Business Integration Partners Spa-Knowledge@Wharton

3 Mar - 16 Mar



	Empty Pockets: What Does the Greek Debt Dilemma Mean for the Global Economy? 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.

	E-textbooks: The New Best-sellers 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.

	'Badge' Value: Finding and Promoting Products That Inspire Customer Loyalty 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@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.

	Saying Goodbye: New Exit Strategies for Today's Venture Capitalists Venture capitalism is not what it used to be. The bountiful returns of the dotcom years are long gone and venture capital (VC) firms are now struggling to exit their investments via initial public offerings or mergers and acquisitions. Also, a new regulatory landscape is threatening to hinder rather than help the industry's recovery, and the companies that VCs invest in require watertight strategies for major growth. VC experts highlighted these issues and others during a recent panel discussion titled, "Business Exits in the Current Economic Environment," which took place at Wharton's campus in San Francisco. The industry has had "pretty big body blows," one panelist noted. But, the speakers agreed, it's time to move on.

	Cents and Sensibility: Why Marketing to Multicultural Consumers Requires a Subtle Touch In an era of globalization and fluid national borders, advertising that appeals to cultural and ethnic identity has become a vital part of the corporate marketing arsenal. But new research shows how ethnic-oriented marketing can backfire and even turn multicultural consumers against a product or service if ad campaigns are perceived as aggressive or patronizing. The key? Tread carefully, says Americus Reed II, a Wharton marketing professor who teamed up for the research with Stefano Puntoni and Peeter Verlegh from Erasmus University's Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands.

	Linking Passion and Career: The Perils of Nonprofit Recruiting The conventional wisdom on the campuses of elite universities used to be that the nonprofit sector could never compete for top job seekers against big-name firms that promised a meteoric career path. But that was before the rise of Teach for America (TFA), a nonprofit that recruits some of the nation's best minds to spend two years right out of college in the most challenging urban and rural school districts. At a recent gathering at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government, executives from some of the nation's more established, traditional nonprofits discussed how they might re-create some of TFA's recruiting magic for their own organizations.

	Brazil's Gold: How Rio Won Its Olympic Bid Last fall, after losing previous bids, Rio de Janeiro -- Brazil's second-largest city -- won the approval of the International Olympic Committee to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. According to Carlos Roberto Osorio, secretary general of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, this time around, Rio had learned from its earlier failed bids and had the success of hosting the 2007 Pan American Games under its belt. That, combined with Brazil's "special circumstances" of economic stability amid the global downturn, helped it to beat out rival cities. In an interview with Wharton professors Felipe Monteiro and Ken Shropshire, Osorio discussed the winning bid and the challenges that lie ahead.

	Lessons That Leadership Moments Teach What makes a leader? Wharton’s Michael Useem answers that question through a series of glimpses of leaders in action in his book “The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories and Their Lessons for Us All.” An interview with the author.