Leading business minds

ByteDance, the parent company of short-form video platform TikTok, used artificial intelligence to challenge a longstanding assumption in strategy: that firms must often choose between scaling one business and diversifying into many. The firm used customer-focused knowledge from its news, e-commerce and content platforms to improve algorithms throughout the company, and this defying of conventional thinking has broader management implications in the AI era.

The English word ‘cool’ is used around the world, but what exactly is a cool product in marketing terms? Research co-authored by Eden Yin of Cambridge Judge finds, contrary to conventional wisdom, that practicality rather than style mostly drive coolness. As for exclusivity, it matters more for coolness in China than in the US and Germany.

A quarter billion disposable nappies, with a petrochemical-based absorbent core, are thrown away each day. An alumnus of Cambridge Judge Business School co-founded a company that is seeking a fully biodegradable alternative, building on expertise gained in solar panels and agricultural applications.