Knowledge@Wharton Business Research Journal

Skipped Out on Your Restaurant Reservation? That Will Be $200, Please

No-shows are a rampant problem in the restaurant industry, costing businesses wasted time and money. Some restaurants have started to experiment by charging "no-show fees" to consumers who fail to appear. In a new paper, Wharton PhD student Jaelynn Oh and operations and information management professor Xuanming Su use a game theoretic model to suggest that many restaurants could maximize profits by punishing customers who don't show up for their reservations and rewarding those who do.

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The 'Social' Credit Score: Separating the Data from the Noise

A new wave of financial services start-ups is taking advantage of the era of "Big Data" by using information culled from social networks to assess the creditworthiness of loan applicants, particularly those with spotty or limited credit histories. But Wharton experts warn that it may take years to figure out what type of social data is useful in creating accurate consumer profiles. They note that the tried-and-true method of gauging the quality of a person's credit -- the FICO score -- is far from obsolete.

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Adobe Acrobat at 20: Successes, Second Guesses and a Few Miscues

This month, Adobe Acrobat turns 20. Adobe Systems co-founder and co-chairman John Warnock and SVP of technology Bob Wulff spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about the product's origins, early struggles and eventual success -- in addition to expounding on what's wrong with the worldwide web and why the world needs to defeat the App Store.

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White House Black Market's Donna Noce on the Power of Personalized Customer Relationships

Donna Noce entered college with the intent to major in veterinary medicine. But when a part-time job at a local retail store led to the chance to try her hand as a fashion buyer, she became hooked on the retail industry. For the past six years, Noce has been president of White House Black Market, a retail chain that sells designs focused around the classic color combination. In this interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Noce drew on more than three decades of experience to discuss what has changed in the fashion business -- and what hasn't. (Video with  transcript)

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Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? Sizing up 'Selective' Corporate Social Responsibility

When companies trumpet their efforts to produce organic foods, sell fair-trade T-shirts or just make the world a better place, a cynical view might be that they are diverting attention away from the more unseemly elements of their business strategies. However, according to Wharton experts, it's not realistic to expect perfection when it comes to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Instead, judging a company's CSR record involves a mix of skepticism and an understanding of the complex decisions at play.

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On Wall Street, Netflix Is a Comeback Kid -- But Can It Stay on Top?

Almost two years ago, Netflix seemed to have bottomed out. The streaming and DVD rental company raised its prices, resulting in a mass exodus of subscribers, while also launching an ill-fated attempt to separate its two businesses. Yet the firm seems to have bounced back, emerging as the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 index during the first quarter of this year. Wharton experts and others say Netflix achieved this by focusing on its core customer base and committing to a long-term strategy. But in a highly competitive business, they add, innovation remains key.

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Encore Careers: Why an Aging Population Is a Resource, Not a Problem

Many people in the Western world used to anticipate retiring in their 50s or 60s. Now, they are embarking on new "encore" careers at the very time when they might have previously been expected to begin a life of leisure. Marci Alboher, author of The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life, spoke to Wharton professor Stewart Friedman about second -- and even third -- acts. (Video with transcript)

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