Knowledge@wharton

The sub-prime mortgage crisis and the credit crunch that has followed in its aftermath are taking their toll on the housing market. On August 28 the S&P Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index showed that home prices fell 3.2% in the second quarter. According to the National Association of Realtors the inventory of unsold homes is at a record high. As sales have fallen many home builders have seen their stock prices drop by more than 60% during the past year. How serious is this situation? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Joseph Gyourko director of Wharton’s Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center and Todd Sinai a professor of real estate spoke to Knowledge at Wharton about these questions and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In August less than three months after the introduction of Apple’s iPhone a New Jersey teen announced that he had ”hacked” into the mobile-communications device. The hacker was clearly expressing the frustration that many consumers feel towards Apple for adopting a ”walled garden” -- as opposed to an ”open architecture” or ”open plain” -- corporate strategy. While the walled garden approach often restricts consumers’ ability to modify devices or marry them with other firms’ products and services the open architecture approach has its drawbacks as well. Wharton faculty and others look at the advantages and disadvantages -- for both consumers and companies -- of these two strategies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The quest for cool is never-ending. Accountants rev up their Harleys to the dismay of hard-core bikers. Soccer moms trade in minivans for hipper Land Rovers. Yellow rubber wristbands appear instantly then just as quickly disappear. There is a fine line between cool and not-so-cool -- a topic explored in a new paper Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity Signaling and Product Domains by Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger and co-author Chip Heath from Stanford. The researchers look at how consumers use products to signal membership in social groups but swiftly abandon those same products when the original message is diluted as other groups co-opt the trend. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The idea of ”McJobs”-- low-paying positions with little chance of advancement -- bothered the CEO of McDonald’s so much that when Merriam-Webster included the term in its dictionary in 2003 he wrote a public letter of protest. His plea went unheeded. ”McJobs” stayed. As this anecdote suggests the idea that franchises especially those in the fast-food sector create dead-end jobs is widespread. Yet in a new study Peter Cappelli director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources and colleague Monika Hamori challenge conventional wisdom and offer evidence that franchise jobs tend to be better than those in equivalent non-franchise operations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

”Risk” is a term that comes up frequently when people discuss medicine and health: What’s my risk of heart attack? Breast cancer? What’s my risk of dying from a complication of surgery? Or having a dangerous reaction to a drug? But according to Mark V. Pauly Wharton professor of health care systems consumers don’t necessarily use that term in the same way that medical and insurance experts do -- which is a potential pitfall that can lead to less than optimal health care decisions and faulty policymaking. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton one year ago Michael Dell declared his support of then-CEO Kevin Rollins indicated that supply chain efficiencies and direct sales gave the company a competitive edge and added that his namesake company was making great strides in customer service. What a difference a year makes. Michael Dell took over the reins from Rollins on January 31 and set out to remake the $57 billion Round Rock Tex. PC manufacturer. The effort comes as the company has lost its worldwide market share lead to Hewlett-Packard and faces competition from other PC manufacturers as well. While experts generally agree that Dell has made progress in some areas questions about its turnaround remain. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As sales of Apple’s iPod Coca-Cola and North Face clothing show despite serious challenges from private label manufacturers and low-price global production branding remains an important way for consumers to choose among products in a crowded marketplace. Brands are a short-hand means of conveying quality and lower risk according to Wharton faculty and marketing analysts and they also play a growing role in building consumers’ identities. But these experts add with little room to compete on cost brands will need to be vigilant when it comes to differentiating themselves from increasingly sophisticated competitors. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After weeks of skittishness and fear investors showed signs on Tuesday of settling down. ”Yesterday was one of the dullest days in the market that we’ve had in a while and that’s good in many ways ” says Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. Investors have been reeling from widespread problems in the subprime sector stocks have fallen yields on Treasury securities have dropped and some companies are finding it hard to borrow money -- all of which spurred the Federal Reserve last week to announce a cut in interest rates. Meanwhile the upheaval has shown that quant funds despite their computer power aren’t immune to mistakes and market downturns. So what can we expect in the weeks ahead? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For those entrepreneurs who want to run a company but prefer to skip the start-up stage search funds offer a possible alternative. A specialized form of private equity first launched in the mid-1980s search funds are becoming increasingly popular -- and their supporters claim they can offer investors attractive returns and business owners a compelling exit strategy. What does this trend in private equity mean for investors and for small businesses that might be acquisition targets for these funds? Robert Befidi Jr. and Mark Sinatra managing directors of Gordian Capital in New York City spoke to Knowledge at Wharton about the pros and cons of search funds. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mattel’s recall of more than 10 million toys in the U.S. over the past three weeks has done more than focus attention on the company’s wide array of products which include such household names as Elmo Ernie Big Bird Barbie and Batman. It has also further raised public awareness of quality control problems in China and the relentless push to cut costs along every step of the supply chain. Knowledge at Wharton looks at Mattel’s response to the crisis its potential liability and the consequences for China. