School News

CEO of COSCO Group Gives Leadership Lecture
Captain Wei Jiafu, president and CEO of COSCO Group, the world's fifth largest shipping container company, gave a Leadership Lecture at Wharton on Nov. 15. Following his lecture, Capt. Wei -- widely regarded as one of China's most successful and influential business leaders -- participated in an exclusive dialogue session with 40 students chosen by lottery. The session, "The Global Speaking Tour of China Economic Leaders: Made in China," was taped for broadcast by CCTV, China's leading TV network.

Prof. Laufer Named Chair of Criminology Department
Wharton Legal Studies and Business Ethics Professor William Laufer recently was confirmed as the chair of the Department of Criminology in Penn's School of Arts and Sciences. Laufer also is the director of Wharton's Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research. visit Criminology Department website

WEP Holds Second Annual Alumni Dinner
On Nov. 15, entrepreneurs from the Wharton/Penn community joined faculty and students at the Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs' second annual Alumni Dinner. Alumnus David Marshall, founder of the Rittenhouse Hotel, was the keynote speaker. Other alumni attending included Josh Kopelman, W'93 (Half.com, First Round Capital), Amy Errett, WG'88 (Trinity Ventures, Maveron), and Jeff Fluhr, W'96 (StubHub). A pre-dinner discussion on entrepreneurial alumni community building was also part of the evening's agenda. visit website

Technology Leaders Meet at Wharton Mack Center Conference
Eighty senior managers from industries including Citigroup, Harvard Business School, Dupont Technologies, Microsoft and IBM came together to discuss how emerging communication technologies are redefining business operations at the Wharton Impact Conference, sponsored by Wharton's Mack Center for Technology Innovation, on November 2, 2007. read feature

Wharton Business Plan Competition Celebrates 10 Years
This academic year marks the 10th anniversary of the Wharton Business Plan Competition, a year-long educational experience managed by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs. Over the years, numerous Wharton BPC teams have launched successful businesses including PayMyBills.com, buySAFE, NetConversions, Stata Labs, DealMaven, and MicroMRI. Open to any Penn student, the Wharton BPC awards a grand prize of $20,000 at the competition's Venture Finals in April, with winning teams receiving a total of $70,000 in combined cash prizes, access to capital, and in-kind legal/accounting services. visit Wharton Business Plan Competition website

Wharton Council Kicks Off Winter Whartonland Festival
The Wharton Council, the main umbrella organization for Wharton undergraduate organizations, kicks-off its second annual Winter Whartonland Festival Dec. 3-6 in Jon M. Huntsman Hall. The festival is intended to give Wharton undergrads study breaks before diving into finals with holiday-themed films, cookies, hot chocolate and coffee. An added element to the study breaks will be the presence of TAs from various classes who will be on hand to offer last-minute help in Wharton core and upper-level courses.

INSEAD-Wharton Alliance Holds Executive Dinner
Last month, nearly 60 INSEAD and Wharton alumni and guests had the opportunity to hear Jean-François Théodore, deputy CEO and director of NYSE Euronext, speak about his views and predictions on the logic behind the movement of consolidating the world's stock exchanges. The INSEAD-Wharton Alliance Executive Dinner was held in Paris. more information about the dinner

ICICI Group and Wharton Launch Leadership Development Program in India
Wharton faculty delivered a custom program for nearly 60 senior executives of India's second-largest bank, ICICI in October as part of a new Leadership Development Program. The intensive, eight-day leadership program demonstrates the increasing sophistication of executive leadership development in India and the growing presence of Wharton Executive Education there. read news release

Scandinavian Executives Come to Wharton to Explore Strategy Innovation
Forty senior Scandinavian executives came to Wharton last month for insights on strategy innovation from a distinguished faculty of thought leaders and industry innovators. This executive education program was developed by Wharton and Scandinavian-based Leadership in the Knowledge Society (LinKS), as part of a collaboration in executive education since 2002. This year's program, "Strategy Design -- Innovative Approaches to the Design of Strategy," launched in Copenhagen with a one-day session and global outlook. The intensive session at Wharton began in November in Philadelphia and concluded in New York. read news release

