Knowledge@Wharton -- Innovation and Entrepreneurship

New Approaches to New Markets: How C.K. Prahalad's Bottom of the Pyramid Strategies Are Paying Off

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:51 EST

Five years ago, C.K. Prahalad published a book titled, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, in which he argues that multinational companies not only can make money selling to the world's poorest, but also that undertaking such efforts is necessary as a way to close the growing gap between rich and poor countries. Key to his argument for targeting the world's poorest is the sheer size of that market -- an estimated four billion people. How has Prahalad's book -- a revised, fifth-anniversary edition of which has just been published -- affected the behavior of companies and the well-being of consumers in the years since its publication? Knowledge@Wharton checked in with the author for an update, including examples of specific companies that are implementing Bottom of the Pyramid strategies.

Farhad Mohit: DotSpots and the Wisdom of Crowds

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:11:25 EST

Entrepreneur Farhad Mohit is hardly resting on his laurels, although he could. In 1996, he launched BizRate, a consumer rating site, and then in 2004, Shopzilla, a shopping search engine. His latest venture is DotSpots, a service that lets people update the news in real-time with dots, or distributed objects of thought. These could include mini-blog posts containing text, videos, images, documents, perspectives from the blogosphere or eye-witness accounts from the scene. Mohit talked with Knowledge@Wharton about DotSpots, the publishing industry, the wisdom of crowds, what he learned from his previous successes and the importance of finding the right team, among other topics.

Education as an Export: Tayeb Kamali on the UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:11:07 EST

What's in a name? Plenty, when you're an entrepreneur starting up a new business, says Tayeb Kamali, who recalls the struggle to convince others in the early days of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) that the United Arab Emirates' new government-sponsored university needed a name that would be associated with leading-edge education in the Arab region. However, as HCT's Abu Dhabi-based vice chancellor explains in an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, that particular challenge was short-lived given the rapid recognition -- in academia and industry -- of the growing importance that the Internet and other technologies have in developing future generations of global business leaders.

Shai Agassi, Israel's Homegrown Electric Car Pioneer: On the Road to Oil Independence

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:15:44 EST

If there's a poster child for Israel's entrepreneurial spirit, start-up Better Place is one strong candidate. Since launching the company in 2007, Shai Agassi -- a 41-year-old Israeli entrepreneur and former executive of software giant SAP -- has been shaking up the auto industry with his vision for mass adoption of zero-emission vehicles powered by electricity from renewable sources. Starting off with $200 million of seed money, Better Place has since been setting up networks of service stations for electric cars, helping to wean drivers from their environmentally unfriendly gas guzzlers. The timing couldn't be better: Nissan recently unveiled its Leaf electric car whose battery can power the car for up to 100 miles (160km) on a single charge. According to Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's boss, pure electric vehicles could make up 10% of the world's market by 2020. John Paul MacDuffie, a professor of management at Wharton and co-director of the International Motor Vehicle Program, joined Knowledge@Wharton to interview Agassi from the company's headquarters in California about what it takes to develop an oil-independent future.

How Can You Find the Most Promising New Opportunities? Hold an Innovation Tournament

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:36:43 EST

In their new book titled, Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities, Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich point out that identifying new opportunities shouldn't be seen as a luxury, but a necessity. They note that creativity and process-driven rigor can go hand in hand when it comes to vetting and managing new ideas. One way to do this, they explain, is by making new ideas compete with one another in numerous rounds of vetting -- that is, by running them through "innovation tournaments" -- so that the strongest and most promising ideas make it to the final round. Rich rewards await companies that make the leap.

How 'Go/No Go' Thinking Can Stop Innovation Dead in its Tracks

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:36:39 EST

In Unlocking Opportunities for Growth: How to Profit from Uncertainty While Limiting Your Risk, authors Alexander B. van Putten and Ian C. MacMillan offer a tool they call Opportunity Engineering (OE), which shows companies how to engineer the risk out of uncertain opportunities in order to pursue more high-payoff innovations. OE, the authors note, is both a tactical approach and a mindset. It provides a specific way of valuing opportunities, using proprietary software, that enables companies to plug in the parameters of a project and determine its potential quickly. In short, the authors say, OE helps inculcate a culture of innovation.

Harnessing Networks to Create Value and Identify New Opportunities

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:36:33 EST

As the recent financial crisis has showed so dramatically, networks exist everywhere. Global inter-linkage of loans and mortgages -- which were intended to distribute risk -- actually ended up spreading it far and wide. Similar network-based impacts are at work in fields as diverse as information security and supply chain management. But while networks create new risks, they also generate new opportunities, write Paul R. Kleindorfer, Yoram (Jerry) Wind and Robert E. Gunther in their new book, "The Network Challenge: Strategy, Profit and Risk in an Interlinked World." In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Kleindorfer and Wind discuss the themes of many of the 28 essays in their book.

Eradicating Mud Cookies: Global Executives Try to Connect Profit to Social Good

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:18:09 EST

Thirty-nine executives -- from countries as diverse as Nigeria, India, Russia, South Africa and The Netherlands -- were challenged to devise a profitable business plan to address social ills around the globe. The effort, part of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education's Advanced Management Program, called on participants' expertise in such fields as oil, aerospace, finance, fashion, entertainment and HIV/AIDS education.

Innovation: Sometimes It Takes a Village

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:27:19 EST

Companies have formed alliances and strategic partnerships for hundreds of years, but experts gathered for a recent conference at Wharton's Mack Center for Technological Innovation said such connections are more important than ever in a fast-changing business environment. Still, because more innovation networks fail than succeed, companies may have to alter their culture to make these critical alliances work.

