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Knowledge@Wharton is an online business publication presenting business news, analysis
and research to corporate executives, entrepreneurs, policy makers and academics.
Beginning with this issue, the Wharton Alumni Magazine will run selected excerpts from
Knowledge@Wharton. For complete versions of these and other articles, visit this free site at
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
Human Resources:
Who's Watching the Kids?
The State of Child Care
in America
In a country where some child care
workers undergo less professional training
than manicurists, it's not surprising
that the quality of child care is a pressing
issue for parents, policy makers
and businesses. A recent conference
at Wharton entitled, "Caring for the
Young Children of Working Parents: A
Call for Private and Public Sector Leadership"
drew participants from government,
the corporate world, the child
care field and academia. Speakers raised
a number of questions about child care
conditions in this country: Solutions to
the financial and educational dilemmas
posed by the current system, or lack of
one, were more elusive.
Leadership and Change: Are Women Natural
Leaders, and Men...
the Opposite?
In a world where powerful corporate
women are still comparatively rare, a
book that profiles 14 of today's most
successful businesswomen is especially
welcome. But Why the Best Man for
the Job is a Woman: The Unique Female
Qualities of Leadership, by Esther Wachs,
doesn't just profile these individuals; it
goes on to suggest that men have been
made obsolete by the modern "feminized"
workplace, and worse, are genetically
incapable of acquiring true
leadership skills. Is this the time for a
cease-fire?
Marketing:
Taking Stock of
Supermarket Retail
Performance
To shoppers at a typical supermarket, it
might appear that new merchandise always
appears to replace the old in time
for their weekly visit. But a lot is actually
going on behind the scenes. Food and
other consumer goods manufacturers
know that more than 70% of purchase
decisions are made in the stores. They
want to be tuned into retailers' marketing
and selling strategies. On the flip
side, retailers have a job to do – sell
products. They, too, benefit from measurements
of their sales performance.
A new paper from Wharton marketing
professor Stephen J. Hoch, marketing
professor Sanjay K. Dhar at the Graduate
School of Business, University of
Chicago, and Nanda Kumar, a professor
at the University of Texas at Dallas, analyzes
the factors that determine which
retailers are doing better in terms of unit
and dollar sales and why.
Marketing: That Elusive Customer
Loyalty: How to
Build It, Learn From It
and Profit From It
In an article on Oct. 9, 2000, in the
Financial Times' Mastering Management
series, Wharton marketing professor
Barbara Kahn writes about the importance
of turning customers into advocates
who will not only develop loyalty
to your company's product or service
but will also spread the word to other
potential buyers.
Health Economics: Hunting Snake-Oil Salesmen
Through Cyber-space:
The FDA
vs. the Internet
To anyone with access to the web,
a dizzying array of drug and therapeutic
offerings is just a few clicks
away. And the force behind it – an
intricate global network of chemical
and drug manufacturers, distributors
and buyers – may be threatening the
ability of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
to provide its traditional
public health "safety net" for Americans.
Last month FDA commissioner Jane
Henney spoke about the agency's attempts
to protect consumers from "misleading
information, disreputable web
sites and dangerous products."
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