Prof. Mitchell to Receive Carolyn Shaw Bell Award
Professor Olivia S. Mitchell is the 2007 recipient of the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award, which will be presented at the annual business meeting of the American Economics Association's (AEA) Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) on Jan. 4. The Bell award is given annually to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession, through example, achievements, increasing understanding of how women can advance in the profession, and the mentoring of others. read news release

Prof. Mitchell also was awarded the 2007 Fidelity Research Institute Pyramid Prize for published applied research that helps address the goal of improving lifelong financial well-being for Americans. Mitchell was awarded the prize for work on advancing understanding of the importance of financial literacy and planning in helping Americans reach their financial goals. read more

Prof. Dushnitsky Wins Management Award
Prof. Gary Dushnitsky won the Sumatra Ghoshal Research & Practice Award at the recent national Academy of Management (AoM) conference held in Philadelphia. The Academy bestowed the award for his paper entitled "How Do Entrepreneurs Attract (high valuation from) Outsiders?" The award goes to a paper that advances research while deriving important implications for management practice.

Prof. Edmans Wins Moskowitz Prize for Socially Responsible Investing
The 2007 Moskowitz Prize for Socially Responsible Investing recognizes a new study demonstrating that companies with high employee satisfaction have historically also demonstrated superior stock performance. The winning paper, "Does the Stock Market Fully Value Intangibles? Employee Satisfaction and Equity Prices," by Prof. Alex Edmans explores the relationship between employee satisfaction and long-run stock performance. Awarded by the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, in cooperation with the Social Investment Forum, the prize promotes the concept, practice, and growth of socially responsible investing. read more

VIP Member Julie Price Wins Entrepreneurial Fellowship
Venture Inititation Program member Julie Price, WG'08, was selected as one of three 2007 Women Investing Next Fellows (WIN) by WIN, a Philadelphia based organization that supports women-led and owned businesses. Price, an entrepreneur who was accepted to VIP for her venture, Fitness Fusion, an alternative fitness system, was honored at WIN's annual dinner. As part of her fellowship, she will have the chance for mentoring, networking and access to WIN events. read more

Students Recognized as Business Week's "Best Young Entrepreneurs"
Business Week's annual feature, "America's Best Young Entrepreneurs 2007" has again recognized students participating in Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs (WEP) activities. Former Wharton VIP (Venture Initiation Program) member Nathaniel Stevens was chosen as one of the Top 25 under 25 for his company, Yodle (formerly "NatPal"). In addition, former Wharton VIP and 2006 "Top 25" winner Adnan Aziz (SAS/SEAS '04) is profiled in a "Where are they now?" feature about his company, FirstFlavor. Wharton VIP is a WEP managed incubator that assists selected students as they take their business concept from a developed and researched idea to implementation. visit Wharton VIP website

Knowledge@Wharton

'Men Buy, Women Shop': The Sexes Have Different Priorities When Walking Down the Aisles
When it comes to shopping, women are from Nordstrom's and men are from Sears. Women are happy to meander through sprawling clothing and accessory collections or detour through the shoe department. read more

Do International Financial Reporting Standards Live Up to Their Promise?
At a time when many barriers to global trade have fallen, countries all over the world are taking steps to harmonize their accounting standards and develop a truly global language of business. read more

CEO Succession: Has Grooming Talent on the Inside Gone by the Wayside?
The recent departures of two chief executives -- Stanley O'Neal of Merrill Lynch and Charles Prince of Citigroup -- in the wake of major financial losses at their firms, have focused renewed attention on the issue of succession planning. read more

