Strategic roads that diverge or converge: GM and Toyota in the battle for the top

General Motors (GM) and Toyota competed in the global automobile industry for many decades. While GM hung on to the Number 1 position longer than any other automaker, it lost this position to Toyota in 2008. It took Toyota 71 years to beat GM but only 2 years for GM to regain the top spot in 2011. Through a brief analysis of the history of these two rivals, I explain why GM and Toyota demonstrated different ways of falling from the Number 1 spot. I argue that the reason for the reversal of leadership positions for these two automakers can be understood by examining executive hubris and the way it either facilitated path dependence or promoted a departure from an established path for the perpetuation of market leadership. I then demonstrate how GM and Toyota acted contrastingly with respect to path dependence and how their CEOs injected hubris almost the same way in their decisions to hold on to the top position. Contrary to the longstanding myth, I also demonstrate that it was hubris—as opposed to humility—that characterized executive leadership in Toyota in its last 15 years. Recommendations for practicing or budding executives of large corporations are given.     

Heterogeneity,leveling the playing field,and affirmative action in contests

The heterogeneous abilities of players in various competitive contexts often lead to undesirable outcomes such as low effort provision, a lack of diversity, and inequality. A range of policies is implemented to mitigate such issues by enforcing competitive balance, that is, by leveling the playing field. Some of those policies, known as affirmative action (AA) policies, are practiced in ethical response to historical discrimination against particular social groups, and are also aimed at increasing competition. This survey summarizes the rapidly growing literature on contest theory regarding AA and other policies that level the playing field. Using a general theoretical structure, we outline the theoretical, experimental, and empirical research findings on contest outcomes under a multitude of policy mechanisms, and in doing so, we touch upon some of the common debates in the AA literature.     

A simple matching domain with indifferences and a master list

Review of Economic Design - We present a two-sided one-to-one market setting where one side of the market is objectively ranked. Constraints prevent agents on the other side from matching with...     

The Russia–Ukraine conflict and investor psychology in financial markets

This study examines the effect of the Russia–Ukraine conflict on global financial markets and the resulting changes in investor psychology. We have analysed weekly data from January 2021 to March 2023, including indicators such as gross national income, Bitcoin historical price, Standard and Poor 500 index, US consumer price index, US dollar index, and investor psychology index, using a variety of econometric techniques. Our findings reveal a positive and significant correlation between investor psychology and market returns. These results highlight the importance of monitoring investor psychology during times of conflict as it can greatly impact investment decisions in financial markets, providing valuable insights for investors and policymakers.