Knowledge@Wharton is an online resource that offers the latest business insights, information, and research from a variety of sources. Content includes analysis of current business trends, interviews with industry leaders and faculty, articles based on the most recent business research, book reviews, conference and seminar reports, and links to other websites.
Updated: 3 days 12 hours ago
Brazil's Gold: How Rio Won Its Olympic Bid
Last fall, after losing previous bids, Rio de Janeiro -- Brazil's second-largest city -- won the approval of the International Olympic Committee to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. According to Carlos Roberto Osorio, secretary general of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, this time around, Rio had learned from its earlier failed bids and had the success of hosting the 2007 Pan American Games under its belt. That, combined with Brazil's "special circumstances" of economic stability amid the global downturn, helped it to beat out rival cities. In an interview with Wharton professors Felipe Monteiro and Ken Shropshire, Osorio discussed the winning bid and the challenges that lie ahead.
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Linking Passion and Career: The Perils of Nonprofit Recruiting
The conventional wisdom on the campuses of elite universities used to be that the nonprofit sector could never compete for top job seekers against big-name firms that promised a meteoric career path. But that was before the rise of Teach for America (TFA), a nonprofit that recruits some of the nation's best minds to spend two years right out of college in the most challenging urban and rural school districts. At a recent gathering at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government, executives from some of the nation's more established, traditional nonprofits discussed how they might re-create some of TFA's recruiting magic for their own organizations.
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Cents and Sensibility: Why Marketing to Multicultural Consumers Requires a Subtle Touch
In an era of globalization and fluid national borders, advertising that appeals to cultural and ethnic identity has become a vital part of the corporate marketing arsenal. But new research shows how ethnic-oriented marketing can backfire and even turn multicultural consumers against a product or service if ad campaigns are perceived as aggressive or patronizing. The key? Tread carefully, says Americus Reed II, a Wharton marketing professor who teamed up for the research with Stefano Puntoni and Peeter Verlegh from Erasmus University's Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands.
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Saying Goodbye: New Exit Strategies for Today's Venture Capitalists
Venture capitalism is not what it used to be. The bountiful returns of the dotcom years are long gone and venture capital (VC) firms are now struggling to exit their investments via initial public offerings or mergers and acquisitions. Also, a new regulatory landscape is threatening to hinder rather than help the industry's recovery, and the companies that VCs invest in require watertight strategies for major growth. VC experts highlighted these issues and others during a recent panel discussion titled, "Business Exits in the Current Economic Environment," which took place at Wharton's campus in San Francisco. The industry has had "pretty big body blows," one panelist noted. But, the speakers agreed, it's time to move on.
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'Badge' Value: Finding and Promoting Products That Inspire Customer Loyalty
Alex Panos and his colleagues at TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco-based investment fund, believe that consumers will always be interested in products that enhance their lives, even if it means paying more than they have in the past. That philosophy has brought impressive results for TSG primarily in the beauty, food and beverage areas. Panos, who joined the 23-year-old firm in 1998, spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about the company's strategy, why it favors family-owned businesses, where to find opportunities in a recessionary economy and how to build up a brand, among other topics.
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E-textbooks: The New Best-sellers
While some students may be using notebooks or netbooks to read textbooks these days, some experts predict that within the next 10 years, most U.S. college students -- and many high-school and elementary-school students as well -- will probably be reading course materials on an electronic device instead of in a paper book. And that will have a broad impact on students and teachers, not to mention the $9.9 billion textbook-publishing business.
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Empty Pockets: What Does the Greek Debt Dilemma Mean for the Global Economy?
Fear is growing that Greece may default on a massive pile of debt, creating a ripple effect of problems throughout Europe and beyond. Following pressure from the European Union and the European Central Bank, the Greek government on March 3 announced a new round of austerity measures that include spending cuts and tax increases which critics fear will harm Greece's economy. Meanwhile, Wall Street banks are facing scrutiny for the complex financial instruments they used to allegedly disguise the country's real debt. What caused Greece's debt problem to spin out of control? And what steps should it take to remedy the situation? Wharton finance professors Richard Herring and Itay Goldstein weigh in.
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How Entrepreneurs Can Create Effective Business Plans
When an entrepreneur has identified a potential business opportunity, the next step is developing a business plan for the new venture. What exactly should the new plan contain? How can the entrepreneur ensure it has the substance to find interest among would-be investors? In this installment of a series of podcasts for the Wharton-CERT Business Plan Competition, Wharton management professor Ian MacMillan explains that business plans must contain several crucial elements: They must articulate a market need; identify products or services to fill that need; assess the resources required to produce those products or services; address the risks involved in the venture; and estimate the potential revenues and profits.
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Basics of Entrepreneurship: Why Start-ups Fail at Marketing -- and Possible Solutions
Why do more than half of all start-ups fail? Because they bungle their marketing, according to Leonard Lodish, a professor of marketing at Wharton and co-author of two books, Entrepreneurial Marketing and Marketing That Works. "The dogs won't eat the dog food is the way venture capitalists describe it," Lodish says. The key lies in how a marketing plan is crafted. In this installment of the podcast series for the Wharton-CERT Business Plan Competition, Lodish explains that marketing plans must take into account three critical strategic and tactical factors: positioning, targeting and pricing.
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Basics of Entrepreneurship: Dealing with Venture Capitalists
A critical step in the creation of a new venture is raising the capital to bring the new business to life. What sources of capital can an entrepreneur tap and what factors must she or he keep in mind while going through the process? According to Stephen Sammut, a senior fellow and lecturer at Wharton, so-called angel investors represent one possible option. Another source is venture capitalists (VCs), who may fund start-ups or invest at a later stage in a company's growth. In this podcast for the Wharton-CERT Business Plan Competition, Sammut explains the promises and pitfalls of dealing with venture capitalists.
