Ideas to Action

Search

Crowdfunding: Beyond Financing

Crowdfunding is a good way to validate demand for a new product or service — and avoid pumping resources into a doomed business.

The Challenge of Raising Water Productivity

The world faces significant water challenges. There is a finite volume of fresh water that is accessible for human use, and we live in a world that has been steadily growing.

Communicating Through a Crisis: Wells Fargo Circles the Wagons

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, many American banks have dealt with publicity crises and a tarnished public image. Wells Fargo, however, was one banking giant that never required a public bailout and managed to come out of the crisis relatively unscathed, making its self-inflicted phony accounts scandal years later more dramatic.

Customer Engagement: 4 Types and New Maps

To compete effectively in a fast-paced environment, companies are realizing they need to build deeper attachments with customers. They want customers who will do more than just shop — who will influence others, make referrals and even co-create new products.

Three Things: Preparing for Financial Crisis

In this Three Things video, Darden Professor and Dean Emeritus Robert Bruner discusses how we know crises will recur and how we can personally prepare for them. 

5 Factors That Fuel Income Inequality

Professor Peter Belmi’s research examines the insidious structural and psychological factors that contribute to social and income inequality, often despite people’s best intentions.

2018 Economic Forecast: Does Steady Growth Obscure a Shaky Foundation?

University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Alan Beckenstein sees a relatively strong U.S. economy, with darkening storm clouds on the horizon.

Using Big Data: 3 Reasons It Fails and 4 Ways to Make It Work

Darden Professors Raj Venkatesan and Kim Whitler have found, in their research, seven key lessons that apply to all companies, whether they are “native” in data analytics or have transitioned into it.

Becoming a Hyper-Learning Community: The Future of Business

Technology is advancing at a speed that far exceeds the rate at which many organizations are transforming.

How to Act on Your Ethics

We’ve all faced situations in which — faced with long odds, tight deadlines, a challenging environment or limited resources — we’ve marshalled our problem-solving skills and figured out how to do what needs to be done.