The Business School Broadcast - 9th February 2018

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In this week’s Business School Broadcast we take a look at research from Columbia Business School that suggests climate change could shape your personality, the benefits of sharing personal stories in the workplace and marketing experts from Harvard Business School discuss their favorite Super Bowl ads.

UK to lose top spots for Venture Capital & Private Equity world investment due to Brexit

Launched in 2009, the Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index has shown practically no changes in the top three positions of the table in the past nine years: the US has taken the top spot in every edition, followed by the UK and Canada, for almost a decade. However, the authors anticipate a huge shake-up in the following two – three years, mainly driven by Brexit and its impact on the UK. The most direct and palpable effect will be a drop for the UK from 2nd to 6th position in the index.

“A future loss of several positions is almost inevitable; additional regulatory burdens and increasing costs for UK GPs to gain access to the single market, as well as a slowing economy and an inevitable brain drain, will make the UK less attractive to venture capital and private equity investors,” says one of the indexes authors, IESE Finance Prof. Heinrich Liechtenstein.

The VC/PE index was designed by IESE’s Centre for International Finance, in conjunction with EMLYON Business School. The team includes Heinrich Liechtenstein, Prof. of Financial Management, IESE, Alexander Groh, Prof. of Finance, EMYLON, Karsten Lieser, guest researcher at IESE, and Markus Biesinger, guest researcher at IESE.

The full ranking and in depth report and analysis can be found here

Climate change could explain the personality of your significant other

The latest research from Columbia Business School offers compelling evidence for the role of regional ambient temperature in shaping people’s personality. Even after controlling for various factors suggested by previous research, including farming practices, migration patterns, and disease exposure, the researchers found temperature to be a key factor in how personality develops.

“Ambient temperature can shape the fundamental dimensions of personality,” says Jackson Lu, a PhD candidate at Columbia Business School who conducted the research alongside Columbia Professor Adam Galinsky. “Our research reveals a connection between the ambient temperature that individuals were exposed to when they were young and their personality today. This finding can help explain the personality differences we observe in people of different regions.”

Cornell kept business college dean’s impending resignation secret from top administrators

Cornell University so carefully and closely guarded the impending resignation of its business college dean last week that it kept even the college’s own top administrators in the dark.

Kate Walsh, dean of the School of Hotel Administration, said in a closed-door meeting with several dozen faculty members late Monday afternoon that she learned of former dean Soumitra Dutta’s abrupt resignation only when Cornell’s provost publicly announced the change in an email to business college employees and students last week.

Former ski-racer Grandi brings business smarts to Alpine Canada

With the Winter Olympics beginning in Pyeongchang, South Korea today The Globe and Mail featured an interesting story this week on Vania Grandi, a former Canadian national team ski racer and named last month as the first woman to be appointed president and chief executive officer of Alpine Canada.

Ms. Grandi graduated with an MBA from Westminster College in Salt Lake City in 2005 to transition from a career in journalism to senior positions in marketing and sales with mining giant Rio Tinto. Therefore, she feels well prepared for her new Olympic role, even though it will take some getting used to.

"While at Rio Tinto I was spoiled because I always had support on the finance side and the human resources and the marketing," she says. "Here I'll have to really bring it all together and make sure I'm using all of the skill sets that I learned from my MBA."

Big hits: The best of the 2018 Super Bowl ads

Harvard Business School marketing experts make their picks for most effective Super Bowl advertisement.

The Super Bowl isn’t just a mainstage for football’s two best teams. With over 100 million viewers tuned in, and 30-second spots going for more than $5 million, the big game also represents one of the highest stakes advertising events of the year.

Harvard Business School turned to three marketing experts to weigh in on 2018’s top spots.

Firms need to support workers threatened by automation

Employees have to be retrained for a business world driven by artificial intelligence.

Businesses, governments and educators are not ready for an automated working world where people who fail to retrain throughout their careers face job insecurity and instability.

That was one of the big talking points at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF), according to Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and Steward of the WEF Council on Work, Education and Gender.

“This transition [to automated jobs] will create enormous flux that we’re not prepared for, so the need for action is crucial,” she said in her blog Davos 2018: the imperatives for job reskilling.

New research highlights potential benefits of leaders sharing personal stories in the workplace

Sharing personal stories in the workplace may improve both leadership and team dynamics, research by Dr Penny Moore at Henley Business School suggests.

One of the main findings to emerge from the research so far is the extent to which senior leaders did in fact report sharing personal stories with colleagues. The study has shown that story-sharing is common, even in corporate settings.

Many of the leaders interviewed spoke about sharing personal stories at work, and about the importance of being seen as ‘open’ and ‘human’ by their employees.

Dr Moore added that in the context of teams, personal stories provide a depth of information about a colleague which is potentially quite valuable. By sharing personal stories, team members can better understand their colleagues, what motivates them, their struggles, values, and what makes them tick. This information might influence how the team functions as a whole.

Why do some firms survive a crisis and others don’t? ERC study to find out

An international study of small and medium-sized firms has been launched to find out why some are more resilient than others when a crisis hits, at both the level of the firm and in the wider economy. Researchers from Aston and Warwick business schools to lead the study, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Researchers from Warwick Business School and Aston University at the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) will lead the UK study, with academics at the University of Nice in France; the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn in Germany; University of Padova in Italy; IE University in Spain.

Professor Stephen Roper, of Warwick Business School and Director of the ERC, said: “The resilience of SMEs to adverse events, such as problems with finances and funding, skills and staffing, and is critical to sustaining European economic growth and competitiveness.

“Despite this, there is a lack of previous research on resilience in small firms, leaving substantial knowledge gaps.

John G. “Jack” McDonald, who taught investing for 50 years at Stanford GSB, dies at 80

Known internationally for his work on investment in global equity markets, McDonald was renowned on campus for his intense devotion both to his students and the study of investing said Jonathan Levin, Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“He helped Stanford GSB graduates land jobs, start investment funds, and work through life transitions; he was a source of advice and wisdom,” Levin said. “His dedication to his teaching was breathtaking. Today, his students span the globe, and the achievements and contributions of Jack’s ‘Investment Family’ are a continuing legacy for Jack and for Stanford.”

“Jack’s class was the most sought-after class in preregistration, and had the longest waiting list of any class in the curriculum,” said George Parker, Dean Witter Distinguished Professor of Finance, Emeritus, who knew McDonald since they both arrived at Stanford GSB in 1962 as students. “I think he taught more students than any single faculty member in the history of Stanford GSB.”