Knowledge at Wharton

The cable television industry’s answer to the increasing threat from Internet video sites such as YouTube and Hulu focuses on a clear-cut strategy: Make cable subscriptions portable to any Internet accessible device such as a laptop computer or even a mobile phone for no additional charge. Experts at Wharton say the move is a promising early step in meeting the Internet video challenge but they expect more such experimentation ahead.

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As the global recession drags on new concerns are rising about commercial real estate. Loans taken out during the boom years are coming due but commercial property owners are contending with higher vacancy rates lower rents and a less-than-receptive environment for refinancing their obligations. Industry analysts and politicians suggest that commercial real estate is about to become the next high-profile casualty in the ongoing economic meltdown. ”The shoe has already dropped ” says one Wharton real estate professor.

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In their new book titled Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich point out that identifying new opportunities shouldn’t be seen as a luxury but a necessity. They note that creativity and process-driven rigor can go hand in hand when it comes to vetting and managing new ideas. One way to do this they explain is by making new ideas compete with one another in numerous rounds of vetting -- that is by running them through ”innovation tournaments” -- so that the strongest and most promising ideas make it to the final round. Rich rewards await companies that make the leap.

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As the recent financial crisis has showed so dramatically networks exist everywhere. Global inter-linkage of loans and mortgages -- which were intended to distribute risk -- actually ended up spreading it far and wide. Similar network-based impacts are at work in fields as diverse as information security and supply chain management. But while networks create new risks they also generate new opportunities write Paul R. Kleindorfer Yoram (Jerry) Wind and Robert E. Gunther in their new book ”The Network Challenge: Strategy Profit and Risk in an Interlinked World.” In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Kleindorfer and Wind discuss the themes of many of the 28 essays in their book.

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When Nandan Nilekani was the CEO of Infosys one of India’s top IT and outsourcing firms he often found himself being forced to answer questions not just about his company but also his country. Sometimes global business executives who visited the company’s sprawling campus in Bangalore would raise issues to which Nilekani had no answer -- such as ”Why does Infosys have such a beautiful campus but also large slums in other parts of the city?” So when Nilekani decided to write a book unlike other CEOs who write about their favorite leadership or management theories he chose India as his subject. In ”Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation ” Nilekani tackles themes ranging from education and demographics to investment and infrastructure. Nilekani who was recently recruited by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to head a project to create a national identification card for the country spoke with India Knowledge at Wharton about the book at the recent Wharton India Economic Forum in Philadelphia.

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When multinational companies want to tap into the massive pent-up consumer demand in emerging markets the first countries that they usually think of are China and India. But what about Africa asks Vijay Mahajan author of Africa Rising: How 900 Million Consumers Offer More Than You Think (Wharton School Publishing). Though often overlooked in global corporate growth strategies Africa as a whole has enough consumer power to give China and India a run for their money he argues. Mahajan a marketing professor at the University of Texas in Austin and co-author of an earlier book titled The 86% Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Marketing Opportunity of the 21st Century (Wharton School Publishing) talked with Knowledge at Wharton about Africa Rising.

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Thirty-nine executives -- from countries as diverse as Nigeria India Russia South Africa and The Netherlands -- were challenged to devise a profitable business plan to address social ills around the globe. The effort part of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education’s Advanced Management Program called on participants’ expertise in such fields as oil aerospace finance fashion entertainment and HIV/AIDS education.

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U.S. recessions since the oil crisis in the early 1970s each had their own special causes and victims but they also had something in common: They were over relatively quickly. The current downturn however is deeper and already longer than any since World War II. This spells trouble for one especially vulnerable group -- managers in their 40s and early 50s. What can they do when the industry they made their career in downsizes or goes bust? And how should they go about picking themselves up and getting back into the game? Wharton faculty and employment counselors weigh in.

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In 2005 three major hurricanes -- Katrina Rita and Wilma -- struck the U.S. Gulf Coast area causing not just death and destruction but also leading to insurance payments and federal disaster relief of more than $180 billion. Today say the authors of a new book titled At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes the U.S. is even more vulnerable to catastrophic losses. Written by Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan with colleagues Neil Doherty Martin Grace Robert Klein and Mark Pauly At War with the Weather analyzes current thinking about catastrophes and proposes new solutions for reducing loss and providing financial protection against future disasters. Kunreuther co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management and Decision Processes Center and Michel-Kerjan the Center’s managing director recently talked to Knowledge at Wharton about their book.

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The federal government has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking system and most experts seem to agree that the financial crisis is closer to its end than its beginning. But as attention shifts from fire fighting to rebuilding many are worrying about the ”moral hazard” that may remain with an apparent government safety net encouraging a new round of foolish risk taking.

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