Knowledge at Wharton

In the never-ending quest for cost savings many companies have reduced the number of suppliers they use consolidated their purchases and negotiated better prices. So where can chief procurement officers and other managers now turn for savings? In this interview Bob Tevelson a BCG partner and managing director says firms must segment suppliers to identify those that can deliver what he calls ”partnership value” by establishing relationships that move beyond the transactional level.

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First U.S. Bankers raised questions about how the daily London Interbank Offered Rate was calculated and then The Wall Street Journal demonstrated that the rate was inexplicably diverging from what the data suggested it ought to be. Getting it right is important because LIBOR is the basis for many kinds of loans. The British Bankers Association says it will make changes.

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Controlling about $3 trillion public pension funds are too big to ignore. Some use their influence to boost shareholder rights or support social causes. In the face of ”pension envy” from private sector workers some governments have adopted defined contribution plans – and some of those have regretted the decision. The issues were explored at a Wharton Impact Conference called ”The Future of Public Employee Retirement Systems.”

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When 22-year-old Ruben Vardanian became General Director of Troika Dialog in 1992 he applied international banking standards stressed transparency and built a young multicultural and cooperative workforce. It wasn’t easy in the rough-and-tumble Russian economy of the 1990s but his company is now Russia’s oldest and largest private investment bank. Wharton management professors Valery Yakubovich and Michael Useem spoke with Vardanian about entrepreneurship education -- and staying honest -- in Russia.

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On May 20 the non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program unveiled the second version of its XO laptop which is designed to bring affordable modern technology to children in developing countries. In April Intel announced its next-generation Classmate PC which targets the same market. Meanwhile Microsoft has been tweaking its Windows XP operating system for these educational devices which also run on the open source Linux operating system. Experts at Wharton say that the focus on third world countries is promising but they question whether these efforts will be effective.

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Where to locate a new headquarters how to close a supply-chain loop how to anticipate customer demands: These are all decisions that companies must wrestle with as they respond to increasing concerns about global warming. Given the rush to be environmentally friendly where do companies turn for dependable information and good advice? Wharton faculty and other experts say companies have to rely on a combination of internal and external resources as they try not only to manage the risks of climate change but also to gain a competitive edge.

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Joe Kraus director of product management at Google believes every killer app on the web -- instant messaging e-mail blogging photo-sharing -- has succeeded because it helps people connect with one another. For Kraus this means the Internet has an inherently social character but it can be enhanced further. Wharton legal studies professor Kevin Werbach spoke with Kraus recently about the socialization of the Internet. Kraus will speak about social computing at the Supernova conference in San Francisco on June 16.

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Private equity firms manage some $1 trillion of global capital yet because they are highly secretive much remains unknown about their internal economics. How do PE firms organize themselves for example and how do they capitalize on their success? Some answers emerge from a paper by Wharton finance professor Ayako Yasuda and Yale School of Management finance professor Andrew Metrick presented at a recent Wharton conference sponsored by the Weiss Center for International Financial Research.

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Marshall L. Fisher director of Wharton’s Fishman-Davidson Center for Service and Operations Management has been researching issues related to retail supply chain strategy for many years. In this interview Fisher highlights some of the challenges facing global procurement and he discusses the example of Luen Thai a Chinese company that built a giant ”supply-chain city ” becoming a one-stop shop for clothing manufacturers looking to outsource to low-cost producers.

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Procurement has become an integral part of corporate performance and is drawing increased attention from senior management. In this interview Andreas Gocke a BCG partner and managing director spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about the most critical challenges facing procurement organizations over the next five to 10 years including training and employee development managing global sourcing offices and ensuring collaboration across corporate departments.

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