Stay ConnectedThe Knowledge at Wharton feed features standout episodes from across the Wharton Podcast Network. Discover timely conversations and expert insights on business, markets, leadership, innovation, and the forces shaping the global economy.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Copyright: © 2013 The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
When the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act was signed into law in 2002 its goal was to protect investors through increased disclosure and tougher internal controls in the wake of accounting frauds at Enron WorldCom and other U.S. companies. But on April 4 2007 the Securities and Exchange Commission announced it will revisit some of SOX’s rules. The primary focus will be the financial costs of Section 404 which requires auditors of most publicly listed companies to verify the effectiveness of internal procedures for financial reporting. Knowledge at Wharton asked accounting experts for their opinions on possible SOX revisions.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Omar Hamoui could be called a ”serial entrepreneur.” Immediately out of college he started his first business a consulting company that grew to between 20 and 25 people. Then came what he characterizes as the one job he has ever had: a two-year stint working at Sony. After that Hamoui created a series of startups built around the expanding ecosystem of mobile devices. While he was a first-year MBA student at Wharton in 2006 he came up with the idea for AdMob a company that sells advertising for phones’ mobile browsers. In the space of a year AdMob claims to have become the ”world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace.” Knowledge at Wharton spoke to Hamoui about the evolution of mobile advertising.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
During a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture De Beers managing director Gareth Penny presented the history strategy and mystique of the international diamond company and offered his views on what it takes to be a leader in today’s global society. In response to questioning from the audience he also addressed the issue of ”conflict diamonds” and noted De Beers’ efforts to eliminate the sale of these products as well as to improve the health of communities where diamonds are mined.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Some technology companies have been founded in a garage. Local Internet search company Natpal was hatched in a Connecticut car dealership. That’s where Wharton undergraduate student and future Natpal CEO Nate Stevens first realized that Internet search wasn’t exactly friendly to small businesses looking for sales leads. The discovery led Stevens along with Penn alumnus Ben Rubenstein and Wharton professor Kartik Hosanagar to found Natpal which brings local businesses online and helps them find sales leads via web searches. The goal is not just clicks but phone calls says Stevens.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The similarities between Poland and Argentina were striking. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed the two countries were beacons of reform in their regions. Each had a largely Roman Catholic population of about 36 million. Both were introducing free-market reforms. And after decades of authoritarian rule both were establishing democracies. But since then countries in Eastern Europe have been pulling ahead of their counterparts in Latin America mainly because of the different international economic integration schemes that are in place in each region: The European Union and NAFTA. In a new research paper Wharton management professor Gerald McDermott and two co-authors look at the impact of these trade agreements on developing nations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
You know the type: coworkers who never have anything positive to say whether at the weekly staff meeting or in the cafeteria line. They can suck the energy from a brainstorming session with a few choice comments. Their negativity can contaminate even good news. ”We engage in emotional contagion ” says Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade. ”Emotions travel from person to person like a virus.” Barsade is the co-author of a new paper that looks at the impact of employees’ moods emotions and overall dispositions on job performance.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Experts at Wharton and Harvard University have unveiled a proposal that they say addresses both global security and the future of energy markets. In a new study Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan and Debra Decker argue that interest in nuclear power has escalated as countries become increasingly concerned about climate change and energy security. To avoid dangerous uncontrolled nuclear proliferation they say the international community must ensure reliable supplies of uranium-based fuel for nuclear reactors to all nations even unstable ones. The way to accomplish this is to involve the private sector specifically those who deal with risk on a daily basis: insurers and financial experts.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
When Circuit City announced last week that it was laying off 3 400 workers so it could rehire new ones at lower salaries it raised the question of just what strategic benefits the company -- or any company -- expects to achieve through employee downsizing. Clearly these benefits depend on the underlying strength of the organization and the specific reasons behind the cost-cutting but most experts agree that unless layoffs are part of a well-planned strategy the move could cause as many problems as it was intended to cure.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Attention shoppers: Did you find everything you were looking for? Retail customers who answer ”yes” to this question might very well represent the Holy Grail to retail operators who want to increase their sales with only a modest increase in costs or in some cases increase sales by merely reallocating staff within a store at no extra cost. Impossible? Not according to a new study on retail store execution by Wharton operations and information management professors Marshall L. Fisher and Serguei Netessine and Wharton doctoral student Jayanth Krishnan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In the best possible marketplace all buyers see the prices asked by all sellers and all sellers see the prices offered by all buyers -- and little guys are treated the same as big ones. The result: competition that insures the most efficient interplay of supply and demand. In theory it sounds great. And indeed this is the idea behind the Security and Exchange Commission’s push for an integrated stock market called the National Market System or NMS. But could the best intentions backfire? Wharton finance professor Marshall E. Blume answers that question in a new research paper titled ”Competition and Fragmentation in the Equity Markets: The Effect of Regulation NMS.”
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