Wharton School Publishing

WSP Wins the 2007 Berry/AMA Book Prize for Best Book in Marketing and Competing in a Flat World Competition
Wharton School Publishing is proud to announce that The 86 Percent Solution: How to Succeed in the Biggest Market Opportunity of the Next 50 Years has been selected as the winner of the prestigious 2007 Berry-AMA Book Prize for best book in marketing. This award-winning book by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga explains that the developing world is now the greatest market growth opportunity. It presents the techniques and strategies necessary to win in this market, including creative ways to drive business using the local infrastructure and local traditions. The annual Berry-AMA Book Prize recognizes books whose innovative ideas have had significant impact on marketing and related fields. read news release (pdf)

The "Competing in a Flat World" Awards
In their new book, Competing in a Flat World, authors William Fung, Victor Fung and Wharton Professor Jerry Wind provide a set of principles for competing in this borderless world. These are principles that have helped Li and Fung build a $9 billion networked enterprise producing clothing, toys and other products for some of the world's best known brands. WSP and Knowledge@Wharton now challenge readers to submit their own stories of business models, approaches and principles that they have used to compete in a flat world. Two prizes will be awarded in this global competition, one for the best strategies that work and one for the best insights from failures. more information on the competition

Wharton faculty and staff can take advantage of expanded benefits, including discounts and free domestic shipping. Those who register to become a member can get free access to audio summaries, author interviews and other valuable member-only content. Visit www.whartonsp.com/facstaff to register and access benefits. All WSP books also are available at the Penn Bookstore.

For more, visit the Wharton School Publishing website.

Wharton in the News

The New York Times
October 11, 2007 — John Paul MacDuffie, Associate Professor of Management, was interviewed in an article discussing a recent strike by Chrysler auto workers. A comment of his appeared as the NYT Quotation of the Day.

The Wall Street Journal
October 19, 2007 — Research by David Reibstein, William Stewart Woodside Professor; professor of Marketing, was quoted in an article about branding strategies for Seven for All Mankind.

The New York Times
October 28, 2007 — Jonah Berger, assistant professor of Marketing, was quoted in an article about the role of style and counterfunctionality in the appeal of products.

Newsweek International
October 29, 2007 — Howard Pack, professor of Business and Public Policy, Economics, and Management, co-authored a column about the economies of various Arab countries and their need to make global connections. Arab Economies in a Changing World, the book that he co-authored is mentioned.

BusinessWeek
October 29, 2007 — Susan Wachter, Richard B. Worley Professor of Financial Management; Professor of Real Estate, Finance and City and Regional Planning, is quoted in an article about the impact of the 2005 bankruptcy law on the housing sector and debt relief for consumers.

NBC
October 29, 2007 — Sarah Kaplan, assistant professor of Management, was interviewed on NBC Nightly News regarding the use of title inflation to retain top corporate talent.

Alumni in the News

Alfred Liggins, WG'95, was featured in an article about the creation of TV One where he serves as chairman. The station reaches almost 40 million homes through cable and satellite television. (Essence, 10/1/07); Jacqueline Reses, W'92, was noted in an article about private equity ventures and for her role in leading the Apax team. Reses is a partner and head of the media group at Apax Partners, Inc. (Crain's New York Business, 10/1/07); Joseph Scoby, W'87, was noted in an article about the changes in top management at UBS. Scoby is the head of the risk management group at UBS. (Business Week Online, 10/2/07); William Cody, WG'98, chief talent officer at Urban Outfitters, was noted in an article about successfully recruiting Generation Y students into the retail sector. (Women's Wear Daily, 10/11/07); and Philip Murphy, WG'83, was featured in an article about his experiences since he became the Democratic National Committee's national finance chairman last year. (Fortune, 10/15/07).

If you have news or events you'd like considered for inclusion in the e-newsletter, please e-mail editor@wharton.upenn.edu.

Wharton Leadership Lecture: Carter Roberts, President & CEO, World Wildlife Fund
(December 6, 2007)

Wharton Leadership Lecture: Doug Lattner, Chairman and CEO, Deloitte Consulting
(January 17, 2008)

Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference
(January 18, 2008)

Wharton Leadership Lecture: Richard Zannino, CEO, Dow Jones & Company
(January 24, 2008)

Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists: Wharton West, San Francisco
(January 28, 2008)

Global Alumni Forums