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) 2012 The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/bradlow_eric.jpg http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/ 125 45 Wharton Faculty Research Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2937&source=rss When a major disaster occurs, the result is an outpouring of aid, often in the form of donations to nonprofits like the American Red Cross. But once the dramatic images and news headlines begin to fade, donors often disappear as well. The question for groups like the Red Cross is how to identify and reach out to those one-time givers who are most likely to become regular donors. The answer may lie in the world of customer analytics -- the collection and mining of data on individual consumer behavior that is already revolutionizing how for-profit businesses operate. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:41:52 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2890&source=rss Amazon will lose money on each Kindle Fire it sells. Sprint is not expected to turn a profit selling Apple's iPhone for at least three years. Both companies are banking on customer lifetime value (CLV), a marketing formula based on the idea of spending money up front to gain customers whose loyalty will reap rewards over the long term. The model is becoming more and more popular among technology companies, and as software companies increasingly turn to subscription-based business models through cloud computing, CLV will become an even larger issue, according to Wharton experts. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:00:31 EST Law and Public Policy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2862&source=rss The value of a college education is under attack. While more U.S. students are enrolled than ever before, a perfect storm of soaring costs, rising student debt and shrinking job prospects have led more and more critics to challenge whether college remains a worthwhile investment for students. Knowledge@Wharton spoke to experts at Wharton and elsewhere to examine both sides of a debate that is growing increasingly loud. Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:21:51 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2857&source=rss As social media becomes more pervasive in the modern business landscape, creating a strategy for its use can no longer be confined to the tech or marketing side of any operation. In the recently released book, <em>Social Media Leadership: How to Get off the Bench and into the Game</em>, author Michael F. Lewis, chairman and CEO of business services company ILD, offers managers a guide to understanding and leveraging tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Groupon. Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:52:54 EST Law and Public Policy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2810&source=rss Recent hackings at Fox News, Apple, Citibank and even the CIA have drawn renewed attention to cyber security and accelerated the policy debate on how to protect critical information. The opportunity for cyber attacks grows daily as corporations and governments continue to amass information about individuals in complex networks across the Internet, according to Wharton faculty and security analysts. Indeed, notes one expert, &quot;hacktivists&quot; -- including those who break into networks not necessarily to steal money, but for ideological reasons -- appear to be ramping up activity. Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:44:24 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2792&source=rss Are overconfident CEOs also more likely to be overly optimistic when issuing earnings forecasts? Does in-store marketing -- including a product's location and visibility on store shelves -- make a difference? How does anxiety cripple efforts to negotiate a successful business deal? Wharton professors Holly Yang, Wesley Hutchinson and Eric Bradlow, and Maurice Schweitzer, respectively, examined these issues -- and what they mean for business -- in recent research papers. Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:55:03 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2715&source=rss Making a living as an artist has never been easy -- whether in film, music or publishing -- especially now that the digital revolution has transformed the business of content creation. One of the biggest shifts is in how filmmakers, musicians and writers are compensated. The trend is toward greater risk sharing with artists' marketers and publishers, and toward pay being based to a greater degree on how the product sells in the marketplace. Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:29:54 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2704&source=rss When Andres Iniesta scored the deciding goal that sealed Spain's victory in the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa last summer, it was the climax of several weeks of all-encompassing coverage for ESPN and ABC. Yet it was just the beginning of a project undertaken by the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI), a research center whose goal was to measure the interactions in viewers' media usage across ESPN/ABC's various digital media platforms. Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:51:26 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2650&source=rss Though Research in Motion still occupies a dominant position in the U.S. smartphone market, there are rumblings that the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry -- a phone once so addictive to its predominantly business-centric audience that it gained the nickname &quot;CrackBerry&quot; -- is in danger of being overshadowed by its rivals. Experts say a stronger, better-targeted marketing campaign and a few buzz-worthy new devices would go a long way toward cementing the BlackBerry's popularity with corporate customers and attracting the mass market as well. Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:38:32 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2630&source=rss Apple has essentially had the tablet market to itself since April 30, the day the first iPads were sold in the U.S. But that is about to change, as companies including Research in Motion, Samsung, Barnes &amp; Noble and Dell introduce handheld computers of their own. Although Apple's head start is formidable, experts say the iPad is not invincible. But competitors will still face major challenges in cashing in on the tablet craze. Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:15:08 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2628&source=rss Following a series of concussions suffered by National Football League players during games on October 17, the NFL handed out fines and said it would immediately start suspending players for helmet-to-helmet hits. For the NFL, long-standing concerns about traumatic brain injury raise a number of questions, including: Was the League's response to the rash of concussions last month an over-reaction, or too little too late? And how does the resulting publicity affect the long-term viability and popularity of the game? Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:15:08 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2592&source=rss On September 1, Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the latest version of Apple TV, a set-top device that allows viewers to rent movies and TV shows. Meanwhile, Google plans to embed its search and video services on televisions from Sony. And Samsung is developing apps for its TVs and trying to woo software developers. These efforts are all part of the latest attempt to conquer the digital living room, an area that, so far, has failed to make consumers think differently about their viewing habits. Wharton faculty and other experts weigh in on what it would take to make a fully technology-integrated home entertainment ecosystem a reality. Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:42:34 EST Law and Public Policy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2526&source=rss Today's &quot;greenomics&quot; -- the economics of being environmentally friendly -- has companies struggling to balance their eco-ambitions with hardcore business pressures. During a panel discussion at the recent Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Seoul, experts noted that greenomics isn't just about corporate profit and loss statements. Rather, it requires a symbiotic relationship between the public and private sector, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and consumers. Yet, as one expert noted, these groups are a long way away from helping the business world reach the day &quot;when we no longer need the term 'greenomics' because it's embedded into everything we do.&quot; Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:16:41 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2505&source=rss What spending in the mobile advertising industry lacks in heft, it more than makes up for in buzz. Witness Google's recent purchase of AdMob, which brings together the two largest mobile ad networks, and Apple's recent efforts to gain a stronger foothold in the market. The battle between the two major players could represent a tipping point for mobile advertising, Wharton experts and others say, and suggests that the sector could become a significant money-maker in the future. Wed, 26 May 2010 16:26:29 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2500&source=rss Last month, Twitter unveiled &quot;Promoted Tweets,&quot; a new ad system the company hopes will turn the service into a profitable endeavor. Though much talked about, Twitter faces a set of intertwined business conundrums. How can it help businesses create a level of engagement with consumers that turns tweets into a useful tool for marketing and customer service? How can Twitter then parlay those efforts into a viable, income-producing strategy for itself? Wharton experts and others say finding a successful model for the Promoted Tweet is only one of the challenges the company must overcome to avoid the fate of former &quot;next big things&quot; like Netscape, Excite or Pets.com. Wed, 26 May 2010 16:26:29 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2482&source=rss With more than 400 million users, social networking giant Facebook theoretically has a lot to lose if it sidesteps privacy without consumers' consent. But each time the company introduces new features that make users' personal information available to an increasingly wide circle, the site continues to grow. This time, the company's new &quot;Open Graph&quot; plan -- an attempt to link Facebook users to other parts of the web by sharing their &quot;likes&quot; and other activities across sites -- has come under scrutiny. Will users revolt -- or will they adapt to Facebook's ever-shifting privacy policies and what some Wharton experts view as deliberately difficult opt-out procedures? Wed, 12 May 2010 15:14:35 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2477&source=rss Wouldn't it be great if you could invest in a new film that you thought might be a real blockbuster? Now maybe you can. On Tuesday, April 20, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a movies futures exchange -- sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald investment bank -- that will match buyers and sellers of future movie receipts. But given the way some futures exchanges work, how good an investment is this for individuals? In this personal finance column, Wharton professor Kent Smetters offers some answers. Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:56:07 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2468&source=rss To find the hottest restaurant, bar or concert venue in town, many young adults are no longer checking in with their friends. They're &quot;checking in&quot; virtually via Foursquare, a location-based social networking site. While Foursquare is being touted as the Next Big Thing, experts say the true potential lies in companies knowing exactly where customers are and pitching offers or services based on the spots these customers frequent. The challenge for Foursquare and others, observers suggest, is transitioning beyond buzz and finding uses for geo-targeting that are both profitable and practical. Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:36:17 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2456&source=rss The Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four: It's that time of year again, when college basketball fans everywhere are betting on who will win this year's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament. But forget the fans. The big winners in terms of money are spread all over the playing field, from the network broadcasting the games to the ticket sellers to the colleges that attract the players. How did the NCAA get to be such a money-making powerhouse? Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:51:19 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2437&source=rss 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. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:50:03 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2394&source=rss A decade ago, movie fans who wanted to forgo paying theater admission waited an average of five months before they could watch a film in their own living rooms. Today, the window between theatrical releases and distribution via other channels like DVDs and cable television has shrunk to four months or less -- and in some cases has even disappeared, with films making their debuts simultaneously in multiple channels. According to Wharton faculty, declining DVD sales and other pressures mean that studios are likely to continue experimenting aggressively with movie release timing. Still, the pleasure of watching a movie in a darkened theater is not likely to go away any time soon, they say. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:13:30 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2367&source=rss In a year when DVD sales are falling and studios are facing major shakeups in their executive ranks, the movie industry has at least one success story to cheer about: Netflix. Despite the recession, the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company continues to thrive and is now in a race to transition to a business model focused on streaming content online while continuing to exploit its current model based on physical DVD distribution. According to Wharton faculty, Netflix has managed this balancing act deftly so far, but growing competition in digital distribution means that it may not have an advantage for long. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:19:29 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2354&source=rss Faint rumblings have begun in the social networking landscape. Facebook acquired smaller rival FriendFeed in August; Friendster, viewed as an also-ran in the U.S., has refocused its operations on the Asia-Pacific region; and News Corp., owner of MySpace, has reshuffled executives and restructured the unit as traffic to the site slows. Experts at Wharton say there's still a lot of growth left in the sector, but a round of consolidation, reinvention and restructuring is likely in the not-too-distant future. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:33:51 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2348&source=rss In what was billed as &quot;a significant step forward,&quot; Microsoft on September 15 launched its next-generation Zune HD media player, touting the device's ability to play high-definition (HD) video and receive HD Radio signals, along with a state-of-the-art, organic light-emitting diode screen. Experts at Wharton say that despite its advanced technology, it isn't yet clear whether these features will matter to consumers. Zune HD already faces the nearly impossible task of competing against Apple and its iPod, which had 73% of the market as of July. Should Microsoft continue to fight this battle? Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:48:04 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2337&source=rss Trying to picture the edgy, ultra-macho characters of Marvel Comics (like Spider-Man or the Hulk) teaming up with Walt Disney's fairy tale princesses and cheery spokesmouse is not an easy task. Nonetheless, Wharton faculty and entertainment analysts predict Disney's $4 billion acquisition of Marvel will overcome some major challenges and allow the company to instantly enter a key market where, as of now, it has made few inroads. Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:45:37 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2330&source=rss As it expands into new markets with additional products and platforms, Google is beginning to look a bit like Microsoft in the mid-1990s: A company with big ambitions and an ever-growing list of competitors. Its latest skirmish with Apple over an integrated telephony and voicemail management application for the iPhone is just one example of what is likely to come, according to Wharton faculty and other experts. In addition, they say, as Google tries to be virtually everywhere that consumers are, it needs to avoid making the same mistakes that Microsoft made, and it should pay close attention to privacy issues. Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:37:02 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2311&source=rss Early reports show that Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, has managed to draw more users than its predecessor, Live Search. According to Wharton faculty, however, while Microsoft's campaign to promote Bing has been successful so far, it is unclear whether its well-funded effort will make significant inroads in a market dominated by Google. On the other hand, they believe the campaign helped pressure Yahoo into an important partnership agreement after months of fitful negotiations. Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:41:52 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2307&source=rss According to Wharton faculty who follow the complicated, emotionally fraught subject of how we buy and sell literature, devices such as Amazon's Kindle and an on-demand book-printing machine called Espresso are helping to upend longstanding customs in the slow-to-change business of book publishing. Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:41:52 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2306&source=rss Why is Hollywood in love with tried-and-true sequels and established franchises rather than producing original scripts? According to Wharton faculty, the industry's embrace of the sequel is an attempt to minimize its risk during an uncertain time, when the motion picture business finds its usual sources of funding and revenues under pressure from the recession. &quot;If studio [executives] launch a movie where ... the merchandizing channels already exist, they are less likely to walk into a big box office disaster which could bury them financially when they can least afford it,&quot; says one expert. Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:41:52 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2292&source=rss Financial advisors face difficult challenges given the global economic and financial crisis. Yet advisors can not only survive the downturn, but also thrive during it, according to the authors of a new book, <em>Marketing for Financial Advisors: Build Your Business, Bring in Clients, and Establish Your Brand</em>. Indeed, Wharton marketing professors Eric T. Bradlow and Patti Williams, and Keith Niedermeier, director of Wharton's undergraduate marketing program, suggest that the struggling economy provides an opportunity to &quot;attack&quot; and gain market share. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, the three authors discuss how financial advisors can build their business -- even in a down economy -- by adopting data-driven and niche marketing principles. Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:41:58 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2262&source=rss A generation is growing up with social networking web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, casually posting accounts of their lives for their friends -- and the world -- to see. Few of these users realize that the information they post, when combined with new technologies for gathering and compiling data, can create a fingerprint-like pattern of behavior. The information provides opportunities not only for legitimate businesses, but also for identity thieves and other predators, according to faculty at Wharton and elsewhere. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:08:51 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2208&source=rss With the economy mired in a recession, even some full-time employees are joining independent consultants, writers and musicians in learning how to use online social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter to increase their contacts and tap into possible customers or clients. Indeed, according to Wharton experts and others, developing a personal brand can be as important for a financial advisor as for a rock musician. Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:21:37 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2186&source=rss Heartland Payment Systems, a credit card processor, may have had up to 100 million records exposed to malicious hackers. Payment processors CheckFree and RBS Worldpay, and employment site Monster.com have all reported data breaches in recent months, as have universities and government agencies. Experts at Wharton say that personal data is increasingly a liability for companies, and suggest that part of the solution may be minimizing the customer information these companies keep. Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:34:51 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2130&source=rss It was a tough year for newspapers. The owner of <em>The</em> <em>Los Angeles Times </em>and <em>Chicago Tribune</em> declared bankruptcy; <em>The New York Times</em> borrowed against its headquarters and even accepted ads on its front page. Detroit's two dailies announced the end of home delivery on all but three days of the week. According to Wharton faculty, if newspapers can't find a new business model quickly, they may soon be printing final editions. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:53:55 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2109&source=rss For decades, sports have existed in a protective bubble. Even in recessions, fans could be counted on to keep buying tickets to games and keep beefing up the huge television audiences that draw top dollar from advertisers. But the current recession seems to be bursting the bubble. Says Wharton professor Eric Bradlow: &quot;Advertising revenue is down. Corporate boxes and corporate sponsorships are going to be down. There's no question the [financial crisis] is going to affect the economics of the sports industry.&quot; Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:25:28 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2042&source=rss Now that the FCC has approved a merger of the two satellite radio companies, Sirius XM's big challenges are to stop the flow of red ink and settle on a strategy to compete with the myriad of other portable music providers. Says one Wharton professor: "They may have one more shot at a Hail Mary pass." Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:03:03 EST Law and Public Policy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1928&source=rss When a report prepared by former Senator George J. Mitchell indicated that Roger Clemens and others used illegal, performance-enhancing drugs, a marketing agency prepared a voluminous report that relied on statistics to make the case for Clemens' innocence. But an article written by four Wharton faculty -- Justin Wolfers, Shane Jensen, Abraham Wyner and Eric Bradlow -- questions the methodology used by the marketing agency, noting that the validity of any statistical analysis is only as good as its individual components. And these components, they add, can be easily misinterpreted. