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Research Roundup: The 'Flip Side' of Open Innovation, Productivity Losses from Bad Weather and Assessing the Risks of Outsourcing
Open innovation is gaining in popularity, but when should companies be concerned with protecting their own knowledge? Most people expect bad weather to negatively impact business conducted outdoors, but what are its implications in industries where work is primarily done inside? How can companies use risk management techniques to better assess the potential downsides of hiring contract or temporary workers? Wharton professors Felipe Monteiro, Gerard Cachon and Peter Cappelli, respectively, examine these issues -- and what they mean for business -- in recent research articles.
Customer Analytics: A New Lifeline for the Red Cross and Other Nonprofits?
When a major disaster occurs, the result is an outpouring of aid, often in the form of donations to nonprofits like the American Red Cross. But once the dramatic images and news headlines begin to fade, donors often disappear as well. The question for groups like the Red Cross is how to identify and reach out to those one-time givers who are most likely to become regular donors. The answer may lie in the world of customer analytics -- the collection and mining of data on individual consumer behavior that is already revolutionizing how for-profit businesses operate.
Davos 2012: 'Joblessness and Its Discontents'
Optimism was in short supply at the 2012 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which ended on Sunday. As Wharton management professor Michael Useem reports below, keynote speakers and panelists alike focused on a number of problems that are getting in the way of global prosperity. Chief among them is unemployment, followed by a shortage of highly-trained workers needed to spur innovation and solve social challenges. On the bright side, Useem notes, is the rapid growth of emerging economies.
What's Wrong with This Picture: Kodak's 30-year Slide into Bankruptcy
When new technologies change the world, some companies are caught off-guard. Others see change coming and are able to adapt in time. And then there are companies like Kodak -- which saw the future and simply couldn't figure out what to do. Kodak's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on January 19 culminates a long series of missteps, including a fear of introducing new technologies that would disrupt its highly profitable film business.
Post SOPA, What Is the Next Frontier for Internet Copyright Protection?
The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, bills aimed at curbing Internet piracy, sparked polarizing debate, including some websites going dark in protest. Both pieces of legislation have been shelved, but the core issues remain unresolved. The overriding question is how to regulate the Internet enough to protect intellectual property, while not violating individual freedoms and curbing innovation. Wharton faculty members clarify the issues and offer ideas about how they can be addressed.
One, Two, Three Free Trade Agreements: Finally, a New Era for Global Trade?
Nearly five years after the Bush administration first negotiated free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, revised versions of those pacts were finally approved by the U.S. Congress last fall and will be implemented during 2012. Although global companies reacted with an anti-climactic sense of relief, many trade analysts welcomed the new opportunities that the pacts will open for U.S. exporters, and predicted more such agreements to come.
IBM's Sam Palmisano: 'Always Put the Enterprise Ahead of the Individual'
As far as a legacy goes, says IBM chairman Sam Palmisano, "I just want to leave the company better than I found it." Judging by IBM's successes over the past decade, Palmisano, who was CEO of IBM until he stepped down earlier this month, did just that. During an interview with Wharton management professor Michael Useem, Palmisano discussed the sale of the company's personal computer business, the PricewaterhouseCoopers acquisition, how a big company can encourage innovation, and what he learned from his mentors, among other observations drawn from almost 40 years at IBM.
Customers, Competition and Cost: Sam's Club CEO Brian Cornell on the Essential 'Cs' of Leadership
For Sam's Club CEO Brian Cornell, good leadership is about getting inside the heads of the warehouse chain's 47 million shoppers and figuring out the product mix and shopping experience that will keep them coming back for more. At a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture, he talked about the "Cs" that govern his leadership style and the opportunities and challenges created by today's more value-conscious breed of consumer.
Revisiting the American Dream: Is the U.S. Providing Fewer Opportunities to Get Ahead?
The United States is widely seen as a place where a person can rise from extreme poverty to lavish wealth on the basis of hard work, ingenuity and a little luck. But has that vision of the American dream become less attainable in recent times? As economic inequality rises, and much of the population grapples with high unemployment and a stagnant housing market, observers say it is becoming harder and harder to go from rags to riches. Fewer opportunities to do so, they note, has real implications for the country's overall future.