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s open season on Microsoft Office. Google is distributing Sun Microsystems’ StarOffice and also has its own web-based productivity suite. Apple has a new spreadsheet called Numbers to compete with Microsoft’s Excel. Open source suite OpenOffice along with several web-based products are attacking as well. All these challengers emerge at a time when Microsoft’s dominance in productivity software -- Microsoft Word PowerPoint and Excel -- remains strong. So why try to overthrow the leader? And how vulnerable is Microsoft to this assault? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The long-term performance of a company’s stock may be the ultimate test of a CEO’s talents. But that’s not the only measurement used by boards of directors to gauge how well the boss is doing. Experts at Wharton and elsewhere say that companies use many different metrics -- all of which can be fine-tuned to fit a company’s circumstances. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Several years ago while visiting a regional branch of Lee Hecht Harrison a global career management services company then-president Stephen Harrison was stopped short by ”Ray ” his COO. ”You didn’t greet the receptionist ” said Ray who went on to explain that ”a receptionist is a corporate concierge. They will talk to more important people in a day -- suppliers customers even CEOs -- than you will talk to all year.” Harrison speaking at the recent 11th annual Wharton Leadership Conference contends that small acts like this are part of what makes for an ethical corporate culture. He was joined at the conference by public speaking coach Richard Greene author of Words that Shook the World: 100 Years of Unforgettable Speeches and Events. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Over the past two decades sushi -- a familiar accessible and immensely desirable food that can be found in supermarket aisles and fast food outlets as well as high-end restaurants -- has become a staple of cultures around the globe. Indeed far from signaling the snobbery of those who eat it sushi today belongs to the masses. Yet sushi also says something important about how wealth taste and markets interact according to Sasha Issenberg. In his new book The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy Issenberg argues that sushi reveals the ”complex dynamics of globalization” and shows against all odds that ”a virtuous global commerce and food culture can exist.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wharton marketing professor Leonard Lodish admits he is somewhat to blame for the erosion in brand pricing power that has hit many consumer-goods companies -- but not entirely to blame. In 1993 as store-level scanning data started to become widely available Lodish coauthored an article outlining its power to gauge the effect of price promotions on revenue. But he also warned that these tools were not the only determinant of brand power. Now in a new paper Lodish and co-author Carl F. Mela show how widespread adoption of easy-to-harness short-term measures has altered consumer behavior and made it harder for brand managers to compete. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On August 1 Mattel recalled approximately 1.5 million toys made by a manufacturer in China because of dangerous levels of lead in their paint. Four days earlier the Chinese government ordered the country’s banks to increase their reserves as part of an effort to cool down its red-hot economy. But quality concerns and rapid growth aren’t China’s only worries. There is also the government’s need to keep forging ahead on preparations for the Olympics next August in Beijing despite criticism about overdevelopment and unsafe levels of pollution. Knowledge at Wharton asked management professor Marshall Meyer for his perspective on these issues. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In June a high-profile Supreme Court case held the attention of retailers and manufacturers alike. In a five-to-four ruling the high court overturned a lower-court decision to award $1.2 million to a Dallas-area clothing store that was cut off by a supplier Leegin Creative Leather Products because the retailer refused to abide by the manufacturer’s retail price maintenance (RPM) or no-discount policy. The decision means that manufacturers no longer face a blanket prohibition against implementing an RPM policy. The case has spurred concern among consumer groups who claim it overturns a century of precedent and will lead to price fixing and unjustifiably higher prices. But Wharton faculty suggest that any changes will be gradual and may ultimately benefit consumers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fast-growing social networking site Facebook and mobile messaging service Twitter didn’t introduce break-through technologies but they have become phenomenal success stories nonetheless. Increasingly ”web 2.0” companies like these are altering the traditional venture capital formula which used to count technology differentiation as a key requirement when evaluating new targets. In many cases technology has become a commodity but a big idea can go a long way provided there’s a rapidly growing audience. As VC firms look for new investments several questions come into play: How should companies be evaluated when they rely on technology that is easily replicated? How much value does a big audience carry? What is the preferred exit strategy? Wharton faculty and VC experts weigh in on these and other questions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Prediction markets where people bet on everything from the likelihood that a movie will be a hit to the chance that a politician will become president to whether the stock market will go up or down are in vogue. But because prediction markets have to be managed they aren’t always the ideal way to get information. Wharton professors Albert Saiz and Uri Simonsohn have found a cheaper way to deliver some of the same benefits. It’s called an Internet search. The two professors argue in a new paper that the likelihood that a topic is discussed online in relation to a given location correlates with its relative prevalence in the real world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This spring World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz was forced out after being accused of arranging a big raise and promotion for a woman with whom he was having a relationship. As anyone who works in an office knows though favoritism isn’t confined to love and sex: Family relationships and close friendships can upset co-workers’ sense of fairness too and end up undermining an organization’s performance. What’s the solution? There’s no one answer according to Wharton faculty and other experts but companies would be well-advised to keep their rewards systems transparent and to have clear policies regarding conflicts of interest. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.