Cuteness is having a moment in the marketplace. The fervor around cute products has spread well beyond children’s plush toys like Labubu and Squishmallow to cell-phone cases and even credit-card designs. And countless companies are leveraging this cute aesthetic—either in the product itself or its packaging—to increase consumer appeal. “In marketing research, we have mostly… →

Once upon a time, there was an easy way to diversify your stock portfolio: go international. In the U.S., smart investors could hedge their domestic investments by buying stocks or index funds from other countries. In years where the American market declined, that international exposure gave you uncorrelated performance from foreign markets, dampening some of… →

One of the surprise hits of 2025 was the animated film K-Pop Demon Hunters. Though it initially received only a small theatrical release in June, buzz around the movie grew so much while it was streaming on Netflix that a wider theatrical run in August topped the U.S. box office. Netflix later declared it the… →

Every product or service sold by a firm has a unique demand curve—a relationship between how much customers want a thing and how much they’re willing to pay for it. And for many firms, “it is hard to know what exactly it looks like,” says Suraj Malladi, an assistant professor of managerial economics and decision… →

What does origami have to do with space exploration? The art of paper folding dates back centuries. Through the design of elegant three-dimensional shapes, origami artists developed ways of creating objects that are light yet incredibly strong and complex. But it wasn’t until the twenty-first century that engineers started to take notice. Faced with designing… →

Alice Mollon/Ikon Images A data-driven approach to understanding and improving the customer experience is critical to company health. But ironically, the proliferation of customer experience (CX) metrics is making the practice of doing so more challenging. At a large organization, metrics may number in the hundreds — so many that it is difficult to manage… →

Leigh Thompson is the J. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management. Thompson’s research focuses on negotiation, creativity, virtual communication, and teamwork. Have a negotiation scenario you’d like us to address during the session? Submit one HERE. Or email your scenario to insight@kellogg.northwestern.edu. →