, suggesting that managers selectively withhold unfavorable ("bad news") information. The study also shows...

ACCTG 502 | Session 8 | Audited financial reporting and voluntary disclosure as complements: A test of the Confirmation Hypothesis - 2012

Ray Ball, Sudarshan Jayaraman, Lakshmanan Shivakumar

Introduction:

The article examines the Confirmation Hypothesis, which suggests that audited financial reporting and voluntary disclosure serve as complements rather than substitutes in providing information to investors. The authors contend that independent verification of financial results promotes managerial honesty and accuracy in voluntary disclosures, thereby boosting their credibility. Through empirical analysis, they discover that firms that invest more in audit verification also produce more informative and frequent management forecasts, and...

ACCTG 502 | Session 8 | Do Managers Issue More Voluntary Disclosure When GAAP Limits Their Reporting Discretion in Financial Statements? - 2022

PAUL HRIBAR, RICHARD MERGENTHALER , AARON ROESCHLEY , SPENCER YOUNG ,  AND CHRIS X. ZHAO

Introduction:

The study examines whether managers make up for restrictions in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by providing more voluntary disclosures. Through textual analysis of GAAP standards, the authors develop a new measure of how much each standard limits managerial discretion and look at various disclosure channels such as management forecasts, non-GAAP earnings, and Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) narratives. They find t...

ENTR 810 | Session 9 | Modular Systems and the Amazon Paradigm

Introduciton

Modularity, often called the Theory of Interdependence and Modularity, is a strong framework that involves splitting a system into smaller, independent parts called modules that work together as a unified whole. This design approach standardizes components, ensuring they fit together consistently and allowing each part to be developed, modified, tested, or replaced independently. Modularity is highly relevant across many industries, including automotives, construction, electronics, and increasingly in areas like healthcare and software architecture, where Amazon has used it strategically through microservices and AWS. A major benefit...

MBADM 850 | Session 9 | Human Capital, Innovation Teams, and Management Strategy

Introduction

The foundation of organizational success lies in adopting a philosophical mindset that rejects the idea of a fixed world, encouraging individuals to embrace change and influence life, driven by the realization that current systems were created by people no smarter than themselves. Effective leadership supports this by providing a clear common vision, recruiting self-managing individuals who are passionately excited about the mission, and prioritizing the hiring of great individual contributors over typical professional management. Innovative teams must be structured intentionally: they should be small (six...

MKTG 556 | Session 8 | Platform Exploitation: When Service Agents Defect with Customers from Online Service Platforms - 2022

Qiang (Kris) Zhou, B.J. Allen, Richard T. Gretz, and Mark B. Houston

Introduciton:

This research investigates "platform exploitation," a phenomenon where service agents on purely labor-based online platforms (e.g., Zeel, Freelancer, Rover) defect with customers to transact off-platform, thereby avoiding commission fees. Through multiple methods—a qualitative theories-in-use study, a large-scale hazard-model analysis, and two experiments—the authors identify antecedents, mechanisms, and managerial countermeasures. They discover that high-quality and long-tenured agents are more likely to defect, that...

MKTG 556 | Session 7 | Guardians of Trust: How Review Platforms Can Fight Fakery and Build Consumer Trust - 2024

Ben B. Beck, Stefan Wuyts, and Sandy Jap

Introduction:

This research investigates how online review platforms can serve as "guardians of trust" in an era of widespread misinformation and fake reviews. Drawing on governance and identity-disclosure literature, it proposes five mechanisms—monitoring, exposure, community building, status endowment, and identity disclosure—that help reduce fakery and foster consumer trust in these platforms. Through five complementary studies, it demonstrates how these practices both individually and collectively enhance trust, identify medi...

ENTR 810 | Session 8 | Autonomy, Robotics, and Drones: Core Concepts

Introduction:

A widespread industrial transformation is underway, driven by increasing autonomy and robotics, spanning from warehouse operations to global transportation and agriculture. Amazon is approaching a milestone where its facilities utilize nearly as many robots (more than one million) as human workers, using advanced machines for tasks like picking and packing to significantly enhance productivity and efficiency. This shift also involves retraining human employees for higher-skilled roles managing automated systems, while potentially slowing overall hiring. Globally, the autonomous vehicle (AV) market is valued in the trillions and...

