Tuck Knowledge in Practice

Why are sustainably labeled products abundant in some communities and scarce in others, even when they could be just as profitable?

In this episode of Knowledge in Practice, Tuck marketing professor Bryan Bollinger D’03, TH’03 discusses research showing that retailers’ assumptions about who is most likely to buy sustainable products can cause them to overlook profitable markets. Drawing on county-level sales, pricing, demographic, and product-label data, Bollinger and his coauthors separate consumer demand from product availability and find that demographic stereotypes may influence where sustainable products are offered beyond what their profit potential warrants. The result: firms may leave money on the table while limiting consumers’ access to products carrying labels such as USDA Organic, Fair Trade, and Marine Stewardship Council. Bollinger explains why data-driven targeting can outperform customer personas, how third-party certifications shape consumer behavior, and why sustainability works best when it strengthens a product’s value—making an electric car more appealing or a wool shoe more comfortable.

Research paper discussed: Sustainable Product Profit Potential and Availability

In this episode of Knowledge in Practice, Peter Golder, the E.B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at Tuck, talks about his groundbreaking research published in Nature. Golder and his coauthors examined decades of data from MBA and law schools across the United States to explore a timely question: Does racial diversity in higher education create measurable economic benefits? Their findings reveal a strong association between greater racial diversity and higher graduate salaries, offering new empirical evidence in a debate that has taken on renewed importance following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 affirmative action decision. Golder explains how the research evolved, why rigorous evidence matters in public policy debates, and what the findings could mean for universities, businesses, lawmakers, and future court decisions. The conversation also explores the role of diversity in learning, innovation, and preparing students to succeed in an increasingly complex world.

In this episode of the Tuck Knowledge in Practice podcast, Robert Searle T’96, an adjunct professor at Tuck and partner at The Bridgespan Group, talks about what it really takes to turn good intentions into meaningful social impact.

Searle, who teaches Managing for Social Impact, challenges students to think critically about how their decisions affect society—regardless of whether they pursue careers in the nonprofit sector.

Drawing on his work advising nonprofits and philanthropists, Searle explains why achieving impact is often harder than it looks. He contrasts high-profile but ineffective programs with evidence-based interventions that deliver measurable results, emphasizing the importance of clear goals, rigorous measurement, and strategic focus. He also highlights the unique complexity of nonprofit leadership, where success is harder to define and funding often comes from sources disconnected from those served.

The conversation also explores how today’s social sector is navigating unprecedented disruption, including funding uncertainty tied to shifting government priorities. Throughout, Searle reflects on his own unconventional path—from professional musician to social impact consultant—and how his Tuck education continues to shape his approach. The episode offers a thoughtful look at how business skills can be applied to create lasting, effective change.

In this episode of the Tuck Knowledge in Practice podcast, Tuck professors Alva Taylor and Rob Shumsky explore a counterintuitive risk of artificial intelligence: not that it fails, but that it succeeds just enough to make us stop thinking. In their working paper with Tuck professor James Siderius, they examine how working alongside AI can subtly erode human expertise over time—a phenomenon they call “skill decay.”

Drawing on research in operations and organizational behavior, the conversation highlights a critical danger zone: when AI performance is inconsistent but generally reliable. In this middle ground, people are more likely to disengage, pass along outputs without scrutiny, and gradually lose the very skills needed to catch mistakes.

They discuss how this dynamic plays out across industries, from healthcare to consulting, and explain why traditional approaches to training and incentives may no longer be sufficient. They also offer practical insights for leaders: don’t just evaluate AI outputs, but test whether your people can still spot errors, maintain expertise, and stay engaged.

In this episode of the Knowledge in Practice Podcast, Davin Chor discusses his new working paper, An Anatomy of the Great Reallocation in U.S. Supply Chain Trade. Chor explains how global trade—once seen as a settled issue—has returned to the center of economic and political debate, reshaping how firms think about sourcing, risk, and resilience. Tracing the impact of U.S. tariffs introduced in 2018 and intensified in recent years, he shows how American companies have steadily shifted supply chains away from China, with lasting consequences for consumers and managers alike.

