It began as the ”subprime crisis” in 2007 and then mushroomed into a full-blown global recession in 2008. And still despite mammoth government intervention the bad news keeps getting worse. Are we now teetering on a precipice ready to plunge into another Great Depression? Can the latest proposals pull the economy out of its nosedive? There is plenty to worry about. But while many experts say this crisis is the worst since the Depression that doesn’t mean it will be as bad. Hosted on Acast. See a...
Jan 21, 2009•11 min
On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration as president of the United States Wharton finance professor Richard J. Herring discussed with Knowledge at Wharton some of the advice offered to the new chief executive by the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee a group of economists former regulators and lawyers of which Herring is a co-chair. Among the recommendations: As quickly as possible unwind federal investments that helped keep U.S. banks afloat. Herring also assessed the deepening woes at Cit...
Jan 21, 2009•24 min
The worldwide financial crisis has upended the energy industry slashing oil prices by two thirds and bedeviling financing for wind solar and other renewable-energy projects. But it’s not all doom and gloom according to participants in the recent Wharton Energy Conference. From Big Oil to renewable-energy startups energy industry players are scrambling to find a silver lining in today’s trying conditions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 21, 2009•12 min
New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has a long to-do list -- chart the company’s strategy weigh a potential search partnership with Microsoft boost morale and round out her management team -- and not much time to deliver amid a weak economy that is hurting online advertising say experts at Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 21, 2009•12 min
Having bounced back from its own profound financial crises in 1994 and 2000 Turkey is well prepared to ride out the current global economic storm according to Bahadir Teker CEO of Istanbul Mortgage. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Teker noted that the stability of Turkey’s banking system and its dramatic rise in housing demand will help to temper any slowdowns in the country’s real estate industry over the next couple of years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...
Jan 16, 2009•15 min
From Colin Dyer’s perspective the worldwide real estate market is in pretty bad shape. As president and CEO of global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Dyer has seen firsthand the problems that an absence of liquidity is causing for buyers who need financing for real estate transactions. Yet he is also optimistic that comparatively little competition and some good bargains provide excellent market opportunities for those who know where to look. Dyer expanded on these points during an ...
Jan 16, 2009•13 min
While Russia initially may have been insulated from the impact of the global financial crisis -- due to the once-high price of oil -- the country is now feeling the impact of the slowdown. What does this mean for the Russian real estate market? How are real estate companies responding to the crisis? And what should international companies look for when doing business there? Bruce Gardner managing director of MLP Russia and a participant in the recent Knowledge at Wharton Real Estate in Emerging ...
Jan 16, 2009•12 min
China’s unsurpassed demand cash reserves and willingness to invest heavily in new infrastructure make it an attractive option for foreign real estate investors according to Gilles Assouline president of Wuxi Iparks Creative Design & Development. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Assouline spoke about why conditions in China are ripe for real estate development and how partnering with the world’s fastest-growing economy may be a requisite for survival in the current economic downturn....
Jan 16, 2009•13 min
Those countries that had easy access to debt -- such as the U.S. and Japan -- are taking the biggest hit from the current financial crisis while those countries without access to debt capital -- such as Brazil -- have been somewhat spared according to Gary Garrabrant CEO of Equity International. During the Knowledge at Wharton Real Estate in Emerging Markets Forum Garrabrant spoke about his company’s strategy for weathering the down market how investment decisions are made and what he sees happe...
Jan 16, 2009•11 min
Founded in 1928 Mangels Industrial is among Brazil’s leading manufacturers. Its products range from cold rolled steel to gas cylinders. In addition the company is Latin America’s largest maker of aluminum wheels for the auto industry. How are manufacturers such as Mangels Industrial coping with the global recession? In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Bob Mangels company CEO and grandson of the founder shares his insights on managing during the slowdown as well as principles that help fami...