MBADM 850 | Session 8 | Entrepreneurial Strategy, Innovation, and Business Alignment

Introduction:

The Business Model Canvas (BMC) provides a visual framework for describing, visualizing, and developing a business model on a single sheet of paper. It outlines how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. This framework consists of nine building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, and Customer Relationships, which mainly focus on the right side of the canvas related to revenue generation, and Revenue Streams, which show how the business earns money. The left side emphasizes infrastructure and costs, including Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships...

MKTG 556 | Session 7 | Transaction Cost Analysis: Past, Present, and Future Applications - 1997

Arie Rindfleisch & Jan B. Heide

Introduction:

The abstract presents Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) as a leading framework for understanding governance in marketing channels. Rindfleisch and Heide's main goal is to review TCA's origins, analyze its practical applications in marketing, and identify areas for future research. They position TCA as a link between economics and marketing, emphasizing both its theoretical depth and practical usefulness in managing interorganizational exchanges.

MKTG 556 | Session 7 | Marketing Alliances, Firm Networks, and Firm Value Creation - 2009

Vanitha Swaminathan & Christine Moorman

Introduction:

The article examines how marketing alliances and firm networks contribute to firm value, measured through abnormal stock returns. The authors argue that while alliances can create shareholder value, the broader network context—such as efficiency, density, and reputation—amplifies or diminishes this effect. Using event study methodology on a sample of marketing alliances in the high-tech industry, the study shows how network characteristics shape value creation.

MKTG 556 | Session 6 |Cross-border marketing ecosystem orchestration: A conceptualization of its determinants and boundary conditions - 2022

Kelly Hewett, G. Tomas M. Hult, Murali K. Mantrala, Nandini Nim, Kiran Pedada

Introduction:

The article presents the concept of Marketing Ecosystem Orchestration (MEO) as a new strategic approach for international companies to create and capture value across borders. The authors contend that traditional internationalization theories—such as internalization, eclectic (OLI), and the Uppsala model—are inadequate in the age of digital disruption and interconnected markets. MEO focuses on orchestrating interdependent yet autonomous actors, resources, and institutions within a ma...

MBADM 850 | Session 7 | Assessing and Enabling Organizational Innovation Potential

Introduction

Innovation and creativity are key traits of industry leaders, essential for long-term success in a fast-changing economy. Innovation is broadly defined as introducing something new, from changes in internal processes to entirely new products or services. Truly innovative companies foster a strong culture that encourages creativity and embraces risk-taking, viewing failure as a valuable learning experience. They also maintain a relentless customer-focused approach, actively seeking user feedback to offer personalized solutions. Structurally, innovation must be a top priority at every level of the business. Some experts...

ENTR 810 | Session 7 | The Future of Grids, EVs, and Data Centers

Introduction:

The rapid growth of data centers, driven by increasing cloud and AI demands, is testing Microsoft's goal to become carbon negative. This growth raises overall emissions mainly because of the Scope 3 impact from materials like steel, concrete, and computer chips used in construction. To address this, Microsoft is investing its $1 billion Climate Innovation Fund into developing and expanding low-carbon materials and innovative building practices, such as using cross-laminated timber. It is also working to boost renewable energy in the grids where its...

ACCTG 502 | Session 7 | Contract contingencies and uncertainty: Evidence from product market contracts - 2025

Kai Wai Hui, Jun Oh, Guoman She, P. Eric Yeung

Introduction:

The abstract presents the paper as the first large-scale empirical study of contract contingencies in product market agreements. It shows how earlier research mainly focused on "contract completeness" by counting the actions specified, while this study advances the field by explicitly analyzing contingency clauses. The authors contend that product market agreements are inherently more complex than financial contracts because they must account for uncertain state outcomes affecting both buyers and...

ACCTG 502 | Session 7 | Scope for renegotiation in private debt contracts - 2018

Valeri V. Nikolaev

Introduction

The study explores why and how private debt contracts are renegotiated, focusing on whether the degree of renegotiation can be predicted from initial contracting frictions. Nikolaev creates a large dataset of over 40,000 renegotiations to test predictions from contract theory. The main idea is that renegotiation is a tradeoff: it offers monitoring benefits to creditors and firms, but also brings costs like hold-up and restrictions on investment.

