Knowledge at Wharton

Although companies around the world are clearly feeling the impact of the economic crisis Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent insists that he will remain focused on moving the company toward an ambitious goal: Increasing global annual revenues for the firm and its more than 300 independent bottlers from $650 billion now to more than $1 trillion by 2020. During a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture Kent talked about his three decades in the beverage industry the ”new equilibrium” facing global brands the challenges of dwindling energy supplies and the opportunities he sees in emerging markets among other topics.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With corporate managers under enormous pressure to control costs and maintain liquidity in the current credit crisis advertising budgets often appear to be a dispensable luxury in the struggle to survive. According to Wharton faculty and marketing experts that attitude can result in short-term gains but long-term trouble.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the stock market and the broader economy can return to something that looks like normal banks must start to lend the billions they are getting from the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Recovery Program says Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton he also discusses the government’s rescue of Citigroup and the proposed bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just how bad will the economy get? For employers facing tough decisions about layoffs the question is far from rhetorical. If the current economic turmoil is contained sooner than expected premature layoffs could be a disaster. If not enough employees are laid off and the recession continues the company’s bottom line could suffer. What options do employers have when it comes to cutting payroll without adversely affecting the talent pool employee morale or the future of the company?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when many bulge bracket investment banks are drowning as a result of the financial crisis Moelis & Co. is swimming against the tide. Founded in July 2007 by Kenneth D. Moelis a Wall Street veteran the Los Angeles-based firm has been busy hiring. In just about 15 months it has recruited more than 150 people including some 100 bankers besides opening offices in Chicago New York and Boston. How will the continuing financial turmoil affect the fledgling investment bank’s business? What opportunities can investors find amid the wreckage? In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Moelis discussed these issues and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim Smith and Vikrant Kothari each had ambitions to start a company whose focus would be on using information technology as a way to help solve social problems. But it wasn’t until they met in Wharton’s MBA Program for Executives that their idea came together in the form of the Digital Network Group. Two affiliates under the Digital Network Group umbrella include one targeted to helping non-profits develop innovative and long-term IT strategies; the other is a service program that shows how IT and mentoring can help disadvantaged young people from middle school on up become productive members of society. Smith and Kothari spoke to Knowledge at Wharton about these initiatives.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Change is the new status-quo and success at work will require agility talent and the ability to learn from -- rather than fear -- failure according to Gregory Shea adjunct professor of management at Wharton and business writer Robert Gunther. The two recently co-authored a book titled Your Job Survival Guide a Manual for Thriving in Change.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A ”Fiscal Wake Up Tour” is warning voters that today’s financial crisis is a mere ripple compared to the tsunami that will wash over the U.S. Treasury as millions of Baby Boomers demand what they have been promised by Social Security and Medicare. The tour sponsored in part by Wharton’s Business and Public Policy Department was organized by a bipartisan coalition concerned about the unchecked growth of entitlement programs and ever-deepening federal debt.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In merger-and-acquisition advice an investment bank’s market share does not seem to equate with value delivered to clients two scholars from Wharton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conclude in a research paper. Indeed the opposite may be true: The more market share an investment bank has the less value it will deliver to clients.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the financial crisis continues to roil credit and stock markets around the globe it seems that no country or continent is being spared the consequences. Brazil Russia India and China -- the BRIC countries -- are no exception. In this Knowledge at Wharton podcast Shiv Khemka vice chairman of SUN Group based in London New Delhi and Moscow; Silas K.F. Chou president and CEO of Novel Holdings based in Hong Kong; and Odemiro Fonseca founder of Viena Rio Restaurantes in Rio de Janeiro discuss their countries’ response to the crisis its impact on specific sectors the decoupling hypothesis and the dangers of protectionism among other topics.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.