Service systems are inherently subject to variability, whether through customers, service providers, suppliers, or unexpected events. Yet customers demand excellence and consistency regardless of this variability. In general, there are two ways to handle this variability?through people or through processes. We use the concept of robustness to describe these two approaches, addressing when one or t
This note on warfare summarizes treatises by Chinese (e.g., Sun Tzu, The Art of War, ca. 500 BC) and Japanese (e.g., Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings, 1643 AD) warriors, reviews their philosophies and leadership lessons, and offers modern applications.
This technical note gives students an overview of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in order to help them understand how these fields can contribute to the future of marketing. To provide context, students are first introduced to the history of AI and the basic parameters of AI, ML, and deep learning (DL). The differences between ML and statistical modeling are also described
The culture-strategy-execution framework, known as the Trio Model, offers organizations a powerful, adaptive approach to navigating today's complicated global issues. By considering culture as an integral part of strategic thinking, executives and practitioners adopting the model can take a holistic approach to solving practical problems.
While managers of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations often focus on their area of specific expertise, true success comes only from taking a complete enterprise perspective. Organizations must focus on global, not local, optimization across all functional areas, not just one. In this note, we present a model based on nine interrelated areas that when jointly considered will increase t
While there are a number of courses focused on helping students create and perfect innovative new products, there remains a gap regarding how to create and perfect the idea—or the positioning behind the product. The reality is that it is significantly more difficult than most people think to create a superior positioning concept. In addition, most sophisticated marketing organizations begin with a
This note replaces "Valuation of Late-Stage Companies and Buyouts" (UVA-F-1639).
This note focuses on the valuation of late-stage companies with a particular emphasis on leveraged buyouts (LBOs). In contrast to venture capital, where firms are typically at an early stage of development, late-stage investments involve more-established businesses that have an ability to take on higher levels of deb
This technical note explores the many different forms of equity compensation. Equity compensation, defined as compensation that provides for the delivery of equity securities, aligns employees' incentives with shareholder value driven by a company's stock price. Equity compensation is used extensively to attract and retain key employees. However, the types of equity compensation differ in their ef
Literature in food marketing provides many examples of implicit associations and tensions of which marketers should be aware. For example, a brand that positions its product as healthy and tasty may struggle to gain traction in the market because consumers tend to associate good-tasting food with low health value, and therefore assume healthy food tastes bad. Often, consumers make purchases based
This note reviews seven recurrent factors in financial crises (runnable debt, rising leverage, financial innovation, complexity, contagion, cognitive bias, incompetence, and ethical violations) and some 17 responses aimed at preventing or mitigating crises.
This note shapes a framework of competing policy priorities for governments in responding to a financial crisis: rescue, relief, recovery, and reform. The dominant considerations are where, when, how, and why governments should choose the order of these policy priorities. The second part of the note highlights six hurdles to policy making: ideologies, interests, incentives, institutions, innovati
Business has become increasingly globalized, interconnected, and disrupted by the unceasing progress of technology. As markets span ever-larger geographical areas, the war for talent among companies continues to heat up. As businesspeople enter the workforce, they seek not only challenging and stimulating roles with competitive compensation, but also organizations dedicated to people development.
