Knowledge@wharton

A recent issue of the Wall Street Journal had two front page stories one on executive compensation and the other on backdating of stock options. The headline for the first was ”Behind Soaring Executive Pay Decades of Failed Restraints ” the implication being that executive compensation is out of control and seems to resist all attempts to rein it in. Wharton accounting professor Wayne Guay talks with Knowledge at Wharton about his views on executive compensation including the role of stock options in rewarding top managers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mike McCallister CEO of Humana one of the United States’ largest publicly traded health benefits providers is leading the company’s change from a traditional  ”one-size-fits-all” health care delivery model to one in which product innovation is driven by consumer needs. McCallister spoke with Wharton management professor Michael Useem and Stephen Wilson engagement director in George Group Consulting’s Conquering Complexity practice about managing complexity while innovating in a rapidly changing industry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The crisis at Hewlett-Packard over allegations that its chairwoman Patricia Dunn authorized illegal surveillance of HP board members in order to find out who leaked sensitive company information to the press is dragging on perhaps longer than most people first expected. And it has raised a number of important issues about corporate governance privacy protection and surveillance of employees. Tom Donaldson professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton joins Knowledge at Wharton to talk about HP’s woes as they relate to business practices both in the U.S. and abroad. Donaldson’s research areas include business ethics leadership risk management and corporate compliance. He has consulted with companies ranging from Goldman Sachs and Wachovia to Exelon and KPMG and is currently working on articles about corporate risk management programs and cash management practices at non-profit organizations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Next week the Federal Reserve meets to decide whether to increase interest rates or to keep them unchanged -- but the picture on inflation looks unclear. On October 17 the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the Producer Price Index for finished goods fell by 1.3% in September. Much of this was driven by the drop in energy prices -- which have seen the sharpest decline in nearly three years. Core wholesale prices however went up by 0.6% because of a recovery in the cars and light trucks business. What do these mixed signals mean for the economy? Will the Fed’s Open Market Committee keep rates steady or will there be an increase? Jeremy Siegel a professor of finance at Wharton spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about why the Fed is unlikely to raise interest rates at least until the end of the year. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Seven years ago Rajesh Jain ignited a dot-com storm in India when his portal IndiaWorld was sold to Sify an Internet service provider for $115 million. Today he is CEO of Netcore a Linux-based messaging software firm and also maintains an active blog emergic.org. Jain met with Knowledge at Wharton at his offices in Mumbai to discuss how mobile phones could hold the key to the Internet’s evolution in India and other emerging economies. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tough Choices Carly Fiorina’s new book about her rise to the top of corporate America as CEO of Hewlett-Packard and later her firing at the hands of the HP board is almost like two books in one: A story about the passion and dedication that drove her to succeed along with an unwillingness to fully address why her tenure at HP was so short-lived. Knowledge at Wharton reviews Tough Choices and in an interview conducted earlier this week  talks to Fiorina about her book her image the leadership at HP and what’s in store for the future. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Clear Channel Communications which owns more than 1 200 stations and is the nation’s largest radio company has begun selling five-second two-second and even one-second spots that they hope will appeal to cost-conscious marketers. But how much can an advertiser communicate in a five-second ”adlet” or a two- or one-second ”blink ” as these super-short ads are called? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If 401(k)s and similar plans are the main way Americans invest for retirement how can employers improve them? By making enrollment automatic minimizing the use of the employer’s stock expanding the role of annuities and improving employees’ financial knowledge according to a set of recommendations issued by the Financial Economists Roundtable a group of about 50 prominent economists including several Wharton faculty members. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kevin Werbach Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics is a dedicated blogger especially when it comes to technology news and innovation. He sifts through 300 to 400 blogs using NetNewsWire for the Mac a blog management tool that allows him to quickly scan new posts. ”I look for blogs that tell me something I don’t already know including in areas where I am an expert ” he says. Knowledge at Wharton asked several faculty members and technology experts to comment on the appeal and usefulness -- or lack thereof -- of blogs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The business of making loans to poor people in underdeveloped countries is entering a critical period of development according to panelists at this year’s Wharton Finance Conference. On one hand they say foundations and other non-governmental groups have shown the private sector that there is money to be made in lending to these population segments. But they also warn that the drive for profit could leave behind some of the world’s neediest citizens. Meanwhile as an indication that microfinance is indeed on the global agenda economist Muhammad Yunus founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 12. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Despite the hurdles they face in entering the global market companies emerging from the highly fragmented and competitive domestic market in China will have distinct advantages that many Western competitors are unprepared to deal with according to experts from Wharton and Boston Consulting Group. Among them: steep cost savings in wages and safety requirements and a widespread lack of concern or clear regulation regarding intellectual property protection. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Experts from Wharton and Boston Consulting Group say that firms should not underestimate the skills they will need to navigate the labyrinthine networks of state-owned distribution companies and small private wholesalers in China -- particularly as they try to expand outside the country’s largest 30 or 40 cities into its 500-plus other large markets. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Despite rapid urbanization and the emergence of a strong status-conscious middle class experts from Boston Consulting Group and Wharton point out that China is still ”a country of extremes ” where it pays to understand the differing habits and mindsets of the rich and poor as well as the subtleties of consumer rationales for trading up and down when making purchases. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Because it is so difficult to generalize about Chinese consumers multinational companies using global ”one-size-fits-all” marketing strategies seem destined to fail in China. Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Deepak Advani senior vice president and chief marketing officer of computer manufacturer Lenovo and Hal Sirkin senior vice president of BCG and leader of the firm’s Global Operations Practice about strategies for selling to Chinese consumers. The key they point out is to tailor products and messages to local markets. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Less than three years after emerging from nowhere the hot social networking website MySpace is on pace to be worth a whopping $15 billion in just three more years. Or is it? And is the much smaller Facebook really worth the $900 million or more Yahoo is reported to have offered for it? The problem say Wharton experts is a dearth of information -- including data on expected revenue generation and cost structure -- to plug into the standard valuation models. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In writing his latest book The Go Point: When It’s Time to Decide -- Knowing What to Do and When to Do It Michael Useem asked more than 100 leading decision-makers to analyze decisions they had made to name their best and worst decisions to describe how they reached them and to comment on what if anything they would change about how the decisions were arrived at. Useem director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton talks with Knowledge at Wharton about The Go Point. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Henning Kagermann became the sole CEO of SAP in 2003 a position he had formerly shared with company co-founder Hasso Plattner he faced a number of challenges including an economic slowdown that hurt SAP’s growth. Kagermann quickly reshaped the company’s product offerings and adjusted its market focus to position SAP for the next generation of software. But because SAP’s software is critical for many businesses change requires a delicate balance between progress and stability. Knowledge at Wharton recently sat down with Kagermann in New York City to discuss his vision of SAP’s future. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

At a recent Wharton roundtable discussion on leadership and innovation panelists were asked how the two are linked and what single factor they think is most critical to innovation in their industry. The answers (in a word): culture passion marketing among others. The event during which panelists also reflected on their career choices was part of Wharton’s 125th anniversary celebration. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A deal between YouTube and Warner Music Group to share music videos and revenue could usher in an era where the interests of content copyright holders and freebie-loving consumers align. Or it could wind up being just another stab at a business model for YouTube. The outcome will be determined by how the revenue between copyright holders and distributors like YouTube gets shared say experts at Wharton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

People who access the Internet for what have become routine functions -- sending emails writing blogs and posting photos and information about themselves on social networking sites -- do not realize how much of their personal privacy they put at risk according to Wharton faculty and legal experts. Nor they add have the courts fully addressed the ways in which the Internet can be harnessed for questionable purposes that encroach on privacy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.