Knowledge at Wharton

Jon Spector a former Wharton vice dean and now CEO of the Conference Board spoke with participants at the Community 2.0 conference in Las Vegas earlier this year to explore how companies are trying to harness communities to reshape their businesses. In this podcast Spector speaks with Craig Newmark founder and ”customer service rep” of Craigslist.com. Spector is a co-author with Barry Libert of the forthcoming Wharton School Publishing book We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In The Self Destructive Habits of Good Companies ... And How to Break Them (Wharton School Publishing) Jagdish N. Sheth a marketing professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University analyzes why companies that are at the top of their industry suddenly disappear from the landscape. He maintains that successful companies fall prey to complacency arrogance competency dependence competitive myopia territorial impulse volume obsession and denial and he then goes on to suggest ways companies can change course and avoid these traps. As Sheth notes in his introduction ”My view is that most companies can survive forever if they recognize and take steps to counter self-destructive habits or set up processes to keep them from arising in the first place.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to Daniel M. Cable what characterizes successful companies these days is ”a strikingly different obsessively focused” workforce one that -- compared to competitors’ workforces -- is ”downright strange.” Cable a management professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina makes his case in a new book titled Change to Strange: Create a Great Organization by Building a Strange Workforce (Wharton School Publishing). To get the best results Cable says companies have to build a workforce ”that is extraordinary in a way that customers care about.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Marketing That Works: How Entrepreneurial Marketing Can Add Sustainable Value to Any Sized Company (Wharton School Publishing) the focus is on optimizing investments in every aspect of marketing whether it’s targeting the right customer delivering added value or generating better product ideas. Authors Leonard M. Lodish Howard L. Morgan and Shellye Archambeau offer tools tactics and strategies that companies can use to differentiate themselves in today’s marketplace. As the authors note ”Marketing more than technology is most often the reason for the success or failure of new ventures or new initiatives” in mature corporations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Reading Lolita in Tehran an award-winning account of an underground Iranian women’s book group to The Kite Runner a best-selling novel about modern Afghanistan tales of Islamic culture have entranced Western readers eager for a glimpse into a world that is at once far removed from theirs and yet fundamentally intertwined with it. A recent book adds to this genre. In Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil author Deborah Rodriguez opens a window onto the private lives of Afghan women by explaining what it’s like to try and launch a business -- in this case a beauty school -- in a remote unfamiliar area. The tale according to our reviewer is heartwarming eye-opening and ultimately chilling. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marshall Goldsmith the founder of executive coaching firm Marshall Goldsmith Partners has worked closely with more than 70 CEOs during his career. Forbes has named him one of the five most respected executive coaches. The Wall Street Journal ranks him among the top 10 executive educators. Now Goldsmith has assembled a book that distills the wisdom he and his stable of coaches usually dispense in person. Listed at $23.95 What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful written with Mark Reiter is a bargain compared to the six-figure cost of receiving Goldsmith’s wisdom in person. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Google bought YouTube recently for $1.65 billion the world of business sat up to take serious notice of social networks. Today many companies are looking into how they can tap into -- or develop -- communities as a way to make better decisions and increase profits. Jon Spector a former Wharton vice dean and now CEO of the Conference Board spoke with participants at the Community 2.0 conference in Las Vegas earlier this year to explore how companies are trying to harness communities to reshape their businesses. In this podcast Spector speaks with Diane Davidson director of customer marketing at WebEx. Spector is a co-author with Barry Libert of the forthcoming Wharton School Publishing book We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A mathematical parrot. A Dutch-speaking orangutan. A chimp that can pass for a boy. These are the otherworldly characters -- and provocative thought experiments -- that anchor best-selling author Michael Crichton’s most recent novel Next. The book weaves together several storylines in order to trace the complex interplay of scientific innovation legal loopholes and economic opportunity. Along the way Crichton creates a troubling portrait of a biotech industry marred by corporate greed and moral uncertainty. Both thriller and policy piece the book is also a compelling contribution to the debate over genetic research according to our reviewer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Larry Huston was vice president of knowledge and innovation for many years at Procter & Gamble. During that time he was the architect of its Connect + Develop program the creator of P&G’s Brand Bootcamp operation and innovation leader for the company’s global fabric and homecare business among other initiatives. He is now managing partner of 4INNO and recently joined Wharton’s Mack Center for Technological Innovation as a senior fellow. Knowledge at Wharton asked Huston to talk about innovation and its role in the global economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David G. Marshall CEO of Amerimar Realty in Philadelphia has made a career of seeking out bitter lemons and turning them into sweet -- and profitable -- lemonade. Through the years he has taken over distressed properties -- such as The Rittenhouse in Philadelphia Pier 39 in San Francisco and Denver Place in Colorado -- and made them into successful enterprises. Marshall recently went to Shanghai as part of the Wharton Fellows program and came to the conclusion that what is happening in Chinese real estate ought to be a wake-up call for the U.S. market. Knowledge at Wharton spoke to Marshall about his visit to China and other issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.