SPOKANE, Wash.–This is not your father’s Filene Research Institute.
Mark Meyer, executive director of Filene, told credit unions at the Northwest Credit Union Association’s MAXX Conference here that the research arm of the credit union community has evolved greatly in recent years, with a focus on providing practical, pragmatic information to credit unions rather than just academic research.
“What we learned is that research is terrific, but if you’re not creating impact, what’s it really worth?” said Meyer. “A couple of years ago we realized there’s a lot of stuff hitting you day in and day out. And we wanted to research it all. We had 37, 38 reports coming out to you and guess what? You didn’t have time to read them, much less make sense of them. So two years ago we paused and we asked, ‘What are the most important issues that you and your credit unions are facing in the next four or five years?”
When credit union leaders were asked what they wanted more information on, Meyer said it wasn’t regulation or the cooperative charter. Instead, it was these seven areas:
- Emerging Technology
- War for Talent
- Operational Excellence
- Organizational Entrepreneurship
- Consumer Behavior (“This was a key driver for all of this. Help us to better understand what is on the hearts and in the minds of our members.”)
- Product Incubation
- Execution
Out of that, Filene has created five Centers of Excellence focused on specific areas. These include:
Center for Emerging Technology
At University of California-Irvine, led by Dr. Richard Swart
Center for War for Talent
At University of Texas-Austin, led by Filene Fellow Dr. Sekou Bermiss
Center for Performance and Operational Excellence
At Stanford University, led by Dr. Hayagreeva “Huggy” Rao
Center for Organizational Innovation and Entrepreneurship
At Harvard University Business School, led by Dr. Dwight P. Robinso
Center for Consumer Decision Making
At University of Arizona, led by Dr. Hope Schau
Information on all five of the Centers of Excellence, as well as videos, dates of colloquiums, research that has been released, etc., can be found here: https://filene.org/research/center/consumer-decision-making