Knowledge@wharton

What impact has the global financial crisis had on India’s real estate market? According to Aniruddha Joshi executive director of Hirco Group in Britain which develops residential properties and mixed-use townships in India the credit crisis has affected portfolio allocations. Still Hirco’s strategy toward property development in India will not change Joshi told Knowledge at Wharton in an interview during the recent Knowledge at Wharton Real Estate in Emerging Markets Forum. ”We believe that the long-term India story and the fundamentals are still intact.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Toyota officially eclipsed General Motors as the world’s largest automaker by sales last year but its strength is only relative: The Japanese automaker like its competitors is struggling against a sharp drop-off in sales and global overcapacity. According to Wharton faculty after years of conservative growth Toyota accelerated its expansion in the past decade making it harder to apply the brakes in the current downturn. The new market dynamics which coincide with a changeover in company leadership mean the road ahead may be especially difficult to navigate they say. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The contrast is jarring. As thousands of Americans lose their jobs headlines are focused on excessive executive compensation and lavish perks including multi-million-dollar bonuses a $1.2 million executive suite renovation (since repaid) and plans to buy a new corporate jet (since scrapped). It’s not surprising that the harsh economic climate and resurgent role of government in business has turned a spotlight on compensation. Indeed rules announced this week by the Obama administration set new limits on executive pay. But overall what should government do or not do to ensure fairness and accountability in the executive suite? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When the giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced on January 26 that it was acquiring Wyeth for $68 billion analysts started questioning what benefits the deal would bring and for whom. Pfizer executives suggest the acquisition makes strategic sense by expanding the company into a range of new areas and by helping make up for an expected loss of more than $12 billion in annual revenues once its Lipitor patent expires in 2011. But Wyeth also brings some liabilities -- notably continuing lawsuits over its hormone replacement drugs and fen-phen diet pill. Knowledge at Wharton asked Wharton health care professor Patricia Danzon and marketing professor Jagmohan Raju to offer their views on the pros and cons of the deal. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It began as the ”subprime crisis” in 2007 and then mushroomed into a full-blown global recession in 2008. And still despite mammoth government intervention the bad news keeps getting worse. Are we now teetering on a precipice ready to plunge into another Great Depression? Can the latest proposals pull the economy out of its nosedive? There is plenty to worry about. But while many experts say this crisis is the worst since the Depression that doesn’t mean it will be as bad. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On the eve of Barack Obama’s inauguration as president of the United States Wharton finance professor Richard J. Herring discussed with Knowledge at Wharton some of the advice offered to the new chief executive by the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee a group of economists former regulators and lawyers of which Herring is a co-chair. Among the recommendations: As quickly as possible unwind federal investments that helped keep U.S. banks afloat. Herring also assessed the deepening woes at Citigroup which this week named board member Richard Parsons as its new chairman a move intended to provide stronger leadership at the troubled bank. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The worldwide financial crisis has upended the energy industry slashing oil prices by two thirds and bedeviling financing for wind solar and other renewable-energy projects. But it’s not all doom and gloom according to participants in the recent Wharton Energy Conference. From Big Oil to renewable-energy startups energy industry players are scrambling to find a silver lining in today’s trying conditions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has a long to-do list -- chart the company’s strategy weigh a potential search partnership with Microsoft boost morale and round out her management team -- and not much time to deliver amid a weak economy that is hurting online advertising say experts at Wharton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Having bounced back from its own profound financial crises in 1994 and 2000 Turkey is well prepared to ride out the current global economic storm according to Bahadir Teker CEO of Istanbul Mortgage. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Teker noted that the stability of Turkey’s banking system and its dramatic rise in housing demand will help to temper any slowdowns in the country’s real estate industry over the next couple of years. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From Colin Dyer’s perspective the worldwide real estate market is in pretty bad shape. As president and CEO of global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Dyer has seen firsthand the problems that an absence of liquidity is causing for buyers who need financing for real estate transactions. Yet he is also optimistic that comparatively little competition and some good bargains provide excellent market opportunities for those who know where to look. Dyer expanded on these points during an interview with Knowledge at Wharton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

