articles 11 to 20 of 62
Get Me Rewrite: What's Next for Murdoch's Media Empire?
Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of New York-based News Corp., has built a fortune on the scandals of others. Now, at age 80, Murdoch finds himself at the center of his own ever-widening scandal, one that threatens his hold on a $40 billion global media empire. According to Wharton faculty and other experts, News Corp. needs to address its ethical issues at all levels of the organization -- not just the top rungs. Others note that no matter what happens to Murdoch or his business, the scandal itself will cause a thorough reassessment of the boundaries of a free and fair press.
From: July 20, 2011
Amway: Selling the Dream of Financial Freedom
Anyone who has been up watching late-night television has seen them: the get-rich-quick evangelists, usually promoting a system involving real estate. We may scoff at them, but they exert an undeniable pull. Erik German's very short but moving and perceptive memoir, My Father's Dream, is the story of how his own father became lured by the get-rich schemes of Amway and nearly lost everything.
From: May 05, 2011
Why Insider Trading Is Hard to Define, Prove and Prevent
On October 16, federal prosecutors charged Raj Rajaratnam and his hedge fund, Galleon Group, with insider trading. On November 5, 14 additional people were charged with the same crime, and prosecutors predict even more arrests in coming weeks. The Galleon case raises questions about what exactly constitutes insider trading at a time when so many market participants, such as hedge funds and other opaque investment pools, live or die on their ability to gather information competitors don't have. Wharton faculty offer their opinions.
From: November 11, 2009
Lippo Group CEO James Riady: 'Money and Power Are a Blessing and a Curse'
James Riady is the CEO of Lippo Group, one of Indonesia's largest conglomerates with annual revenues of some $3 billion. The Group, among the most active property developers in Southeast Asia, has expanded into China and Hong Kong and plans to invest $10 billion over the next five years in the Asia Pacific region. It also has interests in media, telecommunications, retail and health care. Fifteen years ago, Riady was responsible for the establishment of Universitas Pelita Harapan in Indonesia, and he has a strong interest in the social impact of business. During an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Riady explained the lessons he has learned over the years from successes and failures in business and politics.
From: October 28, 2009
The Bernard Madoff Case: Trust Takes Another Blow
Successful marketplaces -- indeed, all social systems -- require a level of ethical behavior among their participants. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, professors Maurice E. Schweitzer and G. Richard Shell, who have conducted extensive research on the role of trust in markets, explain why even the most sophisticated investors put their faith in Bernard Madoff, the New York City financier recently accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. That breach of trust has damaged the broader markets, Schweitzer and Shell say.
From: January 07, 2009
Hedging Their Bets: How Hedge Funds Can Curb Critics and Avoid Regulation
Hedge fund managers oversee $1.9 trillion in assets, but no one knows what they invest in or even what those assets are actually worth. That's because hedge funds are not regulated and consequently aren't required to make the same detailed financial disclosures that are required of publicly traded companies. The combination of potentially huge financial rewards and lack of transparency may foster ethical lapses, Wharton professor Thomas Donaldson noted during a recent talk on hedge fund ethics. His solution? An approach he calls a "microsocial contract."
From: November 12, 2008
Bad Business: Why Companies Shouldn't Trade with Abusive Regimes
Is selling police equipment to a notoriously brutal government tantamount to assisting in torture? William Schulz believes that it can be, and that these types of sales are one of the principal ways in which businesses find themselves tangled up with torturers. During a presentation sponsored by Wharton's Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, Schulz, former executive director of Amnesty International and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, spoke about the challenges that companies face doing business with repressive governments.
From: April 30, 2008
In the Game of Business, Playing Fair Can Actually Lead to Greater Profits
Tune into "The Apprentice," and you get an all-too-common view of business. Every week, the contestants try to impress Donald Trump by preening, cajoling and conniving. In this world, toughness is the measure of every CEO, and the boss glories in firing people and squeezing every penny out of suppliers. Yet according to John Zhang and Jagmohan Raju, both Wharton marketing professors, and Tony Haitao Cui from the University of Minnesota, many people aren't purely mercenary in their business dealings. They care about fairness -- and they should, the researchers say, because doing so can maximize their profits.
From: March 13, 2008
Are Overconfident Executives More Inclined to Commit Fraud?
No one makes it to the top ranks of corporate management without a healthy amount of self-assurance. Confidence underlies decisive, strong leadership, but does overconfidence lead managers to cross the line and commit fraud? New research by Wharton accounting professor Catherine M. Schrand and doctoral student Sarah L. C. Zechman examines patterns in frauds to determine if some frauds evolve, not out of pure self-interest, but because executives are overly optimistic that they can turn their firms around before fraudulent behavior catches up with them. Their paper is titled, "Executive Overconfidence and the Slippery Slope to Fraud."
From: March 05, 2008
Baseball, Steroids and Business Ethics: How Breaches of Trust Can Change the Game
When former Senator George Mitchell finally released his report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball last December, many of its conclusions came as no surprise to baseball fans, most of whom had heard the allegations of steroid use for years. With fans aware of such egregious behavior, why has attendance at games continued to climb? Are baseball's "consumers" impervious to ethical lapses? No, say Wharton professors, but the case demonstrates how bias, competition and a lack of oversight can work together to create an ethically toxic atmosphere -- in any field.
From: February 20, 2008
