Explore the faculty research, thought leadership, and groundbreaking philosophies that established Michigan Ross as one of the world’s top business schools.
![Ravi Anupindi](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/Ravi%20Anupindi.jpeg?itok=RJq-9FC_)
In 2002, Professor Ravi Anupindi and his co-authors published the influential paper "Coordination and Flexibility in Supply Contracts with Options" in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. This work introduced an innovative model that integrated options into supply contracts, offering enhanced management of demand uncertainties in supply chains. The research highlighted the important potential role of options in attaining contractual flexibility to coordinate supply chain participants and improve overall efficiency. The paper influenced subsequent research on supply contract design and demand management, one of the major areas of supply chain management research in the past two decades.
![ZLI logo](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/zli%20logo.jpeg?itok=Nk5n5Jmg)
Established by Samuel Zell and Ann Lurie in 1999 as the first entrepreneurial studies program at the University of Michigan, the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies plays a vital role in developing the next generation of entrepreneurs and venture investors. The Institute offers various programs, competitions, and academic courses that give students the knowledge, skills, and motivation to develop a growth mindset and succeed as entrepreneurs.
Since its inception, the Institute has supported more than 9,100 entrepreneurs. It provides students with hands-on experience in entrepreneurial environments where they create, lead, and shape innovative ventures.
The Institute also supports venture investing and plays a key role in connecting entrepreneurs with venture capital and grant funding. This access to funding is crucial for entrepreneurs looking to start or scale their businesses and allows Ross students to act as real venture capitalists.
![IRS building](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/irs-building.jpg?itok=0SvX0yIm)
Professor Joel Slemrod has worked on an agenda to broaden the scope of tax analysis to address several issues that standard economics models of taxation ignore. He has written several articles analyzing and addressing the blind spots of standard economics models and has co-authored a book titled Tax Systems, which outlines the implications of these blind spots. The influence of his work is demonstrated by the recent policy attention given to tax enforcement in the United States and other countries, such as an increase in funding appropriated to the IRS to reduce evasion of high-income individuals and corporations, as well as innovative administrative policy developments through the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the OECD Pillars One and Two, which subjects a group of large multinational companies to a global minimum corporate tax of 15%. Slemrod's work has received over 35,000 citations, numerous awards and accolades, and a No. 1 ranking among public finance economists per the Research Papers In Economics site.
![Norman Bishara and Jagadeesh Sivadasan](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/bishara-sivadasan.png?itok=jjpEvykq)
Professors Norman Bishara and Jagadeesh Sivadasan have made significant contributions to influential literature examining the variation in the enforceability of non-compete clauses and their consequences. Their work is an important part of broader literature documenting monopsony power (i.e., the power of employees to set wages leading to a redistribution of surpluses away from workers), worker mobility, and knowledge transfers. In a pioneering paper published in 2010, Bishara created a detailed rating of the non-compete enforceability in all 50 states, building on painstaking work parsing the regulations and case law at the state level. The enforceability index from Bishara's 2010 paper, combined with worker-quarter-level U.S. Census data, was used in a paper by Sivadasan and co-authors to show that higher enforceability is correlated with lower wages and mobility for tech workers.
Bishara and his U-M coauthors also undertook a broad survey of U.S. workers, documenting for the first time the surprising prevalence of the use of non-compete clauses across a range of industries, including for low-wage workers, as well as work showing the chilling effect of noncompetes on employee behavior, even when they are unenforceable. This portfolio of work helped spark a major policy debate about the use and abuse of noncompetes that inspired action from the White House and the research conclusions being cited in the 2023 State of the Union Address, and spurred a report from U.S. Treasury Department, legislative changes from numerous states, and research from a range of think tanks that eventually led to the 2024 final rule from the Federal Trade Commission attempting to ban noncompetes in employment contracts across the country.
![WDI logo](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/wdi%20logo.png?itok=7kCYF_13)
William Davidson (1922-2009) was a successful global business leader and alum of the University of Michigan. He understood the value of the private sector to empower people around the world.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Davidson recognized the value of educating and empowering economic decision-makers in formerly centralized economies with the tools of commercial success. Davidson partnered with U-M to create a unique institute providing consulting and training services to nonprofits, corporations and small businesses in emerging markets with the goals of economic growth and social progress. Since 1992, the William Davidson Institute (WDI) has served as a platform to introduce students to the challenges and opportunities facing firms in low- and middle-income countries.
Over its history, the Institute has supported U-M student teams, totaling more than 1,800 students, who collaborate with business and nonprofit partners to provide analysis and develop solutions built upon the foundation of basic business principles. To ensure ongoing access to current and relevant business education, WDI Publishing also produces and distributes high-quality, cutting-edge business cases and other teaching materials, with more than 700 cases in its collection, reaching approximately 800 universities and institutions globally.
