Entrepreneurship & innovation

COVID-19 is a disaster for public health and the economy. Yet there may be a glimmer of a silver lining for the natural environment: By year end, the globe may see the biggest dip in carbon emissions on record. Investment in next-generation clean energy now could restore jobs, provide new ones, drive economic growth and lock in environmental gains.

While the future has always been unpredictable, the global uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus is at a record high. To help us steer through this unprecedented crisis, Professor Saras Sarasvathy shares insights on entrepreneurial decision-making and offers four strategies seasoned founders use to turn uncertainty into opportunity.

Does career risk inhibit entrepreneurship? Research from Darden Professor Ting Xu and colleagues shows the effect of leave policies on entrepreneurship and explores the extent to which longer job-protected leave leads to new ventures, creating jobs in industries in which experimentation before entry has low costs and high benefits.

The old normal is history. But the world will not stay still, and technology will advance, its adoption even accelerated due to COVID-19. Ed Hess discusses the need for democratization of technology and its potential to address societal challenges including income inequality, low social mobility, the expense of health care and access to education.

China’s progress towards modernization and marketization gave women unprecedented opportunities to launch and scale private enterprises and make billions in the process. Professor Ming-Jer Chen shares insights on how China managed to forge a new class of super-successful female founders.

Businesses large and small are in a fight for survival as the coronavirus pandemic brings economic activity to a near complete standstill. Professor Greg Fairchild provides insights on what small businesses can do to survive months of lost revenues amid mounting costs and what they can do now to thrive in whatever the "new normal" for commerce.

Peloton disrupted the home fitness space, bringing a boutique exercise experience to users’ homes and reaching a value of $4 billion by spring 2019. It was a complex business model of factors ranging from interactive technology to star power to retail success to connection to a firmly connected social media community.

The actions taken by retail health clinics — small primary care clinics located within retail outlets like Walmart’s Care Clinics or CVS’ MinuteClinic — will have a significant impact on public safety, and their actions may prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from overwhelming the U.S. health care system. Darden Professor Dennie Kim explains.

Business has the tools to solve the global climate crisis, but will business leaders have the will to drive the changes necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change?

Corporate innovation is crucial for value creation. What does that have to do with gender diversity? A new global study shows the real influence and impact of gender diversity on boards; when it comes to greater balance, so come greater innovation outcomes. And the effects may be evident sooner than you think.