ACCTG 502 | Session 7 | Capital Versus Performance Covenants in Debt Contracts - 2012

HANS B. CHRISTENSEN AND VALERI V. NIKOLAEV

Introduction:

The article contends that financial covenants in debt contracts help reduce conflicts of interest between lenders and borrowers through two separate mechanisms: capital covenants, which align debt holder–shareholder interests before the fact, and performance covenants, which serve as trigger points that shift control back to lenders after the fact when their claims' value is at risk. The authors demonstrate that firms balance these mechanisms depending on their financial constraints and the ease of accounting in...

ENTR 810 | Session 6 | Climate, Energy, and Agricultural Innovation

Introduction

The food and agriculture sector is essential for fighting climate change because agri-food systems make up about 30 percent of human-caused global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, it receives less than 5 percent of climate finance despite the urgent need for $1.1 trillion in annual investments over the next five years. Climate disruptions, such as extreme weather events, make food production more difficult and create complex, cascading risks across energy and food systems. This calls for major shifts and innovations at scale. Emerging trends in food and agriculture include increasing...

MBADM 850 | Session 6 | Design Thinking for Innovation and Empathy

Introduciton:

Innovation success is driven by deeply human-centered approaches, notably Customer Development (CD) and Design Thinking (DT), both of which emphasize a comprehensive understanding of the user to reduce the high rate of product failure. CD, a four-phase framework by Steve Blank, starts with searching for a viable, scalable, and repeatable business model (Customer Discovery and Validation) before moving to execution (Customer Creation and Company Building). DT, an iterative, human-centered approach used for complex problem-solving, aligns closely with the empathize and define phases of CD. The main prin...

ACCTG 502 | Session 6 | Litigation Risk and Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Legal Changes  2019

Joel F. Houston, Chen Lin, Sibo Liu, Lai Wei

Introduction:

The study examines how changes in litigation risk affect firms' voluntary disclosure practices. Using three exogenous legal events in the U.S., the authors apply a matching-based fixed-effects difference-in-differences approach to identify causal effects. Results indicate that firms reduce management earnings forecasts when litigation risk decreases and increase them when litigation risk rises, with the effect mainly seen in disclosures of negative news. These findings are consistent across various specifications, samples, and d...

ACCTG 502 | Session 6 | Institutional monitoring through shareholder litigation - 2010

C.S. Agnes Cheng, Henry He Huang, Yinghua Li, Gerald Lobo.

Introduction:

The study investigates whether institutional investors, when acting as lead plaintiffs in securities class action lawsuits, are effective monitors of corporate behavior. Using 1,811 lawsuits from 1996 to 2005, the authors find that cases with institutional lead plaintiffs are less likely to be dismissed, yield larger settlements, and lead to greater improvements in corporate governance (notably board independence) than cases led by individual plaintiffs. These results suggest that institutional investors use litigation as a credible disciplinary...

ACCTG 502 | Session 6 | Does Litigation Deter or Encourage Real Earnings Management? - 2020

Sterling Huang, Sugata Roychowdhury, Ewa Sletten

Introduction:

The study examines how litigation risk affects real earnings management (REM). Using a difference-in-differences approach around a 1999 Ninth Circuit Court ruling that unexpectedly decreased litigation risk, the authors find that firms based in the Ninth Circuit significantly increased their use of REM compared to firms in other circuits. The evidence indicates that litigation risk acts as a deterrent to REM, mainly because it limits managers' ability to issue optimistic or misleading disclosures that hide opportunistic...

MBADM 850 | Session 5 | Ideation, Creativity, and New Thinking Strategies

Introudction:

Today will cover the multifaceted processes required for generating innovative and breakthrough ideas, encompassing structured group ideation methods, individual mindsets, and strategies for successful startup conception. Effective traditional brainstorming relies on several rules, including deferring judgment, encouraging wild ideas, building on others' contributions, going for quantity (such as 100 ideas in 60 minutes), and using visual aids; the process should capture everything and avoid premature evaluation or judging questions, saving analysis for the end when ideas are categorized and reduced. Alternatively, a powerful technique known as the "question...

