Numerous experts and laymen alike expect the Chinese to realign their business operations, financial behavior and cultural ways to resemble those of the West. This attitude is quietly resented by the striving Chinese. It is also dead wrong. The Chinese want to become Westerners as much as Westerners want to become Chinese.
Now that Western companies, [...]

Presiding over a multibillion-dollar spy satellite program for the U.S. government is difficult enough without having to endure the strain of shrinking budgets, engineering problems, schedule delays and balkanized customer relationships. However, those are exactly the problems that our team, the Space Systems Group at the National Reconnaissance Office, faced in 2006. They are also [...]

When a homegrown politician dies suddenly, local companies show the loss of a valuable connection immediately in their share prices, according to research from the Owen School.
Stock prices for companies located where a politician lived or was born declined by an average of nearly 2 percent when the connection was abruptly severed, translating into millions [...]

 
Imagine that you’re an NBA star instead of a stellar MBA. In fact you’re more than a star; you’re one of the top players. Then you make a dramatic career move, accepting a lucrative offer to be a head coach in the league. 
Suddenly your job is to lead and motivate others who excel in the [...]

As the world financial panic set in motion by the subprime mortgage crisis reached full steam in late September, Bob Whaley’s phone began ringing. Interest in what financial writers call the “Fear Index” was spiking as stock prices plummeted and major Wall Street firms collapsed, and much of it was directed his way. The Fear [...]

Hedge funds have long been considered among the most lucrative investment vehicles, employing a variety of often high-risk, high-return strategies for wealthy investors. But the news these days from hedge funds—estimated to represent nearly $2 trillion in assets—is no longer rosy, with funds down more than 17 percent in 2008 alone. The secretive world of [...]

China is undergoing an infrastructure building campaign unrivaled in recent history. When the country first opened its doors to the outside world in fits and starts in the ’80s and ’90s, large transportation providers, like DHL, UPS, FedEx and Exel, began vying for a toehold on the mainland through joint ventures with the various government [...]

In his book Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching and Keeping the Best People, author Bradford D. Smart concludes, “With an average base salary of $114,000, the average total cost associated with a ‘typical’ mis-hire is $2,709,000—greater than 24 times the person’s base compensation.” 
To rationalize these amounts, think about the opportunity costs that [...]

When inflation is considered, those who possess a more sanguine outlook relating to pricing pressures have pointed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to bolster their view that inflation is not a problem.  
The problem with the CPI is that consumer prices themselves transmit all sorts of information unrelated to currency strength. So while rising [...]