What if you visited an investment site and found advertising messages suggesting therapies for your recently diagnosed heart condition? Chances are you would experience what Fran Maier executive director of TrustE a nonprofit advocate of online privacy calls the ”creepiness factor.” Maier and several others discussed the challenges of maintaining online privacy -- amid rising Internet use and plummeting costs of data storage and tracking -- at the recent Supernova conference in San Francisco. Ho...
Jun 25, 2008•10 min
When you sit down you probably don’t check under your seat for a bomb. Even though it could kill you chances are slim that it’s there. A similar view of risk led bankers their regulators and other government officials to overlook dangerous investments and business models that contributed to the global credit crisis according to speakers at the financial risk roundtable held by the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and the Oliver Wyman Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
Jun 25, 2008•10 min
Money to paraphrase the Beatles can’t buy you love. But it can certainly buy a lavish wedding as noted in Rebecca Mead’s new book One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding. Indeed according to Mead America’s wedding industry exceeds $161 billion annually -- an enormous sum that suggests how much weddings have become not only big business but big fantasy. Yet as our reviewer notes the wedding boom is not just confined to wealthy Western nations but has become a global phenomenon concer...
Jun 25, 2008•13 min
Multinational corporations have been sourcing from China for years but that doesn’t mean that all the questions have been answered about how to engage in procurement activities in the world’s fastest-growing economy. In this interview David Lee a partner and managing director at BCG says that plenty of challenges remain. Among them: finding good suppliers that offer products at relatively low costs and being willing and able to outsource a sufficient volume of one’s business to Chinese suppliers...
Jun 23, 2008•18 min
The subprime crisis ”was a wreck that could have been predicted ” Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel says in this interview. Siegel is one of seven Wharton professors interviewed by Knowledge at Wharton for this special report on the credit crisis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 20, 2008•14 min
In the never-ending quest for cost savings many companies have reduced the number of suppliers they use consolidated their purchases and negotiated better prices. So where can chief procurement officers and other managers now turn for savings? In this interview Bob Tevelson a BCG partner and managing director says firms must segment suppliers to identify those that can deliver what he calls ”partnership value” by establishing relationships that move beyond the transactional level. Hosted on Acas...
Jun 16, 2008•14 min
First U.S. Bankers raised questions about how the daily London Interbank Offered Rate was calculated and then The Wall Street Journal demonstrated that the rate was inexplicably diverging from what the data suggested it ought to be. Getting it right is important because LIBOR is the basis for many kinds of loans. The British Bankers Association says it will make changes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 11, 2008•11 min
Private equity firms manage some $1 trillion of global capital yet because they are highly secretive much remains unknown about their internal economics. How do PE firms organize themselves for example and how do they capitalize on their success? Some answers emerge from a paper by Wharton finance professor Ayako Yasuda and Yale School of Management finance professor Andrew Metrick presented at a recent Wharton conference sponsored by the Weiss Center for International Financial Research. Hosted...
Jun 11, 2008•8 min
Joe Kraus director of product management at Google believes every killer app on the web -- instant messaging e-mail blogging photo-sharing -- has succeeded because it helps people connect with one another. For Kraus this means the Internet has an inherently social character but it can be enhanced further. Wharton legal studies professor Kevin Werbach spoke with Kraus recently about the socialization of the Internet. Kraus will speak about social computing at the Supernova conference in San Franc...
Jun 11, 2008•25 min
Where to locate a new headquarters how to close a supply-chain loop how to anticipate customer demands: These are all decisions that companies must wrestle with as they respond to increasing concerns about global warming. Given the rush to be environmentally friendly where do companies turn for dependable information and good advice? Wharton faculty and other experts say companies have to rely on a combination of internal and external resources as they try not only to manage the risks of climate...
Jun 11, 2008•13 min
On May 20 the non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program unveiled the second version of its XO laptop which is designed to bring affordable modern technology to children in developing countries. In April Intel announced its next-generation Classmate PC which targets the same market. Meanwhile Microsoft has been tweaking its Windows XP operating system for these educational devices which also run on the open source Linux operating system. Experts at Wharton say that the focus on third world c...