ENTR 810 | Session 5 | Startup and Corporate Innovation Structures

Introduction:

Today will explore the contrasting dynamics of innovation between large corporations and agile startups, along with a detailed profile of computing pioneer Chuck Peddle. Startups are known for their flexibility, willingness to adapt quickly, and project-oriented work styles, allowing them to disrupt traditional markets and succeed with limited resources. Larger organizations, often weighed down by bureaucracy, legacy systems, and risk aversion, can learn from this entrepreneurial approach by fostering a culture of ongoing innovation, strategically empowering internal leaders, and maintaining the energetic spirit of startup founders they...

MKTG 556 | Session 6 | When it pays to have a friend on the inside: contingent effects of buyer advocacy on B2B suppliers - 2019

Justin M. Lawrence & Andrew T. Crecelius & Lisa K. Scheer & Son K. Lam

Introduction:

As organizational buying systems become more complex and sophisticated, suppliers increasingly depend on buyer advocacy: an individual's efforts to influence colleagues to improve the supplier's standing. Drawing from cognitive response theory, the authors propose an inverted U-shaped relationship between a buyer's advocacy for a supplier and the customer's purchases from that supplier. They suggest that this effect is...

MKTG 556 | Session 6 | Managing Laggards: The Importance of a Deep Sales Bench - 2019

Jeffrey P. Boichuk, Raghu Bommaraju, Michael Ahearne, Florian Kraus, and Thomas J. Steenburgh

Introduction:

Sales leaders often threaten punishment to manage poor performers (i.e., laggards), but little research has explored the effects of such threats. This study fills that gap by examining an intervention called the "bench program" through a field-based quasi-experiment and a randomized lab experiment. In the field, the company involved informed salespeople in treatment districts that a trainee would replace them at the end of the year...

MKTG 556 | Session 6 | Communicating with B2B buyers after "Dropping the Ball": Using digital and non-digital communication formats to recover from salesperson transgressions - 2024

Stephanie M. Mangus Huanhuan Shi, Judith Anne Garretson Folse, Eli Jones, Shrihari Sridhar

Introduction

Salespeople face a flood of new sales enablement tools and digital communication options daily, creating innovative ways to interact with customers and handle the inevitable chance of "dropping the ball." This research examines how different communication methods can cushion the blow and reduce damage from salesperson transgressions. Study 1 uses company-provided communication and performance data, along with...

MKTG 556 | Session 6 | Boundary spanner corruption: a potential dark side of multi-level trust in marketing relationships - 2022

Sebastian Forkmann & Jonathan Webb & Stephan C. Henneberg & Lisa K. Scheer

Introduction

Boundary spanner corruption—voluntary collaborative behavior between individuals from different organizations that breaches their organizations' norms—is a serious issue in business-to-business (B2B) marketing relationships. Drawing on insights from literature on the dark side of business relationships and deviance in sales and service organizations, the authors identify boundary spanner corruption as a potential dark side problem inherent in close B2B marketing ties. The same fact...

MBADM 850 | Session 4 | Innovation Opportunities From Pain Points to Solutions

Introduction:

ENTR 810 | Session 4 | Innovation Ethics Marketing, Risk, and Responsibility

Introduction:

ACCTG 502 | Session 5 | Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud? - 2010

ALEXANDER DYCK, ADAIR MORSE, and LUIGI ZINGALES

Introduction:

The study explores who is most likely to detect and uncover corporate fraud in U.S. public companies. While previous governance theories focus on auditors, regulators, or investors, the authors discover that employees, the media, and industry regulators are unexpectedly influential in revealing misconduct. By integrating legal, economic, and financial viewpoints, the study challenges traditional ideas about governance mechanisms and shows that non-traditional actors are key in maintaining market integrity.

ACCTG 502 | Session 5 | The Role of Sell-Side Analysts after Accusations of Managerial Misconduct - 2019

Jared Jennings

Introduction:

The study investigates how sell-side analysts respond to security class action lawsuits that allege managerial misconduct. Jennings (2019) argues that while prior scholarship often critiques analyst research as biased or inefficient, the filing of a lawsuit creates an environment in which managers are constrained in disclosure, thereby elevating the potential informational role of analysts. The central finding is that analysts not only increase the volume of their research but that this research becomes more informative for investors following...