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:52:07 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1919&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">Paper costs are rising, mail rate hikes are looming and competition from new media continues to grow. Yet marketers' use of direct mail and other printed materials is stronger than it's been in years. Thanks to variable-data printing, companies can now tap purchase-history databases to design, create and print entirely personalized catalogs that cross-sell products and services to individual consumers. They can also combine print with other media in the evolving discipline known as cross-channel marketing. But whatever strategy a company adopts, experts note, the challenge is the same: Finding the right way to communicate with customers.</SPAN> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:57:40 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1888&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">On January 29, online auctioneer eBay unveiled plans to revamp the fees it charges sellers, reduce fraud and increase the volume of transactions. It's the first move by CEO-elect John Donahoe, who will take over the reins of eBay on March 31 in the wake of long-time CEO Meg Whitman's announcement that she plans to step down. Donahoe's mission is to reinvigorate a company that remains dominant in online auctions, but is vulnerable to increased competition from both large and small rivals. Wharton faculty and others offer Donahoe a game plan for moving forward.</SPAN> Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:51:11 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1885&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">Even against the backdrop of an increasing likelihood of recession, television advertising spots for February's Super Bowl XLII were nearly sold out by early January -- several weeks sooner than in the past -- and advertisers are paying record prices. While the power of television has waned as new media compete for consumers' attention, the Super Bowl appears to have retained -- and solidified -- its position as the ultimate in television marketing, according to Wharton faculty and industry analysts.</SPAN> Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:49:57 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1756&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">Think of them as the "walking dead," a type of customer who currently maintains service with a particular company, but whose next action will most likely be to discontinue that relationship, according to a new study that examines how the customers of a telecommunications firm acquire and discard services over time. The paper -- "Modeling the Evolution of Customers' Service Portfolios," by Wharton marketing professors Peter Fader and Eric Bradlow and a former Wharton PhD student -- focuses in part on whether it is possible to predict future purchasing patterns by looking at past buying behavior.</SPAN> Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:33:58 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1608&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">If a traveling salesman has to visit a set number of cities in a set number of days, what is the shortest route he can take to cover all his stops and then return home? And does the answer to this question relate in any way to the manner in which a shopper navigates her way through a grocery store? In a new paper, Wharton marketing professors Peter S. Fader and Eric T. Bradlow and doctoral student Sam K. Hui use a concept known as the "Traveling Salesman Problem" to study the efficiencies -- and inefficiencies -- of grocery shoppers.</SPAN> Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:45:38 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1532&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">In the workplace, trust is essential to day-to-day business, whether it's one colleague trusting that another will do her share of a project, an employee trusting that his boss will reward him for working long hours to meet a deadline, or a customer trusting that a company will fill an order correctly and deliver it on time. The intertwining issues of trust, deception, apologies and promises are explored in a new research paper titled, "Promises and Lies: Restoring Violated Trust," by three Wharton professors who came up with a unique laboratory experiment to see what happens when trust breaks down. "While deception may be tempting because it can be used to increase short-term profits for the deceiver," the researchers note, "we find that the long-term costs of deception are very high."</SPAN> Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:03:13 EST Law and Public Policy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1495&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">Major League Baseball's decision to square off with CBC Distribution and Marketing, an online baseball fantasy-league operator based in St. Louis, Mo., might make good legal sense, but it's bad for business, according to Wharton faculty and baseball industry spectators. For several years, CBC paid a fee to the Major League Baseball Players Union for the right to use players' names and stats for its virtual leagues, in which fans draft pro players onto imaginary teams and then compete with each other based on their players' statistics. But last year, Major League Baseball Advanced Media bought the Internet and wireless rights to the names and stats from the union, and informed CBC that it wouldn't renew its license. CBC has filed a law suit in response, but the league isn't backing down. By picking a fight with CBC -- and the $1.5 billion fantasy league industry -- baseball risks alienating fans, damaging its brand and sacrificing future revenues for a small gain, experts say.