Knowledge@wharton

When Nandan Nilekani was the CEO of Infosys one of India’s top IT and outsourcing firms he often found himself being forced to answer questions not just about his company but also his country. Sometimes global business executives who visited the company’s sprawling campus in Bangalore would raise issues to which Nilekani had no answer -- such as ”Why does Infosys have such a beautiful campus but also large slums in other parts of the city?” So when Nilekani decided to write a book unlike other CEOs who write about their favorite leadership or management theories he chose India as his subject. In ”Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation ” Nilekani tackles themes ranging from education and demographics to investment and infrastructure. Nilekani who was recently recruited by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to head a project to create a national identification card for the country spoke with India Knowledge at Wharton about the book at the recent Wharton India Economic Forum in Philadelphia.

When multinational companies want to tap into the massive pent-up consumer demand in emerging markets the first countries that they usually think of are China and India. But what about Africa asks Vijay Mahajan author of Africa Rising: How 900 Million Consumers Offer More Than You Think (Wharton School Publishing). Though often overlooked in global corporate growth strategies Africa as a whole has enough consumer power to give China and India a run for their money he argues. Mahajan a marketing professor at the University of Texas in Austin and co-author of an earlier book titled The 86% Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Marketing Opportunity of the 21st Century (Wharton School Publishing) talked with Knowledge at Wharton about Africa Rising. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The federal government has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking system and most experts seem to agree that the financial crisis is closer to its end than its beginning. But as attention shifts from fire fighting to rebuilding many are worrying about the ”moral hazard” that may remain with an apparent government safety net encouraging a new round of foolish risk taking. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2005 three major hurricanes -- Katrina Rita and Wilma -- struck the U.S. Gulf Coast area causing not just death and destruction but also leading to insurance payments and federal disaster relief of more than $180 billion. Today say the authors of a new book titled At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes the U.S. is even more vulnerable to catastrophic losses. Written by Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan with colleagues Neil Doherty Martin Grace Robert Klein and Mark Pauly At War with the Weather analyzes current thinking about catastrophes and proposes new solutions for reducing loss and providing financial protection against future disasters. Kunreuther co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center and Michel-Kerjan the Center’s managing director recently talked to Knowledge at Wharton about their book. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

