Business and management

Senior Lecturer Bill Aulet writes for The Boston Globe about whether Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker can “pull off something rarely seen in business and even less often in politics — to be both a great manager and a great leader.”

Wall Street Journal reporter Brenda Cronin writes that MIT researchers have identified a group of consumers that routinely buy products that fail. “You’ve got to think about who’s buying” the product, explains Prof. Duncan Simester. “If it’s these harbingers buying them….and if they keep buying them…then you’ve got a problem.”

CNBC’s John Schoen writes that MIT researchers have identified a group of consumers that repeatedly buy unpopular products. "You might have thought this was a category-specific effect — someone who buys the wrong makeup," explains Prof. Catherine Tucker. "But the strongest effects were going across category.”

MIT researchers have found that certain consumers are more prone to buying products that end up failing, reports Peter Coy for Bloomberg Business. “It's not just that certain people try out new products that turn out to be unsuccessful,” writes Coy. “It's that they keep going back for more of them.”

Senior lecturer Sharmilia Chatterjee writes for Fortune about the growth in box-delivery subscription services and how large retailors may end up edging them out of the market. “Before entrepreneurs rush into the subscription box space, they should take heed of a number of factors including…the entry of big players,” Chatterjee writes. 

A new study from MIT’s Industrial Performance Center finds that while Massachusetts is successfully launching and growing new startups, the state has a shortage of “super-scale” companies, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. Bray explains that the report “calls for public- and private-sector efforts to foster the development of bigger businesses in the Bay State.”

A new report details the entrepreneurial impact of MIT’s alumni entrepreneurs, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. “We’re seeing a more rapid rate of growth than we have ever seen before,” explains Prof. Edward Roberts, in the “growth in the formation and startup of new companies by MIT alumni.”

Anne Fisher reports for Fortune on a new paper co-authored by Senior Lecturer Don Sull that found that a large number of senior managers at major corporations do not know their companies’ priorities. “Among senior managers directly involved in setting their companies’ objectives, only about half could identify them,” writes Fisher. 

Writing for Fortune, Prof. Zeynep Ton highlights a new trend among American companies to open on Thanksgiving in an effort to get an early jump on Black Friday. “This is a rotten break for employees forced to work while the rest of the family gathers together,” writes Ton.

Senior Lecturer Peter Senge speaks with C. M. Rubin of The Huffington Post about learning systems in business and education. Senge says that what connects “business and education is the need to grow an organizational climate or culture that supports ongoing collaboration, risk-taking, and a deep sense of purpose and commitment.”

In a new study, MIT researchers have examined how credit card companies target their outreach based off consumers’ income levels, reports Jeff Guo for The Washington Post. The researchers found that, “Richer people were more likely to get cash-back, point-reward or mileage offers. Poor people were more likely to get offers that advertise a low introductory APR.”

Nihdi Subbaraman reports for BetaBoston on the legal clinics MIT and BU have started providing to student entrepreneurs. “The Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property Clinic is intended to serve as a place where startup founders can seek basic advice about how to register their company or how to distribute ownership to multiple founders,” writes Subbaraman. 

MIT and BU have joined forces to offer students entrepreneurs legal advice, the Associated Press reports. "It's almost like a godsend," says MIT sophomore Isaiah Udotong, who is starting his own company. "We were looking for legal advice and wondering how we were going to make sure everything is legitimate."

Nidhi Subbaraman writes for BetaBoston about Innovation Teams (“iTeams”), an MIT program that helps students commercialize products out of lab technologies. “When it comes to emerging tech — the brand-new stuff that’s published in journals… sometimes the path to market isn’t what the researchers envisioned when they built it. iTeams wants to give the hard stuff a chance,” explains Subbaraman.

BostInno reporter Dylan Martin writes about how MIT and BU have formed a new partnership to provide students with a source of legal advice on technology and business issues. “BU law students will provide free legal advice and representation to MIT and BU students who either want to start their own business or are already involved with a startup.”