Knowledge at Wharton

In their ebook The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook Ian C. MacMillan a Wharton management professor and James Thompson director of the Wharton Social Enterprise Program offer specific suggestions to strengthen the effectiveness of social enterprises. In the second of a two-part interview the authors discuss how two African social enterprises -- one in the chicken feeds business and the other in the sanitation industry -- used a five-step process to maximize the social and business impact of their operations. (Video with transcript)

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LEGO has built a global empire and become a household name thanks to the interlocking bricks that its founders developed half a century ago. But the company almost went belly up in the early 2000s due to an innovation binge that took it too far away from what LEGO did best. In a new book Wharton practice professor David Robertson details how thinking too far ”outside the box” almost bankrupted LEGO -- and how the company found a winning formula by turning to innovation ”inside the brick.” (Video with transcript)

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Studies put the failure rate of organizational change at 70% or higher. Yet managers face increasing pressure to implement change to meet short- and long-term goals. Gregory P. Shea and Cassie A. Solomon share their approach to dealing with this challenge in Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work. Jeff Klein director of the Wharton Graduate Leadership Program recently spoke with the authors about why we are not as good at change as we need to be and how we can get better at it. (Video with transcript)

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In the past few years the United States government has issued fewer regulations and worked to eliminate or improve existing ones. Cass R. Sunstein led many of these changes as administrator for the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In his new book Simpler: The Future of Government Sunstein talks about how a more streamlined government can improve health lengthen lives and save money. Wharton operations and information management professor Katherine L. Milkman recently spoke with Sunstein about these changes and what the future holds. (Podcast with transcript)

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Social entrepreneurs -- those who try to tackle major social problems such as poverty and disease while generating revenues -- are often well-meaning people. But in their desire to make a difference to society they sometimes fail to subject their ideas to rigorous tests. Ian MacMillan a professor of management at Wharton and James Thompson who leads the Wharton Social Enterprise Program have just published an ebook titled The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook to help entrepreneurs do just that. (Video with transcript)

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Global organizations operating in the contemporary business landscape need to tightly link financial rigor and strategic insight. Increasingly senior financial executives are playing influential roles in strategy development and implementation working closely with the CEO and the board to creatively assess and design growth opportunities. The question is: Are CFOs prepared to move beyond the number-crunching function to act and lead in this capacity? Wharton’s Jason Wingard and John Percival discuss this and other issues.

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Many people in the Western world used to anticipate retiring in their 50s or 60s. Now they are embarking on new ”encore” careers at the very time when they might have previously been expected to begin a life of leisure. Marci Alboher author of The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life spoke to Wharton professor Stewart Friedman about second -- and even third -- acts. (Video with transcript)

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Donna Noce entered college with the intent to major in veterinary medicine. But when a part-time job at a local retail store led to the chance to try her hand as a fashion buyer she became hooked on the retail industry. For the past six years Noce has been president of White House Black Market a retail chain that sells designs focused around the classic color combination. In this interview with Knowledge at Wharton Noce drew on more than three decades of experience to discuss what has changed in the fashion business -- and what hasn’t. (Video with  transcript)

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Brad Feld sold his Boston startup and moved to Boulder Colo. in 1995. The city already had a bustling entrepreneurial community and Feld was soon in the thick of things. He co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and earlier Intensity Ventures a company that helped launch software companies. More recently he co-founded two early-stage venture capital firms -- the Foundry Group and TechStars -- which provide seed funding and angel investors. A startup community has to tap its ”natural resources ” he says in this Knowledge at Wharton interview. Feld is also the author of several books including Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City. (Podcast with transcript)

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READ Global an international non-profit that uses community libraries as a platform for creating social change in rural villages throughout India Bhutan and Nepal is the winner of the second annual Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize awarded to an organization that is creating social impact through leadership and innovation. Wharton administers the prize on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania. Michael Useem director of Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management recently interviewed Tina Sciabica executive director of READ Global. (Video with transcript)

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