Knowledge@Wharton

When Milind Pant in January 2019 assumed the role of CEO at Ada, Mich.-based Amway, the world’s largest direct seller of consumer products, he brought along his personal credo of “leading from the heart.” He had picked that up during a stint in Thailand, where “it’s all jai,” the Thai word for heart. That defines […]

Significant uncertainty surrounds what the “new normal” could look like for firms beyond the COVID-19 crisis, particularly in terms of human capital. But scenario thinking can help organizations better anticipate and adapt to dramatic changes, increase agility and resilience, and turn uncertainty into advantage, write Scott A. Snyder, Eric Skoritowski, Jarrad Roeder and Alex Libson […]

FOR any leader, the ongoing presence of heroes is both a cause for celebration and a reason for deep concern, because it indicates a failure of the wider system, writes Wharton adjunct professor of management Gregory P. Shea in this opinion piece. Shea is co-author of Leading Successful Change, published by Wharton School Press. On […]

For Karl Ulrich, vice dean of entrepreneurship and innovation at Wharton, the existential threat to small businesses struggling through the coronavirus pandemic isn’t just an academic exercise. Ulrich owns MakerStock and Xootr — two small businesses housed under the same roof in Scranton, Pennsylvania. MakerStock supplies plywood, acrylic and other materials to university labs, engineering […]

Nearly everyone has experienced some version of phubbing, a term to describe being snubbed by someone who is more engrossed in their smartphone screen than the conversation or activity taking place in front of them. These powerful little devices have changed virtually everything about human communication, including the way we interact with each other. New […]

For the past four decades, globalization and urbanization have been two of the world’s most powerful drivers. Global trade increased from under 40% of the world’s GDP in 1980 to over 60% today. Over the same period, the number of people living in cities more than doubled to over 4 billion people today — more […]

Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard freely admits that she’s hanging out in her kitchen while working from home during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. “I’ve had many meetings where my kids walk behind me and get a snack out of the cabinet,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me.” That’s because Rothbard is a self-described “integrator,” a […]

A major, home-grown cosmetics company in Brazil, Natura, offers a successful, impactful business model to overcome skill and talent scarcity, according to the co-authors of this opinion piece – Wharton management professor Aline Gatignon and Laurence Capron, INSEAD professor of strategy. The company’s novel approach of investing in a pool of resources that is accessible to […]

The coronavirus pandemic has infected millions across the globe, upended markets and completely altered the business landscape as we know it. How will the world look post-COVID-19? The question is as broad as the destruction brought by the virus, but Wharton’s Tarnopol Dean’s Lecture held on April 30 provided some insights through the lens of […]

The coronavirus pandemic has upended everything about our lives, from how we shop to how we work and how we communicate with each other. But it has been particularly challenging for businesses, which tend to take a careful, calculated approach toward innovation and change. The stress on health care systems is particularly acute, and it […]