As Chor puts it, “We’ve come full circle in 25 years—China’s share of U.S. imports is now back to where it was when China joined the WTO.”

The conversation explores who has gained from this shift, why it’s better described as selective decoupling rather than deglobalization, and what business leaders should expect as trade uncertainty becomes the new normal.

Davin Chor is the Michael G. Fisch 1983 Professor at Tuck and a chair in Dartmouth's academic cluster on globalization, which studies the far-reaching repercussions of globalization on world markets, governments, trade, and society. Professor Chor's current research focuses on international trade and political economy.

Why are women still underrepresented in leadership roles? And what can organizations do about it? In this episode of the Knowledge in Practice Podcast, Tuck professor Sonya Mishra explores the hidden dynamics shaping career advancement, from “likeability penalties” to the unequal expectations placed on women at work.

Drawing on her latest research, Mishra explains how leadership pathways themselves are gendered, often limiting women to narrower routes to advancement while exposing them to backlash for behaviors that are rewarded in men. She also examines the difference between power and status, why women’s gains in authority can trigger resistance, and how data-driven decision making and exposure to new leadership models can help organizations build more equitable systems.

Research papers discussed:

Psychological drivers of gender disparities in leadership paths

What Is Mine Cannot Be Yours: How Zero-Sum Perceptions of Power and Status Shape Men’s Perceptions of Ingroup Harm From Women’s Hierarchical Advancement

As a sector commander in the Coast Guard, Amy Florentino T’10 directed strategy and operations for all Coast Guard missions across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and northeastern New York. In that role, she developed a command philosophy that people should feel motivated, nurtured, and valued. Florentino draws on that philosophy as a clinical professor of business administration at Tuck. “A lot of it is about this idea of creating an environment where people can be successful,” she said. “Tuck students are quite capable of doing amazing things, so it’s my job to create an environment where they can excel.”

In this episode of the Knowledge in Practice Podcast, Florentino talks about her career in the Coast Guard, and her time at Tuck as both a student and a professor. 

Courses and Programs discussed: Management Communications, Advanced Management Communications, Client Project Management, Crisis Management, Tuck Bridge, Next Step, and Impact Academy. 

Kirsten Detrick T’92 spent more than 30 years as an executive in the biopharma industry, working for firms such as Takeda, Amgen, and Bristol Myers Squibb. Detrick recently returned to Tuck to teach the mini course “Contemporary Issues in Biotechnology,” which is offered every year in the spring.

Detrick discusses her career, her course, and some of the most pressing challenges faced today in the biopharma space. Detrick uses her position as an adjunct professor to teach, coach, motivate, and inspire. As she explains in the conversation, biopharma is a business, “but unlike other businesses, it has humanity at the very core of what it’s about. The people who succeed, thrive and find themselves attracted to this industry are those who hear a higher calling and want to use business to address that higher calling.”

In a new paper, Raghav Singal creates a model that answers an important counterfactual question for people harmed by delay-and-deny: what if the procedure was approved in a timely fashion? Using specific healthcare data, Raghav’s model can answer that question with striking accuracy, showing the probability that a timely screening or procedure could have had a positive impact on a patient’s health.

Adjunct professor Joshua Lewis spent 35 years in venture capital and private equity and has a doctorate in philosophy from Oxford. He brings that experience and knowledge to bear in a new course he developed for Tuck called Moral Reasoning: From Machiavelli to The Bomb to AI. In it, he blends classic moral philosophy with real and fictional protagonists to inspire students to contemplate and discuss ethical decision-making in a variety of contexts. In this episode, Lewis talks about the genesis of the course, his teaching style, and some examples of the protagonists the students study. Two students, Leen Ajlouni T’25 and Ryan Montgomery T’26 also share their thoughts on the course.