Research Centers and Initiatives

Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center

Ian C. MacMillan, Director

The Center focuses on increasing understanding of social wealth creation through new business creation and development, both within existing organizations and via independent start-ups. Touching locations worldwide such as China, South Africa, and the U.S., the Center's current research topics include large-scale job creation, productivity, and international competitiveness. The Center is also co-home to The Journal of Business Venturing, the most influential publication in the field. More »

Wharton Small Business Development Center

M. Therese Flaherty, Director

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Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL)

Eric Orts, Director; Joanne Spigonardo, Associate Director

IGEL provides a forum for business leaders with high-level environmental responsibilities to consult together with input from Wharton/Penn faculty and selected experts on best practices, emerging environmental issues, national and international regulation, and the latest research findings on relevant topics. More »

Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research

William S. Laufer, Director

Ethical issues in financial services and global business transactions, as well as the relationship between markets and morality, are emphasized in the research sponsored, conducted, and disseminated by the Zicklin Center. This vital resource serves as a focal point for the interaction of business, professional, and academic leaders concerned with responsibility in business. More »

Wharton Global Family Alliance

Raphael (Raffi) Amit and Ian C. MacMillan, Co-Directors

The Wharton Global Family Alliance develops in-depth research about family businesses, primarily in the areas of governance, philanthropy, and wealth management. It combines rigorous scholarly research with the practical experience of successful global families to highlight the social impact of families worldwide. It has become the knowledge leader in family business research, offering a robust research agenda and a wide variety of outreach programs to a global audience. More »

Financial Institutions Center

Franklin Allen, Francis X. Diebold, Richard J. Herring, Co-Directors

Technology, regulatory changes, and globalization are revolutionizing the financial services industry; and the Financial Institutions Center is dedicated to addressing the many important issues that result. Through coursework and communications designed for academics, financial practitioners, and policy makers, the Center helps industry members and students of financial services keep pace with the changes that affect their lives and their work. More »

Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research

Marshall E. Blume, Director

Through a wide range of financial research, a working paper series, a reprint series, and a highly respected annual seminar, the White Center has established itself as an important source of information to the financial community. Members have the opportunity to participate in groundbreaking financial research, and the center provides a number of research grants to Wharton faculty members each year. More »

Weiss Center for International Financial Research

Richard Marston, Director

Information is the key to evaluating risks and seizing opportunities in our global financial marketplace. The Weiss Center is the world's first research center devoted exclusively to an understanding of international finance. By sponsoring research on markets, financial instruments, and global economics, the center enhances the understanding of this complex subject for both current and future financial managers. More »

Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership

Eric Orts, Director; Joanne Spigonardo, Associate Director

IGEL provides a forum for business leaders with high-level environmental responsibilities to consult together with input from Wharton/Penn faculty and selected experts on best practices, emerging environmental issues, national and international regulation, and the latest research findings on relevant topics. More »

Weiss Center for International Financial Research

Richard Marston, Director

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Wharton Faculty Research Initiatives in China

Marshall Meyer, Z. John Zhang

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Wharton Global Family Alliance

Raphael (Raffi) Amit and Ian C. MacMillan, Co-Directors

The Wharton Global Family Alliance develops in-depth research about family businesses, primarily in the areas of governance, philanthropy, and wealth management. It combines rigorous scholarly research with the practical experience of successful global families to highlight the social impact of families worldwide. It has become the knowledge leader in family business research, offering a robust research agenda and a wide variety of outreach programs to a global audience. More »

Wharton-INSEAD Center for Global Research & Education

John R. Kimberly, Noah Gans, Mauro Guillen

Combining the resources of two world leaders in management education, the Wharton-INSEAD Center for Global Research & Education expands the boundaries of global research through collaborative efforts across the two schools. The Center supports joint publications, faculty and doctoral student exchanges, development of new curricula and global teaching innovations. More »

Center for Health Management and Economics

Lawton R. Burns, Director

By focusing on research and communication, the Center for Health Management and Economics explores how managerial insight and economic incentive can improve the current state of health care provision. The Center fosters interaction between academic and business leaders through hosting annual conferences, publishing a quarterly digest, and supporting a variety of research projects. Works in progress include international price comparison for pharmaceuticals, hospital ownership conversions, and alignment of physician groups and health systems. More »

Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics

David A. Asch, Executive Director

A formal cooperative venture among the University of Pennsylvania's schools of medicine, business, nursing, and dental medicine, LDI works to improve public health through multidisciplinary studies on medicine, economics, and social and ethical issues that influence health care. The Institute emphasizes research on the efficient allocation and appropriate use of health care resources and the development of innovative health care delivery systems. More »

Center for Human Resources

Peter Cappelli, Director

Since 1921, the Center for Human Resources (formerly the Industrial Research Unit) has been bringing academics and practitioners together, fostering interaction through multidisciplinary research, regular meetings, and frequent information bulletins. Today, the Center continues to explore the strategic role of human resource management in areas like labor relations, increased productivity, public policy, work and family issues, and workforce education. Wharton's Council on Employee Relations is the Center's program for management/employee issues. More »

Council on Employee Relations (formerly Labor Relations Council)

Peter Cappelli, Chairman

S.S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education

Kent Smetters, Director

For more than half a century, the S.S. Huebner Foundation, named in honor of insurance education pioneer Solomon S. Huebner, has worked to bolster insurance education at the college level. By promoting an increase in the number of professors specializing in insurance and by enriching the field's literature through its own published materials, the foundation provides greater opportunities for students interested in the dynamic field of insurance. More »

Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research

Olivia S. Mitchell, Director

The Boettner Center supports scholarly research, teaching, and outreach on global aging, successful retirement, and public and private pensions. The center also disseminates research findings to international audiences of academics and policymakers as well as supports data development efforts at the University of Pennsylvania. More »

Pension Research Council

Olivia S. Mitchell, Executive Director

The Pension Research Council sponsors interdisciplinary research on the entire range of private pension and social security programs, as well as related benefit plans in the United States and around the world. Council projects are motivated by a need to address the long-term issues that underlie contemporary concerns and seek to broaden public understanding of these complex arrangements through research into their social, economic, legal, actuarial, and financial foundations of privately and publicly-provided benefits. Members of the Council's Board, appointed by the Dean of the Wharton School, are leaders in the employee benefits field. More »

Center for Leadership and Change Management

Michael Useem, Director

Increasingly, organizations worldwide are confronting turbulent markets, demanding shareholders, and discerning customers; and many firms are restructuring to meet these challenges. Their success depends largely on the quality of leadership that exists at all levels of management. Dedicated to building a basic and practical understanding of leadership and change, the Center explores and communicates effective strategies for restructuring. More »

SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management

Jerry Wind, Director

The SEI Center seeks to identify and understand trends in management practice and their impact and to design and implement research programs to meet the future needs of management. The results will provide both educational material for faculty and guidelines for corporate action. The Center conducts a series of workshops, conferences, and lectures for the exchange of knowledge and information to gain a better understanding of how successful enterprises will be organized and managed in the 21st century and what these corporations should do today to prepare themselves. More »

Fishman-Davidson Center for Service and Operations Management

Morris A. Cohen and Marshall L. Fisher, Co-Directors

Through research and teaching, the Fishman-Davidson Center strives to understand the role of the service sector, the largest component of the economy in all developed countries. The Center's varied programs include a partnership with industry for sponsored research, a faculty-management forum and information exchange, and a variety of workshops that address an emerging paradigm: It is the services that physical goods provide, and not the goods themselves, that add value to the consumer. More »

Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center

Joseph E. Gyourko, Director

The Zell/Lurie Center actively promotes and funds cutting-edge, scholarly research of interest to academics, policy makers, and real estate professionals. Results are reported through the acclaimed Zell/Lurie Working Paper Series, the Wharton Real Estate Review, and other scholarly publications. The Center's education component focuses primarily on the Wharton student body, encouraging student interest through a lecture series, a research competition, the Real Estate Club, and academic fellowships and scholarships. More »

Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative

Stephen J. Hoch, Director

The Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative links retail theory with practice by forming a partnership among world-class researchers, educators, students, and the global leaders of today's retail industry. More »

Risk Management and Decision Processes Center

Howard Kunreuther and Robert Meyer, Co-Directors

Low-probability events with potentially catastrophic consequences, such as natural and technological hazards and industrial risk, are the chief concern of this Center. Through a program of descriptive research (exploring how people interact and make decisions regarding risk) and prescriptive analysis (proposing ways that people and groups can make better risk-related decisions), the Center investigates the effectiveness of incentive systems, insurance, regulation, the communication of risk information, and other strategies. More »

Wharton's Program for Social Impact

Leonard Lodish, Vice Dean; Valerie Malter, Managing Director

Wharton's Program for Social Impact (WPSI) enables a convergence of elements across the School to meet the singular goal of promoting positive change through such areas of focus as sustainability, microfinance and corporate social responsibility. WPSI fosters key social impact initiatives, enabling the consolidation of knowledge generation and information, and development of research, outreach and student-centered programs.

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Wharton Sports Business Initiative

Kenneth L. Shropshire, Director

The goal of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative (WSBI) is to forge a partnership among top level sports business leaders, Wharton faculty and students to generate and disseminate knowledge about the sports industry through educational programs, strategic corporate partnerships, high-level student consulting assignments, forums, and research. From internships and research to executive education, this Initiative will serve as the center for all sports business related activities associated with the Wharton School. More »

William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation

George S. Day and Harbir Singh, Co-Directors; Michael Tomczyk, Managing Director; Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Research Director

The Mack Center provides research-based guidance on questions of fundamental importance to decision makers facing the competitive opportunities and challenges posed by rapid technological innovation. The Mack Center sponsors research by Wharton faculty; presents 4-5 insight-building conferences each year; produces research reports, books and articles; administers Ford Foundation technology grants to MBA students; and co-sponsors student-run events. The Center functions as a high-level corporate learning network for industry partners, exploring critical issues and strategies in technology-driven industries. More »

These research programs are included in the Mack Center:

Emerging Technologies Management Research Program

Since 1994, the Emerging Technologies (ET) Program has been studying critical issues in industries that are being created and/or transformed by emerging technologies, based on a dynamic list of research priorities that range from assessing new technologies and markets, to navigating the unknown. More »

BioSciences Crossroads Initiative

The BioSciences Crossroads Initiative studies the critical factors that will influence commercialization of emerging life science technologies on human healthcare. Major projects include the Future of BioSciences scenario project and Strategic Radar monitoring initiative; and the Future of Biomedical Devices project (with BREF and DSI). More »

Wharton e-Business Initiative (WeBI)

WeBI is a partnership between business leaders, Wharton faculty, and students to generate and disseminate new knowledge about e-business through research, academic programs, and strategic corporate partnerships. More »

Wharton Interactive Media Initiative (WIMI)

Eric T. Bradlow and Peter S. Fader, Co-Directors

WIMI provides thought leadership on interactive media and its impact on broader business practice. Through industry collaboration, alumni networking and knowledge dissemination, including student-related activities, the initiative brings an objective and rigorous focus on data-driven problems of significant managerial interest. More »