The Institute is also home to NextBillion.net, an online platform for discussing business models and innovations that address development challenges in low- and middle-income countries. The platform reaches more than 25,000 readers a month.
![Student studying in wintergarden](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/prep-initiative.png?itok=SwJq03ot)
The Preparation Initiative was created by Professor Emeritus Frank Yates in 2005. Yates was a champion of diversity in higher education and believed all students should have access to Michigan Ross, regardless of their preparation. The Preparation Initiative is a thriving community designed to foster the excellence and success of undergraduate business students from economically distressed backgrounds or from racial or ethnic groups historically underrepresented in business leadership. Since its inception, the Preparation Initiative has supported hundreds of students in their pursuit of a business education and now also offers mentoring opportunities for alums of the program.
![Social venture fund](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/social-venture_0.jpg?itok=lYEI6Y0a)
Four student-run venture funds are currently operating at Michigan Ross, more than any other business school. Collectively, these funds manage a portfolio worth more than $10 million. These funds help students learn about investing early-stage capital by making real deals with real companies and real money. The concept of student-run venture funds has been adopted by universities around the world.
![stock photo of the stock market](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/stocks.jpg?itok=s6txNpcE)
In 1998, Professor David Hirshleifer of the Michigan Business School, and two co-authors, published a paper titled "Investor Psychology and Security Market Under- and Overreactions." This paper has been widely recognized as the first explanation of the seemingly contradictory behavior in asset prices (under- and overreactions to different news) based on two well documented behavioral biases. The biases outlined in the paper are overconfidence (regarding the precision of one's private information) and biased self-attribution. The former leads to well documented evidence of long-term overreaction (price reversals), while the latter causes underreaction (momentum) in the medium term. This paper was the first widely recognized paper in finance based on departures from rational behavior and provided a compelling explanation for seemingly anomalous behavior in asset prices.
![Jeremy Kress](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/jeremy-kress.jpg?itok=N6t74ONv)
Building on his experience as an attorney at the Federal Reserve, the 2020-22 research of Assistant Professor Jeremy Kress has identified critical weaknesses in bank merger oversight and proposed strategies to reinvigorate bank merger enforcement. Kress' work has shown that lax bank merger oversight has harmed consumers, businesses, and the broader financial system. His research has demonstrated that the prevailing approach to bank merger regulation has increased the cost and reduced the availability of consumer credit, inflated the fees that banks charge for basic financial services, limited small business credit availability, and threatened financial stability. Kress' research has pushed bank merger reform onto the policy agenda in Washington, D.C. by serving as a blueprint for legislation introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren and inspiring an executive order on bank mergers by President Joe Biden. The Department of Justice also invited Kress to lead a joint initiative with the federal banking agencies to rewrite their bank merger policies.
![Gautam Kaul](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/Gautam%20Kaul%20.jpeg?itok=LlFqpuGh)
Professor Gautam Kaul and two former PhD students, in their seminal 1994 study titled, "Transactions, Volume, and Volatility" convincingly argued and verified empirically that it is the occurrence of a trade in a certain direction rather than its dollar value (or volume) that has the greatest effect on prices, hence the greatest relevance when assessing the liquidity of the market where that trade took place. A trade sign is determined by the buyer or seller's information, while market conditions determine trade amount and price. This is a simple yet extremely powerful notion that was originally predicated in theory but had no empirical support before their 1994 study. The publication of this study opened the door to the accurate measurement and needed assessment of market liquidity. These days, the approach they recommended is widespread in its use.
![Dare to Dream Grant program](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/dare2dream.jpeg?itok=pr9dmLU2)
The Dare to Dream grant program is an initiative by the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. It provides funding to U-M students interested in exploring and pursuing entrepreneurial ventures.
The student grant program offers three different tracks targeted toward early-stage students looking to develop a business concept to integrate entrepreneurship into their academic studies, students who have already developed a business concept and are seeking to validate and assess the feasibility of their idea, and students who are ready to launch their ventures.
![Donors Choose logo](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/donors-choose.png?itok=yFrg31to)
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the public K-12 education system has faced significantly high teacher turnover and poor retention rates. Teachers have faced increasing pressure to achieve academic success while challenged with growing class sizes, reduced funding, and learning loss from the pandemic. This problem has been incredibly difficult to correct, and public school districts across the country have not been able to address it cost effectively.
In their paper, “Stopping the Revolving Door: An Empirical and Textual Study of Crowdfunding and Teacher Turnover,” Professors Samantha Keppler, Jun Li, and Andrew Wu conducted a study of data from the largest teacher crowdfunding site, DonorsChoose, to study the effect of crowdfunded projects on teacher retention. The team found that teachers are less likely to leave their schools and the state public school system when their projects are funded. Assessing teachers’ project request essays, they identified that teachers who received funding for unique projects or requested resources to improve their classroom environment had higher retention rates.