The Governance Effect of the Media's News Dissemination Role: Evidence from Insider Trading - 2015

LILI DAI, JERRY T. PARWADA, AND BOHUI ZHANG

Introduction

The study explores how the media's role in spreading regulatory news about insider trading influences the profitability of insiders' future transactions. In simple terms, it examines whether media coverage of required filings, without providing new information, can regulate insider behavior. The authors contend that media dissemination alone lowers abnormal returns from insider trades by attracting public attention and thereby limiting opportunistic actions.

MBADM 850 | Session 3 | Cracking the Innovator's DNA - Entrepreneurs and Innovators

Introduction:

In this episode, we explore the dynamic world of entrepreneurship and innovation, moving beyond common stereotypes to reveal the true essence of successful ventures and their leaders. We start by defining entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity beyond currently available resources, often involving turning ideas into fully operational businesses. Beyond just profit, modern entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a powerful force for changing the world by solving large-scale problems and promoting social change. Similarly, innovation is understood as creating a viable new offering, which ca...

ENTR 810 | Session 3 | Demographics and Future Trends in Innovation

Introduction

Join us as we explore the complex and often contradictory stories surrounding global demographic shifts. Are aging populations a "demographic time bomb" or do they bring "silver linings"? This episode examines the significant changes happening worldwide, from declining fertility rates and "youth scarcity" to the "inverting age structures" of societies. We'll analyze the financial, social, and environmental factors influencing these trends, as well as their wide-ranging impacts on economies, labor markets, and consumption. Additionally, we'll look into the innovative strategies governments and businesses need to adopt...

MKTG 556 | Session 5 | The One-Party Versus Third-Party Platform Conundrum: How Can Brands Thrive? - 2023

Zhiling Bei and Katrijn Gielens

Introduction

The study explores how brands can navigate governance decisions when selling through online platforms such as Amazon, JD.com, and Tmall. Specifically, the authors compare one-party (1P) models, where brands wholesale to the platform, versus third-party (3P) models, where brands sell directly to consumers on the platform. Using data from nearly 2,000 brands, they find that 1P operations generally reduce market share, while 3P operations increase it, though outcomes are contingent on brand characteristics such...

MKTG 556 | Session 5 | Corporate Board Interlocks and New Product Introductions - 2018

Raji Srinivasan, Stefan Wuyts, & Girish Mallapragada

Intorudction:

The study explores how corporate board interlocks influence a firm's capacity to develop new products. Using a large dataset, the authors suggest that a firm's position within the interlock network offers access to market intelligence, which can be used for innovation. They also examine how board leadership traits, including internal versus external leadership and marketing-specific leadership, affect these relationships. The main goal is to demonstrate that interlocks serve not only as a governance tool but also...

MKTG 556 | Session 5 | Lower Connectivity is Better: The Effects of Network Structure on Redundancy of Ideas and Customer Innovativeness in Interdependent Ideation Tasks - 2016

ANDREW T. STEPHEN, PETER PAL ZUBCSEK, and JACOB GOLDENBERG

Introduction:

The authors explore the marketing approach of interdependent ideation, where companies encourage customers to generate ideas on online platforms that showcase others' contributions. They contend that while connectivity promotes inspiration, the structure of the network, especially clustering among contributors, diminishes innovativeness by creating redundancy. Through five experiments, they show that lower connectivity boosts originality, and the negative impact of clustering...

MKTG 556 | Session 5 | A Theory of Product-Form Strategy: When to Market Know-How, Components, or Systems? - 2023

Kellilynn M. Frias, Mrinal Ghosh, Narayan Janakiraman, Dale F. Duhan, and Robert F. Lusch

Introduction:

The study examines how firms decide whether to commercialize their technology as know-how, components, or systems. This decision, known as product-form strategy (PFS), has been largely overlooked despite its importance for both entrepreneurial and established companies. The authors utilize four different studies—qualitative interviews, angel investor proposals, Shark Tank transcripts, and experiments with investors—to develop and test theories about what influences PFS. Thei...