Research Roundup: Team Performance, Demystifying Market Composition and the Reality vs. Hype of Sponsored Search
How do interpersonal relationships affect the performance of individual team members? Why is a shopping mall composed the way it is, and how do different stores affect each other's business? Do higher-ranked sponsored search listings pay off in terms of a company's bottom line? Wharton professors Jennifer Mueller, Maria Ana Vitorino and Kartik Hosanagar, respectively, examine these issues -- and what they mean for business -- in recent research articles
Short-sighted Frugality? Employers Who Rein in Compensation Too Much Could Pay a Price Later
As economic malaise bleeds into another New Year, many employers are making hard-nosed decisions about benefits and compensation. That means salaries remain flat, health care premiums are up, the 401(k) match has disappeared and bonuses are smaller or nonexistent. The result, not surprisingly, is a dissatisfied workforce. Yet, as Wharton professors and other experts warn, excess frugality on employers' part could backfire in the long run.
Under New Leadership, Will Yahoo Find Its Way?
When Scott Thompson was named Yahoo's new CEO effective January 9, he became the fourth person in five years to take charge of the ailing Internet giant. Experts at Wharton say that Thompson, who was previously president of eBay's PayPal unit, might be Yahoo's last hope for becoming relevant again as a player in online display advertising, a market which the media company once dominated. But his main challenge, they say, is the same as his predecessors': Define what Yahoo wants to be.
Richard Branson's High-flying Autobiography: Many Success Stories, Few Success Secrets
Richard Branson, founder and CEO of Virgin Group, has a story to tell about his early days as a journalist, his creation of a mail-order record business and his expansion into enterprises ranging from planes and trains to cars, cell phones and spaceships. In his autobiography, Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way, which he has updated and expanded several times since its publication in 1999, Branson lets it all -- or most of it -- hang out, as Knowledge@Wharton notes in this review.
'The Bloomberg Way': An Inside Look at How the News Organization Covers News
Every reporter, editor, anchor and producer hired at Bloomberg News gets a copy of The Bloomberg Way, a spiral-bound, 376-page tome that guides more than 2,700 news professionals to write about the world's stocks, bonds, commodities, companies, currencies and economies. Written by editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler, the book is a style guide and manifesto, detailing how Bloomberg employees should write, report and behave. Until November, when Bloomberg made the book's 12th edition public, The Bloomberg Way was available only to employees. Now readers can see for themselves how journalists in one of the world's largest news organizations work.
Raise a Glass to the Free Market in Wine
The worldwide wine business is a good case study in free trade, given that there are many producers and few restrictions on commerce. In recent years, the cost of wine has reflected this generally free global market in two ways -- one good and the other bad, as George M. Taber argues in this op-ed piece. Taber is the author of four books on wine. His latest is titled, A Toast to Bargain Wines: How innovators, iconoclasts, and winemaking revolutionaries are changing the way the world drinks.
Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval
In the 20 articles that make up this special report, students from the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies explore the many ways that the business community has responded to changes in our global economy. They look at individual companies and industry trends, and analyze how startups as well as established firms are taking advantage of transformative events around the world.
Building Blocks: The Bright Future of Colombia's Cement Industry
Colombia is poised to be the next Latin American growth story, ripe with opportunity for foreign investment. Heavy industries, particularly infrastructure, will be the big winners, as Juan Manuel Santos' government looks to enact new reforms that will modernize the economy. Much like a house, the foundation for the new Colombia will be built upon the cement industry. The bulk of infrastructure spending will be directed toward transportation (primarily roads) and housing, whose key input product is cement. Within Colombia, the cement industry is dominated by three key players: Argos, Cemex and Holcim.
From Terrorism to Tourism: Waving the Flag of Development in Colombia
Colombia's history has been plagued by violence, corruption and crime, images that have been readily apparent to the outside world due to media depictions and worldwide travel warnings. Yet thanks to the increase in safety and stability accomplished by the Uribe administration over the last decade, Colombia has become a destination accessible to more than just a select group of intrepid travelers. In fact, for the first time in history, tourism is proving to be a promising avenue for development in Colombia.
Open for Business: The Pacification of Brazil's Favelas
On the morning of November 28, 2010, the Brazilian Special Forces, Military Police and other law enforcement units surrounded the Complexo do Alemão, one of Brazil's largest shanty-town communities and site of the country's most vicious drug wars. Two hours later, the Complexo do Alemão was in the hands of government security forces. Since then -- and with an eye to hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics -- the Brazilian government has been paving the way for a new entrepreneurial economy to take root in the Complexo.
Will a Shortage of Qualified Labor Derail the Brazilian Economy?
Brazil is booming. In contrast to the economies of the U.S. and the Eurozone -- where a mix of debt woes, dysfunctional politics and consumer weakness has conspired to dampen economic growth -- Brazil is on track for yet another year of above-average GDP performance. However, while outsized economic growth brings the promise of greater national prosperity, it also poses a host of new challenges, some of which the country may not be fully prepared to address. Chief among them is a shortage of qualified labor.
