Create Authentic Connections with Virtual Team Members

In this Nano Tool for Leaders, scientists from the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative provide eight steps to enhance online collaboration at work.

Do Accelerators Improve Startup Success Rates?

Accelerator programs boost startup performance across the board, but maximizing that success depends on program design, Wharton research shows.

Three Things All New Managers Should Be Doing

New managers typically receive no training for their new role. Wharton’s Peter Cappelli discusses three common struggles and how to avoid them.

Maurice Schweitzer

How does our relationship, as we develop it through the negotiation process, impact the post-negotiation outcomes that we really get?

We’re thinking about drawing a very crisp distinction between some transactions. Imagine that I’m buying a used car from you. We reach a deal, shake hands, sign the paperwork, and I drive off with my used car. I never see you again.

That type of transaction characterizes … [ Read more ]

Motivation Up, Attrition Down: Employee Engagement

Wharton’s Matthew Bidwell shares tips on how to elevate employee engagement and maximize the talent of your workforce.

How Private Equity Has Evolved to Compete in Global M&A

PE firms have shed old skin and in recent decades become bigger, smarter, and more relevant in M&A and markets than ever before, argues a new paper co-authored by Wharton’s Paul Nary.

How to Get Mergers and Acquisitions Right

Companies can get their M&A act right if they pick their targets wisely, avoid overstating expectations of synergies, and manage cultural dynamics correctly, says Wharton’s Emilie Feldman.

Why Stock Valuation Hinges More on Returns Than Future Earnings

Growth stocks don’t generate the long-term returns that would justify their high multiples, according to the 2023 Jacobs Levy Center’s “Best Paper,” co-authored by Wharton’s Sean Myers.

The Long-term Business Case for Corporate Purpose

Business leaders do not have to choose between their values and creating value, according to a new study by Wharton’s Witold Henisz.

What Do You Really Know About Your Customer Base?

In an excerpt from their book ‘The Customer-Base Audit,’ Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross ask critical questions to help you gauge how much you really understand about your customers’ buying behavior.

Scott A. Snyder, Sanjay Macwan

Instead of just looking at new innovation opportunities through the classic lens of financial impact/ROI, organizations should be evaluating opportunities against a “triple bottom line” consisting of people (community/social impact), profit (financial return), and planet (environmental benefit). There is an opportunity to leverage impact investing metrics like Impact Multiple of Money (IMM) that combine all three lenses.

Choosing a New Board Leader: Eight Questions

Our experience indicates that many boards may not have enough clarity on their roles and responsibilities. What’s needed is a deliberate process for selecting new leaders to help them achieve their goals. Using the eight questions we developed will help ensure boards are applying the same rigor and analysis in selecting the right board leader as they would for a new chief executive.

Vigilant Leaders: Paying Attention to What Matters Most

This Nano Tool from Wharton Executive Education offers strategies to help leaders better detect potential opportunities and threats and be proactive rather than reactive.

How Firms Can Overcome the ‘Paradox of Preparedness’

When major threats are looming, but their timing is uncertain, it’s hard for business leaders to make an action plan for dealing with them. Wharton marketing professor emeritus George Day and global management consultant Roger Dennis call it “the paradox of preparedness.” In this essay, they offer four steps to help leaders heed the warning signs of disaster before it’s too late.

Why Employee Wellness Programs Don’t Work

Many companies have employee wellness programs with the goal of reducing the skyrocketing costs of health care for their workers. But there is little evidence that these programs are effective.

Wharton management professors Iwan Barankay and Peter Cappelli suggest that instead of free gym memberships or yoga classes, companies should try to meet the most vulnerable workers where they are by offering … [ Read more ]

How to Improve Your Time Management Skills

If one of your goals is to improve your time management skills, then Wharton management professor Michael Parke can help. He’s the co-author of a study that looks at two specific types of daily planning for employees. It turns out there’s no perfect solution — the best type depends on your work environment and the kind of day that you’re having.

Falling Flat: Why Startups Need Hierarchical Structure

Wharton management professor Saerom (Ronnie) Lee has a word of warning for aspiring entrepreneurs who envision an egalitarian workplace where there are no bosses and every employee ranks the same.

According to his latest research, startups with flat organizational structures often fail.

How Language Boosts Customer Satisfaction

Great customer service is the holy grail of sales. When customers feel satisfied, they spend more money and are more likely to come back. Happy customers write positive reviews online and share their experiences through word of mouth. But great customer service is also really hard. Shoppers complain that sales associates aren’t listening to them or are just going through the motions.

There is a simple … [ Read more ]

Katherine Klein

It’s a commonly held belief, one that gets played out daily in organizations around the world: Employees who receive performance feedback are much more likely to improve their performance than those who don’t get feedback. But research tells us that it’s simply not true. Typically, performance after feedback improves only modestly — and over one-third of the time, it actually gets worse. People who receive … [ Read more ]