Jun 11, 2008•13 min
When 22-year-old Ruben Vardanian became General Director of Troika Dialog in 1992 he applied international banking standards stressed transparency and built a young multicultural and cooperative workforce. It wasn’t easy in the rough-and-tumble Russian economy of the 1990s but his company is now Russia’s oldest and largest private investment bank. Wharton management professors Valery Yakubovich and Michael Useem spoke with Vardanian about entrepreneurship education -- and staying honest -- in Ru...
Jun 11, 2008•20 min
Controlling about $3 trillion public pension funds are too big to ignore. Some use their influence to boost shareholder rights or support social causes. In the face of ”pension envy” from private sector workers some governments have adopted defined contribution plans – and some of those have regretted the decision. The issues were explored at a Wharton Impact Conference called ”The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 11, 2008•13 min
Marshall L. Fisher director of Wharton’s Fishman-Davidson Center for Service and Operations Management has been researching issues related to retail supply chain strategy for many years. In this interview Fisher highlights some of the challenges facing global procurement and he discusses the example of Luen Thai a Chinese company that built a giant ”supply-chain city ” becoming a one-stop shop for clothing manufacturers looking to outsource to low-cost producers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...
Jun 09, 2008•23 min
Procurement has become an integral part of corporate performance and is drawing increased attention from senior management. In this interview Andreas Gocke a BCG partner and managing director spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about the most critical challenges facing procurement organizations over the next five to 10 years including training and employee development managing global sourcing offices and ensuring collaboration across corporate departments. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for ...
Jun 02, 2008•23 min
Procurement has taken on greater strategic importance in multinational companies in recent years -- and it will assume even greater significance in the years to come according to Hal Sirkin senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group and global leader of BCG’s operations practice. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Sirkin discusses procurement in the context of global business and the ways in which companies from rapidly developing economies are challenging traditi...
May 28, 2008•13 min
Memorial Day which marks the beginning of the summer driving season in the U.S. saw gas prices at nearly $4 a gallon all over the country -- and even higher in states such as Florida. Globally the picture looks more worrisome: Oil prices crossed a record $135 a barrel during the weekend of May 24-25 although by Tuesday prices had come down to $131. What’s behind these regular flare-ups in oil prices? What are the major economic and geopolitical factors at work? How does expensive oil affect the ...
May 28, 2008•16 min
Just a year ago ethanol was the renewable fuel of the moment. Derived mostly from corn grown in America’s heartland it was promoted as a home-grown ticket to energy independence for the U.S. and other oil-importing nations. Today however ethanol’s prospects look somewhat cloudy. Critics around the world are crying foul over rising food prices while others say that it takes more resources to create ethanol than the alternative fuel provides. According to experts at Wharton and elsewhere ethanol u...
May 28, 2008•12 min
Credit market turmoil is altering the global playing field in buyouts and acquisitions a field rife with complaints in recent years about too much money chasing too few good deals. The credit shortage puts pressure on pricing and transactional quality while also giving public companies a better shot at acquisitions that the more aggressive private equity firms might previously have snatched away. These are some practical implications of a paper presented at a recent Wharton conference sponsored ...
May 28, 2008•8 min
Middle managers are often referred to as the ”glue” that holds companies together bridging the gap between the top management team and lower level workers. They implement strategy and organizational changes keeping workers engaged during both good times and bad. Yet according to a recent survey of middle managers around the world 20% report dissatisfaction with their current organization and that same percentage report that they are looking for another job. How do middle managers fare in an unce...
May 28, 2008•12 min
Nearly everyone told Matt and Jessica Flannery that their idea -- a website where people could make micro loans to individual borrowers in the developing world -- wouldn’t work. Venture capitalists couldn’t see how anyone could make big money on tiny loans. Foundations wouldn’t support something that they saw as commerce not charity. But the Flannerys persisted and today the website that they created -- Kiva.org -- has so far assisted about 40 000 borrowers in 40 countries and provided a total o...
