Research is the backbone of Columbia Business School. Cutting-edge analysis from the School's faculty informs its curriculum and helps prepare students to tackle the most critical issues facing both the business world and society.
It is is a valuable foundation to build upon for future business leaders in the classroom but what about stakeholders outside of the School's walls? How do current industry leaders, lawmakers, and the broader public benefit from CBS's insights?
That question is at the heart of The Hub, a CBS think tank that recognizes the pivotal role that collaboration among researchers, businesses, and policymakers can play in addressing societal issues.
The Hub was launched by CBS’s Dean Costis Maglaras, the David and Lyn Silfen Professor of Business, in 2022 as a way to bring intellectual capital at the school closer to big problems in the business world. Maglaras, whose expertise is rooted in AI, financial engineering, operations, and supply chain management, wanted The Hub to focus on the business and societal implications of emerging technologies.
Maglaras soon brought on economist Glenn Hubbard, dean emeritus and the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, to help lead one of The Hub’s key initiatives. Hubbard, who teaches courses on business and society and political economy, was quick to connect The Hub’s mission with his recent research on the future of capitalism.
“The best way to describe The Hub is as a place where conversations happen and impact is contemplated" Hubbard says.
The Hub soon launched with three key initiatives— the Future of Capitalism, Think Bigger Innovations, and Business, AI, and Democracy (BAID). Through them, The Hub has engaged business professionals and policymakers in crafting solutions for issues ranging from housing and the economy to innovation and AI.
In the two years since The Hub’s inception, the think tank’s faculty leaders have kept these important stakeholders engaged through their innovative research, impactful events, and dynamic curriculum, as well as by cultivating community. Their efforts engaged more than 4,000 participants across dozens of programs, conferences, and other events.
The Intersection of Business, AI, and Democracy
At the intersection of technology, society, and their impact on the future of business lies The Hub’s Business, AI, and Democracy initiative. Known as BAID, it investigates the way in which social and traditional media, government regulation, misinformation, and emerging technologies are influencing democratic processes and, by extension, business practices.
Led by Bruce Kogut, the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics, BAID sees the recent challenges to democracy as a place for businesses to step up, exploring how they can navigate and contribute positively to the democratic landscape.
For Kogut, that comes down to focusing on a “return on ideas,” rather than just a return on investment.
“The debate over capitalism has been accelerated rather than dampened by what we’ve seen over the past few years. Through the public events that we ran, we sought to impact the democratic discourse that attracted audiences from the university and community,” Kogut says.
To better understand the increasing interconnectedness of business and democracy, BAID hosted a wide array of speakers, including roboticist Hod Lipson, misinformation expert Renée DiResta, and Oksana Matiiash, founder of a Ukrainian education nonprofit. Other BAID programming included “A Marshall Plan for a Democratic Ukraine,” “Spin Dictators and Tools of Misinformation,” and “AI, Democratic Finance, and the Future of Big Banks.”
It was important that speakers were diverse in terms of their ideas and backgrounds, to broaden perspectives beyond more traditional echo chambers, according to Kogut.
BAID also featured cutting-edge research from faculty whose work often revolves around the study of misinformation, media, and democracy. Kogut himself published a paper entitled “Super Mario Meets AI,” which looks at the impact of AI on teams and their performance while playing the popular video game Mario Party.
Andrey Simonov, the Gary Winnick and Martin Granoff Associate Professor of Business, studied the impact of Russian media on its viewers. Simonov also worked with Eric Johnson, the Norman Eig Professor of Business, to research “dark defaults” in political donations.
Gita Johar, the Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, contributed to BAID with research that explores the role that publishers, platforms, and people play in spreading misinformation. Her research on AI-driven misinformation has revealed what exactly is at stake for business and society. In an optimistic vein, research from Andrea Prat, the Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business, found that “a majority of Americans have a solid grasp of real news stories and can distinguish them confidently from well-crafted or widely circulated fake news.”
Making Capitalism Work for All
Is capitalism working for all of us? The Hub’s Future of Capitalism initiative sought to answer this question by exploring four key forces driving our country’s economic system: changes in the economic environment, the roles of investors in influencing business decision making, the effects of social movements on business decision making, and actions by individual firms or groups of firms to address climate change.
Hubbard, who spearheads the initiative, explained that academia can play a valuable role in informing public discourse and policy by providing balanced analysis, as neither major US political candidate is adequately addressing the underlying economic and political pressures that have fueled populism on both sides of the political spectrum.
