About Ross Thought in Action

Ross Thought in Action provides content for business leaders, thought leaders, and the media. Our editorial team focuses on research that is clearly applicable to organizations and presents text, video, and audio features about faculty and ideas. We update this page frequently, and we send an email newsletter to subscribers every other month.

commentary

Professor Jerry Davis in New York Times: Bangladesh Collapse Implicates Every Consumer
MAY 8, 2013

The tragic building collapse in Bangladesh has put a sharp focus on supply chains and where our goods are made. Professor Jerry Davis, writing in the New York Times, says culpability for the incident goes all the way down the supply chain to us. The Times is collecting responses to Davis' letter for its Sunday Dialogue, which also will include the professor's rejoinder. "If we want to see fewer tragedies like the one in Bangladesh, we as consumers need to reward the companies that make the effort to verify their supply chains and shun those that do not," he writes. "Make it unprofitable to be unsafe."
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research focus

Blowing the Whistle on Bad Behavior Takes More than Guts
MAY 3, 2013

Conventional wisdom holds that one's personal characteristics drive the decision to speak up about bad behavior at work. But new research by Ross professor David Mayer shows that the work environment plays a bigger role than previously thought. While the ethicality of one's supervisor matters, co-workers also must model ethical behavior to encourage employees who witness unethical conduct to report it to management, Mayer's research suggests.
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faculty books

Sustainability 2.0: Flourishing
APRIL 24, 2013

Sustainability has fully permeated the business strategy mainstream, but Professor Andrew Hoffman isn't pleased at how it's being translated. He and his mentor, retired MIT Professor John R. Ehrenfeld, have observed more mitigation, more "doing less bad" than transformation. Their new book, Flourishing: A Frank Conversation About Sustainability (Stanford University Press), deals with what sustainability should be, compared with what it's become. The book is a conversation between the two, posing provocative questions and challenging ideas on consumption and the use of resources.
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research focus

Weather Data Scrutiny Spurs Government Efficiency
APRIL 18, 2013

When the National Weather Service says the temperature reached 75 degrees on a given day, can you believe it? Probably so, if you live in one of the 24 cities where the Chicago Mercantile Exchange sells weather derivative contracts. Finance Professor Amiyatosh Purnanandam found measurement error rates of National Weather Service stations fell by about 10 percent after the exchange offered weather derivatives for that area. Purnanandam says his research is proof that financial markets change behavior.
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research focus

Doing Business in China: Being Efficient Isn't Enough :: Video
APRIL 12, 2013

Innovative and efficient firms prosper, while those that are weaker in such areas die. That's the law of the business jungle. Or is it? Professor Brian Wu has found that law doesn't hold in China. His research shows that more efficient companies are more likely to exit the country's market. That's because incumbent firms in China have advantages with social, institutional, and governmental connections. Wu, a professor of strategy, outlined his research on this topic during a talk at U-M's Center for Chinese Studies at the International Institute.
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faculty books

Making Sense of our Senses
APRIL 11, 2013

How did a scent become important for an airline? Why is eating a Hershey's Kiss so much different than eating a bar of the same chocolate? In her new book, Customer Sense: How the 5 Senses Influence Buying Behavior (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), Professor Aradhna Krishna explains how these companies tap into sensory marketing — using visual, audio, tactile, olfactory, and taste cues not only to sell a product, but to engage customers. Krishna brings together the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and consumer behavior to show how our senses work, and how successful companies master this art to build powerful bands.
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analysis

High-Stakes Leadership Lessons from Everest
APRIL 5, 2013

Professor Scott DeRue is stepping out of the classroom and onto Mount Everest to climb the world's tallest mountain. But he's not taking a break from teaching. Co-written by David Morton, DeRue's Harvard Business Review blog shares what he's learning about high-stakes leadership. Many of the same lessons on Everest apply to the high-risk, high-uncertainty environments that business leaders experience.
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commentary

Alien Innovator Syndrome (and How to Avoid It)
APRIL 5, 2013

You've seen certain shows on certain networks that go like this: Ancient mystery? Aliens. Weird, old building? Aliens. No other possibility. It drives Professor Jeff DeGraff nuts. Problem is, a lot of people employ a similar mentality when it comes to innovation. In this Huffington Post Business blog, innovation expert DeGraff describes the signs of Alien Innovator Syndrome and how to avoid them.
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rankings

Ross Ranked No. 1 in Management Journal Productivity
APRIL 1, 2013

Ross School of Business faculty have been the most productive over the past five years in getting research published in the top eight management journals. That's according to a joint study of U.S. and Canadian business schools performed by Texas A&M University and the University of Florida. Ross topped the 2008-12 Aggregated Management Department Productivity Rankings list with 78 articles.
Read Article // View Rankings

case study

An Operations Approach to Global Health Delivery
MARCH 13, 2013

One of the prime spots for innovation is at the intersection of disciplines. Professor Ravi Anupindi's new case study combines his expertise in operations and interest in global health. The study, co-authored by Colm Fay, MBA/MS '12, looks at how one company took an operations approach to improving an anti-malaria mosquito spraying program in Uganda and achieved positive results. The case shows how taking some calculated risks with a decentralized operation can pay dividends.
Read Article // ABT Associates: Scaling Indoor Residual Spraying for Malaria Prevention in Africa (Click "Inspection Copy" for Free Case) // More Case Studies

executive focus

Migration Patterns of Executives and Analysts
MARCH 13, 2013

When it comes to analyst coverage of public companies, the more the merrier. But getting analysts to initiate coverage can be a challenge for investor relations managers. New research by accounting professor Greg Miller could give overworked IR managers a head start. He's found that analysts sometimes pick up coverage of a company when it hires an executive that analyst is familiar with. This finding can help IR managers find a potential sympathetic ear in the analyst community. Miller brings his expertise in how companies communicate with markets to the Ross Executive Education program Theory and Practice of Investor Relations, next offered Aug. 11-16.
Read Article // Theory and Practice of Investor Relations // More Executive Education

your turn

If you have a question or topic you'd like to see addressed in the next issue of Ross Thought in Action, email us at rossthought@umich.edu.