- Spotlight articles should aim to deliver concise, credible, and actionable research insights, expressly tailored for practitioners navigating real-world management challenges.
- Spotlight submissions should offer sharp perspectives on modern concepts, organizations, and challenges. They should be notably shorter than In-Depth articles and written in a style that is less academic, thus following a concise format for faster consumption. They should also provide direct guidance for practicing managers by beginning with a short list of “Key Recommendations” that emanate from the most novel aspects of the article. (See below)
- Designed for contributors who want their most timely, impactful ideas to reach those who are actively shaping strategy and operations today.
Key Recommendations
- Determine the 3-4 most interesting and unexpected research findings from your submission that might appeal to a manager, and base your Key Recommendations on them.
- They should instruct how a manager might leverage these findings to create value in their organization.
- They should be structured in two parts to include:
- A brief recommendation for the high-level practice that will create value in their organization, and
- A specific example of something the manager can do to actualize that high-level, value-add practice.
- Both should be succinct, yet specific & prescriptive.
Examples
Lessons from Netflix's Success
Sayan Chatterjee
Abstract
This article demonstrates how Netflix has dominated the streaming market by staying focused on the same profit logic from inception. One tactic that is unique to Netflix is being able to exploit factor market inefficiencies to source their inputs much more inexpensively than others. The principles described can be used by myriad businesses across many industries.
Key Recommendations
- Treat competitors as R&D partners: Open selective parts of your innovation process to outsiders—even rivals—to accelerate capability building.
- Exploit overlooked and undervalued assets before others see their worth: Proactively search for suppliers or partners who undervalue their assets and lock in favorable deals before the market recognizes their potential.
- Focus on profit logic, not industry convention: Choose customers and markets that align with your profit engine—even if it means ignoring “obvious” opportunities.
- Turn funding constraints into innovation drivers: When capital is costly, let financial discipline dictate creative constraints in product design.
Data Breaches: Fight AI with AI
Mohammad Rajib Uddin, Shahriar Akter, Wai Jin Thomas Lee, and Shlomo Y. Tarba
Abstract
AI-driven data breaches have emerged as one of the biggest challenges for corporations. New threats emerge daily in the form of personalized spear phishing messages, deceptive emails, deepfake voice or video, and disinformation. Research in this domain has so far focused primarily on what measures should be taken after a data breach; however, it remains unclear what capabilities are required to defend a company. To address the unknown and unknowable threats, the study presents how firms can develop AI-powered dynamic capabilities to tackle the next level of AI-generated threats.
Key Recommendations
- Build an AI-centered security culture: Make AI literacy and security awareness part of every employee’s daily practice.
- Lead ambidextrously, balancing today’s defenses with tomorrow’s innovations: Invest simultaneously in robust basics and forward-looking AI defenses.
- Treat training as a permanent campaign, not a project: Run continuous, evolving security drills and awareness programs for everyone, including leadership.
- Turn governance into a competitive advantage: Treat encryption, access control, and selective data sharing practices as proactive value drivers.
Speak and Spend: Voice AI in E-Commerce
Chenshuo Sun
Abstract
Voice AI boosts customer spending: Adopting a voice shopping channel led to an immediate surge in customer spending. Our evidence-based academic research shows that consumers who started using a smart speaker for purchases increased their weekly online spending by about 16.6% in the first four months. Crucially, this uplift wasn’t just a one-time spike – voice AI helped form new habits that kept these customers spending more in the long run.
Key Recommendations
- Use voice AI to turn routine purchases into loyalty engines: Make it effortless for customers to reorder familiar products by voice for biggest sales lift.
- Convert novelty into sustained engagement: Continuously refresh the voice shopping experience with new features, smarter dialogue, and multi-modal capabilities to keep users engaged beyond the initial excitement.
- Treat voice as an omnichannel catalyst, not a stand-alone tool: Design voice AI to complement, not replace, existing channels—syncing carts, wish lists, and recommendations across platforms.
- Leverage voice to expand digital inclusion: Optimize voice interfaces for older adults, less tech-savvy customers, and people with accessibility needs by using clear prompts, order confirmations, and simplified interactions.
Insight
Adrian Wolfberg
Case Study
Dara O'Rourke and Robert Strand