Ten Commandments from Entrepreneurial 'Evangelist' Guy Kawasaki

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:08:51 EST

Venture capitalist, consultant and former Apple software "evangelist" Guy Kawasaki talked about "the art of innovation" during a recent visit to the University of Pennsylvania. He offered 10 rules for entrepreneurs and innovators. Among them: Make meaning, not money.

China's Growing Talent for Innovation

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:43:30 EST

China has a wealth of advantages as a business innovator, including an adaptable population with an affinity for improvisation and reverse engineering, and a low-cost operating environment. Companies from developed economies soon will either profit from or compete against this developing culture of innovation as China moves beyond labor-intensive, low-value-added consumer goods. But China is not an easy place for outsiders to be innovators, and companies from developed economies looking for R&D partners there must proceed carefully.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk: Why It's Important to Pinch Pennies on the Road to Riches

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:28:28 EST

Superpreneur seems like a better label for Elon Musk. At 38, he has already been a co-founder of PayPal, which sold for $1.5 billion, and SpaceX, which aims to commercialize the launching of payloads into orbit. He is also an initial investor in electric-car pioneer Tesla Motors and solar energy company SolarCity, which sells and services solar energy equipment. In the second half of a two-part interview, arranged by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, he tells Knowledge@Wharton the story of his entrepreneurial beginnings and what he learned about the value of pinching pennies.

Muhammad Yunus: Lifting People Worldwide out of Poverty

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:04:13 EST

What began with a loan of $27 to 42 women in a small village 33 years ago has grown into a global microcredit movement that has changed the lives of millions of poor people around the world. Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, was the guest speaker at Wharton's MBA commencement on May 17 and the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree during the University of Pennsylvania's commencement on May 18. Yunus spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about his successes, challenges and upcoming initiatives.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk: 'Great Companies Are Built on Great Products'

Wed, 13 May 2009 16:53:27 EST

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has three passions: the Internet, space exploration and clean energy. The first paid off handsomely for him in 2002 when he sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. The second is fueled by SpaceX, a company that makes space launch vehicles. Musk's third passion is Tesla Motors, which makes the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car that claims to go 244 miles per charge and sells for $101,500 or more. In the first of a two-part interview with Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs and Knowledge@Wharton, Musk speaks with management professor John Paul MacDuffie, co-director of the International Motor Vehicle Program, about electric cars, hybrids, the Tesla and the mysterious ways of Detroit.

Rowing, Robots and Roommates: And the Best Business Plan Is...

Wed, 13 May 2009 16:53:27 EST

A decade ago -- with the dot.com boom in full swing and no shortage of venture funding -- entries in the Wharton Business Plan Competition were dominated by technology-oriented ideas. This year, with the economy in disarray, business plans from the "Great Eight" finalists played the field, with products ranging from a new training machine for crew teams to artificial eyes that dilate to a noninvasive way of measuring blood sugar levels. The winners were announced on April 29.

Harnessing the Sun and Outer Space: Elon Musk's Sky-high Vision

Wed, 13 May 2009 16:38:05 EST

Luck alone could not fuel this portfolio: By age 38, Elon Musk has been a co-founder of PayPal, which he and his partners sold to eBay for $1.5 billion, and rocket builder SpaceX, which aims to commercialize the launching of payloads into orbit. He is also CEO of electric-car pioneer Tesla Motors, where he designs cars in addition to guiding the business, and solar energy company Solar City, which sells and service solar energy equipment. The three current ventures continue to grow despite today's economic environment. Musk recently spoke at the University of Pennsylvania about luck, innovation and the fundamentals of success in any business.

Franchising in Germany: A Stepping Stone Toward Entrepreneurship

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:40:18 EST

Germans are widely considered to be risk-averse, and Germany is hardly the first country one associates with entrepreneurship. Indeed, for typical middle-class Germans accustomed to long-term employment in their field of training, entrepreneurship is often seen as complex and full of uncertainties. Franchising, however, represents a means of avoiding many of the risks associated with starting one's own company. Just ask Dietmar Wahnelt, who translated his passion for cooking into a successful soup franchise.

Innovation Thrives Among German Firms, Though Hurdles Persist

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:01:35 EST

Germany registers more patents per capita than any other nation. In fields such as alternative energy, the country is on track to gain recognition as a center of innovation and excellence. Still, according to experts from Wharton, Mannheim and elsewhere, the deep technical expertise that German firms inculcate among their workers and executives sometimes becomes a barrier to pursuing emerging opportunities.

Making Robots More Like Us

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:13:39 EST

While military uses have tended to dominate commercial development of autonomous robots in America, the business opportunities for smart robots are also sizable, according to Daniel Lee, an engineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Lee, who recently spoke about the future of robotics as part of the Executive Master's in Technology Management program, has an ambitious goal: to learn how to make robots think and act like humans.

Givology: Using Social Networks to Connect Education with the Developing World

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:51:20 EST

Nine months ago, a group of Wharton students launched an online site called Givology.org, whose purpose is to raise money for scholarships and education projects in the developing world. Givology's vision, according to chief development officer Catherine Gao, is that of a global community of individuals connected through their belief in the power of education to change people's lives. The group, which so far has attracted more than 200 lenders, has partnerships in China, India, Uganda, Ecuador and Kenya. Gao and Maria Davydenko, the site's chief creative director, spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about Givology and why they each donate more than 10 hours a week to this project.