Knowledge at Wharton

Optimism seems to be everywhere just as the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee gets ready once again to pass judgment on where interest rates are headed. The consensus is that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will keep the federal funds rate unchanged. Part of the reason is that oil prices are down and inflation seems to be under control. Still the bursting of the commodities bubble has not been a universal blessing -- as investors in the Connecticut-based hedge fund Amaranth Advisors discovered after it lost $5 billion in value. The coup in Thailand also raises questions about international business risks. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel spoke about these issues and more.

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It’s been an exciting couple weeks for fans of digital downloads of music and movies with Microsoft’s official announcement of its Zune portable music player along with the Zune Marketplace download service; Apple’s announcement of several new models of its iPod music player and the new availability of movie downloads from iTunes; and Amazon.com’s introduction of its ”Unbox” service offering rent-or-own movie downloads. Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader and legal studies and business ethics professor Kevin Werbach to find out which of these approaches will deliver the best entertainment options to consumers and the most value for their companies’ shareholders.

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First it was textiles and consumer electronics. Next may be cars. China is once again looking to target a key consumer market in the U.S. Can China become a powerhouse in the global automotive industry and if so when?

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As Wharton marketing professors George Day and Paul Schoemaker see it the recent and well-publicized travails of Ford Motor Coca-Cola and Pepsi offer clear examples of the distinction between vigilant leadership and operational management. To explain that distinction Day and Schoemaker have identified four leadership traits: external focus conceptual ability organizational role and time horizon.

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On August 21 2006 Time Warner’s America Online revealed that it had released three months of search queries from 658 000 subscribers which contained enough data to possibly identify some of the users. The privacy breach underscored the perils of supposedly ”anonymous” Internet profiling. Yet a different type of anonymous Internet profiling is highlighted in a new research paper by Wharton professor Balaji Padmanabhan and Catherine Yang.

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Facebook a social networking site known as an online meeting place for college and high school students is opening its doors to more people in an effort to grow beyond its current nine million registered users. Could such a move end up blurring the company’s focus and diluting its brand? Are there better ways to expand?

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Three years ago mutual funds were accused of allowing favored customers to engage in late trading and market timing that hurt ordinary investors. The scandal has subsided but questions remain: Is short-term trading encouraged by the use of out-of-date or ”stale ” stock prices in valuing fund shares? And what remedies will work without penalizing ordinary investors?

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Shiv Nadar is chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies a subsidiary of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) a firm he co-founded in August 1976 and which includes HCL Infosystems. While most Indian IT firms have made their mark in software HCL has been a pioneer in hardware (although it is also the fifth-largest Indian software maker). In the first of a two-part interview with Knowledge at Wharton and Ravi Aron a senior fellow at Wharton’s Mack Center for Technological Innovation Nadar discusses issues ranging from HCL’s origins to future challenges.

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The struggle to raise pay for low-income workers once fought in agricultural fields and on factory floors is moving to the aisles of big retailers in Chicago where large national chains like Wal-Mart and Target may be forced to offer higher wages along with every-day low prices. While retailers complain the legislation may lead them to stall plans for new downtown stores Wharton faculty say Chicago’s proposed living wage law is largely symbolic and would have little real impact on large retail chains or their employees. Some argue that it also won’t have much impact on poverty.

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Given Microsoft’s efforts to create a music player and service dubbed ”Zune ” and its offer of design assistance to PC makers in preparation for the company’s new Vista operating system it appears that the software giant is increasingly dabbling in hardware and playing a bigger role in product design. The big question is: Why? While some analysts dismiss Microsoft’s efforts as Apple envy experts at Wharton say there is a bigger picture. Microsoft wants more control over integrating its software with the gadgets that could open new markets. Its real mission: Find new vertical markets to dominate so it can continue to grow even if its Windows monopoly erodes.

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