Knowledge@wharton

The ability to ”connect the dots” -- work the connections between local conditions and global forces and between the non-profit private and government sectors -- is necessary whether you work in the private sector or for a conservation group according to Carter S. Roberts president and CEO of the U.S. World Wildlife Fund (WWF). During a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture Roberts spoke about corporations’ responsibility to promote environmental initiatives the need for communication skills the WWF’s latest successes and the importance of thinking about in advance ”what you want your legacy to be.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The January 3 Iowa caucuses and the January 8 New Hampshire primary showcased the 2008 presidential campaign’s ongoing political dogfight as candidates battled for their parties’ nominations. Under the surface however the scrum represents a tipping point in the use of the Internet as a campaign tool say experts at Wharton. In many respects the 2008 race resembles any sophisticated Internet marketing campaign that lets consumers swap information connect with friends and perhaps make a purchase -- or in this case a donation. Indeed selling a candidate may not be much different than selling any other high-end item although possibly less effective. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Contrary to management theories developed in the Industrial Age employee satisfaction is an important ingredient for financial success according to a new research paper by Wharton finance professor Alex Edmans. His findings also challenge the importance of short-term financial results and may have implications for investors interested in targeting socially responsible companies. The paper is titled ”Does the Stock Market Fully Value Intangibles? Employee Satisfaction and Equity Prices.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Western companies looking to do business in Asia especially in China don’t always confront a homogenous market and the ways that consumers make decisions about what to buy aren’t always predictable according to a group of marketing experts who spoke at the 2007 Wharton Asia Business Forum. Like developed-world consumers many urban Chinese people are technologically savvy and comfortable seeking product information on the web. But unlike them they don’t typically show brand loyalty and are often more motivated by price than perceptions of product quality or prestige. Panelists included executives from Estee Lauder Bain & Co. Colgate Palmolive and Swain Tours. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For the third time in the past few months the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee has chosen to cut short-term interest rates by a quarter percent or 25 basis points. The Fed cut its main short-term rate target to 4.25% and the ”discount rate” charged on direct Fed loans to commercial banks to 4.75%. In its statement justifying the decision the Fed noted ”Incoming information suggests that economic growth is slowing reflecting the intensification of the housing correction and some softening in business and consumer spending. Moreover strains in financial markets have increased in recent weeks. Today’s action combined with the policy actions taken earlier should help promote moderate growth over time.” Will the Fed’s decision help promote ”moderate growth?” Knowledge at Wharton asked Jeremy Siegel a professor of finance at Wharton and author of The Future for Investors to analyze the Fed’s decision and its impact on the markets. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fansumers viral videos and social computing -- these are just some of the many buzzwords pinging around the marketing world today. While making sense of them isn’t easy the concept behind them is clear: Online technologies allow customers to communicate in new ways with one another and companies must decide whether to ignore co-opt or dive into these new waters of interactivity. ”Consumers want to feel they are being heard and they love having an impact on the future development of products ” says one Wharton professor. ”To the extent that they can air grievances or understand the company’s position that can be beneficial for the company itself.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fire your bad customers. That piece of advice has become widely accepted in recent years as companies have sought to manage their relationships with customers in more sophisticated ways. The rationale is clear-cut: Low-value customers end up costing more money than they provide. So why not jettison them and focus your customer-relationship efforts on more profitable individuals? Or as an alternative why not try to increase the worth of the low-value customers to your firm? Not so fast suggests a new study by two Wharton marketing professors -- Jagmohan Raju and Z. John Zhang -- which concludes that firing low-value customers actually decreases firm profits and that trying to increase the value of these customers may be counterproductive. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Abu Dhabi government is buying a 4.9% stake in Citigroup for $7.5 billion. UBS is selling a 10.8% share to the government of Singapore and an unnamed Middle Eastern investor for $11.5 billion. Two Middle Eastern government funds now own a third of the London Stock Exchange. Governments through investment pools known as sovereign wealth funds have put tens of billions of dollars into Western financial firms this year. But is foreign ownership -- or more precisely foreign government ownership -- really a good thing? Many experts think this mushrooming trend bears watching especially for any sign that these funds are evolving from pure investment vehicles into tools for exerting political pressure on the ”target” countries. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A generation ago the only financial goal for a superstar African-American athlete at the peak of his career -- beyond a large contract -- was to nab a lucrative endorsement deal with a big sneaker company like Nike or a national brand such as McDonald’s. The idea was to earn several million extra dollars before his skills began to wane. Those short-term goals remain but today many in the National Basketball Association or the National Football League want something more substantial -- like a long-term piece of the action. A panel at the recent 34th Annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Conference looked at the business deals and humanitarian activities that today’s stars are conducting well after their days on the playing field are over. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The event was a contest designed to highlight the ways that advanced marketing science can improve the bottom line. The place was the recent Practice and Impact of Marketing Science 2007 conference held at Wharton. And the winner was the National Academies Press (NAP) the book-publishing arm of the National Academy of Sciences which presented information on how marketing research had helped it realize a common but often elusive goal -- reaching as many customers as possible at the highest attainable price. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On November 6 Facebook outlined a strategy to integrate more targeted advertising into its popular social networking website. