Knowledge at Wharton

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The theme of the recent 2012 Wharton Management Conference -- ”Changing the Game: Leadership in Crisis” -- is an apt one for the auto industry. Daniel Ammann CFO of General Motors addressed leadership issues in a keynote presentation at the conference and in a podcast with Wharton’s John Paul MacDuffie during which he discussed upcoming product launches the struggling auto industry in Europe and a...

The worldwide competition for bandwidth ”is like the space race where the winner will see benefits ... that will last for years to come ” according to Julius Genachowski chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In an interview with Wharton’s Kevin Werbach Genachowski says that while the U.S. is leading the world in terms of developing infrastructure for the next generation of mobil...

Last week Spanish bank Banco Santander announced plans to use the recent strong financial performance of its Mexican unit as leverage to raise $4.3 billion in a stock offering -- the largest ever in Mexico’s history. Part of a longer-term expansion plan in Latin America the move is also designed to signal to financial markets that the bank has high growth potential outside of its troubled home mar...

A California jury awarded Apple what could be a decisive victory in the smartphone wars last week by ruling that Samsung infringed on a number of patents relating to the functionality and design of the iPhone. Samsung plans to appeal but Apple is now calling for a ban on U.S. sales of some of the devices at issue in the case. Some observers believe the verdict might open the door for additional Ap...

Hugh Sinclair is the author of a new book titled Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic: How Microlending Lost Its Way and Betrayed the Poor in which he debunks the image of microfinance as a do-good industry committed to helping poor people create sustainable businesses. Instead he documents corruption extortionist interest rates and a lack of transparency that he says characterize much of the mic...

Stephen J. Girsky vice chairman of General Motors says the company has a new emphasis on the customer even as it faces such challenges as industry-wide overcapacity strong competition from rivals both in the U.S. and Europe and slower-than-expected sales of the Volt. Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie asked Girsky to talk about these issues and others shortly before Girsky’s presenta...

In their book Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal Be Flexible Generate Breakthrough Growth authors Navi Radjou Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja present a new approach to innovation that is fueling growth in emerging markets as well as developed ones. Radjou and Ahuja recently sat down with Knowledge at Wharton to talk about the six principles of jugaad a Hindi word meaning ”an improvised solution born...

Leading thinkers from President Barack Obama to Thomas Friedman argue that innovation is key to improving the United States economy now and in the future. If that is the case how do we prepare young people to become innovators? That is the question Tony Wagner Harvard University’s first innovation education fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center asks in his new book Creating Innova...

Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli’s most recent book -- Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It -- has inspired a reaction from just about every group with a stake in today’s workforce: employers employees recruiters academics and media commentators. Cappelli debunks the oft-repeated argument from employers that applicants don’t have the skills n...

Gabon is one of the stable regimes in the African continent and leaders there have a vision of progress based on being both business- and environment-friendly. Liban Soleman is the president’s chief of staff of the government of Gabon. In this interview with Knowledge at Wharton Soleman says there is enormous opportunity for investors in Gabon and in Africa as a whole. (Article with audio) Hosted...

The general approach towards private equity investments has shifted substantially in part to conform with the tougher market conditions prevailing after the financial shocks of the last few years. Gone are the days of earning profits largely through financial engineering and rapid portfolio turnover. In their place — business transformation — where investors park their money for longer terms and g...

In the aftermath of the election of Socialist Francois Hollande as the new president of France eurozone austerity policies in Europe which many now blame for pushing much of the Continent back into recession appear likely to be loosened. At the same time at least some complementary growth-oriented policies may be introduced. Big questions remain however: What will these changes look like and how m...

In this third and final segment of the interview with Chade-Meng Tan best selling author of Search Inside Yourself Knowledge at Wharton explores the relationship between emotional intelligence and financial performance. According to Meng companies as diverse as GE Patagonia Zappos Genentech American Express and MetLife have seen positive business results through practices based on emotional intell...

The second segment of Knowledge at Wharton’s interview with Google’s Chade-Meng Tan author of Search Inside Yourself focuses on the role that emotional intelligence can play in helping managers resolve conflicts within high-performance teams. It also shows how the Google SIY program through compassion training has helped managers become more successful and charismatic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

According to Jon Huntsman Jr.  former Utah governor and Republican presidential candidate ”partisanship has seeped into campaigning [so much] that breaking through with a message that is beyond party politics ... is a very challenging thing to do.” Yet in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton he spoke about the importance of public service as well as the need for fundamental tax and energy reform...

Chade-Meng Tan (Meng) was among the earliest engineers to be hired at Google. Since 2007 he has been running a seven-week personal growth program called Search Inside Yourself whose mission is to promote peace and harmony through the cultivation of emotional intelligence among Google employees. Meng has now written a book titled Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success Happ...

Whenever an industry runs into trouble -- and especially when it starts hemorrhaging jobs -- demands for support and subsidies are heard. But does having an industrial policy really make sense? According to Howard Pack a professor of business and public policy at Wharton an interventionist government policy generally plays a limited role in bringing about an improvement. In fact he adds  governmen...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments both for and against President Obama’s health care reform initiative known as the Affordable Care Act. The provision at the center of the legal debate -- the individual mandate -- requires all adults to buy health insurance either through their employers or by purchasing it themselves. Knowledge at Wharton talked with Wharton professors Scott Harring...

In his new book The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care Eric Topol argues that medicine is set to undergo its biggest shakeup in history pushed by demanding consumers and the availability of game-changing technology. Topol -- a cardiologist director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and co-founder of the West Wireless Health Inst...

Business leaders often look to social activities to generate ideas and innovation from group collaboration and brainstorming to large meetings and open-format offices. Those who are highly verbal bold and outgoing often thrive in these environments. In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking author Susan Cain challenges the ”Extrovert Ideal” and many common business pract...

Christine Lagarde managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees no alternative to the strict austerity policies being imposed on many peripheral European countries says the double dip recessions in Italy and Ireland just announced come as no surprise and notes that IMF reforms will shift 6% of current quotas to dynamic emerging and developing countries. Lagarde’s comments came in...

When Bill Rasmussen launched ESPN on September 7 1979 he gave the world its first 24-hour television network and changed the way people viewed both television and sports. His innovations include the creation of ”Sports Center ” wall-to-wall coverage of NCAA regular-season and March Madness college basketball and coverage of the College World Series baseball tournament. Rasmussen who wrote a book t...

The Dow has hit its highest level in years loan rates are at record lows and the U.S. economy appears to be gaining momentum. Even the housing market is starting to look inviting. But is this a real recovery -- or a false start like last year’s? Wharton’s Jeremy Siegel and Scott Richard think the economy is showing signs of a true rebound and predict that stocks should do well in the next 12 month...

Jerome Chazen a founder and former chairman of Liz Claiborne Inc. recently wrote a book titled My Life at Liz Claiborne: How We Broke the Rules and Built the Largest Fashion Company in the World. Indeed Liz Claiborne -- now known as Fifth & Pacific Cos. -- grew from revenues of $7 million in 1977 to more than $2 billion in the early 1990s. Knowledge at Wharton asked Chazen who stepped down as...