http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/ Knowledge@Wharton is an online resource that offers the latest business insights, information, and research from a variety of sources. Content includes analysis of current business trends, interviews with industry leaders and faculty, articles based on the most recent business research, book reviews, conference and seminar reports, and links to other websites. en-us Copyright (c) 2007 The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:33:38 EST http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/globals/images/katw_white.gif http://Knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/category.cfm?cid=3 125 45 Knowledge@Wharton Executive Education Research Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=2265 Raghda Shaheen, who works for the Dubai International Finance Centre, recently completed a four-week business and legal fellowship program at Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania law school. The program, funded by the U.S. Department of State Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and supported by America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), teaches management, business and legal skills to women from the Middle East and North Africa. This year, 22 women from 11 countries attended the program. Shaheen will spend the next three months working at the Chicago Chamber of Commerce before returning to the UAE. She spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about her experiences in Gaza City, Canada, the U.S. and the Middle East Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:49:21 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1897 In the mid-1990s, a new C-suite title was born when General Electric CEO Jack Welch dubbed Steve Kerr the company's "chief learning officer." Since then, CLOs have sprouted up at major firms in several industries. But what does this new breed of "learning leaders" bring to the table that traditional human resources departments and employee training programs do not? How does an increased emphasis on learning improve an organization? And do new technologies, like distance learning, simulations and online portals, enhance or impede work-based education? To answer these questions, Knowledge@Wharton spoke with Ed Betof, former vice president of talent management and CLO at Becton, Dickinson and Company, who is a senior fellow and academic director of Wharton Executive Education's Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership; Mike Barger, vice president and CLO at JetBlue University; and Ann Schulte, vice president of global learning at MasterCard Worldwide. Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:20:52 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1840 "One thing that makes my heart beat is the smell of drywall," says Pastor T.L. Rogers, whose Maryland-based congregation once turned a strip mall into a church complex. Having completed that renovation, his church is now thinking about even bigger projects. But for Rogers, whose advanced degree is in Bible studies, meeting with bank executives can be a challenge. "Finance is a whole different language," he says. "They use acronyms I've never heard of." Rogers and others will take part in a new Wharton executive education program to teach pastors the financial skills they need to carry out economic development projects in their local communities. Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:20:43 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1740 This spring, Wharton and the Penn law school hosted 37 professional women from the Middle East for a four-week legal and business fellowship program funded by the U.S. Department of State Middle East Partnership Initiative and supported by America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST). The women studied management and business skills at Wharton executive education and legal skills at the law school. Knowledge@Wharton asked three women from the program to talk about their experiences in the U.S. as well as in their home countries, including their views on such topics as workplace ethics, business opportunities for women and the role of Islam in society. Wed, 16 May 2007 15:35:19 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1597 As Chinese firms increasingly turn their attention to strengthening their ability to compete in the global economy, they have a new challenge -- developing international expertise. One way they are doing this is by turning to Western executive education programs, which can include everything from courses in finance, marketing and corporate governance to a visit to Bloomingdale's and meals at noted Western restaurants. Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:04:42 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1409 Professional athletes face unusual challenges related to financial management, especially since their peak earning period lasts a relatively short time, often just a few years. Knowledge@Wharton asked Ken Shropshire, professor of legal studies and business ethics and director of the Wharton sports business initiative, to discuss this topic with Kailee Wong, linebacker for the Houston Texans. Wong attended an executive education program at Wharton co-sponsored by the NFL and NFLPA. Fri, 03 Mar 2006 14:56:37 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1290 Hall of Fame footballer Ronnie Lott is sitting in front of a classroom, lecturing a small group of fellow players about the importance of learning the playbook. But the playbook that he is discussing has nothing to do with running and tackling. Lott is counseling a group of current and former NFL players on making the transition from pro football to business. It's part of a year-long executive education program called "Entrepreneurial Management: Transitioning with Success," organized by the Wharton Sports Business Initiative and sponsored by the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Lott's talk is one of the follow-up sessions that are a key part of the program, which focuses on everything from financial analysis and entrepreneurship to real estate development and stock market investing. Wed, 05 Oct 2005 16:04:41 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1021 This is not a book about crisis management. It is