</SPAN> Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:41:34 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1494&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">With more and more advertising vehicles crowding today's marketing environment -- including traditional print, television and radio ads, product placements, Internet buzz, viral campaigns and cell phone messaging -- marketers have new opportunities to reach vast pools of potential customers. But the tangle of options also requires any successful marketing plan to take into account the nature of the product, its durability in the public's mind and the advertising budget needed to make it all work. As Wharton professor David Bell notes: It's very hard to find "the one big lever that can reach a whole lot of people in a way that is cost-effective." Knowledge@Wharton asked four Wharton marketing professors how they would go about launching two hypothetical products, a summer blockbuster movie and a cell phone.</SPAN> Wed, 31 May 2006 14:49:23 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1426&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">Although Microsoft recently unveiled an 'ultra-mobile personal computer,' or UMPC, in a move to fill a market niche between laptops and handheld computers, it remains to be seen whether this latest innovation from the software giant will be a hit or flop. While Microsoft is following a "build-it-and-it-will-sell" strategy with the UMPC, technology history is littered with innovative products that never found a market, say experts at Wharton. As Wharton professor of operations and information management Eric K. Clemons puts it: "Build-it-and-it-will-sell strategies are a mixed bag."</SPAN> Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:54:43 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1378&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">Would you like to go on an Internet auction site and know how much to bid for a certain item -- and also know that you didn't overpay for that item? How about when you sell an item in an online auction: Would you like to know what price to set that ensures you don't leave money on the online table? Wharton marketing and statistics professor Eric T. Bradlow can't provide specific answers. But he does offer guidance on the behavior of potential buyers in a new study entitled, "An Integrated Model for Bidding Behavior in Internet Auctions: Whether, Who, When, and How Much," recently published in the <I>Journal of Marketing Research</I>. Bradlow co-authored the study with Cornell marketing professor Young-Hoon Park. "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to model formally the behavioral aspects of bidding behavior for the entire sequence of bids in Internet auctions," the authors write.</SPAN> Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:31:18 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1208&source=rss <SPAN style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana">To the untrained eye, the presentation looks like little more than a child's randomly drawn zigzag pattern. But to Wharton marketing professor Peter S. Fader, those seemingly random lines represent a new dataset showing the paths taken by individual shoppers in an actual grocery store. The data -- charted for the first time by radio frequency identification (RFID) tags located on consumers' shopping carts -- has the potential to change the way retailers in general think about customers and their shopping patterns. Fader, Wharton marketing professor Eric T. Bradlow and doctoral candidate Jeffrey S. Larson analyze this data in a new research paper entitled <I>"An Exploratory Look at Supermarket Shopping Paths."</I></SPAN> Wed, 01 Jun 2005 17:22:46 EST Business Ethics http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=680&source=rss Earlier this fall, Safeway, a food retailer based in Pleasanton, Calif., took out radio and television ads apologizing to customers of some recently-acquired grocery stores for changes in these stores' operations. Safeway joined what seems to be a long list of apologizers &#8211; from investment bankers to fast food corporations &#8211; who have recently expressed regret for a variety of mistakes. With a year full of apologies now coming to a close, Knowledge@Wharton looks at how effective apologies are, what they signal, when they should be offered and whether they can backfire. Wed, 04 Dec 2002 00:00:00 EST Strategic Management http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=238&source=rss Amazon.com is arguably the biggest name in online shopping, the gold standard against which all dotcoms are judged. Is it really possible, then, that someday we will be forced to live in a virtual world without this mammoth bookseller? Certainly, it's too soon to write a eulogy. But on the savage frontier of Internet commerce, even the biggest and toughest &#8211; though they may have been the first to stake the choicest claim &#8211; are not assured survival. Knowledge@Wharton discussed the company's future with Wharton faculty members and industry experts. Wed, 30 Aug 2000 13:27:32 EST Marketing http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=184&source=rss Millions of users are recovering from last Thursday's swift, silent attack of the Love Bug virus. For the past few days, newspaper pages and television screens have been filled with accounts from Manila, as the hunt continues for the hacker who unleashed the pandemic that crippled corporations and governments around the world. And yet, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Love Bug was the speed of its global proliferation. According to experts, it flashed around the world in just two hours. As CEOs and marketing directors ponder global marketing strategies for their products, can they learn any positive lessons from the Love Bug's global odyssey? Three Wharton professors believe they can. Wed, 24 May 2000 14:45:39 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=5&source=rss Searching for information on the Internet has become common. But which search engines provide the best results when executives are looking for business or marketing information? Wharton's Eric T. Bradlow and David C. Schmittlein tested six popular search engines&#8212;AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Northern Light and Lycos&#8212;to investigate that issue. Their conclusions might inspire managers to go fishing. Sat, 27 Mar 1999 05:02:53 EST