Accounting techniques like budgeting sales projections and financial reporting are supposed to help prevent business failures by giving managers realistic plans to guide their actions and feedback on their progress. At least that’s the theory. But when Gavin Cassar a Wharton accounting professor tested this idea he found something troubling: Some accounting tools not only fail to help businesspeople but may actually lead them astray. He analyzes these conclusions in two separate research papers.

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New strategies will be necessary for biotechnology companies to thrive in the new era of personalized medicine but the healthcare system itself will also have to change according to a panel of biotechnology company representatives at the 2008 Wharton Health Care Business Conference. Leaving behind the ”blockbuster drug” mentality must be part of a new mindset for biotech companies going forward suggested one panelist. Others discussed stem cell research regulatory hurdles and competition within the industry.

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Larry Kaiser chairman of the department of surgery and surgeon-in-chief for the University of Pennsylvania Health System is responsible for more than 110 surgeons in his own department and he leads one of the largest thoracic services in the country. Michael Useem director of Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management recently spoke with Kaiser about the challenges of playing a leadership role -- not just in a major medical center but also in a health care environment that has experienced radical changes over the last decade.

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Does the mortgage crisis demand a government bailout? A year ago most experts thought not. Sad as the situation was for some homeowners many felt the problem would be confined to those who had gambled on risky loans with eyes open. But things have changed. The mortgage crisis is behind a nationwide drop in home values that is impeding all types of lending. More and more experts now say some sort of government response is necessary to avert a prolonged recession. But what kind of bailout is affordable and fair?

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How do consumers react when they discover someone else bought the same product they did at a cheaper price? Do they feel differently if that someone else is a friend versus a stranger? Wharton marketing professor Lisa Bolton and two colleagues explore pricing and fairness perceptions in a new research paper and document how attitudes are different or in some cases similar between consumers in China and those in the United States. The paper is titled ”Culture and Marketplace Effects on Perceived Price Fairness: China and the USA.”

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No one makes it to the top ranks of corporate management without a healthy amount of self-assurance. Confidence underlies decisive strong leadership but does overconfidence lead managers to cross the line and commit fraud? New research by Wharton accounting professor Catherine M. Schrand and doctoral student Sarah L. C. Zechman examines patterns in frauds to determine if some frauds evolve not out of pure self-interest but because executives are overly optimistic that they can turn their firms around before fraudulent behavior catches up with them. Their paper is titled ”Executive Overconfidence and the Slippery Slope to Fraud.”

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Big buyout firms like the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts do headline-grabbing transactions and collect eye-popping paychecks. But when the economy slows down and lenders turn wary those mega-deals are the first to dry up. Meanwhile the modest middle market -- typically deals in the $500 million to $1 billion range -- keeps plugging along. In fact according to panelists at the 2008 Wharton Private Equity Conference middle-market investors are to some extent insulated from the current credit crisis and other economic ups and downs. ”We’re delighted with the credit crunch ” one speaker said.

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It would be hard enough under any circumstances to become the first outsider named to lead a 161-year-old global conglomerate but Peter Löscher faced a unique challenge last summer when he assumed the reins at Siemens AG -- the German-based engineering and healthcare giant. During a recent Wharton leadership lecture series Löscher openly acknowledged that his first and most difficult task was dealing with the aftermath of a scandal that included allegations of bribes to foreign governments and union leaders. In his presentation Löscher emphasized the importance of corporate culture and standards. Corruption he said at one point ”is not a sustainable business model.”

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As the price of wireless transmissions drops telecom carriers need to focus on new applications that will engage consumers more deeply with their mobile devices -- and encourage them to pay a premium for wireless services according to speakers at the recent Wharton Business Technology Conference whose theme was ”Enterprise Agility: Lead with Speed.” 

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The term ”emerging markets” is now more than 25 years old and has come to define wide swaths of the world undergoing rapid economic change. Dozens of countries fall under the label even though they are evolving at their own pace and with their own twists on economic development. Now as many emerging markets show signs of a strong and growing middle-class population observers wonder whether the term has lost some of its meaning. What qualifies a country as ”emerging”? While some say measures based on income or other statistics are critical factors others place an increasing emphasis on the way business is conducted with rules that are transparent and apply equally to all participants.

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