The Lauder Institute at the Wharton School Announces Thesis Prize Winner
Reginald H. Jones Memorial Thesis Prize Awarded to Matthew E. Addison for Thesis on Brazil’s Consumer Credit Innovation

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., October 4, 2006 -- The Lauder Institute at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and School of Arts and Sciences, announced the winner of the Reginald H. Jones Thesis Prize, one of the Institute’s highest honors for students who demonstrate comprehensive business knowledge within the context of an interdependent global economy. The winner is Matthew E. Addision, who graduated in May.

The Lauder Institute -- founded in 1983 by alumni Leonard and Ronald Lauder of the The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. -- combines a world–renowned Wharton MBA with a Master’s in International Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences.

“The intellectual curiosity of Lauder students goes well beyond business,” said Wharton Multinational Management Professor and Director of the Lauder Institute Stephen Kobrin. “This year’s winning thesis on Brazil’s Consumer Credit Innovation is a classic example of the Lauder learning experience: the pursuit of business knowledge with an analytical focus and attention to the nuances of cross-cultural differences.”

The winning thesis by Addison is titled “Consorcios and Brazil’s Consumer Credit Innovation” and examines Brazil’s “Consorcios,” a group financing arrangement that allows clients to pool their funds to purchase durable goods, such as cars, and to minimize financing costs and inflation risk. All Consorcio members pay the same monthly amount and this money is used to buy the goods, which are then distributed in a lottery fashion on a regular basis until everyone has gotten their car or dishwasher. Offered by more than 200 Brazilian firms and used by over 3 million consumers in order to finance large-ticket purchases, the program is an innovative leap forward in consumer finance, taking lessons learned from microfinance to a new scale.

Addison notes that Consorcios are an economically compelling financing alternative for Brazilian consumers and his analysis yields an improved understanding of the critical role played by Brazil’s dynamic local banks and finance firms.

“Studying the actual contracts Consorcio clients sign and analyzing the underlying economics helps us see Consorcios as a common-sense alternative financial product, rather than an obscure local phenomenon” writes Addison, whose thesis argues for the exportability of Consorcios to any market, given the right economic conditions.

Other Lauder Institute students nominated for the Reginald H. Jones Thesis Prize were:

James Gerwe for “The Latin American Curse: A Chilean Case Study on the Underperformance of Latin American Countries”

Bryce Goodwin for “The Path to a Smarter Globalization Overcoming the Ethnonationalist Challenge to Free Market Democracy: A Case Study of the Lebanese Diaspora in Senegal”

David Leifert for “Why has the French Socialist Party shunned the rhetoric of the Third Way? An explanatory model extended to Britain, Germany and Italy”

Farhan A. Syed for “Integration and Isolation: A Comparative Study of Immigrant Muslims in the United States and United Kingdom”

For copies of the Thesis, visit the 2006 Reginald H. Jones Thesis Winners website.

About the Lauder Institute
The University of Pennsylvania’s Lauder Institute, founded in 1983, combines a world–renowned Wharton MBA with a Master’s in International Studies. High level language and culture training, a two-month in-country immersion, and course work from the Wharton School and Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences prepares leaders for the ever-evolving global economy. Graduates join the diverse and supportive Lauder alumni network around the world – continuing a 20-year tradition of international business leadership. More at .

The Reginald H. Jones Memorial Thesis Prize is named after the former chairman and CEO of General Electric (1972-1981) and a founding board member of the Lauder Institute. Each year, one outstanding thesis is awarded. Students work closely with a thesis advisor from the School of Arts & Sciences to choose their own topic and conduct original, in-depth research.

About the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 8,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 81,000 graduates.

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