Knowledge at Wharton
The Wharton School
The Knowledge at Wharton Network Acast feed serves as a curated showcase highlighting the best content from our podcast collection. Each week, we feature one standout episode from each show in the Wharton Podcast Network, giving listeners a comprehensive sample of our diverse business and academic content. This rotating selection allows audiences to discover new shows within our network while experiencing the depth and variety of Wharton's thought leadership across different topics and formats. It's your monthly gateway to explore the full spectrum of insights available through the Wharton Podcast Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 11, 2002 • 9min
Want to Study Accounting or Medieval History? Chances Are Your Employer Will Foot the Bill
Peter Cappelli director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources began his research into employer-paid tuition programs with some skepticism. Why he wondered would employers pay for workers to develop a credential (education degree) that is useful to other employers and will raise the workers’ marketability? Furthermore if the employer’s goal is to give workers skills for their current job why not just offer training in-house? After several months of research Cappelli has found some surprising answers which he summarizes in a new paper entitled “Why Do Employers Pay for College?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 28, 2002 • 8min
Dell: It’s Time to Diversify Dude
Dell Computer the no-fuss PC sales machine has set the standard for a successful direct-distribution company. But Dell is now reworking its bare-bones formula in an attempt to branch out from the PC market into more sophisticated and profitable computer systems. It’s a risky strategy in a tough economic climate but experts suggest it’s Dell’s only option if it wants to keep growing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 14, 2002 • 10min
Marketers Turn to Metrics to Measure the Impact of Their Initiatives
Until recent times marketing was perhaps the only corporate department that did not use metrics that were meaningful to bottom-line-oriented CEOs and CFOs. But that indifference to metrics is becoming a thing of the past. Marketing executives are paying more attention than ever to ways in which they can measure the impact of marketing initiatives on their companies’ financial performance. Developing appropriate metrics to capture the financial impact of marketing will be a key topic for discussion at an upcoming conference co-sponsored by Wharton McKinsey & Company and the Marketing Science Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 17, 2002 • 9min
What’s In a Name? Not Much Without a Branding Strategy
As businesses struggle to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace the challenge of choosing a company name looms large. How creative should a name be and what kind of image should it project? Knowledge at Wharton looked at some existing corporate names – old and new effective and not so effective – and asked marketing professors for their views of the corporate name game. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 3, 2002 • 11min
It’s Boom Time in the Housing Market But for How Long?
The residential real estate market in many U.S. cities shows no signs of slowing down as eager home buyers continue to drive prices ever higher. Is this too good to be true? Are home prices a bubble that is soon to burst? Real estate experts at Wharton and in the private sector offer their predictions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 3, 2002 • 14min
Debate over Scarcity – and Skills – of IT Workers
According to a recent study from the Information Technology Association of America U.S. companies will be short nearly 600 000 qualified IT professionals over the next 12 months. Unemployed IT workers find that hard to believe. Indeed the report has rekindled the debate over whether there are too few or too many skilled technology workers in this country and what role if any immigrant workers should play in filling tech jobs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 24, 2002 • 17min
Eight Great Business Plans … And Then There Was One
Yes but which one was it? On April 22 2002 eight finalist teams in the Wharton Business Plan Competition presented their business plans to a panel of six judges hoping their venture would win the $25 000 Grand Prize ($15 000 for second place $10 000 for third place). Read the summaries pick your winners and see if the judges agree. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 27, 2002 • 9min
The Failure of Customization: Or Why People Don’t Buy Jeans Online
Ever since the Internet emerged as a sales channel in the 1990s it has been thought that one of the chief advantages of e-commerce would be its ability to facilitate the customization of goods and services for consumers. That promise however is not yet close to being realized according to experts at Wharton and an e-commerce research firm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 13, 2002 • 17min
Re-examining Stock Options as a Way to Compensate Executives
Now that an underperforming stock market and the excesses of Enron have focused new attention on the use and abuse of stock options as a way to incentivize senior managers what changes if any should companies make in their design of compensation packages? The answer depends on each company’s philosophy and goals but Wharton faculty and others suggest guidelines to help define the appropriate combination of executive incentives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 13, 2002 • 8min
Speculate on This: What Motivates Investment Bankers?
When management professor Peter Cappelli and the executive search firm Spencer Stuart asked a group of investment bankers to name their top career objective the answer was hardly earth-shattering. The survey however also went on to look at the expectations and concerns of investment bankers at a time when their business has been rocked by recession and a terrorist attack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