Jan 07, 2009•35 min
After a year of financial shock and sharp economic loss 2009 is likely to be extremely difficult for the global economy with investors business leaders and policymakers struggling to find signs of recovery. Wharton faculty and other experts interviewed by the Knowledge at Wharton Network discuss the outlook for the U.S. Europe Latin America India China and Japan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 07, 2009•27 min
Successful marketplaces -- indeed all social systems -- require a level of ethical behavior among their participants. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton professors Maurice E. Schweitzer and G. Richard Shell who have conducted extensive research on the role of trust in markets explain why even the most sophisticated investors put their faith in Bernard Madoff the New York City financier recently accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. That breach of trust has damaged the broader mar...
Jan 07, 2009•15 min
It was a tough year for newspapers. The owner of The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune declared bankruptcy; The New York Times borrowed against its headquarters and even accepted ads on its front page. Detroit’s two dailies announced the end of home delivery on all but three days of the week. According to Wharton faculty if newspapers can’t find a new business model quickly they may soon be printing final editions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 07, 2009•12 min
President-elect Barack Obama’s infrastructure plan has drawn considerable debate but mostly over the details -- the size of the stimulus program how to structure the plan to create the most jobs in the shortest time and how to administer such a large program to limit corruption and pork-barrel projects. The bigger questions remain unanswered including to what extent new jobs will actually be created and how all this spending will affect the government’s long-term debt. Hosted on Acast. See acast...
Jan 07, 2009•15 min
From a childhood spent exploring the woods near his home to a career spent protecting habitats in the far corners of the earth Carter Roberts -- president and CEO of the non-profit World Wildlife Fund -- has fostered a connection to the natural world. His job is as diverse as the ecosystems he visits. One day he may be negotiating with the president of a corporation and the next he is sitting on a dirt floor talking with villagers about the importance of saving tigers.He spoke with Knowledge at ...
Dec 23, 2008•11 min
In 1998 social entrepreneur Seth Goldman founded Honest Tea the nation’s best-selling and fastest-growing organic bottled tea company with a business professor from the Yale School of Management. Honest Tea sources from organic and fair trade tea estates and has partnered with community development groups ranging from the Crow Reservation in Montana to organizations in South Africa and Guatemala. Goldman talked with Knowlege@Wharton about carving out space in the competitive beverage market help...
Dec 23, 2008•9 min
Kate Roberts is the founder and director of YouthAIDS and Five & Alive two marketing programs implemented by Population Services International (PSI) where she is a vice president. Founded in 2001 YouthAIDS is a global education and prevention initiative that uses pop culture music theater movies and sports to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The program reaches 600 million young people in more than 60 countries with life-saving products and services. In 2002 YouthAIDS partnered with MTV to produ...
Dec 23, 2008•17 min
John Brock has come a long way since his first jobs working in his uncle’s dime store and later at a paper mill in Moss Point Miss. Today he is chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises the world’s largest marketer producer and distributor of Coca-Cola products. Brock has more than 25 years of experience in the beverage sales industry. In 2003 he was named CEO of Interbrew headquartered in Brussels Belgium. In 2006 he joined Coca-Cola Enterprises where he was appointed chairman in April 2008. Br...
Dec 23, 2008•16 min
After a trek in the Himalayas brought him face-to-face with extreme poverty and illiteracy John Wood left his position as a director of business development at Microsoft to found Room to Read an award-winning international education organization. Under his leadership more than 1.7 million children in the developing world now have access to enhanced educational opportunities. Room to Read to date has opened 725 schools and 7 000 bilingual libraries and funded more than 7 000 scholarships for girl...
Dec 23, 2008•19 min
Octavio Lopes senior partner of private equity firm GP Investments is in the middle of raising what might be the largest private equity fund ever for Latin America. In a podcast recorded in Sao Paulo Lopes discusses the prospects for investing in Brazil and Latin America where he thinks commodity prices are headed and how the discovery of oil in places like Brazil Colombia and Mexico will affect the local and regional economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 23, 2008•18 min
Alberto Duran founder and CEO of Mundivox Communications of Brazil has seen the world of telecommunications from various perspectives. He worked in the telecom sector for J.P. Morgan in New York and Bain & Company and Monitor Company in Boston and London. He specialized in the development of strategies for major industry players worldwide including privatizations and M&A in North America Europe and Asia. In 1999 Duran founded Mundivox Communications in Brazil. In an interview with Knowle...
