Knowledge at Wharton

If you don’t yet know about the Webkinz craze you soon will especially if you have children of your own or at least know one or two on your block. Webkinz are essentially stuffed animal ”pets ” but what makes them different from other hot toys of years gone by -- Cabbage Patch Kids Beanie Babies Tickle Me Elmo and even the century-old teddy bear -- is the business model behind them. By melding the old-fashioned bricks-and-mortar world of toy retailing with an opportunity to participate in an online community Webkinz taps into the kiddie zeitgeist and shows a deep understanding of how to use the concept of virtual worlds to full advantage according to marketing experts at Wharton and elsewhere.

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

Pop singer Britney Spears would seem to have little to teach candidates for the U.S. presidency. But her lame performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 9 -- she forgot the words to a lip-synched song -- is a cautionary tale about the speed with which news travels in a wired world. Indeed news reports and video clips of political gaffes travel just as fast as bad music reviews and elicit judgments just as quickly. For presidential candidates it leaves little room for error in how they package themselves and their message.

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

The corporate apologies are piling up. Mattel CEO Robert Eckert apologized on September 12 for lead paint found in millions of the company’s toys. TD Ameritrade CEO Joe Moglia apologized on September 14 for a database breach. Apple CEO Steve Jobs apologized on September 6 for cutting the price of the high-end iPhone. Dell executives apologized in August for delayed deliveries of certain models. JetBlue apologized in February for canceling flights and leaving passengers stranded during an ice storm. While executives moved quickly to stem damage to their companies’ reputations it takes more than speed to manage a crisis. As Wharton experts and others point out the rules governing crisis management have changed.

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

Because the U.N. has an aggressive agenda for gender equity you might think it would ensure that women play a prominent role in its high-profile peacekeeping arena. According to Rachael Mayanja an assistant U.N. secretary-general and special advisor on gender issues and advancement of women you would be wrong. At the 2007 annual conference of the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organizations (AHRMIO) held at Wharton this month Mayanja noted that none of the U.N.’s 18 peacekeeping missions around the globe is currently directed by a female. Her message: ”It’s high time HR examines itself and does something to make sure that gender balance becomes a reality.”

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

Sam Zell the master real estate investor has built a fortune on the cycles that shape his industry. These days he believes the current turmoil in financial markets is more an emotional reaction to yet another period of excess rather than a true credit collapse. In a talk at Wharton moderated by real estate professor Peter Linneman the Chicago-based investor said markets currently are spooked by problems with U.S. subprime lending. However they still have capital to deploy unlike other real estate downturns. ”We’re not really in a ’credit crunch.’ I think what we are in is a ’confidence crunch ’” Zell told his audience.

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

Men are bigger tightwads than women; younger people are more likely to be spendthrifts than older people; and the more educated a person is the more likely he or she is to be a tightwad. While ”tightwad” and ”spendthrift” are not exactly labels that most people would welcome in a discussion of their spending habits they are valuable as predictors of consumer behavior. Indeed Scott Rick a visiting professor at Wharton and two colleagues recently came up with a scale to determine the extent to which people are tightwads or spendthrifts -- and what the implications are for retailers trying to more accurately target potential buyers in their stores and on their websites.

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

The sub-prime mortgage crisis and the credit crunch that has followed in its aftermath are taking their toll on the housing market. On August 28 the S&P Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index showed that home prices fell 3.2% in the second quarter. According to the National Association of Realtors the inventory of unsold homes is at a record high. As sales have fallen many home builders have seen their stock prices drop by more than 60% during the past year. How serious is this situation? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Joseph Gyourko director of Wharton’s Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center and Todd Sinai a professor of real estate spoke to Knowledge at Wharton about these questions and more.

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

As sales of Apple’s iPod Coca-Cola and North Face clothing show despite serious challenges from private label manufacturers and low-price global production branding remains an important way for consumers to choose among products in a crowded marketplace. Brands are a short-hand means of conveying quality and lower risk according to Wharton faculty and marketing analysts and they also play a growing role in building consumers’ identities. But these experts add with little room to compete on cost brands will need to be vigilant when it comes to differentiating themselves from increasingly sophisticated competitors.

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

In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton one year ago Michael Dell declared his support of then-CEO Kevin Rollins indicated that supply chain efficiencies and direct sales gave the company a competitive edge and added that his namesake company was making great strides in customer service. What a difference a year makes. Michael Dell took over the reins from Rollins on January 31 and set out to remake the $57 billion Round Rock Tex. PC manufacturer. The effort comes as the company has lost its worldwide market share lead to Hewlett-Packard and faces competition from other PC manufacturers as well. While experts generally agree that Dell has made progress in some areas questions about its turnaround remain.

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

”Risk” is a term that comes up frequently when people discuss medicine and health: What’s my risk of heart attack? Breast cancer? What’s my risk of dying from a complication of surgery? Or having a dangerous reaction to a drug? But according to Mark V. Pauly Wharton professor of health care systems consumers don’t necessarily use that term in the same way that medical and insurance experts do -- which is a potential pitfall that can lead to less than optimal health care decisions and faulty policymaking.

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