Strategy Seminar 2022-2023

The years 1890-1930 saw deep, far-reaching changes in all fields of art and in philosophy. This period of time is commonly associated with the term “Modernism”, and with radical departures from accepted aesthetical canons. The same time was also one of deep changes in science, and, above all, in mathematics, that was swiftly transformed into what came to be known as “modern mathematics”. Is there any substantial connection between “modernism” in the arts and the contemporary developments in mathematics? My talk will explore this question by looking at various aspects of mathematical practice at the time, with a particular focus on the mathematical discipline that represents the quintessential spirit of the profession in this period of time, namely the new abstract, structural algebra, embodied in the work of Emmy Noethe and Emil Artin.

Although we know that social movements affect beliefs and public policies, it is not clear how they impact consumption. To address this question, we examine whether and how #MeToo — a preeminent global social movement raising awareness of sexual abuse and harassment against women — affected the consumption of products displaying traditional markers of femininity in the footwear market. To do so, we analyzed unique and comprehensive high-frequency product-level stockout data from a leading global fashion retailer spanning 5.2 million observations from January 2017 to December 2018 in 32 OECD countries (covering 89% of the population of OECD members). Using a triple-difference strategy over time, across countries, and between product attributes, we document a change in product-level stockouts consistent with dissociation from gender stereotypes along two major design dimensions: colors (pink or red vs. black or blue shoes) and form (slim vs. bulky shapes; heel height emphasizing silhouette and gait). Consistent with a demand-side effect, we find no evidence of short-term changes in product assortments in reaction to #MeToo. Local heightened sensitivity of product stockouts to online searches around sexual harassment is consistent with the documented effect. We discuss the results' implications for firms' communication strategies as they relate to customer identity, as well as for our understanding of the role of social movements in shaping consumer market dynamics.