Research Centers and Initiatives
Wharton's 20 research centers and initiatives reflect the diversity and depth of research interests and activity at the School. These interdisciplinary centers serve as an intellectual hub for Wharton and Penn faculty, students, and members of the business community, who come together to study and debate key business challenges. Their work generates courses, academic programs, community outreach, published research, and partnerships among academics, government, and industry.
Customer Analytics
Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative (WCAI)
Eric T. Bradlow and Peter S. Fader, Co-Directors
The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative is the authoritative thought-leading academic research center focused on the data-driven study of individual-level customer behavior. Designed to capitalize on the Wharton School’s longstanding strength in conducting data-driven research, WCAI influences decision making across a plethora of industries from online technology to financial services, e-commerce to non-profits, interactive media to telecommunications, pharmaceuticals to mobile device platforms. More »
Entrepreneurship
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
More »
Environmental Management
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 »
Ethics
Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research
Thomas Donaldson, 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 »
Family Business
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 »
Finance
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 »
Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research
Donald Keim, Director
The Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research is dedicated to the advancement of quantitative finance through the creation and dissemination of innovative knowledge. The Jacobs Levy Center aims to enhance understanding of financial markets through the study and promotion of quantitative techniques and methods as applied to such fields as the analysis of domestic and international stocks and bonds, the management of investment portfolios, and corporate finance. More »
Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research
Donald Keim, 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 »
Global Initiatives
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 »
Wharton Faculty Research Initiatives in China
Marshall Meyer, Z. John Zhang
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 »
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 »
Health Economics
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.
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 »
Human Resources
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
Insurance and Pensions
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 »
Wharton Penn/Risk and Insurance Program
Scott Harrington, Director
The Program on Risk and Insurance seeks to promote and disseminate cutting-edge research on risk and insurance at the University of Pennsylvania. Drawing on the work of our world-class faculty, students, and partners, we promote interdisciplinary research on empirical, theoretical, domestic, and global topics in the risk/insurance field. Our topics of interest include corporate, government, and household risk management; property/casualty risk and insurance; health and longevity risk management; pensions and health insurance; the management and financing of extreme events, and legal/regulatory aspects of risk and insurance.
Our activities include a working paper series, conferences and workshops, research projects, and white papers on topics of mutual interest. We offer a hub where academics and practitioners can discuss how modern decision-makers think about making and implementing decisions in an uncertain world. The Program was established in 2012 by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Law School, Medical School, and School of Arts and Sciences to promote excellence in risk and insurance research. More »
Management and Leadership
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 »
Operations Management
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 »
Public Policy
Public Policy Initiative
Mark Duggan, Faculty Director; Andrew Coopersmith, Managing Director
The Wharton Public Policy Initiative (PPI), with offices both at Penn and in Washington, DC, channels faculty research into independent, timely, data-driven, and nonpartisan policy briefs aimed at advancing policy-makers’ understanding of key economic and social issues. More »
Real Estate
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 »
Retailing
Jay H. Baker Retailing Center
Barbara E. Kahn, Director
The Jay H. Baker Retailing Center 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
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 »
Sports and Business
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 »
Technology and Innovation
William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation
George S. Day, Harbir Singh, and Nicolaj Siggelkow Co-Directors; Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Research Director; Michael Tomczyk, Managing Director; Sok H. Be, Associate Director
The Mack Center creates and provides research based guidance on managing the risks and rewards of technological innovations that offer new value for customers and firms. The Center sponsors research by Wharton faculty; presents 4-5 insight-building conferences and workshops each year; produces research reports, books and articles; administers Ford Foundation technology grants to MBA students; and co-sponsors student-run events. The Mack Center functions as a learning network for business leaders, academic researchers, students and any who share common interests in the field of technological innovation. More »
