Knowledge at Wharton

Kristin King and Kate Brubacher are founding members of Liberian Widows Initiative (LWI) an organization to aid women devastated by the Liberian Civil War. LWI provides small business loans and savings accounts to members of the extreme poor -- Liberian refugee women who struggle to feed their families and send their children to school. LWI was an outgrowth of Brubacher’s residence in West Africa during 2004-2005. Brubacher is now at Yale Law School and King is a second year MBA student at Wharton. King and Wharton management professor Keith Weigelt talked to Knowledge at Wharton about the challenges of running a grass-roots microfinance initiative several thousand miles away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Friday February 1 Microsoft announced it was making an unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and stock a 62% premium over Yahoo’s stock price at the time. Yahoo is officially ”evaluating” the offer and according to reports is talking to other companies as possible suitors. Meanwhile Google seems determined to derail the deal stating that it finds the proposed acquisition ”troubling” and offering to help Yahoo come up with other options. Does the deal make sense and if it goes through how difficult will it be to meld these two giant technology companies into one? Knowledge at Wharton spoke with Wharton management professors Larry Hrebiniak and David Hsu to get their views on Microsoft’s offer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2007 mutual funds specializing in non-U.S. stocks returned a fat 16% while funds with diversified holdings in U.S. equities returned just over 6%. In fact the foreign-stock funds have beaten domestic-stock funds over periods of two three five 10 and 15 years. Moreover owning foreign stocks helps a U.S. investor diversify risk by reducing a portfolio’s volatility. Why then does the typical U.S. investor do little more than dabble in foreign stocks? Wharton finance professor Karen Lewis studies this issue in a paper titled ”Is the International Diversification Potential Diminishing for Foreign Equity inside the U.S.?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On January 29 online auctioneer eBay unveiled plans to revamp the fees it charges sellers reduce fraud and increase the volume of transactions. It’s the first move by CEO-elect John Donahoe who will take over the reins of eBay on March 31 in the wake of long-time CEO Meg Whitman’s announcement that she plans to step down. Donahoe’s mission is to reinvigorate a company that remains dominant in online auctions but is vulnerable to increased competition from both large and small rivals. Wharton faculty and others offer Donahoe a game plan for moving forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Private Equity has passed through a Golden Age but will now spend a year or so in ”purgatory” before entering an even greater period of expansion or ”Platinum Age ” according to David Rubenstein co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group the Washington D.C.-based private equity firm with more than $70 billion in assets. In a keynote address at the 14th annual Wharton Private Equity and Venture Capital Conference titled ”Harnessing the Winds of Change ” Rubenstein talked about the effect of the subprime credit crisis on the industry and how ”the private equity world needs to spend much more time letting people know what [we] do to create value.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While changing jobs and shifting careers is hardly unusual in today’s business world Russ Palmer is somewhat unique in that he has been the leader of three very different organizations over the past several decades. He was CEO of Touche Ross (now Deloitte & Touche) for 10 years dean of Wharton for seven years and now owner chairman and CEO of The Palmer Group a corporate investment firm. Each of these positions required very different skills and the ability to adapt to a unique set of challenges -- what Palmer calls ”a context-driven approach to leadership.” In his new book Ultimate Leadership: Winning Execution Strategies for Your Situation Palmer describes how today’s leaders can adapt to and succeed in any business environment. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deliberations at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month did not go entirely as planned but few of the 2 400 people attending the meeting were deterred by the plunging market. In this opinion piece management professor Michael Useem who directs Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management and who attended the forum discusses how Davos has emerged as a ”classroom on globalization.” Among the key lessons from this year’s class: Central bankers have lost their way; sovereign wealth hedge and private equity funds are the new power brokers; and no new authority should be put in control. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Americans spend an average of 14 hours a week online and 14 hours watching TV. But marketers spend 22% of their advertising dollars on TV and only 6% online according to data compiled and analyzed by Google. Why are some chief marketing officers and major advertisers reluctant to add digital technology to the marketing mix despite the Internet’s ability to help target huge audiences and build brand awareness? Wharton faculty and marketing experts offer a number of answers but they also note that CMOs and others will soon have no choice but to start taking advantage of an increasing number of online advertising options. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been quite a week. Stock markets around the world showed sharp declines on Monday; on Tuesday the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. The rate cut helped stem the losses on some indexes but by January 23 the volatility had returned. The obvious fear is one of recession -- a possibility that the White House and Congress are trying to avert by coming up with a stimulus package that will keep the economy off life support. How effective will the Fed’s interest rate cut be and what is the outlook for the Asian and European economies? Knowledge at Wharton asked finance professors Jeremy Siegel and Franklin Allen to comment on these issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Even against the backdrop of an increasing likelihood of recession television advertising spots for February’s Super Bowl XLII were nearly sold out by early January -- several weeks sooner than in the past -- and advertisers are paying record prices. While the power of television has waned as new media compete for consumers’ attention the Super Bowl appears to have retained -- and solidified -- its position as the ultimate in television marketing according to Wharton faculty and industry analysts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.