While Russia initially may have been insulated from the impact of the global financial crisis -- due to the once-high price of oil -- the country is now feeling the impact of the slowdown. What does this mean for the Russian real estate market? How are real estate companies responding to the crisis? And what should international companies look for when doing business there? Bruce Gardner managing director of MLP Russia and a participant in the recent Knowledge at Wharton Real Estate in Emerging Markets Forum offers some answers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

China’s unsurpassed demand cash reserves and willingness to invest heavily in new infrastructure make it an attractive option for foreign real estate investors according to Gilles Assouline president of Wuxi Iparks Creative Design & Development. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Assouline spoke about why conditions in China are ripe for real estate development and how partnering with the world’s fastest-growing economy may be a requisite for survival in the current economic downturn. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Those countries that had easy access to debt -- such as the U.S. and Japan -- are taking the biggest hit from the current financial crisis while those countries without access to debt capital -- such as Brazil -- have been somewhat spared according to Gary Garrabrant CEO of Equity International. During the Knowledge at Wharton Real Estate in Emerging Markets Forum Garrabrant spoke about his company’s strategy for weathering the down market how investment decisions are made and what he sees happening in the next 18 to 24 months. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Founded in 1928 Mangels Industrial is among Brazil’s leading manufacturers. Its products range from cold rolled steel to gas cylinders. In addition the company is Latin America’s largest maker of aluminum wheels for the auto industry. How are manufacturers such as Mangels Industrial coping with the global recession? In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Bob Mangels company CEO and grandson of the founder shares his insights on managing during the slowdown as well as principles that help family businesses succeed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After a year of financial shock and sharp economic loss 2009 is likely to be extremely difficult for the global economy with investors business leaders and policymakers struggling to find signs of recovery. Wharton faculty and other experts interviewed by the Knowledge at Wharton Network discuss the outlook for the U.S. Europe Latin America India China and Japan. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Successful marketplaces -- indeed all social systems -- require a level of ethical behavior among their participants. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton professors Maurice E. Schweitzer and G. Richard Shell who have conducted extensive research on the role of trust in markets explain why even the most sophisticated investors put their faith in Bernard Madoff the New York City financier recently accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. That breach of trust has damaged the broader markets Schweitzer and Shell say. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It was a tough year for newspapers. The owner of The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune declared bankruptcy; The New York Times borrowed against its headquarters and even accepted ads on its front page. Detroit’s two dailies announced the end of home delivery on all but three days of the week. According to Wharton faculty if newspapers can’t find a new business model quickly they may soon be printing final editions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

President-elect Barack Obama’s infrastructure plan has drawn considerable debate but mostly over the details -- the size of the stimulus program how to structure the plan to create the most jobs in the shortest time and how to administer such a large program to limit corruption and pork-barrel projects. The bigger questions remain unanswered including to what extent new jobs will actually be created and how all this spending will affect the government’s long-term debt. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From a childhood spent exploring the woods near his home to a career spent protecting habitats in the far corners of the earth Carter Roberts -- president and CEO of the non-profit World Wildlife Fund -- has fostered a connection to the natural world. His job is as diverse as the ecosystems he visits. One day he may be negotiating with the president of a corporation and the next he is sitting on a dirt floor talking with villagers about the importance of saving tigers.He spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about his passion for nature why companies should care about preserving natural resources and the value of story-telling. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 1998 social entrepreneur Seth Goldman founded Honest Tea the nation’s best-selling and fastest-growing organic bottled tea company with a business professor from the Yale School of Management. Honest Tea sources from organic and fair trade tea estates and has partnered with community development groups ranging from the Crow Reservation in Montana to organizations in South Africa and Guatemala. Goldman talked with Knowlege@Wharton about carving out space in the competitive beverage market helping consumers embrace organics and how tea became the catalyst for following his life’s passion. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.