Knowledge at Wharton

The secret to long-term CEO success according to David Nadler is conceiving of a CEO’s tenure as a performance with a series of distinct acts. ”Each act requires the CEO to lead think and behave in fundamentally different ways. The successful ones are those who are able to make the transitions ” says Nadler a consultant to boards and senior executives who spoke during the recent 11th annual Wharton Leadership Conference. The theme of the conference sponsored by the Center for Leadership and Change Management the Center for Human Resources and Wharton Executive Education was ”Developing Leadership Talent.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Producing a feature-length motion picture is a daunting task especially if you do it without the support of a major studio using money you have raised yourself. But according to independent filmmaker Lance Weiler ”the real struggle” comes after the film is completed. Distributing a theatrical feature -- and doing so profitably -- poses an even greater challenge. As Weiler noted during a recent interview with Knowledge at Wharton ”making the film is easy in comparison.” Yet Weiler believes he has a solution. By expanding the movie into an interactive theatrical event Weiler has carved out a niche that he believes offers an economically viable model for independent cinema. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June a high-profile Supreme Court case held the attention of retailers and manufacturers alike. In a five-to-four ruling the high court overturned a lower-court decision to award $1.2 million to a Dallas-area clothing store that was cut off by a supplier Leegin Creative Leather Products because the retailer refused to abide by the manufacturer’s retail price maintenance (RPM) or no-discount policy. The decision means that manufacturers no longer face a blanket prohibition against implementing an RPM policy. The case has spurred concern among consumer groups who claim it overturns a century of precedent and will lead to price fixing and unjustifiably higher prices. But Wharton faculty suggest that any changes will be gradual and may ultimately benefit consumers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

U.S. stock markets are in a tizzy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 311 points on July 26 and most media companies interpreted this to mean the end of the buyout boom. Buyout firms such as the Fortress Investment Group and the Blackstone Group were hit especially hard. How long will the turmoil continue? Could the trouble spread overseas to international markets? What is the right strategy for investors in these times? In an update to the podcast that Knowledge at Wharton published on July 25 Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel offers his insights on these questions. In the earlier podcast he discussed the continuing crisis involving sub-prime housing loans and other issues -- including economic growth in China and the impact of the strong Indian rupee -- with Knowledge at Wharton. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wharton professor Serguei Netessine who recently had to spend the night in an airport hotel after being kicked off an overbooked evening flight is one of thousands of airline passengers this summer who have been stranded on runways or sleeping in airports. While airline service is no longer the white-glove experience it once was it has recently gone beyond bad food and snappish flight attendants. ”Previously airlines worried about dissatisfied customers. Now I don’t think they worry about it because the customer service at all airlines is so horrible ” says Netessine. Knowledge at Wharton looks at the current state of the airline industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent media reports detailing a series of quality problems with Chinese-made exports -- pet food tainted with prohibited chemicals toys covered with lead paint and tires that fall apart at high speed -- have alarmed the American public and resulted in a number of international product recalls. In this opinion piece Paul Midler founder and president of China Advantage  a services firm that provides outsourcing and supply chain management to U.S. and European companies discusses what he calls ”quality fade” and a number of related challenges that face Chinese manufacturing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is about to find out that being a CEO is a lot different than being the ceremonious Chief Yahoo as he was called until last month. Yang who became Yahoo’s new CEO on June 18 faces a daunting to-do list that includes reinvigorating the company closing a performance gap with Google thwarting challenges from social media sites such as Facebook delivering financial results that make Wall Street cheer and charting a course for the future. His first deadline comes in about 100 days. Knowledge at Wharton asked faculty members for advice on how Yang should handle this management challenge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following accounting and governance scandals at Enron and other U.S. companies policymakers in the United States and elsewhere responded by establishing new corporate governance rules including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Now after complaints from the business community that regulations are hurting profits some countries are taking a second look at post-Enron reforms. But according to research presented during a recent conference on international corporate governance -- sponsored by the Weiss Center for International Financial Research at Wharton -- countries should think twice about loosening governance regulations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just a decade ago a company called Baby Einstein helped launch a new line of educational videos and toys that many parents believed would put their toddlers in the fast lane to success. The company was soon joined by others that promoted educational and entertainment products for babies and the under-three-year-old set including The Baby Prodigy Company and Brainy Baby. But recently some child advocacy groups -- and the author of a new book -- are warning parents to rethink the products and the messages behind these campaigns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For big-screen movie company IMAX the past several weeks must have seemed like the best of times and the worst of times. The recent opening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the largest and most successful in IMAX history. Yet despite the record box office the company’s stock price remained moribund as it delayed its financial filings to restate its revenue recognition for the years 2002-2005 and responded to an informal inquiry from the SEC. This was not the first challenge faced by Richard Gelfond and Bradley Wechsler who share the titles of chairman and CEO. Knowledge at Wharton recently spoke with Gelfond at IMAX’s corporate headquarters in New York about the company’s plans for the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.