Knowledge@wharton

Omar Hamoui could be called a ”serial entrepreneur.” Immediately out of college he started his first business a consulting company that grew to between 20 and 25 people. Then came what he characterizes as the one job he has ever had: a two-year stint working at Sony. After that Hamoui created a series of startups built around the expanding ecosystem of mobile devices. While he was a first-year MBA student at Wharton in 2006 he came up with the idea for AdMob a company that sells advertising for phones’ mobile browsers. In the space of a year AdMob claims to have become the ”world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace.” Knowledge at Wharton spoke to Hamoui about the evolution of mobile advertising. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

During a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture De Beers managing director Gareth Penny presented the history strategy and mystique of the international diamond company and offered his views on what it takes to be a leader in today’s global society. In response to questioning from the audience he also addressed the issue of ”conflict diamonds” and noted De Beers’ efforts to eliminate the sale of these products as well as to improve the health of communities where diamonds are mined. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Experts at Wharton and Harvard University have unveiled a proposal that they say addresses both global security and the future of energy markets. In a new study Erwann O. Michel-Kerjan and Debra Decker argue that interest in nuclear power has escalated as countries become increasingly concerned about climate change and energy security. To avoid dangerous uncontrolled nuclear proliferation they say the international community must ensure reliable supplies of uranium-based fuel for nuclear reactors to all nations even unstable ones. The way to accomplish this is to involve the private sector specifically those who deal with risk on a daily basis: insurers and financial experts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Some technology companies have been founded in a garage. Local Internet search company Natpal was hatched in a Connecticut car dealership. That’s where Wharton undergraduate student and future Natpal CEO Nate Stevens first realized that Internet search wasn’t exactly friendly to small businesses looking for sales leads. The discovery led Stevens along with Penn alumnus Ben Rubenstein and Wharton professor Kartik Hosanagar to found Natpal which brings local businesses online and helps them find sales leads via web searches. The goal is not just clicks but phone calls says Stevens. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The similarities between Poland and Argentina were striking. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed the two countries were beacons of reform in their regions. Each had a largely Roman Catholic population of about 36 million. Both were introducing free-market reforms. And after decades of authoritarian rule both were establishing democracies. But since then countries in Eastern Europe have been pulling ahead of their counterparts in Latin America mainly because of the different international economic integration schemes that are in place in each region: The European Union and NAFTA. In a new research paper Wharton management professor Gerald McDermott and two co-authors look at the impact of these trade agreements on developing nations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You know the type: coworkers who never have anything positive to say whether at the weekly staff meeting or in the cafeteria line. They can suck the energy from a brainstorming session with a few choice comments. Their negativity can contaminate even good news. ”We engage in emotional contagion ” says Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade. ”Emotions travel from person to person like a virus.” Barsade is the co-author of a new paper that looks at the impact of employees’ moods emotions and overall dispositions on job performance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Circuit City announced last week that it was laying off 3 400 workers so it could rehire new ones at lower salaries it raised the question of just what strategic benefits the company -- or any company -- expects to achieve through employee downsizing. Clearly these benefits depend on the underlying strength of the organization and the specific reasons behind the cost-cutting but most experts agree that unless layoffs are part of a well-planned strategy the move could cause as many problems as it was intended to cure. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the best possible marketplace all buyers see the prices asked by all sellers and all sellers see the prices offered by all buyers -- and little guys are treated the same as big ones. The result: competition that insures the most efficient interplay of supply and demand. In theory it sounds great. And indeed this is the idea behind the Security and Exchange Commission’s push for an integrated stock market called the National Market System or NMS. But could the best intentions backfire? Wharton finance professor Marshall E. Blume answers that question in a new research paper titled ”Competition and Fragmentation in the Equity Markets: The Effect of Regulation NMS.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Attention shoppers: Did you find everything you were looking for? Retail customers who answer ”yes” to this question might very well represent the Holy Grail to retail operators who want to increase their sales with only a modest increase in costs or in some cases increase sales by merely reallocating staff within a store at no extra cost. Impossible? Not according to a new study on retail store execution by Wharton operations and information management professors Marshall L. Fisher and Serguei Netessine and Wharton doctoral student Jayanth Krishnan. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A system to gauge whether loan recipients are escaping poverty an overhaul of the loan making system and a bold plan to use the infrastructure of microfinance to tackle other social woes are some of the ways that microfinance is evolving despite continuing criticism from those who doubt its effectiveness in the struggle against poverty. Alex Counts CEO of the Grameen Foundation and keynote speaker at the recent Wharton Social Impact Conference 2007 explained the progress that both the Grameen Bank and the Grameen Foundation are making in promoting entrepreneurship around the world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