Dec 18, 2008•36 min
Arminio Fraga was president of the Central Bank of Brazil from 1999 to 2002. He has sometimes been called the Alan Greenspan of Latin America though that comparison may not sit well these days as Greenspan comes in for his share of the blame for the global financial crisis. In 2001 Fraga founded the Rio de Janeiro-based Gávea Investimentos an independent asset management company. It operates principally in the areas of hedge funds wealth management and illiquid investment strategies. In an inter...
Dec 18, 2008•26 min
These are volatile times for Brazilian real estate which mirrors the situation in most countries. But according to Elie Horn chairman and CEO of Cyrela Brazil Realty Brazil’s largest developer of residential properties Brazil doesn’t have the deep-rooted problems of the U.S. market. It’s just a matter of lying low for some time until confidence returns he suggests in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 18, 2008•15 min
Brazil’s petrochemicals industry has been going through active consolidation a phase that is almost at an end. That process however has seen the creation and growth of Braskem a giant of a firm that is the largest petrochemicals producer not just in Brazil but in all of Latin America. Bernardo Gradin who has been part of Braskem since the company’s formation in 2002 took over in July as its CEO. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton conducted at the company’s Sao Paulo headquarters Gradin di...
Dec 18, 2008•17 min
Economic crises around the globe have often hit Brazilian banks hard with capital flight hammering the country’s currency the real. But Brazil’s financial institutions seem better positioned to weather the current worldwide credit crunch although lending there is just as frozen as it is elsewhere according to Candido Bracher president and chief executive officer of the São Paulo-based Banco Itaú BBA one of the country’s largest private banks. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Bracher dis...
Dec 18, 2008•28 min
A government plan to rescue the U.S. automobile industry with $14 billion in emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler was approved by the House of Representatives late on December 10 but the proposal continued to face stiff opposition from Senate Republicans. While the lifeline loans would give the Detroit automakers some breathing room legislators and auto executives remain under enormous pressure to come up with a plan to resolve the industry’s deep structural and management problems. Wh...
Dec 10, 2008•15 min
Many shareholder advocates see the financial collapse and resulting economic woes as stunning proof of their long-held claim that too often the wrong people are in charge of top corporations -- and that attacking this problem demands an overhaul in corporate-governance regulations. But not everyone sees governance as the culprit and some warn that a kneejerk attack on established corporate practices could backfire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Dec 10, 2008•14 min
Back in the heady days of the real estate boom property prices in New York City soared along with those in the rest of the U.S. When the subprime mortgage crisis hit and prices collapsed the city’s market held out longer than others -- for two reasons. First it is a major financial center with strong demand; and second the weak dollar made it possible for international buyers and investors to find deals at discounts as high as 40%. Where will the New York market be in 2009? Where are the most at...
Dec 10, 2008•12 min
For decades sports have existed in a protective bubble. Even in recessions fans could be counted on to keep buying tickets to games and keep beefing up the huge television audiences that draw top dollar from advertisers. But the current recession seems to be bursting the bubble. Says Wharton professor Eric Bradlow: ”Advertising revenue is down. Corporate boxes and corporate sponsorships are going to be down. There’s no question the [financial crisis] is going to affect the economics of the sport...
Dec 10, 2008•14 min
Is the cavalry coming to rescue troubled homeowners? Despite soaring foreclosure rates President Bush and other Republicans have not made this a top priority. But this could soon change: President-elect Barak Obama and fellow Democrats say reducing foreclosures is crucial to attacking the financial crisis. As one expert notes: ”The financial sector weaknesses all originate in the housing market. If we don’t solve the housing problem then the weaknesses in the financial sector are going to contin...
Nov 26, 2008•15 min