Their paper is the first to identify the effect of crowdfunding on teacher retention. It provides initial, strong evidence that the effect is positive, showing that teachers funded on DonorsChoose are 1.6 percentage points (pp) less likely to leave their schools and 1.9 pp less likely to leave the teaching profession — a 14% and 41% reduction versus baseline turnover and attrition rates, respectively.
Due to the demonstrated impact of teacher-driven crowdfunded projects, DonorsChoose has partnered with eight states to spend COVID-19 education relief funding on teacher crowdfunding projects. To date, these partnerships have funded over $100 million of teacher projects from over 100,000 teachers, impacting over 10 million students.
![Co-Creation Paradigm book cover](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/co-creation-paradigm.jpg?itok=8erxwoPM)
"Co-creation as a revolutionary paradigm was introduced by Professors C. K. Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy in a series of articles published between 2000 and 2004 and an award-winning book, The Future of Competition. Their work provided a new frame of reference for jointly creating value through networked environments of increasingly digitalized experiences, going beyond goods and services, and called for a process of co-creation -- the practice of developing offerings, experiences, and unique value through ongoing interactions with customers, employees, managers, financiers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders. Through their work, they envisioned an individual and experience-centric view of interactive value creation and innovation.
Starting in 2005, the explosion of digital and social media, the convergence of technologies and industries, embedded intelligence, and information technology-enabled services enabled enterprises to build platforms for large-scale, ongoing interactions among the firm, its customers, and its extended network. Ramaswamy's work argued that success lies in connecting with people's experiences to generate insights and change the nature and quality of interactions. He also called for co-creation from the inside out of enterprises and their networks, as much as co-creation from the outside in, and for leaders to co-create transformative pathways.
In 2014, Ramaswamy published "The Co-Creation Paradigm", which combined the core ideas of co-creation with a call to see, think, and act differently in an interconnected world of possibilities and complex challenges to co-create a better future as individuals."
![Desai logo](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/desai_accelerator_logo.jpeg?itok=3RglGsK2)
Launched in 2014 by Michigan Ross and the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Desai Accelerator is dedicated to advancing U-M alumni entrepreneurial ventures. The Accelerator provides the physical infrastructure, financial resources, and mentorship to support alumni startups as they reach the critical phase between early-stage development and the point at which they seek external investors.
At Desai Accelerator, startups can access a wide network of experienced advisors, including entrepreneurial mentors, industry experts, venture capitalists, angel investors, and other business leaders. To engage students, Desai offers internships for undergraduates and graduates from all U-M schools and colleges. The Desai Accelerator program runs an annual cohort that supports passionate entrepreneurs as they advance their early-stage ventures. Startups accepted into the program receive funding, tailored mentorship opportunities, national visibility, and other resources to support their success.
The Desai Accelerator has invested more than $1 million in 44 startup ventures on behalf of the University of Michigan and has engaged 75+ student interns. Funding and support for the Accelerator are provided by the Desai Sethi Family Foundation, the William Davidson Foundation, and the Wadhams Family Foundation.
![Bill Lovejoy](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/Bill%20Lovejoy.jpeg?itok=JWqbwpAw)
The paper "Quantity Flexibility Contracts and Supply Chain Performance" by Professor Bill Lovejoy and his colleague, Andy Tsay from Santa Clara University, was published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management in 1999. The paper delves into the concept of quantity flexibility in supply chain contracts and its potential to deal with demand uncertainties. This influential work formally captured the practice of “funneling” variability over time, whereby more variability is tolerated in earlier planning phases and less tolerated over time as the delivery date approaches. This paper has specifically led to further studies on the optimal design and effectiveness of supply chain contracts, enhancing the field’s understanding of tactical and strategic issues in supply chain management. Researchers have built on Tsay and Lovejoy's model to study the application of QF contracts in different industrial contexts and their interactions with various supply chain configurations. The concept and modeling presented in this paper have become a prominent part of the academic discourse on supply chain coordination, influencing subsequent studies in inventory management, order variability, and supply chain profitability. Thus, the paper's impact is significant and broad, inspiring much-needed research on flexible, cooperative strategies for supply chain optimization.
![MGCS](/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/images/impact_ideas/mgcs-logo.png?itok=5wXKZ4Ab)
Originally launched by Michigan Ross Professor David Brophy and now organized and run by the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium began as an opportunity to showcase innovative Michigan ventures seeking funding and connect them with venture capitalists, angel investors, industry stakeholders, and leaders from across the nation.
Today, the Symposium provides a platform for pre-selected Midwest companies to present their business ideas and investment opportunities. These companies span various sectors, such as life sciences, healthcare, technology, food and agriculture, and energy. First held in 1980, the Symposium is the longest-running university-based venture fair of its kind, has gained recognition, and attracts attendees from across the country.