Small businesses are an undeniable engine of growth for the United States, comprising 99 percent of all U.S. firms and driving nearly half our total economic activity. Yet small business owners across the country lack sufficient capital to succeed, grow and scale. The Kenan Institute has conducted a new analysis on the role of the Small Business Administration’s SBIC program in providing capital to the often-overlooked small businesses operating outside of metropolitan centers, as well as those owned by women and underrepresented minorities. You can access an overview of our findings, as well as key takeaways for business and policy leaders, by clicking below.
Blouin, a member of the Kenan Institute Board of Advisors, told Knowledge at Wharton that proposals to levy a 1% excise tax on corporate share buybacks and a 15% minimum tax on corporations that report more than $1 billion in book profits or in their financial statements were ill-conceived and based on misconceptions of corporate behavior.
I have yet to decline an opportunity to ride some of my favorite hobby horses in managerial accounting research, so the invitation by Ranjani Krishnan to participate in the Journal of Management Accounting Research's 25th Anniversary Panel at the 2014 Management Accounting Section Midyear Meeting in Orlando was very welcome. The following summarizes my thoughts expressed during the panel. I hope to stir the pot and perhaps get management accounting researchers to think somewhat differently after reading this piece about where we are as a field and where we need to be going to be successful in the next 25 years.
Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are ushering in significant changes in how enterprises operate – and raising a host of questions for organizations. In this Kenan Insight, we explore how changing the organizational mindset to treat AI as an “employee” may pave the way to fully reaping the benefits of AI systems.
There are few topics in business more current, more covered or more controversial than corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities. Proponents claim a business’s adoption of such principles yields outcomes that benefit all parties, driving win-win scenarios for internal and external stakeholders alike. But critics dismiss ESG implementation as a performative PR ploy, and argue that considering such non-pecuniary factors in corporate decision-making is unsustainable. Our (independent, nonpartisan) findings indicate both sides of the debate are missing the mark – and in hopes of advancing more productive conversations, we introduce below a research-based model for examining the trade-offs of ESG adoption for businesses large and small.
Taylor, who took on P&G’s top leadership role in 2015, shared his vision for transforming the venerable personal products giant into a leaner and more responsive company.
Why do managers act unfairly even when they recognize the significant organizational benefits of treating employees fairly? Prior research has explained this puzzling phenomenon predominantly through an “actor-centric” perspective, proposing that managers’ just behavior is an outcome of their own individual differences.
In this study, we consider the dynamics of crowdfunding project support over time. We propose that people support crowdfunding projects financially when they believe that their contribution will make an impact. Because perceptions of impact are positively related to goal proximity, we predict that support for a crowdfunding project will increase as the project funding approaches its target goal.
Join us for the Kenan Institute’s monthly virtual press briefing at 9 a.m. EDT this Friday, May 5, as UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Professor Christian Lundblad offers his insights on both the labor market and the Fed's response to continuing inflation.
A recent meta-analysis from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Professor Elad Sherf and co-authors examines the literature on "seeking behavior" at work – such as asking for information, feedback or help. Why does it matter and how can it be harnessed to the benefit of both employers and employees?
Join us for the Kenan Institute’s monthly virtual press briefing at 9 a.m. EDT this Friday, Dec. 8, as professor and former executive director Greg Brown shares his thoughts on where inflation may be headed from here.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Professor Al Segars and co-author Anselm Beach have written about their new model for developing diversity, equity and inclusion in an organization, the Values/Principles Model, in the most recent issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review. At a time when recognition of DEI’s benefits has become widespread, their approach gives leaders the tools to create real change that will allow their whole companies to prosper. Learn more by clicking below.
Across the globe, every workday people commute an average of 38 minutes each way, yet surprisingly little research has examined the implications of this daily routine for work-related outcomes. Integrating theories of boundary work, self-control, and work-family conflict, we propose that the commute to work serves as a liminal role transition between home and work roles, prompting employees to engage in boundary management strategies.
Since January 2020, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected more than 4.5 million Americans, resulting in over 150,000 deaths; reconfigured our domestic lives and the world economy; and overwhelmed the United States’ (U.S.) public health and health care delivery capabilities. As individuals, institutions, and municipalities struggled to quickly integrate public health best practices into economic activities and social priorities, the virus exposed fault lines in our nation’s health care system(s). The government’s initial response was disjointed, which led to critical delays, confusion, and, ultimately, hindered collaboration. As a result, medical institutions and providers were, and still are in some cases, unable to obtain adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), provide and administer sufficient and timely testing to identify and track the disease, and secure sufficient medical equipment to care for infected individuals.
Companies face increasing pressure from different stakeholders to address various environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. In their efforts to engage with these issues, they might pursue symbolic or substantive actions, either pre-emptively (proactive actions) or in response to specific targeted threats (reactive actions). Yet we know relatively little about how different stakeholders react to this repertoire of corporate actions and importantly, whether they are aligned in their reaction. We ask this question in the context of gender inequality, an issue that has become salient due to heightened societal attention thanks to the #MeToo movement.
Interested in a recap of the Frontiers of Business Conference: Workforce Disrupted? Read the key takeaways and powerful insights from the conference's speakers and panelists on the 2023 grand challenge theme.
In May 2023 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) issued proposed emission standards (the Rules) for existing and new Fossil Fuel-Fired Electricity Generating units. Issued under EPA’s Section 111 authority wherein the Agency asserts the right under the Clean Air Act and subsequent court rulings to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, the new standards, if sustained, would accelerate retirements of coal plants. The Rules also impact utility plans to operate existing and to build new natural gas plants.
We hypothesized that individuals in cultures typified by lower levels of relational mobility would tend to show more attention to the surrounding social and physical context (i.e., holistic vs. analytic thinking) compared with individuals in higher mobility cultural contexts. Six studies provided support for this idea. Studies 1a and 1b showed that differences in relational mobility in cultures as diverse as the U.S., Spain, Israel, Nigeria, and Morocco predicted patterns of dispositional bias as well as holistic (vs. analytic) attention.
Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow John Haltiwanger of the University of Maryland sees the growth in startups and remote work as especially benefiting the South and the areas around urban downtowns.
We examine daily leader sleep as an antecedent to daily abusive supervisory behavior and work unit engagement. Drawing from ego depletion theory, our theoretical extension includes a serial mediation model of nightly sleep quantity and quality as predictors of abusive supervision.