At American Airlines’ AAdvantge e-shopping site more than 200 vendors -- including Bergdorf Goodman Home Depot and Petco -- offer bonus miles to shoppers. At the Apple Store a dollar spent earns one mile while Hallmark pays 10 miles for each $1 in sales. Continental’s OnePass program allows members to earn two miles for every $1 paid for electricity from Gexa Energy of Houston. The list goes on. But while the number of programs is increasing they don’t always provide a big payout for all their participants according to Wharton marketing faculty. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The newsroom at washingtonpost.com the website of The Washington Post is not so different from that of a print newspaper with one notable exception: At a time when newsrooms across the country have empty desks from recent buyouts and layoffs staff numbers here are expanding to fill every available nook and cranny. Washingtonpost.com is a success story in an industry where the divide between vibrant online ventures and shrinking print products is increasingly sharp. But even the Post has no idea how long that success will last how much money it can make from the venture or who exactly its competition is. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Microsoft’s Ray Ozzie has a long and storied history of technological innovation with accomplishments that include creating Lotus Notes and founding Groove Networks. But Ozzie may now be facing the most daunting challenge of his career: coordinating the work of Microsoft’s various product groups to keep the world’s largest software company agile enough to address the challenge of the next generation of Internet-enabled software. Knowledge at Wharton recently met with Ozzie to talk about his vision for the future of networked computing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For the last couple of years auto analysts and others have focused most of their attention on the troubles in Detroit home of General Motors and Ford two American car companies that have been struggling to regain their footing in the auto industry. But what has been going on in Wolfsburg the headquarters of Volkswagen a quintessential German automaker and in Stuttgart headquarters of DaimlerChrysler a German-American hybrid? Quite a bit actually. Knowledge at Wharton looks at the situation at VW now that Porsche has upped its ownership stake in the company and also at Chrysler acquired by DaimlerBenz nine years ago in a partnership deal that may finally be coming to an end. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bill George probably best known in the business community for his former position as chairman and CEO of Medtronic is also an author. In 2003 he published a book called Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. This month he published his second book titled True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership described by George and his co-author Peter Sims as a way to ”locate the internal compass that guides you successfully through life.” George is also a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. He and Michael Useem director of Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management recently talked with Knowledge at Wharton about authentic leadership both the book and the concept. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Although the German government provides its citizens with a generous family-leave policy being a working mother in Germany is harder than in many other industrialized countries according to faculty members at Wharton and German business schools as well as German corporate officials. This is partly because the culture still to some degree frowns upon the idea of mothers not taking care of their small children at home. But changes are on the way led by corporations German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the women themselves. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

German corporations have long prided themselves on being above-board but scandals at some of the country’s multinational icons have seriously tarnished that reputation. The scandals allegedly involve hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes the procurement of prostitutes and misbehavior by some of the country’s most senior executives including officials at Siemens Volkswagen Deutsche Bank and other firms. The situation is so grave that it may prompt German executives to adopt Anglo-American style corporate-governance principles according to governance and business ethics experts at Wharton and in Germany. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Talk about good timing. With Germany assuming the rotating presidencies of the European Union and the Group of Eight (G8) developed nations the country is enjoying an economic resurgence. It remains a formidable exporter of goods worldwide its unemployment rate has eased and a recent major tax increase has not dampened economic activity as much as many had feared. Still there is some question whether the recovery is sustainable and whether Germany is up to meeting such long-term challenges as an aging population and a declining birth rate according to faculty members at Wharton and German business schools as well as other experts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

All eyes and ears were on the two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) that ended on March 21. While most observers did not expect interest rates to change the markets were keen to know what language the Fed would use about inflation in its statement on economic and monetary policy. The U.S. economy has seen mixed signals lately and concerns about recession have been replaced by worries about ”stagflation” -- or stagnation combined with inflation. Is stagflation really looming and if so what will it mean for investors? To answer these questions Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Troubles in the subprime mortgage industry seem to be spreading. The stock market is in turmoil. Alan Greenspan and others say the economy is being hurt. Consumer groups predict that up to two million Americans will lose their homes. Should the government do something? A growing list of people say it should from Democratic senators Christopher Dodd and Hillary Clinton to a string of advocates for the poor. But Wharton faculty including those who have studied the mortgage market and past government bailouts aren’t convinced. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.