Stanford Knowledgebase

APRIL 2006

File Sharing Could Be a Tool Against Software Piracy
Digital piracy costs music, movie, and software industries billions, but suing file-sharing internet networks and the consumers who use them can backfire, argues Professor Tunay Tunca. His research conclusion? Legal producers of digital goods can use the presence of these file sharers to reduce damage from big commercial pirates. [Details]

'03 Wine Boycott Cost French Vintners Millions
Calls to boycott French products in 2003 may have cost French winemakers $112 million from lost sales in the United States, say researchers Larry Chavis and Phillip Leslie. They conclude consumer boycotts really do work. [Details]

The Dangers of Mixing Foie Gras and Arugula
Innovators who cross accepted lines can be seen as traitors and booed by their audience, says Professor Hayagreeva Rao. Just ask Bob Dylan or the man who invented nouvelle cuisine. [Details]

In the Battle of the Sexes, Men Play the Game Differently
Men are far more likely than women to choose competitive environments, whether it’s a poker tournament or a scramble up the corporate ladder. Research coauthored by Stanford economist Muriel Niederle found that even when women performed a task at the same level as men, they were far less likely to enter a competition to test their skills against others. [Details]

MORE STORIES

Anne Krueger, International Monetary Fund
Video File, 1:07 hour

Even Chocolate Poses Global Market Challenges
Nestlé has created 4,300 brands, from chocolate to pet food, and must adjust formulas for many of these products to meet different tastes around the globe, says the brand’s former global marketing head Ed Marra. [Details]
Video File, 1:04 hour

Foreign Direct Investment Pays, Says McKinsey's Farrell
Studies of foreign direct investment concluded that in almost every instance the practice generates large cost savings, usually accompanied by lower prices and higher quality for consumers, says Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute. [Details]
Video File, 48:55 minutes

Business Principles Don't Always Help Schools
The current success of the charter school movement owes some credit to successfully applying business standards, says Professor Debra Meyerson. In other cases, however, such standards may backfire and actually hurt student learning. [Details]

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Contact us at
stanfordknowledgebase@gsb.stanford.edu

518 Memorial Way
Stanford, CA 94305
650.723.3157

Untested Beliefs and Halt-Truths Pass as Management Gospel
If doctors practiced medicine the way many companies practice management, there would be far more sick and dead patients, and many more doctors would be in jail, argue Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty members Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton in their new book Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management (Harvard Business School Press, 2006). [Details]
Video File, Interview with Pfeffer and Sutton, 16:32

The Telecommunications Revolution
As cities create Wi-Fi networks, internet phone systems change the way we talk, and the industry’s stocks get hot again on Wall Street, Jackson library assembles a collection of recent news articles on the revolution. [Details]

OTHER GSB RESOURCES

Stanford Business magazine [Details]

2006 Executive Education Programs [Details]

Stanford Social Innovation Review [Details]

Subscribe to StanfordKnowledgebase