Knowledge at Wharton

The Dow has closed above 11 000 the European Union is bailing out Greece and the U.S. economy seems to be perking up. Is the future as bright as it looks? In fact it looks pretty good says Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. While the Dow’s 11 000 close doesn’t mean much to professional market watchers it can give ordinary investors a psychological boost. According to Siegel the U.S. economy is in a self-sustaining recovery no longer dependent on government stimulus. And while the housing market could take years to make up recent losses the economy -- and stocks -- should do well he said in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your company has developed a new product that you think will be a winner. A lot of money has been poured into research and development analysis of the competition and advertising. But there is one key element you may have overlooked: What do you charge for the product? Wharton marketing professors Jagmohan Raju and John Zhang say companies frequently don’t put anywhere near as much thought into pricing as they should. In their new book Smart Pricing Raju and Zhang argue that firms ought to engage in innovative pricing to achieve maximum profitability and they show how companies like Google are doing just that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

”Dire” is one adjective that Linda Katz founder and executive director of Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) uses to describe the U.S. education system which is leaving an increasingly high number of children without adequate reading and writing skills. For more than 20 years CLI has been working with school systems across the country to overhaul how teachers are trained hired and mentored. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Katz discusses not only why classroom teaching is broken and what can be done about it but also the secret to helping kids learn to love reading. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sweet Sixteen the Elite Eight the Final Four: It’s that time of year again when college basketball fans everywhere are betting on who will win this year’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament. But forget the fans. The big winners in terms of money are spread all over the playing field from the network broadcasting the games to the ticket sellers to the colleges that attract the players. How did the NCAA get to be such a money-making powerhouse? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After discovering that hackers based in China had broken into the Gmail accounts of Chinese human-rights advocates Google halted operation of its Internet search engine on the Chinese mainland earlier this month and started directing users to its Hong Kong site. On March 29 Chinese officials retaliated by blocking some of Google’s mobile Internet services. While conflict may have seemed inevitable what does it mean for Google’s long-term plans for operating in China? And what lessons can other multinationals learn as this story plays out? Knowledge at Wharton asked Wharton management professor Marshall Meyer and marketing professor John Zhang these and other questions.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

America’s health care reform may be out of the emergency room but its prognosis remains sketchy. Passage of the historic 2 400-page legislation by no means ended the health care debate say Wharton experts: It just splintered one massive question mark into a lot of new big ones. As one Wharton professor noted: ”The current legislation is going to be in play for a good long time.” But he also pointed out that the bill offers new business opportunities in such areas as medical information technology education and methods of delivery. (Video with transcripts) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just when consumers thought they had their 3G wireless gadgets all figured out it’s now time to start getting a grip on the fourth generation of wireless technology -- which will be much faster and far more disruptive than anything we have experienced before according to Scott Snyder in his recent Wharton School Publishing book titled The New World of Wireless: How to Compete in the 4G Revolution. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Snyder who is president and COO of consulting firm Decision Strategies International predicts 4G will revolutionize the way we work and play by creating ”one giant wireless ecosystem” that buzzes with innovation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While some students may be using notebooks or netbooks to read textbooks these days some experts predict that within the next 10 years most U.S. college students -- and many high-school and elementary-school students as well -- will probably be reading course materials on an electronic device instead of in a paper book. And that will have a broad impact on students and teachers not to mention the $9.9 billion textbook-publishing business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fear is growing that Greece may default on a massive pile of debt creating a ripple effect of problems throughout Europe and beyond. Following pressure from the European Union and the European Central Bank the Greek government on March 3 announced a new round of austerity measures that include spending cuts and tax increases which critics fear will harm Greece’s economy. Meanwhile Wall Street banks are facing scrutiny for the complex financial instruments they used to allegedly disguise the country’s real debt. What caused Greece’s debt problem to spin out of control? And what steps should it take to remedy the situation? Wharton finance professors Richard Herring and Itay Goldstein weigh in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Panos and his colleagues at TSG Consumer Partners a San Francisco-based investment fund believe that consumers will always be interested in products that enhance their lives even if it means paying more than they have in the past. That philosophy has brought impressive results for TSG primarily in the beauty food and beverage areas. Panos who joined the 23-year-old firm in 1998 spoke with Knowledge at Wharton about the company’s strategy why it favors family-owned businesses where to find opportunities in a recessionary economy and how to build up a brand among other topics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.