not about managing public relations, the victims, the lawyers, or the shareholders. It is about discipline, culture, and learning from the experiences of others to improve the odds that you can avoid the things we label as accidents, disasters, or crises altogether. In Will Your Next Business Mistake Be Fatal?, Robert E. Mittelstaedt, Jr. argues that even if you do not totally avoid such situations, knowledge of the typical patterns that occur should help you create an organization that is observant enough to intervene early and minimize damage. Wed, 25 Aug 2004 22:18:12 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=471 With more than 20 million people registered on the monster.com job search site, it’s clear that we are a workforce on the move. In a recent executive education session, Peter Cappelli, director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, explained how a dramatically different labor market is changing not just the way people are hired and fired, but how they view their jobs, their employers and their careers. Wed, 05 Dec 2001 00:00:00 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=319 The business climate for companies today is a little like playing Pac-Man, says Alec Hudnut, CEO of the e-learning company Quisic. In other words, it’s eat or be eaten, and success depends a lot on how you handle the whole question of funding. Hudnut talked about the Internet, the corporate training industry and the evolution of Quisic at Wharton’s e-Commerce Speakers Series. Mon, 19 Mar 2001 14:04:58 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=236 Is the lecture hall outdated? Management education needs to be radically rethought for an Internet age, becoming more customizable, with delivery anytime and anyplace, and more applied, interactive learning. Two Wharton professors, Jerry Wind and David Reibstein, discuss a new paradigm for management education facilitated by advances in information technology and how it might be integrated into a decision support system. Wind is also leading the creation of a program that attempts to implement these principles in practice. Wed, 30 Aug 2000 13:27:55 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=109 As more firms move beyond risk assessment into risk management, the need for increasingly sophisticated analyses, including simulation models, is crucial. A three-day executive education course at Wharton, Decision Models for Management, tackles many of the challenges that risk managers confront on a daily basis, ranging from product mix decisions and applications of optimization models to operations management and marketing, portfolio optimization and yield management. Fri, 10 Dec 1999 09:13:28 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=103 Almost every company these days collects reams of data about its customers and their transactions. The coming of the Internet has made this task both easier and faster. But how can companies drill through these mountainloads of data to unearth crucial insights and knowledge about customer behavior and market trends? Jacob Zahavi, a visiting professor at Wharton, and his colleagues Lyle Ungar and Robert Stine, plan to address the challenges of data mining in a short course at Wharton next month. Fri, 10 Dec 1999 09:13:24 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=62 Do increasing sales mean that a company is in sound financial health? Not necessarily, replies John Percival, an adjunct professor at Wharton. Rising sales combined with high accounts receivable could mean that customers are buying products but not paying for them. “Increasing a company’s sales means a corresponding increase in costs for such things as production equipment, labor and inventory,” he says. “A company should concentrate on sustainable growth, which is characterized by increasing profit (as opposed to sales).” Percival teaches a six-week course about understanding financial statements, which addresses these issues and more. Wed, 01 Sep 1999 12:25:03 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=47 If CEOs only talked more to one another, they could accomplish so much more. Sounds obvious? Perhaps. But Howard Perlmutter, an emeritus professor at Wharton who is a pioneer in the study of global corporations, has developed a framework that facilitates what he calls "deep dialog." The framework also identifies some of the principal hurdles to such communication. At a time when more and more mergers are creating global corporations, such structured conversations--and efforts to identify factors that impede them--may hold the key to success. Wed, 04 Aug 1999 13:54:16 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=41 From morning decisions over who will pick up the kids until the nightly tug-of-war over which television shows to watch, all of us face negotiations as a part of daily life. Of course, the stakes are highest when our careers and fortunes depend on how well we manage the negotiation process. But, as Richard Shell and Stuart Diamond point out in Wharton's Executive Negotiation Workshop, the process looks much the same every time someone wants something from somebody else. Shell and Diamond teach a systematic approach to negotiation, large and small. Fri, 23 Jul 1999 16:35:52 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=29 When a titan like Merrill Lynch declares its intention to offer online trades, as it did in early June, it means that electronic trading is here to stay. A Wharton program organized with the Securities Industry Association in April analyzed the impact of electronic trading on traditional brokerage and global stock markets. “The paradigm of investing is shifting,” acknowledges Mark Lackritz, president of the SIA. “At one time, the securities industry had two monopolies, on information and on execution. Today both those monopolies are gone.” Tue, 08 Jun 1999 21:16:59 EST Executive Education http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=21 How does a company develop senior executives on the fast track? Time was when a deep understanding of the business and corporate culture was essential to their growth. In today's fast-paced world, where globalization and technology are turning markets topsy turvy, a new approach is vital. Some insights on how companies can develop high-voltage leadership. Mon, 24 May 1999 16:56:45 EST