Knowledge at Wharton

”Cloud computing” promises myriad benefits -- including cost savings on technology infrastructure and faster software upgrades -- for users ranging from small startups to large corporations. That’s an auspicious future considering that not everyone agrees on exactly what cloud computing is or what it can do.

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While military uses have tended to dominate commercial development of autonomous robots in America the business opportunities for smart robots are also sizable according to Daniel Lee an engineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Lee who recently spoke about the future of robotics as part of the Executive Master’s in Technology Management program has an ambitious goal: to learn how to make robots think and act like humans.

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On April 2 the Financial Accounting Standards Board is expected to vote on a proposal to relax a standard at the heart of the financial crisis -- mark-to-market accounting rules that require toxic assets to be carried on companies’ books at fire-sale prices based on recent trades of similar assets for far less than they would command in normal times. Many big banks say the crisis has been made worse by these rules. Not everyone agrees.  

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Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor Kevin Werbach recently worked with the Obama administration’s transition team on a review of the Federal Communications Commission and related technology and telecommunications issues. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton he says that advances in technology and the urgent need to restart the economy require the commission to rethink its role -- not just as a regulator but as an agency that creates jobs and encourages investment.

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The hedge fund industry’s long history of avoiding tougher regulation may be coming to an end as the Obama administration and Congress look for ways to avoid another financial meltdown. Although it is not clear that hedge funds actually played much of a role in the current crisis the industry’s sagging performance combined with investors’ and regulators’ heightened demand for transparency will likely cause big changes in the way these secretive investment pools operate according to several Wharton faculty members.

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Heartland Payment Systems a credit card processor may have had up to 100 million records exposed to malicious hackers. Payment processors CheckFree and RBS Worldpay and employment site Monster.com have all reported data breaches in recent months as have universities and government agencies. Experts at Wharton say that personal data is increasingly a liability for companies and suggest that part of the solution may be minimizing the customer information these companies keep.

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U.S. stocks raised eyebrows this week and last closing higher in six of seven trading days including four in a row from March 10 to 13. But how does the market look for the longer term? In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Wharton finance professor Jeremy J. Siegel says he was pleased to see consecutive gains after so many declines. He adds that history provides lots of evidence that stocks remain good long-term investments especially when they are down 50% from their peak.

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Giving products away -- think Adobe Reader or access to online news -- has become a legitimate business model on the Internet and even beyond. Once companies accept that price need not be tied to the cost of production and begin thinking creatively new possibilities emerge -- even for offline products according to Wharton faculty and others. Welcome to the world of ”freeconomics.”

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Getting customers to spread the word about a new product through their social or professional networks is a hot strategy in the marketing world. But how do companies find the right individuals to deliver the message? New research by Wharton marketing professors Raghuram Iyengar and Christophe Van den Bulte finds that traditional targets may not be so influential.

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The world financial crisis is unraveling the gains made by many Central and Eastern European economies during their post-Cold War resurgence. With the region no longer isolated an economic collapse could reverberate in the West as Central and Eastern European borrowers default on an enormous volume of loans that Western banks were all too eager to grant just a few years ago.

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