Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

The world is abuzz with excitement and fear about AI. The first keynote speaker at #KIFrontiers, MIT economist and Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow David Autor, addressed what makes AI technologies different from other machines. Dive into larger takeaways on the value of human expertise, historical machine augmentation, and AI's future impact on work. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/giNPZbCc

Panelist Léa Dulin Grandbois shared a creative way to look at risk management at the Frontiers of Business Conference. #KIFrontiers #KenanInstitute #BusinessResilience

“Even if the tide is rising, it’s probably not rising equally for everybody, and figuring out how to manage that unevenness is the challenge for us all.” Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, outlined a few ways AI deployment could play out. We may not know the future but join us in recapping insights from #KIFrontiers. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e54yt9mM

Driving Indigenous-Led Tourism Development NCGrowth’s ongoing work with NCAIED focuses on sustainable tourism initiatives that empower Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities. Through this project, we support Indigenous-led economic development and cultural preservation. #IndigenousTourism #SustainableDevelopment #NCGrowth Christina Theodorou Jessamyn Tracy

In today’s fast-paced world, business resilience isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a necessity. From his panel at the 2024 Frontiers of Business Conference, Kevin McGahren’s words remind us of the critical link between business resilience and business survival. #KenanInstitute #KIPE #BusinessResilience

We enjoyed welcoming Christine Moorman, a Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow, for her talk on "Surviving Marketplace Challenges." A big thank you to everyone who joined us throughout the year for events featuring our Distinguished Fellows and all who supported the 2024 Grand Challenge. #KenanInstitute #BusinessResilience #KIPE #Marketing

🌟 Thank you, Dr. Christine Moorman, T. Austin Finch, Senior Professor at Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business for delivering an insightful talk at the Business Resilience Grand Challenge hosted by the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise today! All of us at Marketing at UNC Kenan-Flagler, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise are grateful to you for sharing your expertise, grounded in the latest findings from The CMO Survey, as well as your research on marketing's role in building organizational resilience. In her talk, Professor Moorman discussed the significant threats organizations face, including internal challenges, political issues, and nonmarket pressures, emphasizing that competition is often the biggest hurdle. She explored various coping mindsets, such as balancing optimism with caution, adopting proactive versus reactive stances, maintaining flexibility, and fostering a fearless approach to overcoming obstacles. Effective resilience, she noted, also relies on harnessing a range of resources: financial and human capital, strong customer relationships, brand reputation, partnerships, and external support. Finally, she outlined two types of resilience—absorptive, which focuses on absorbing shocks, and adaptive, which goes beyond recovery to build new capabilities. For more on the event, please visit: https://lnkd.in/eRr5HZZ5. We are grateful for the depth and clarity Professor Moorman brought to such critical topics, inspiring us all to think strategically about resilience in today’s complex landscape. Her insights remind us that true resilience not only endures challenges, but also transforms them into opportunities for growth and innovation. Thank you, Professor Moorman, for empowering us with knowledge to build stronger, more adaptable organizations! For more information about our research activities and events, please follow us at Marketing at UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Miss that #KIFrontiers feeling? Check out our event video, recapping the energy and insights of the day. Mark your calendars 🗓 The 2025 conference is set for October 9 in Chapel Hill. We hope to see you then! #KenanInstitute #KIPE #BusinessResilience

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Business Frontiers Conference, hosted by Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. I came away with some thought-provoking insights on both the future of work and the complexities of healthcare. The first session was a lunchtime conversation with Derek Thompson from The Atlantic. His idea of "hard work" vs. "soft work" really stood out to me. He described "hard work" as tasks like writing or research that can be done anywhere, while "soft work" includes the spontaneous, relationship-building conversations that usually happen in the office. This hit close to home, especially as I think about how these interactions shape our sense of community and collaboration at work—something that’s tough to replicate remotely. Derek also explored the rapid rise of AI and how it’s transforming everything from everyday tasks to complex decision-making. I was intrigued by his point that AI tends to be more effective at enhancing lower-skill tasks, even though higher-skilled workers use it more frequently. This got me thinking about how AI could redefine roles across all levels of the workforce. In the second session, a panel discussed whether parts of U.S. healthcare are "too big to fail." It was eye-opening to hear how consolidation, while promising efficiency, has led to higher costs instead. As someone who’s interested in the intersection of business and public good, I found it concerning that technology in healthcare is still 20-30 years behind other industries. The panelists emphasized that catching up on tech is essential for reducing costs and improving patient outcomes. It’s a stark reminder that innovation needs to align with better access and affordability, not just profitability. These sessions really deepened my understanding of how resilience is built—or challenged—across industries. I’m excited to see how these discussions drive meaningful change in both the future of work and healthcare.