Publication records

With permission of Emerald

The social dilemma may contain, within the individual, a self-control conflict between urges to act selfishly and better judgment to cooperate. Examining the argument from the perspective of temptation, we pair the public good game with treatments that vary the degree to which money is abstract (merely numbers on-screen) or tangible (tokens or cash). We also include psychometric measures of self-control and impulsivity. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find in the treatments that render money more tangible a stronger positive association between cooperation and self-control—and a stronger negative association between cooperation and impulsivity. Our results shed light on the conditions under which self-control matters for cooperation.

 

View all ESMT Working Papers in the ESMT Working Paper Series here. ESMT Working Papers are also available via SSRN, RePEc, EconStor, and the German National Library (DNB).

The case describes the management practices and leadership principles of a media monitoring company. The company was founded in 1997 with the objective to become a leader in the German media monitoring market. In 2012, the company had achieved the goal the three founders had envisaged. They had acquired a dedicated group of employees, a tightly knit, family-like unit, which Landau called a “community of values.” These values were the basis of his leadership style, emphasizing participation, continuity, transparency, a continuous improvement to raise product quality, customer, and family orientation. The company governance structure, and facilities all reflected this core philosophy as well. During the past years a new set of challenges – namely, change of media usage triggered by iPhones and iPads, social media, and do-it-yourself media monitoring software - were threatening the company’s success and Lothar Landau was concerned whether his creation was prepared for the next 15 years.

The three part case discusses managing the dilemma of compliance versus entrepreneurial decisions (“intrapreneurship”) in a large corporation and decision-making processes in mature markets (here: US HQ) vs. emerging markets (here: Russia). The case concerns a medical devices company and the life sciences industry; however, market mechanisms are applicable to other industries as well. In Case A, two experienced Russian managers face a tempting business opportunity: founding a professional education center for healthcare personnel in one of the most prosperous regions of Central Asia seems to offer win-win situations for all stakeholders involved. Case B aims at strengthening the student’s capabilities for thinking about alternatives and developing the tenacity to pursue entrepreneurial ideas. The case closes in the third section by asking “Was it worth it?”