Business

Maurice Schweitzer of the Wharton School weighed in on boycotts of Russian-made products. “There’s this motivation to do something and punish Russia for what appears to be a wholly unprovoked attack on a neighboring country,” he said. “But what we can do to punish Russia as consumers is not much; it’s largely symbolic.”

Barbara Kahn of the Wharton School said retailers may be wary of overcorrecting for inflation with too many sales. Doing so can condition consumers to expect promotions, she said, “and if they don’t have a discount, then they feel like they’re being ripped off.”

Americus Reed of the Wharton School said future leaders need to be strategic when advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. “We have to understand how to put different perspectives into our decision-making—into our companies, our brands, our organizations. And those different perspectives, we have to cultivate and manage them appropriately so that we can create the type of organizations that can be successful.”

Morris Cohen of the Wharton School spoke about the semiconductor shortage. "Most consumers didn't know and didn't care where their chips came from: 'You turn the car on, it should go, I don't really care who made the chip and what country it was built in,'" he said. "But now, all of a sudden, these issues become really important, and so I think we become more sensitized to how dependent we are, how interdependent we are, how things can be disrupted."

Sigal Barsade of the Wharton School said the “Great Resignation” is driven in part by a shift in cultural attitudes toward work online. “When people say, ‘I’m going to quit my job,’ their family and peers aren’t responding ‘Have you lost your mind?’” she said. “They're actually saying, ‘Yeah, we feel that way too.’”