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/ittner_christopher.jpg http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/ 125 45 Wharton Faculty Research Law and Public Policy http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=774&source=rss To endure and build long-term value for shareholders, companies must also do well by society, according to speakers at a recent symposium titled, “Building and Valuing a Firm’s Sustainability Strategies,” sponsored by the Wharton Social Impact Management Initiative. Poverty, globalization and the environment all have an impact on business, yet are often perceived as issues that fall beyond the responsibility of corporate management. That shouldn’t be the case, argued symposium participants, who discussed the challenges of operating within the context of a worldwide community. Mon, 19 May 2003 00:00:00 EST Managing Technology http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=548&source=rss At a recent Wharton conference entitled, “The Internet and the Twenty-First Century Firm,” Wharton faculty and others moved beyond the e-commerce hype of the last century for a look at how the Internet can help determine company strategy. Disgruntled employees, scuba diving and Pizza Hut fit into discussions about intellectual property, marketing and disclosure of intangible assets. Wed, 24 Apr 2002 00:00:00 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=433&source=rss What happens when some accounting industry experts decide that the information provided in today’s financial statements does not coincide with the information needs of investors, creditors and regulators? The problem, these experts suggest, is with inadequate reporting of intangible assets, everything from intellectual capital and customer satisfaction to innovation and patents and copyrights. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the accounting profession’s rule setting body, is considering revamping the system to require greater disclosure of information about intangible assets. Experts from Wharton and elsewhere weigh in on the debate. Wed, 26 Sep 2001 00:00:00 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=322&source=rss Now that employees in many dot-com companies have suddenly found their stock options to be substantially “out of the money,” is it time to announce the death of stock options as an integral component of compensation packages? Not so fast, argue Wharton accounting professors Christopher Ittner, Richard Lambert and David Larcker in a new paper that studies whether the performance of new economy firms is related to the level of equity grants to employees. Mon, 19 Mar 2001 14:05:07 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=279&source=rss Choosing performance measures is a challenge. Performance measurement systems play a key role in developing strategy, evaluating the achievement of organizational objectives and compensating managers. Yet many managers feel traditional financially oriented systems no longer work adequately. A recent survey of U.S. financial services companies found most were not satisfied with their measurement systems. In an article on Oct. 16, 2000, in the Financial Times’ Mastering Management series, Wharton accounting professors Christopher Ittner and David Larcker suggest that financial data have limitations as a measure of company performance. The two note that other measures, such as quality, may be better at forecasting, but can be difficult to implement. Wed, 06 Dec 2000 14:31:39 EST Finance and Investment http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=73&source=rss Microsoft in 1998 had total revenues of $14.4 billion and total assets worth $22 billion, but its market capitalization in September exceeds $466 billion. This represents a huge chasm between the company’s balance-sheet value as measured by conventional accounting norms and its market value. Several high-tech and biotech companies have similar gaps. What explains this massive mismatch? The reason for this gap lies in indirect drivers of future economic performance, such as organizational knowledge, customer satisfaction, product innovation and employee morale, which do not appear in most corporate financial statements. David Larcker and Christopher Ittner, co-directors of the Wharton Research Program on Value Creation in Organizations, have just completed the first phase of a study with Ernst & Young’s Center for Business Innovation to uncover insightful performance measures that predict future economic success. Wed, 29 Sep 1999 14:41:17 EST