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Copyright: © 2013 The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
As officials worldwide scrambled to contain the spreading financial virus hopes are rising that the latest government plans to purchase equity stakes in banks may finally offer the right medicine. And with the patient showing intermittent signs of improving thoughts turn towards next steps including new restrictions on the markets. In addition expect individuals and business to have a tougher time getting loans for years -- not just months. And watch for authorities to prescribe greater transparency stricter capital requirements to reduce leveraging and more standardized financial contracts to push opaque securities into the sunlight.
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Executives who hone their skills at the helm of private companies tend to be more driven more bottom line-oriented and have much more flexibility than CEOs at publicly owned companies who are constrained by their need to balance multiple objectives in a corporate ecosystem. That was the consensus of four panelists who discussed the management challenges at private equity-backed firms during the recent Wharton General Management Conference.
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European wind-power firms see an opportunity in the United States’ increasing interest in alternative energy. Indeed the inroads that electricity-generating wind turbine technology has made in the U.S. are due in large part to the efforts of companies based in Europe. Gamesa Siemens and others ply their expertise in a country where public policy has not consistently encouraged domestic investment.
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Despite the rash of bad economic news the recent 11th annual Wharton Investment Management Conference offered its audience some hope for relief or at least a few possible bargains in selected industries. And while no one -- including keynote speaker David McCormick undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury -- felt the crisis would be over anytime soon some still found reasons to be optimistic. Said one conference panelist: Eventually ”people will get bored with being afraid.”
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Is water the new oil? The answer is yes according to a number of economists business leaders scientists and geopolitical strategists who argue that it’s time to stop taking for granted the substance that covers 70% of the planet and makes up a similar proportion of the human body. Just as the late 20th century saw an oil shock the early 21st century may feature a water shock where scarcity leads to a sharp price hike on a resource that has always been plentiful and cheap. Such a scenario could have an even bigger impact than peak oil transforming markets governments and ecosystems alike.
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Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg called the latest 3D movie technology ”the greatest innovation to occur in the movie business in 70 years.” A bevy of theater chains are exploring or installing digital cinema and 3D systems in the second half of 2008 into 2009. Intel and others are creating tools for companies to make a new generation of 3D animation films. Experts at Wharton say 3D movies are back in vogue but it’s unclear whether the latest greatest technology can give theaters a sustainable competitive advantage over other forms of entertainment.
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The new president’s job says one Wharton professor ”will be as hard as any job any person has ever had.” For the 44th president of the United States extraordinary managerial and cognitive abilities will be needed to tackle unprecedented challenges including wars being waged in two countries and a financial system on the verge of collapse. Wharton and University of Pennsylvania faculty members offer their views on which leadership qualities will be most important over the next four years and why. This article is the third in a series about economic and leadership issues focusing on the November 4 election.
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Ann Taylor Stores -- a New York-based retailer of upscale women’s clothing -- is using a new computer scheduling system that assigns the busiest and most desirable hours to employees with the strongest sales numbers. Those with less success on the selling floor get far fewer and less desirable hours when new schedules are posted. While systems like these can help improve productivity Wharton faculty and others warn that they are no substitute for hands-on management when it comes to dealing with workers.
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Here’s a piece of advice: Don’t read this story if you have just had a fight with your spouse or a co-worker. You will probably ignore it despite its grounding in solid academic research. At least that’s what Maurice Schweitzer a Wharton professor of operations and information management would suggest. In a recent co-authored paper he shows that emotions not only influence people’s receptiveness to advice but they do so even when the emotions have no link to the advice or the adviser.
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According to Hal Sirkin senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group ”The age of globalization is over.” In its place is a new reality that Sirkin and BCG colleagues Jim Hemerling and Arindam Bhattacharya define in their recently published book GLOBALITY: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Sirkin describes how rapidly developing economies like India and China have changed global business from a ”one-way street” benefitting Western multinationals to a two-way competition in which ”blending the best of the East with the best of the West is most likely the winning formula.”
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