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Basics of Entrepreneurship: 'The Act of Being an Entrepreneur Is Indeed an Act of Leadership'
Who are you? What do you stand for? What do you want? Entrepreneurs usually know the answers to those questions when they start up companies. But do their leadership teams? To make sure they do, top entrepreneurs develop a "blueprint" that will guide their companies as they grow from six to 60 to 600 employees, says Michael Useem, Wharton professor of management and director of its Center for Leadership and Change Management. In this installment of the podcast series for the Wharton-CERT Business Plan Competition, Useem discusses blueprints and other things that entrepreneurs need to develop successful leadership teams, including a knack for telling a good story.
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Taking the 'R' out of BRIC: How the Economic Downturn Exposed Russia's Weaknesses
The severity of Russia's recent economic decline has left many observers wondering why it has done so poorly compared with Brazil, India and China -- its BRIC counterparts -- as well as other oil-rich economies. There's a lot more to the answer than just the bursting of the oil bubble and the global economic crisis. Since the fall of communism two decades ago, Russia's business landscape has gone through a turbulent transition that is still nowhere near complete. Corruption and bureaucratic morass have taken their toll. But without strong prospects for economic and political liberalization, where does Russia go from here?
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Borderless Innovation: Stretching Company Boundaries to Come Up with New Ideas
Two heads are better than one, according to speakers at a recent conference on "Borderless Innovation" at Wharton's Mack Center for Technological Innovation. Representatives from Procter & Gamble, General Electric and Vodafone, to name a few, highlighted how top multinationals are changing the way they harness new ideas by drawing on all kinds of resources, including new technological developments, their vast global business networks and even competitors' know-how. But while these tools may make global collaboration easier than ever before, there is still plenty of work left to do to make innovation deliver, the speakers said.
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Putting a Face to a Name: The Art of Motivating Employees
Could a simple five-minute interaction with another person dramatically increase your weekly productivity? In some employment environments, the answer is yes, according to Wharton management professor Adam Grant. Grant has devoted significant chunks of his professional career to examining what motivates workers in settings that range from call centers and mail-order pharmacies to swimming pool lifeguard squads. In all these situations, Grant says, employees who know how their work has a meaningful, positive impact on others are not just happier than those who don't; they are vastly more productive, too.
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Executive Compensation: More Regulation, or Just More Transparency?
The question of whether CEOs of America's major companies are overpaid has been a subject of interest for many years. Are the compensation practices for these elite men and women fair and appropriate? Do they provide proper incentives, or do they reward excessive caution or risk taking? Wharton accounting professors John Core and Wayne Guay have just completed a study on this topic. Guay, along with colleague Chris Armstrong, sat down with Knowledge@Wharton to discuss executive compensation and the controversies that it continues to generate.
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'Don't Hide in the Corner': A Page from the Life and Career of Hearst's Cathie Black
For Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines, new approaches to delivering content -- such as the Kindle, Apple's new iPad and other devices -- strike at the core of her business, which for generations has been built around text, graphics and full-color photography on thick, glossy paper. Yet Black isn't worried. As she stated during a keynote address at the recent Wharton Women in Business conference, magazines will continue to offer "aspiration and inspiration." She also noted that Hearst has unveiled its own device and content delivery service targeted to e-readers.
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Banking Reform Proposals: Why They Miss the Mark
Big banks have been widely blamed for creating the global financial crisis, and last month the Obama administration proposed several reforms aimed at restricting their activities. Among them is the so-called Volcker Rule -- named after former Fed chairman Paul Volcker -- which prohibits banks from trading for themselves. But will these proposals lead to a healthier banking system and help prevent future crises? Several Wharton professors say that while the proposals have some good aspects, overall they miss the big picture.
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Grab Your Goggles: Will 3-D Be the Next Wave in Home Entertainment?
James Cameron's three-dimensional (3-D) film Avatar -- now the highest-grossing film of all time -- is helping to set the stage for what could be the next wave in home entertainment: 3-D televisions and other electronics that aim to bring an immersive experience to mainstream living rooms. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Sony and other companies unveiled plans to launch 3-D compatible televisions and other products, and 3-D content is already under development at networks such as ESPN. Still, Wharton faculty and other experts say it's unclear whether consumers, who have spent recent years upgrading to high-definition television, will reach for their 3-D goggles just yet.
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Paid vs. Free Content, Publishing Pains, Apple Tablets and All That ...
Two recent events have rocked the publishing world. First, The New York Times said it would abandon the practice of providing free online content and start charging regular readers beginning in 2011. And second, Apple's much-hyped tablet -- the iPad -- made its appearance. What implications will the Times' decision have for newspaper publishers and other providers of free online content? How will the iPad re-define what a book means, as well as how it is produced, marketed and delivered? Wharton professors Peter Fader and Stephen Kobrin weigh in.
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Pharma Is at Pains to Replace Blockbusters: Has It Found the Cure?
As the pharmaceutical industry comes to grips with the expiration of some $130 billion in patented products over the next four years, executives can no longer bank on a single drug like Lipitor to drive earnings. Instead, they are aiming to diversify their drug portfolios, hoping to develop products for far less than the $800 million-plus figure often cited as the price of bringing a new drug to market. According to industry experts, new paths involve innovative business models and unfamiliar risks, including allowing outsiders to see company secrets at earlier stages and mimicking biotech venture capital models.
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