Uncertainty is an invisible trap, set to blind our capacity to avoid nonsense and create actual intelligence. Why invisible? Because uncertainty is powered by what we do not know, which is particularly difficult to become aware of. Anne-Sophie Chaxel, HEC Paris Associate Professor of Marketing and expert in cognitive biases, gives three objectives to keep in mind to embrace uncertainty, along with practice tool boxes to create intelligence.
Today, social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, have become primary sources of information. They are also vehicles for fake news and disinformation. During a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, how should social media be mastered and employed in a responsible way? HEC Paris Associate Professor of Marketing, Kristine de Valck, has been studying the role of social networks in the marketplace since 1999. She explains.
Why different countries have made very different decisions to fight the coronavirus? What are the potential consequences of such crisis on the psychology of the population? In this interview, Anne-Sophie Chaxel, HEC Paris Associate Professor of Marketing specialized in consumer behavior and decision-making, explains the different approaches of governments toward their responsibility, and the biases behind non-optimal behaviors and decisions. She also shares her recommendation regarding decision-making processes.
How can herding and social media word-of-mouth increase the demand online? In this interview, Xitong Li, Associate Professor of Information Systems at HEC Paris, unveils his latest research co-authored by Lynn Wu of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, revealing what they have found from Groupon’s combination of both techniques.
How do young adults feel about television streaming and how does this feeling affect their watching of television series? How do those consumers embrace and protect themselves from the possibilities of ATAWAD (anytime, anywhere, any device) TV watching?
Luxury is a three faceted word. It refers first to a concept, very subjective thus always hotly debated. It is also a very lucrative macro-economic sector that has been growing over the last 25 years. Finally, it also designates a very specific strategy, distinct from other strategies such as a fashion strategy, a premium strategy or a masstige strategy. Any company can adopt a luxury strategy even if it does not produce the classical goods or services traditionally associated with the luxury sector. Apple is a typical example.
Can studying fake news be good? At least two professors at HEC Paris think so. Ludovic François and Dominique Rouziès explain why and how in their recent Harvard Business Review article entitled “The Real Story of the Fake Story of One of Europe’s Most Charismatic CEOs”. In this article they recount how HEC Paris offered a seminar to teach students how to manage corporate crisis by using the internet. In the process, the seminar taught the students the impact of fake news. Here is the story.
The conference focused on the challenges facing 21st century salesforce management. New players with disruptive strategies are forcing many major companies to reinvent their salesforces. The internet and cloud services are altering the nature of customer relations and there is a sharp rise in the technical competencies required by today’s salespeople. These are driving big changes in the role of marketing and sales requiring new attitudes, tools, and competencies to effectively manage sales performance. Director General of HEC Paris, Peter Todd, gave an exceptionally insightful keynote speech signifying that business schools were aware of these trends and working to create and share the knowledge necessary for successful salesforces in the 21st century.
Any parent can remember the subtle mix of excitement and anxiety accompanying the choice of their baby’s first name. This first name will follow the child their whole life, and in a study recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , we show that the stereotype that a given society has (for example, French society) of a first name (for example, Véronique) influences…the facial appearance of Véroniques living in France. Yes, we look like our first name. Literally. Our first name manifests itself in our face.
The purchasing of fake luxury goods has increased dramatically in recent years and counterfeiting now functions as a parallel market to the luxury industry itself. But what are the real reasons for the emergence of this shadow market and how big a threat does it pose for luxury brands?