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw the new initiative as an opportunity for users to refer products to each other and allow friends to share information as they shopped online and visited other websites. The system called Beacon was also intended to lead to more relevant -- and profitable -- advertising through precise targeting based on a user’s buying habits social circle and geography. But on December 5 after receiving numerous complaints Zuckerberg issued an apology and changed the way Beacon operates. The whole incident according to Wharton experts raises questions about privacy marketing tactics and what consumers can expect in the future. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Anyone who has popped open a bottle of wine will agree with George Taber that it is one of the few sounds in the world that brings true joy to the listener. But if the opponents of cork have their way that sound might disappear as Taber a veteran business journalist and author explains in his new book To Cork or Not to Cork: Tradition Romance Science and the Battle for the Wine Bottle (Scribner). As Taber tells it although cork has been used to seal virtually every bottle of wine for nearly three centuries that dominance is now under attack by other forms of closure including screw caps plastic seals and glass stoppers. Taber talks with Knowledge at Wharton about the battle and his book. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

McDonald’s operates the biggest restaurant chain in France. The company’s franchisees are French as are their employees and they also source their supplies from France. And yet most people in that country regard McDonald’s as an American firm that is undermining the French way of life. That is a good example of how the question of corporate identity has become complex and confused today because of globalization according to Hamid Bouchikhi professor of management and entrepreneurship at ESSEC and Wharton management professor John Kimberly. The two are authors of a new book titled The Soul of the Corporation: How to Manage the Identity of Your Company (Wharton School Publishing). How can a company cut through this confusion and use the notion of identity as a source of competitive advantage? Kimberly answers that question and others in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Almost every day a new twist seems to appear in the subprime crisis drama. This week the investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi announced an infusion of $7.5 billion to acquire a 4.9% stake in Citigroup which has been slammed by enormous losses in the credit market. The announcement came on the heels of a report from Bank of America that the subprime mess is about to get messier as interest rates ”reset” -- or rise -- on more than $360 billion worth of adjustable rate subprime mortgages. Has the crisis run its course? Knowledge at Wharton asked that question and several more to Richard Herring a Wharton finance professor and co-director of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On November 19 Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos announced the launch of an e-book device called Kindle. It weighs 10.3 ounces costs $399 and can be used without a computer offering instead a free high-speed wireless data network from Sprint. Users can download books in less than 60 seconds as well as newspapers magazines and blogs (for a fee). The device uses an eye-friendly screen and lets readers increase the type size as needed. Will it be a hit even though most other e-book efforts have been unsuccessful? We asked marketing professor Peter Fader Don Huesman senior director of information technology and management professor Dan Raff to give us their reviews. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Not long ago a global corporation decided it wanted to help children in the southern African nation of Namibia -- and so it spent millions to donate scores of new computers and television sets for the classrooms in a particular region of the country. They should have talked to someone like Jonathan Johnnidis first. The rural aid worker had information the large corporate benefactor apparently did not -- that there is no electricity grid in that area. Johnnidis and others talked about aid initiatives in Africa during a panel discussion on ”New Partnerships in Business and Leadership Development ” part of the recent 15th annual Wharton Africa Business Forum. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Meet the new consumers of the new media age. They want things to be better faster cheaper and even more important free according to AOL vice chairman emeritus Ted Leonsis who is considered an Internet pioneer and whose business portfolio over the years includes an impressive array of online companies. ”We’re living in a world where consumers have taken control of everything ” he noted. Leonsis a keynote speaker at the recent Wharton Entrepreneurship Conference 2007 offered his thoughts on making money the Internet age contradictions in today’s consumers the global marketplace blogs and philanthropy among other topics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On October 4 Microsoft launched HealthVault a free web-based service that allows users to store their medical records online and eventually share them with doctors. On October 17 an executive at Google noted the company’s interest in health information services. And on November 19 23andMe announced a program that will allow consumers to pay $999 for the privilege of exploring their own genomes. These efforts could give patients more control over their medical records and let them share information with doctors nutritionists or athletic trainers among others. But the concept also faces serious hurdles such as privacy concerns the absence of an accepted standard for sharing medical information and a health care industry that is reluctant to change according to experts in the field. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The recent departures of two chief executives -- Stanley O’Neal of Merrill Lynch and Charles Prince of Citigroup -- in the wake of major financial losses at their firms have focused renewed attention on the issue of succession planning. Published reports speculated that both positions would be filled by outside candidates and on November 14 Merrill Lynch announced that it had chosen John Thain CEO of NYSE Euronext to succeed O’Neal. While such a move is not surprising for a board wanting to signal a fresh start to investors Wharton faculty say that increasingly companies are looking to fill top spots with external candidates while spending less time on grooming future leaders and managing talent in general. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When it comes to shopping women are from Nordstrom’s and men are from Sears. Women are happy to meander through sprawling clothing and accessory collections or detour through the shoe department. For men shopping is a mission. They are out to buy a targeted item and flee the store as quickly as possible according to a new study by Wharton’s Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative and the Verde Group a Toronto consulting firm. The study’s findings have implications for retailers that are looking for ways to tailor their goods and services to specific segments of the shopping population. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.