This study examines insights from business executives on how TRAILS—that is, taxes, regulations, assessments, interventions, litigation, and subsidies—influence entrepreneurial behavior and firm performance. Using an applied constructivist grounded theory design, we conducted 17 in-depth interviews to identify how top business executives view the effects of regulations on business performance. We adopt the premise that the right level and set of regulations lead to a healthier business environment. We find that right-sized TRAILS catalyze entrepreneurial dynamism, whereas wrong-sized TRAILS impose hidden opportunity costs, stifle innovation, and erode institutional trust. Crucially, the study reveals the vital role of the government as the Umpire—an impartial enforcer and calibrator of TRAILS that safeguards public welfare and sustains the feedback loops essential for market innovation and civic resilience. Building on Bastiat’s broken-window insight and foundational theories, we propose a role for executives in which they serve in an advisory capacity and inform policy design without expanding the state’s remit. We further urge policymakers to support sustainable innovation and societal vitality by fostering systemic conditions, such as knowledge creation, polycentric feedback, discovery processes, and aligned incentives, while also preserving institutional accountability and market discipline.

As technology accelerates and gains importance in the accounting industry, the inclusion of technology in accounting curricula also becomes more important. Indeed, this inclusion is a requirement of the academic accounting accrediting body, The American Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). However, neither minimal guidance nor standards for meeting the technology requirements currently exist. This topic paper examines how academic accounting departments may address data analytics as a component of the AACSB’s technology requirement. The analysis synthesizes peer-reviewed articles exploring how data analytics are being integrated into accounting curricula and identifies three main concerns: (1) the need for standardization in curricula, (2) qualifications of faculty members, and (3) identification of required skills for students.

Managers making crucial project selections in large, fast-changing project portfolios face the challenge of balancing the tension between control (performance) and creativity (experimentation/innovation). To better manage this challenge and to improve performance, some practitioners and scholars have considered the application of more sophisticated feedforward controls in new product development portfolio project selections. However, empirical studies of changes in the sophistication of such controls and of their influence on performance are lacking. We use an engaged scholarship approach and an action research methodology in a large international organization with multiple business units to study the post-intervention changes in applied controls and changes in portfolio performance. Our findings identify the underlying generative mechanisms influencing the changes in the applied sophistication of feedforward controls, how these changes enable portfolio managers to better balance the tension between control and creativity in project selection, and the performance outcomes.