U.S. recessions since the oil crisis in the early 1970s each had their own special causes and victims but they also had something in common: They were over relatively quickly. The current downturn however is deeper and already longer than any since World War II. This spells trouble for one especially vulnerable group -- managers in their 40s and early 50s. What can they do when the industry they made their career in downsizes or goes bust? And how should they go about picking themselves up and getting back into the game? Wharton faculty and employment counselors weigh in. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thirty-nine executives -- from countries as diverse as Nigeria India Russia South Africa and The Netherlands -- were challenged to devise a profitable business plan to address social ills around the globe. The effort part of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education’s Advanced Management Program called on participants’ expertise in such fields as oil aerospace finance fashion entertainment and HIV/AIDS education. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Do you want to communicate a corporate message effectively? Turn it into a story says Mandalay Entertainment Group chairman Peter Guber. He argues that stories are more memorable and engaging than slide presentations memos or sales pitches. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Risk managers armed with the most sophisticated quantitative tools available did not foresee the biggest development in a generation -- the systematic breakdown and global contagion of financial markets. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton John Drzik president and CEO of the Oliver Wyman Group Richard J. Herring a finance professor at Wharton and Francis X. Diebold a Wharton professor of economics finance and statistics discussed how to build a more informed risk management model. All three took part in the recent Wharton Financial Institutions Center and Oliver Wyman Institute 12th Annual Financial Risk Roundtable 2009. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Now that it’s clear the recession will not turn into a depression stocks are poised for a recovery says Wharton finance professor Jeremy J. Siegel. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton he said last week’s market decline in response to rising commodity prices -- especially for energy -- and fear of the ever-growing federal deficit was no more than a short-term setback. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Raghda Shaheen who works for the Dubai International Finance Centre recently completed a four-week business and legal fellowship program at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania law school. The program funded by the U.S. Department of State Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and supported by America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST) teaches management business and legal skills to women from the Middle East and North Africa. This year 22 women from 11 countries attended the program. Shaheen will spend the next three months working at the Chicago Chamber of Commerce before returning to the UAE. She spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about her experiences in Gaza City Canada the U.S. and the Middle East See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stocks have rebounded on Wall Street during the past two months. The pace of job losses seems to be slowing down. Even quarterly reports from banks suggest that the banking sector is slowly struggling back to its feet. Do these signs portend the first indicators of an economic recovery? Not yet according to experts at Wharton and elsewhere who insist that despite some of the hopeful data the recovery will be weaker and take longer to gain momentum than past slowdowns. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Large financial institutions have failed with much higher frequency than is generally perceived says Andrew Kuritzkes a partner at Oliver Wyman and head of the management consulting firm’s public policy practice in North America. In this interview with Knowledge at Wharton Kuritzkes suggests some new guidelines that would greatly improve the financial system’s ability to absorb the inevitable if individually unpredictable shocks of big failures. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Venture capitalist consultant and former Apple software ”evangelist” Guy Kawasaki talked about ”the art of innovation” during a recent visit to the University of Pennsylvania. He offered 10 rules for entrepreneurs and innovators. Among them: Make meaning not money. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a world where jobs can be sent overseas tasks can be automated and the feverish pace of technology can render even last year’s innovation obsolete students will have to learn how to think differently than their parents in order to survive and prosper says Daniel H. Pink author of three bestselling books about the changing work environment. He spoke at the recent Wharton Evolution of Learning Symposium. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Superpreneur seems like a better label for Elon Musk. At 38 he has already been a co-founder of PayPal which sold for $1.5 billion and SpaceX which aims to commercialize the launching of payloads into orbit. He is also an initial investor in electric-car pioneer Tesla Motors and solar energy company SolarCity which sells and services solar energy equipment. In the second half of a two-part interview arranged by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs he tells Knowledge at Wharton the story of his entrepreneurial beginnings and what he learned about the value of pinching pennies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Executive compensation packages that provide huge payouts for short-term stock-market gains have been blamed for playing a role in the risky behavior that triggered the continuing financial crisis. In a new research paper a Wharton professor and several colleagues say they have come up with something better: A compensation structure based on long-term escrow accounts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Just as computer operating systems vied for dominance back in the late 1970s and early 1980s smartphone makers these days are jostling for market share hoping that their mix of capabilities -- ranging from web surfing to email to calendar management -- will ensure them a critical mass of customers. What the makers of such mobile devices as the BlackBerry iPhone and Treo are trying to avoid is the outcome of that earlier race when one company -- Microsoft -- ended up the dominant player. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

New restrictions proposed for ratings agencies -- including Moody’s Fitch and Standard & Poor’s -- could have unintended consequences warn experts in the United States. Europe however has clamped down on the agencies whose stamps of approval on a broad spectrum of subprime mortgage securities helped pave the way to the credit crash of 2007 and the continuing global recession. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has three passions: the Internet space exploration and clean energy. The first paid off handsomely for him in 2002 when he sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. The second is fueled by SpaceX a company that makes space launch vehicles. Musk’s third passion is Tesla Motors which makes the Tesla Roadster an electric sports car that claims to go 244 miles per charge and sells for $101 500 or more. In the first of a two-part interview with Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs and Knowledge at Wharton Musk speaks with management professor John Paul MacDuffie co-director of the International Motor Vehicle Program about electric cars hybrids the Tesla and the mysterious ways of Detroit. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Equities are subject to much wider price swings than previously understood according to a recent paper co-authored by Wharton finance and economics professor Robert Stambaugh. The research adds a new perspective to the work of Wharton finance professor Jeremy J. Siegel author of the book Stocks for the Long Run which says stock returns more than offset risks if you stay with the market through its ups and downs. In a recent interview with Knowledge at Wharton the professors described their views about the market’s long-term behavior. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.