Highlighting Research Smarter: A Color-Coded System for Reading Papers

Ever feel overwhelmed by a stack of dense research papers? In this episode, we share my color-coded highlighting system that turns pages of text into a clear, visual map. From marking research questions in green to spotlighting results and big takeaways in pink, we'll walk you through how we organize both qualitative and quantitative studies. You'll learn how each color helps make reading more intuitive, insightful, and, dare I say, enjoyable.

For additional reference, here is how you can grab a one-page cheat sheet to start...

MKTG 556 | Session 4 | Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey - 2016

Katherine N. Lemon & Peter C. Verhoef

Introduction:

Understanding customer experience and the customer journey over time is essential for firms. Customers now engage with companies through numerous touch points across multiple channels and media, and their experiences are increasingly social. These shifts require firms to coordinate various business functions and external partners to create and deliver positive customer experiences. In this article, the authors seek to deepen the understanding of customer experience and the customer journey in this era of more complex customer...

ACCTG 502 | Session 4 | Zombie Board: Board Tenure and Firm Performance - 2018

STERLING HUANG AND GILLES HILARY

Introduction:

We demonstrate that board tenure has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with firm value and accounting performance. The quality of corporate decisions, such as M&A, financial reporting, and CEO compensation, also shows a quadratic relationship with board tenure. Our findings support the interpretation that directors' on‐the‐job learning enhances firm value up to a certain point, beyond which entrenchment begins to dominate and firm performance declines. To address endogeneity concerns, we analyze a sample of firms...

ACCTG 502 | Session 4 | The Deterrent Effect of Employee Whistleblowing on Firms' Financial Misreporting and Tax Aggressiveness

Jaron H. Wilde

Introduciton:

U.S. laws provide explicit whistleblower protections and direct regulators to adopt ambitious programs to reward whistleblowing. However, there is limited evidence on whether employee whistleblowing deters financial misreporting and tax aggressiveness. Using a sample of employee whistleblower cases obtained from the U.S. government, I provide evidence that firms subject to whistleblowing allegations exhibit significant decreases in financial misreporting and tax aggressiveness, compared with control firms. I find that this deterrent effect persists...

ACCTG 502 | Session 4 | Audit Committee, Board of Director Characteristics, and Earnings Management

April Klein

Introduction:

This study investigates whether characteristics of the audit committee and board relate to earnings management by the firm. A negative relationship is observed between audit committee independence and abnormal accruals. Similarly, a negative relationship exists between board independence and abnormal accruals. Reductions in the independence of either the board or the audit committee are associated with significant increases in abnormal accruals. The strongest effects are seen when either the board or the audit committee consists mainly of outside directors...

MKTG 556 | Session 4 | Online Influencer Marketing

Fine F. Leung · Flora F. Gu · Robert W. Palmatier

Introduction:

Online influencer marketing (OIM) has become a vital part of brands' marketing strategies; however, many marketers lack a clear understanding of its scope, effectiveness, and potential risks. To address this gap, this article first explains the background of the phenomenon, defines OIM, and outlines its unique features to establish the conceptual boundaries of the new concept. Based on insights from interviews with practitioners and consumers, and aligned with social capital theory, the authors suggest that OIM involves leveraging in...

MKTG 556 | Session 4 | A Meta-Analysis of Brand Extension Success: The Effects of Parent Brand Equity and Extension Fit - 2023

Chenming Peng, Tammo H.A. Bijmolt , Franziska Völckner , and Hong Zhao

Introduction:

Given the high failure rates of brand extensions, understanding the key factors that drive successful brand extensions is essential for marketers and researchers. Previous studies have suggested that parent brand equity and extension fit are main success factors, but findings have been inconsistent. Using signaling theory, categorization theory, and a large dataset of 2,134 effect sizes from research conducted between 1990 and 2020, the authors p...

MKTG 556 | Session 4 | Revenue Generation Through Influencer Marketing

Maximilian Beichert, Andreas Bayerl , Jacob Goldenberg, and Andreas Lanz

Introduction:

Direct-to-consumer firms increasingly see influencer marketing as an effective way to seed products. However, a key managerial question remains unresolved: whether to target influencers with low or high followership to generate immediate revenue. In this article, the authors aim to answer this question by examining the entire influencer marketing funnel for the first time—ranging from followers on user-generated content networks (e.g., Instagram) to reached followers, engagement, and actual revenue—while also considering the costs of p...

