Nicolaj Siggelkow - Faculty Research in Knowledge@Wharton

Can Dell's Turnaround Strategy Keep HP at Bay?

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:46:23 EST

In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton one year ago, Michael Dell declared his support of then-CEO Kevin Rollins, indicated that supply chain efficiencies and direct sales gave the company a competitive edge, and added that his namesake company was making great strides in customer service. What a difference a year makes. Michael Dell took over the reins from Rollins on January 31 and set out to remake the $57 billion Round Rock, Tex., PC manufacturer. The effort comes as the company has lost its worldwide market share lead to Hewlett-Packard and faces competition from other PC manufacturers as well. While experts generally agree that Dell has made progress in some areas, questions about its turnaround remain.

Falling Behind: Working Women in Germany Grapple with Limited Child-Care Options

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:10:32 EST

Although the German government provides its citizens with a generous family-leave policy, being a working mother in Germany is harder than in many other industrialized countries, according to faculty members at Wharton and German business schools, as well as German corporate officials. This is partly because the culture still, to some degree, frowns upon the idea of mothers not taking care of their small children at home. But changes are on the way, led by corporations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the women themselves.

A New Tool for Resurrecting an Old Theory of the Firm

Wed, 17 May 2006 15:28:37 EST

It's one of the oldest, most fundamental ideas in management theory: that executives should understand how the many distinct functional components of a firm -- production, distribution, product mix, human resources -- interrelate to achieve the proper fit. In recent years, however, this notion of comprehending the "part-whole" relationship of the firm fell out of favor as thinkers turned to other concepts -- such as relying on core competencies to attain competitive advantage. Now, two professors in Wharton's management department, Daniel A. Levinthal and Nicolaj Siggelkow, say it is time to once again address the part-whole concept. Without this systemic way of looking at companies, the researchers note, firms run the risk of engaging in compartmentalized thinking that can work to their disadvantage. The two scholars have addressed issues related to firm positioning and the part-whole relationship of the firm in a number of papers and articles.

Wishing Upon a Star: Hiring a CEO from Inside the Company Vs. Going Outside

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 17:18:11 EST

When Robert A. Iger was promoted from president to CEO of the Walt Disney Company on March 13, the decision raised a few eyebrows in the corporate world. It's highly unusual, succession experts say, for a company to select a number-two person to succeed the number-one executive when the company's shareholders are unhappy and the former chief was all but forced from office. Experts at Wharton and elsewhere discuss the merits of hiring an outsider CEO vs. an insider, and agree that, in Iger's case, success will hinge on his ability to follow through on his own vision -- in short, his ability to behave like an outsider.

How Mutual Fund Managers Exploit Opportunities to Maximize Fees

Wed, 08 Sep 2004 14:39:32 EST

According to the mutual fund industry's harshest critics, fund managers cannot properly serve investors when they must also serve their own bosses � the management companies' owners, public or private. Fund company owners make bigger profits when investors are charged high fees; investors get higher returns when fees are low. Yet industry defenders have long rejected the critics' charges, arguing, among other things, that the need to compete puts a natural brake on the impulse to maximize fees. Who's right? New research by Wharton management professor Nicolaj Siggelkow supports the critics.

Keeping Fit: The Liz Claiborne Story

Wed, 01 Mar 2000 13:58:23 EST

A company�s success depends in part on how well it integrates strategy, organizational structure and other internal systems, in other words on how well it creates a �tight internal fit.� But Wharton professor Nicolaj Siggelkow suggests that external fit � how well these systems integrate with the environment in which the company operates � is equally important. In a research paper entitled, �Change in the Presence of Fit: The Rise, the Fall, and the Renascence of Liz Claiborne,� Siggelkow proposes a new framework for studying how tight fit within a firm influences its ability to react to environmental change.