Knowledge@wharton

Thailand’s Bumrungrad International Hospital is one of a growing number of institutions making a name for themselves among ”medical tourists” by offering patients from Boston to Bahrain a combination of lower-cost state-of-the-art medical care along with service worthy of a five-star hotel. But what will it take for such hospitals to gain acceptance among national policy makers major insurers and employers? Mack Banner CEO of Bumrungrad and Kenneth Mays the hospital’s director of marketing recently met with Ravi Aron a senior fellow at Wharton to discuss the future of offshore health care. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became a nation in the early 1970s it had neither a formal education system nor a university to call its own. Today however with new private and public universities springing up across the emirates the UAE sees a larger role for itself as a promoter of peace and economic development through education according to Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan the nation’s minister of higher education and scientific research. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Sheikh Nahayan discusses various UAE education initiatives the impact of technology in and outside the classroom and what he would envision to be an ideal education system. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneur Farhad Mohit is hardly resting on his laurels although he could. In 1996 he launched BizRate a consumer rating site and then in 2004 Shopzilla a shopping search engine. His latest venture is DotSpots a service that lets people update the news in real-time with dots or distributed objects of thought. These could include mini-blog posts containing text videos images documents perspectives from the blogosphere or eye-witness accounts from the scene. Mohit talked with Knowledge at Wharton about DotSpots the publishing industry the wisdom of crowds what he learned from his previous successes and the importance of finding the right team among other topics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Although some upbeat economic news in recent weeks might indicate the beginning of the end of the recession there’s still plenty of ”wreckage” to deal with says Wharton real estate professor Peter D. Linneman. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the housing and commercial property sectors which have taken one of their worst beatings ever. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Linneman draws on policy missteps of the past to caution the Obama administration to tread carefully and avoid ”trying to cure things they can’t cure ” while contending that the U.S. might have more in common with countries like Venezuela Russia and Japan than most observers think. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What’s in a name? Plenty when you’re an entrepreneur starting up a new business says Tayeb Kamali who recalls the struggle to convince others in the early days of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) that the United Arab Emirates’ new government-sponsored university needed a name that would be associated with leading-edge education in the Arab region. However as HCT’s Abu Dhabi-based vice chancellor explains in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton that particular challenge was short-lived given the rapid recognition -- in academia and industry -- of the growing importance that the Internet and other technologies have in developing future generations of global business leaders. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Economic progress ethics and social entrepreneurship are three themes that have long had a place on the agenda of the World Economic Forum (WEF) well before phrases like ”subprime lending” had crossed the lips of bankers and Wall Street investors. But how can these and other global topics remain relevant during today’s market turbulence? To answer that question Knoweldge@Wharton spoke with Gilbert Probst WEF managing director and dean of the Geneva-based non-profit think tank’s Global Leadership Fellows program; Tiffany West associate director and Global Leadership Fellow Program Development team; and Ana Karinna Sepulveda project manager for the WEF’s Global Education Initiative. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Following a high-profile career in finance in which he became one of the first well-known hedge fund managers Michael Steinhardt began the Taglit-Birthright Israel program a philanthropic enterprise which has provided free 10-day trips to Israel for some 220 000 Jewish youth to learn more about their heritage. Steinhardt spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about how the program helps to improve the country’s image and the challenges of what he calls a deteriorating educational system in Israel -- marked by a brain drain in higher education. Steinhardt also discussed the country’s culture of business innovation and how deep democratic roots can sometimes slow progress. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anyone who follows current events sees images of Israel that suggest a country defined by conflict and violence. Yet Israel has also made substantial contributions to the global marketplace in such industries as technology and medicine. The challenge for Israel going forward is to make the world more aware of its hospitable business environment. Marketing professor Yoram (Jerry) Wind and David Pottruck former CEO of Charles Schwab & Co. and now chairman and CEO of Red Eagle Ventures talked with Knowledge at Wharton about steps Israel can take to improve its image. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Early reports show that Microsoft’s new search engine Bing has managed to draw more users than its predecessor Live Search. According to Wharton faculty however  while Microsoft’s campaign to promote Bing has been successful so far it is unclear whether its well-funded effort will make significant inroads in a market dominated by Google. On the other hand they believe the campaign helped pressure Yahoo into an important partnership agreement after months of fitful negotiations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ford reported its first sales gain in 20 months thanks to the U.S. government’s ”cash for clunkers” rebate program that gives consumers a rebate of up to $4 500 to trade in older cars for new and more fuel-efficient models. Other manufacturers said their continuing sales declines would have been worse without the program. All in all the officially named Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) provided taxpayers with a good return on their investment Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie says in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton. But he adds the auto industry -- most notably GM and Toyota -- have a lot of work to do to prepare for a marketplace transformed by the financial crisis and growing demand for fuel efficiency. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From California to Connecticut the global recession has squeezed state finances forcing many state governments to slash services raise taxes or find unusually creative ways to close the gap. According to experts the widespread budget shortfalls -- expected to continue through at least 2011 -- threaten to put a drag on the nation’s economic recovery and undermine President Obama’s stimulus plan. ”The states aren’t really playing the game like Obama hoped they would ” says one Wharton finance professor. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Why is Hollywood in love with tried-and-true sequels and established franchises rather than producing original scripts? According to Wharton faculty the industry’s embrace of the sequel is an attempt to minimize its risk during an uncertain time when the motion picture business finds its usual sources of funding and revenues under pressure from the recession. ”If studio [executives] launch a movie where ... the merchandizing channels already exist they are less likely to walk into a big box office disaster which could bury them financially when they can least afford it ” says one expert. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

According to Wharton finance professor Richard J. Herring more than half of the lending to households over the last five to six years ”has come from the securitization market not from banks’ balance sheets.” For that reason Herring and Allen Levinson founder and principal of Credit Risk Advisors say that the Obama administration’s efforts to resuscitate the ailing economy should be focused not only on restoring bank lending but also on enabling ”the flow of securitizations.” This can be accomplished through the establishment of a private-sector oversight committee that ”reflects the full range of stakeholders in the securitization process” -- a market-based solution costing taxpayers nothing they argue. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the global recession drags on new concerns are rising about commercial real estate. Loans taken out during the boom years are coming due but commercial property owners are contending with higher vacancy rates lower rents and a less-than-receptive environment for refinancing their obligations. Industry analysts and politicians suggest that commercial real estate is about to become the next high-profile casualty in the ongoing economic meltdown. ”The shoe has already dropped ” says one Wharton real estate professor. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The cable television industry’s answer to the increasing threat from Internet video sites such as YouTube and Hulu focuses on a clear-cut strategy: Make cable subscriptions portable to any Internet accessible device such as a laptop computer or even a mobile phone for no additional charge. Experts at Wharton say the move is a promising early step in meeting the Internet video challenge but they expect more such experimentation ahead. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Corporate leaders in the United States often draw leadership lessons -- good and bad -- from the examples set by American presidents. But in looking to the White House it’s important to recognize that history’s take on presidential performance is subject to change according to presidential historian Richard Norton Smith who spoke at a recent Wharton Leadership Conference. He offered 10 rules for presidential evaluations that stand the test of time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Financial advisors face difficult challenges given the global economic and financial crisis. Yet advisors can not only survive the downturn but also thrive during it according to the authors of a new book Marketing for Financial Advisors: Build Your Business Bring in Clients and Establish Your Brand. Indeed Wharton marketing professors Eric T. Bradlow and Patti Williams and Keith Niedermeier director of Wharton’s undergraduate marketing program suggest that the struggling economy provides an opportunity to ”attack” and gain market share. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton the three authors discuss how financial advisors can build their business -- even in a down economy -- by adopting data-driven and niche marketing principles. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In separate interviews Wharton finance professors Franklin Allen and Jeremy J. Siegel offered contrasting reactions to the large second-quarter profits at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. Allen said that while the firms’ quarterly results reflected overall gains on Wall Street  ”by and large you can’t make large sums of money without taking risks.” He worries that the government’s intervention in the financial sector last fall which benefitted these firms and others created an environment of moral hazard. Siegel was less concerned about this issue noting that ”both these firms now have a lot to lose after having recovered a lot.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In their new book titled Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich point out that identifying new opportunities shouldn’t be seen as a luxury but a necessity. They note that creativity and process-driven rigor can go hand in hand when it comes to vetting and managing new ideas. One way to do this they explain is by making new ideas compete with one another in numerous rounds of vetting -- that is by running them through ”innovation tournaments” -- so that the strongest and most promising ideas make it to the final round. Rich rewards await companies that make the leap. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As the recent financial crisis has showed so dramatically networks exist everywhere. Global inter-linkage of loans and mortgages -- which were intended to distribute risk -- actually ended up spreading it far and wide. Similar network-based impacts are at work in fields as diverse as information security and supply chain management. But while networks create new risks they also generate new opportunities write Paul R. Kleindorfer Yoram (Jerry) Wind and Robert E. Gunther in their new book ”The Network Challenge: Strategy Profit and Risk in an Interlinked World.” In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Kleindorfer and Wind discuss the themes of many of the 28 essays in their book. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.