MKTG 556 | Session 3 | When and how Board Members with Marketing Experience Facilitate Firm Growth - 2018 

Kimberly A. Whitler, Ryan Krause, & Donald R. Lehmann

Introduction:

Scholars have expressed concern that marketing's influence at the strategic levels of the firm is waning. Consistent with this view, only 2.6% of firms' board members have marketing experience. The authors suggest that this is shortsighted and that including more marketing-experienced board members (MEBMs) will increase firm growth by (1) helping firms prioritize growth as a strategic objective and (2) contributing their expertise to improve the effectiveness of revenue growth strategies. Drawing on t...

MKTG 556 | Session 3 | The Chief Marketing Officer Matters! - 2015

Frank Germann, Peter Ebbes, & Rajdeep Grewal

Introduction:

Marketing academics and practitioners alike remain unconvinced about the chief marketing officer's (CMO's) performance implications. While some studies suggest that firms financially benefit from having a CMO in the C-suite, others find that the CMO has little or no impact on firm performance. As a result, there have been strong calls for additional academic research on the CMO's performance implications. In response, the authors use various model specifications with different identifying assumptions (such as rich data models, unobserved...

MKTG 556 | Session 3 | Marketing Excellence: Nature, Measurement, and Investor Valuations - 2020

Christian Homburg, Marcus Theel, and Sebastian Hohenberg

Introduction:

Marketing excellence is a core principle in the field that is gaining more attention from managers and investors. However, the exact nature of marketing excellence and its effectiveness still remain unclear. This research provides insights by addressing two questions: (1) How do managers understand and practice marketing excellence? and (2) How do investors assess marketing excellence? Study 1 combines insights from 39 in-depth interviews with senior executives and secondary data from 150 company strategies to find that marketing excellence is...

MKTG 556 | Session 2 | The Role of Marketing - 1999

Christine Moorman & Roland T. Rust

Introduction:

The article explores the role of the marketing function within firms that have a strong market orientation, challenging the idea that widespread market orientation reduces the need for a separate marketing function. Using survey data from managers across six business functions and two time periods, the authors show that the marketing function adds value to a firm's financial performance, customer relationship outcomes, and new product success beyond the benefits of a general market orientation. The study also finds that this...

MKTG 556 | Session 2 | How can academics generate great research ideas? Inspiration from ideation practice - 2024

Stefan Stremersch

Introduction:

How can academic scholars come up with great ideas, such that their research becomes even more important, relevant, and interesting? Based on ideation practices of sophisticated companies, this paper triggers academic researchers to self-reflect on: (1) the source used for ideation, (2) the scope applied to ideation, (3) the sharing of ideas during ideation, and (4) the selection of ideas. The paper also offers concrete improvements that researchers can implement in their ideation practices on ideation processes, tools, and me...

MKTG 556 | Session 1 | Reality Check: Infusing Ecological Value into Academic Marketing Research - 2021

Harald J. van Heerde, Christine Moorman, C. Page Moreau, and Robert W. Palmatier

Introduction

The article advocates for embedding ecological value (EV) into academic marketing research, defined as the degree to which research reflects and is relevant to marketing as it exists and evolves among stakeholders and ecosystems. The authors argue that while external validity concerns generalizability, EV is broader, encompassing integration of real-world perspectives throughout the research process. They propose a framework of "reality checks" across stages—problem identification, theory de...

MKTG 556 | Session 1 | Learning from Data: An Empirics-First Approach to Relevant Knowledge Generation - 2023

Peter N. Golder, Marnik G. Dekimpe, Jake T. An , Harald J. van Heerde , Darren S.U. Kim, and Joseph W. Alba

Introduction:

A theory-first paradigm tends to be the dominant approach in much academic marketing research. In this approach, a theory is borrowed, refined, or developed and then tested empirically. In this challenging-the-boundaries article, the authors make a case for an empirics-first approach. "Empirics-first" refers to research that (1) is grounded in (originates from) a real-world marketing phenomen...

