Knowledge at Wharton

The ongoing credit crisis in U.S. financial markets has claimed a huge and high-profile victim: Bear Stearns. After being slammed by what amounted to a run on the bank during the week of March 10 the Wall Street firm agreed to be acquired -- for $2 a share -- by JP Morgan Chase over the weekend in a deal overseen by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates the same day -- and did so again on March 18 by three-quarters of a percentage point. Are other Wall Street firms likely to follow Bear Stearns into oblivion? Will the Federal Reserve’s efforts help to boost confidence in the financial system? Finance professor Jeremy Siegel author of The Future for Investors discussed these questions and more with Knowledge at Wharton.

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With their low fees all-day trading and tax efficiency exchange-traded funds have captivated investors. There were no ETFs before 1993; today there are nearly 700. While most experts think ETFs were a good innovation -- built like index-style mutual funds but traded like stocks -- some worry that the increasingly specialized ETFs introduced in recent years stray from the faith encouraging too much risk-taking. That concern is heightened by recent Securities and Exchange Commission proposals to let new funds come to market with less oversight and to invite proposals for introducing actively managed ETFs. Knowledge at Wharton looks at the recent action and angst surrounding ETFs.

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The toughest leadership task for Dieter Zetsche chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars was engineering last year’s breakup of Daimler and Chrysler. But the experience taught him valuable lessons such as the importance of making timely decisions and the need to avoid information overload. Leadership Zetsche told his audience during a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture isn’t always ”fun and games.”

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Paper costs are rising mail rate hikes are looming and competition from new media continues to grow. Yet marketers’ use of direct mail and other printed materials is stronger than it’s been in years. Thanks to variable-data printing companies can now tap purchase-history databases to design create and print entirely personalized catalogs that cross-sell products and services to individual consumers. They can also combine print with other media in the evolving discipline known as cross-channel marketing. But whatever strategy a company adopts experts note the challenge is the same: Finding the right way to communicate with customers.

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Earlier this month Microsoft unveiled Silverlight 2 a platform akin to Adobe’s Flash designed to advance the software giant’s push into the arena of rich Internet applications. One week earlier Adobe Systems launched its ”Adobe Integrated Runtime ” which allows web programmers to move their software out of the browser and onto the computer’s desktop. Both companies hope to establish their software as the foundation for the next generation of software development. Spearheading Microsoft’s efforts is corporate vice president Scott Guthrie who spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about his company’s aspirations for Silverlight and the future of the web.

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A tug of war over the future of media may be brewing between so-called user-generated content -- including amateurs who produce blogs video and audio for public consumption -- and professional journalists movie makers and record labels along with the deep-pocketed companies that back them. The ultimate outcome: a hybrid approach that features entirely new business models say experts at Wharton.

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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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