May 28, 2008•9 min
As in any negotiation money and performance will usually make or break a sports contract deal. But emotions can be a wild card according to Wharton Sports Business Initiative director Kenneth L. Shropshire. During a recent Wharton presentation he talked about the non-financial incentives that helped seal contract deals with star athletes Alex Rodriguez Reggie White and others; his relationships with boxing promoter Don King and 1984 Olympics organizer Peter Ueberroth and the importance of person...
May 28, 2008•9 min
On February 25 2008 Adobe Systems launched version 1.0 of the Adobe Integrated Runtime or ”AIR ” which allows software programmers to use web-development tools to create desktop software applications that run on all the major operating systems: Windows Mac and -- coming soon -- Linux. For Adobe AIR is a big bet. At the launch event CEO Shantanu Narayen described AIR as Adobe’s ”fourth platform ” the next link in the chain that includes PostScript Acrobat and Flash. Adobe’s point man for AIR is C...
May 28, 2008•27 min
A decade ago when the Wharton Business Plan Competition (BPC) began the Internet dominated discussions about entrepreneurship. That was before the bubble burst and many dot.coms were revealed to be in the words of New Yorker writer John Cassidy little more than dot.cons. These days the new arena of interest is healthcare specifically biotech as evidenced by the number of biotech-related business plans submitted by the student entrepreneurs who competed in this year’s event. Knowledge at Wharton ...
May 14, 2008•14 min
For many of the world’s richest families SFOs -- Single Family Offices -- play an essential role in their investment strategy. SFOs manage the family financial portfolio and often provide other services such as handling children’s college applications or managing the family fleet of jets. Up until now however little has been known about these powerful entities. Yet new Wharton research shows that they play an important role in managing major investment portfolios guiding significant philanthropi...
May 14, 2008•13 min
Fashionable clothes jewelry flashy cars.... They are all items of conspicuous consumption that give their owners status on the street. Some groups such as blacks and Hispanics seem to spend more on such emblems of success than others. Or is that just a stereotype? In a new research paper Wharton finance professor Nikolai Roussanov and two co-authors found some truth to the ethnic stereotypes on spending but concluded that the explanation lies in economics not culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast....
May 14, 2008•9 min
The controversy over carbon emissions is just one of several surrounding ExxonMobil -- a list that includes gasoline prices surging towards $4 a gallon the company’s push for expanded oil exploration and drilling and its high-profile war of wills with the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. Yet during a presentation as part of the Wharton Leadership Lecture series Donald D. Humphreys senior vice president and treasurer of the Irving Texas-based behemoth set out to erase what he said are widely h...
May 14, 2008•9 min
If China doesn’t take steps to prevent it a big black cloud may soon engulf its economic boom. The country is growing at a torrid rate but pollution from its hard-chugging industrial engine is expanding even faster according to energy experts at the recent 2008 Wharton China Business Conference. Chinese leaders however have some options including a method to capture the pollutants released when coal burns and coal gasification which transforms coal into a synthetic fuel that burns as cleanly as ...
May 14, 2008•10 min
Can a company make money from the work of impoverished people in the developing world without taking advantage of them? For Patrick Byrne the answer is a qualified yes. Byrne believes that he has found a way for his company Overstock.com to benefit while it helps developing-world artisans connect with developed-world customers. But for Chuck Waterfield creator of Microfin -- a software program he wrote for microlenders -- the answer is a qualified no at least as it applies to Compartamos a well-...
May 14, 2008•11 min
After Microsoft announced on May 3 that it will drop its $44.6 billion bid to acquire Yahoo many -- including experts at Wharton -- declared the decision to be a smart move. Microsoft they say has more pressing issues including the need to make its flagship operating system Vista more popular among customers as it competes for attention against its predecessor Windows XP and rivals such as Apple’s OS X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 14, 2008•13 min