ACCTG 502 | Session 3 | Accounting standards and debt covenants: Has the "balance sheet approach" led to a decline in the use of balance sheet covenants? - 2011

Peter R. Demerjian

Introduction: 

Recent years have seen a sharp decline in the use of balance sheet-based covenants in private debt contracts. I hypothesize that changes in accounting standards can explain part of this decline. Standard setting has shifted towards a ''balance sheet approach'', which I predict has made the balance sheet less useful for contracting. I measure the effect of the balance sheet approach on specific borrowers usi...

ACCTG 502 | Session 3 | Financial statements not required - 2024

Michael Minnis, Andrew G. Sutherland, Felix W. Vetter

Introduction:

Recent years have seen a sharp decline in the use of balance sheet-based covenants in private debt contracts. I hypothesize that changes in accounting standards can explain part of this decline. Standard setting has shifted towards a ''balance sheet approach'', which I predict has made the balance sheet less useful for contracting. I measure the effect of the balance sheet approach on specific borrowers using a volatility ratio. I find that borrowers with greater volatility ratios are...

ACCTG 502 | Session 2 | Financial statements vs. FinTech: A discussion of Minnis, Sutherland, and Vetter - 2024

Peter Demerjian

Introductions:

Minnis, Sutherland, and Vetter (MSV) document a significant decline in lenders' collection of attested financial statements, including unqualified audits, reviews, and compilations, from 2002 to 2017. They attribute this change to the adoption of new technology by lenders and the entry of new non-bank lenders into the market. In this discussion, I examine several aspects of their findings. First, I offer a framework for assessing the usefulness of financial statement information in debt contracting. Using this framework, I...

ACCTG 502 | Session 2 | The effect of fair value accounting on the performance evaluation role of earnings - 2020

Ivy Xiying Zhang, Yong Zhang

Introduction:

Using the setting of IFRS adoption, DeFond, Hu, Hung, and Li (2020) examine the impact of fair value accounting on the usefulness of earnings in executive performance evaluation and compensation. In this discussion, we review the research design, discuss the implications of the findings, and offer suggestions for future research. In particular, DeFond et al.'s measure of the impact of fair value accounting may contain significant measurement error, which calls for...

ACCTG 502 | Session 2 | Does Restricting Managers' Discretion through GAAP Impact the Usefulness of Accounting Information in Debt Contracting? - 2022

LIN CHENG, JACOB JAGGI, SPENCER YOUNG 

Introduction:
We examine whether limiting managers' discretion through GAAP affects the usefulness of accounting information in debt contracts. Our research offers guidance to standard setters and regulators on how restricting managers' discretion via accounting standards impacts debt contracting. We hypothesize and find that under stricter standards, lenders are more likely to make non-GAAP adjustments to GAAP-based performance measures, suggesting that these restrictions reduce the usefulness of accounting information. We conduct t...

ACCTG 502 | Session 2 | The Effect of Fair Value Accounting on the performance evaluation role of earnings - 2020

Mark DeFond, Jinshuai Hu, Mingyi Hung, Siqi Li d

Introduction

We examine the effect of fair value accounting on the relationship between net income and cash payments following the global adoption of IFRS in 2005. We find that, while IFRS's non-fair-value provisions are linked to an increase in this relationship, its fair value provisions are linked to a decrease. Overall, we add to the literature on the usefulness of fair value accounting by providing evidence that it is...

ACCTG 502 | Session 1 | The Relation Between Equity Incentives and Misreporting - 2005

Christopher S. Armstrong, David F. Larcker, Gaizka Ormazabal, Daniel J. Taylor

Introduction:

Previous research indicates that a manager with wealth more sensitive to changes in the firm's stock price has a greater motivation to misreport. However, if the manager is risk-averse and misreporting increases both equity values and equity risk, then the sensitivity of the manager's wealth to stock price changes (portfolio delta) will produce two opposite incentive effects: a positive 'reward effect' and a negative 'risk effect.' Conversely, the sensitivity of...

ACCTG 502 | Session 1 | CEO Incentives and Earnings Management - 2013

Daniel Bergstressera, Thomas Philippon

Introduction:
The paper examines how CEO incentives, particularly equity-based compensation, influence earnings management practices. The study aims to determine whether stronger alignment between CEO wealth and firm value increases the likelihood of discretionary accounting choices that enhance reported performance in the short term. This focus bridges academic debates on executive pay and practical concerns over corporate governance.