Knowledge at Wharton

Progress toward unfettered international commerce stumbled last week with the collapse of the World Trade Organization’s Doha talks a seven-year effort to establish new global trade rules. The lengthy talks were complicated by the rapid emergence of China and India as major economic powers with commercial and strategic interests to protect and the clout to do so.  Many observers say the talks’ collapse is a setback for poorer nations which need access to larger markets in order for their economies to grow. Wharton professors Stephen Kobrin whose research interests include globalization and Marshall Meyer an authority on China’s economy recently spoke to Knowledge at Wharton about the talks’ collapse global commerce and China’s interest in the rules governing trade.

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

These days when the U.S. Department of Defense buys a fighter jet from Lockheed Martin it doesn’t simply pay Lockheed for the physical product. Instead the government has a ”performance-based contract” with the defense supplier according to Serguei Netessine professor of operations and information management at Wharton. This contract says in effect that the government’s reimbursement to Lockheed hinges on the jets’ performance -- that is how often the planes are able to fly. In this interview Netessine describes how performance-based contracts are becoming more common in a variety of industries.

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

Gasoline at more than $4 a gallon has proved to be the price point at which U.S. consumers make big changes in their driving habits. With SUVs and pickups suddenly out of favor in the world’s biggest automobile market Asian manufacturers who invested heavily in fuel-saving technologies -- and European car makers who sell to markets where expensive gas is nothing new -- are better positioned to meet new consumer demands. Just how dire is the situation for U.S. auto manufacturers and is there any relief in sight?

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

The stock market’s June swoon has carried into July with key indicators pointing to a bear market weighed down by rising oil prices the credit crisis and more bad news from Detroit as the Big Three auto manufacturers reported substantial losses. Meanwhile the G-8 gathered in Japan to discuss global warming and the economy but didn’t include the two largest emerging economies -- China and India -- in the talks. Knowledge at Wharton spoke to Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel about these developments and others.

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

When are investors like termites? When they are trying to avoid government rules. And that is one reason a host of new regulations won’t prevent a crisis like the subprime housing mess from happening again according to a speaker at the recent annual financial risk roundtable held by the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and the Oliver Wyman Institute. He and others focused their discussion on the causes of and possible solutions to the housing and banking crises.

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

Companies like Hewlett-Packard Ernst & Young and Del Monte Pet Foods have more in common than one may think: They are all savvy participants in the growing trend of consumers’ use of social networking technologies to access information and get what they need. According to speakers at the recent Supernova conference in San Francisco too few companies study how people actually interact with the Internet and utilize online collaborative tools and are therefore not using the social networking phenomenon to their advantage.

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

A new global middle is rising up in emerging economies around the world providing competition for labor and resources along with enormous promise for multinationals eager to sell to the burgeoning ranks of first-time consumers. But don’t expect this new group to act in the same way -- and have the same preferences -- as prior generations of middle-class consumers suggest Wharton faculty and analysts.

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

Companies spend too much time worrying about the burdens brought by global warming -- the possibility of carbon taxes and greater regulation of emissions -- and ignoring the potential commercial upside according to participants in a recent Wharton conference titled ”Winners and Losers in Green Technologies ” sponsored by the William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation. To showcase a proactive approach to the issue two companies -- DuPont and NetJets -- shared their tales of ”going green.”

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

Since 2004 Steven R. Loranger has been chairman president and CEO of ITT a diversified high-technology engineering and manufacturing company that plays a key role in global defense and security. The company had $9 billion in 2007 sales $4.2 billion of which were generated by its defense electronics and services business and it ranks among the top 10 U.S. defense contractors. Loranger recently spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about how ITT has positioned itself for growth despite the economic slowdown the company’s response to environmental concerns and long-term trends for the defense industry.

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

Managing commodity risk has emerged as a key issue in today’s economy. Consider airlines which have seen fuel costs rise seven-fold over the last few years says Bob Tevelson a partner and managing director at BCG. In this interview Tevelson says commodity risks are associated with both price volatility and supply availability. More and more companies may wish to turn to hedging strategies to manage commodity risk he notes but such strategies can pose risks themselves unless they are properly implemented.

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