“If we care about the future of capitalism, we have to ask ourselves: Is capitalism working for the greatest number of people?” Hubbard says.
Through its event lineup, the Future of Capitalism initiative hosted conversations with two Nobel Prize recipients, including Professor Joseph Stiglitz, whose research explores capitalism’s short-comings. During a discussion with Hubbard, Stiglitz noted that, due to significant wealth disparity, the United States has become the leading advanced industrialized country in terms of inequality. However, stronger regulation could steer the country back in the right direction, he said.
Other Future of Capitalism events included a reflection on the legacy of Adam Smith on what would have been the famed economist’s 300th birthday, as well as a discussion with economist Oren Cass on recalibrating the relationship between labor and capital.
The initiative also provided a platform for several valuable research projects at its Future of Capitalism Conference, presenting work from Ann Bartel, the Merrill Lynch Professor of Workforce Transformation; Jacopo Perego, the Class of 1967 Associate Professor of Business; and Hubbard.
All these efforts harken back to the research and political will that fueled some of the boldest and most successful policies of the 19th and 20th centuries, according to Hubbard.
“There are many things that we can be doing as a country to ensure that capitalism’s benefits go to more people. We’re not doing enough in our country today on that, but we once did. If you look at the work on the land-grant college movement that brought opportunity to more Americans and the GI Bill, for example, we know how to do these things,” Hubbard says.
Think Bigger
Inspiring corporate innovation was at the heart of The Hub’s Think Bigger initiative, spearheaded by decision-making expert Sheena Iyengar, the S. T. Lee Professor of Business.
The initiative, fueled by countless Think Bigger Innovations Summits, workshops, and events, brought together business leaders, policymakers, and researchers to explore the greatest innovation challenges confronting large organizations today. In doing so, the initiative aimed to develop and imple- ment solutions to emergent issues, driving positive change for the betterment of society.
Think Bigger’s Innovation Summits brought together corporate leaders from a diverse set of industries to discuss and collectively address challenges related to hybrid work, AI, climate, healthcare, and other emerging technologies. The initiative’s Expert Workshops, meanwhile, focused on specific challenges facing New York City, such as the real estate crisis and the need to support deep tech startups.
“The mission of Think Bigger is to take complex problems and create doable solutions, going from ideas to actual implementation,” Iyengar says.
In tackling that mission, the Think Bigger initiative hosted a workshop titled “The Future of NYC Real Estate” that inspired a reimagining of New York City’s commercial real estate industry in the wake of remote work, declining commercial property values, and decreased tax revenue. The event included the presentation of a white paper that lays out new policy solutions, such as property tax abatement programs, as well as the creation of a lender credit program to encourage banks to lend toward office building conversions. The event also featured research from Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, the Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate, who made headlines for his urban doom loop theory.
The Think Bigger initiative also hosted another expert meeting, “Catalyzing the New York Deep Tech Ecosystem,” which featured research from Iyengar and Jorge Guzman, the Gantcher Associate Professor of Business. It built on Think Bigger’s framework by convening high-powered stakeholders to discuss the challenge of accelerating New York’s deep tech ecosystem, the industry behind much of the progress on artificial intelligence, mRNA vaccines, and quantum computing.
All in all, Think Bigger’s programming has made great strides in connecting theory to practice, according to Iyengar.
“The problem is often that practitioners and academics don’t understand each other. And the reason why they don’t understand each other is the knowledge that they have to add to and speak to is so misaligned,” she says.
Looking Forward
In its short time, The Hub has evolved to lead the School’s Distinguished Speaker Series (DSS), which connects the CBS community with prominent thought leaders from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, providing the community with insights and ample opportunity for engagement. These unique lectures bring valuable, real-world advice, personal stories, and strategies that broaden perspectives and challenge participants to think critically about pressing issues.
Though the first iteration of The Hub’s initiatives is coming to an end, the think tank will take on a new role in the coming months, continuing to lead the DSS initiative and featuring prominent thought leaders from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. DSS speakers have included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, GSK CEO Emma Walmsley, and US Senator Bill Cassidy, with many more insightful speakers planned.
The Hub will also support its recently launched Student Advisory Board, which plans student roundtables with professors and industry experts. In this way, The Hub will continue to serve as a collaborative partner, supporting faculty research, student events, and initiatives from centers, programs, and divisions across CBS.