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Often the first thing companies do during a downturn in the economy is reduce prices on their products and services. Call it an economy-inspired sales promotion.

But is this a sound strategy? Do consumers always want the cheapest price? Can a price reduction actually hurt rather than help?

Hear from the experts on what you should consider before relinquishing your margins.

http://tinyurl.com/sphinxx15

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HBR interviews with 55 successful business and social entrepreneurs worldwide reveal that many had started their enterprises during a recession or in the wake of one.

Many people assume that entrepreneurs are allergic to recessions. It turns out that downturns can be times of tremendous opportunity--and, yes, profit--for entrepreneurs. But only if they play their cards right.

Learn from what's worked for the entrepreneurs at:

http://tinyurl.com/sphinxx10

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According to Hal Sirkin, senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group, "The age of globalization is over." In its place is a new reality that Sirkin and BCG colleagues Jim Hemerling and Arindam Bhattacharya define in their recently published book, GLOBALITY: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Sirkin describes how rapidly developing economies like India and China have changed global business from a "one-way street" benefitting Western multinationals to a two-way competition in which "blending the best of the East with the best of the West is most likely the winning formula."
Podcast available at:

http://tinyurl.com/sphinxx1

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In this week's Harvard Business IdeaCast (see audio player below), Harvard Business School Professor Rohit Deshpande discusses one airline that's not just surviving the current downturn, but thriving: Singapore Airlines. Why is Singapore offering complimentary espresso on flights when others are charging for luggage and taking away in-flight movies? How has the company avoided the doom and gloom that so many other carriers face?

By staying out of what Deshpande says is a loser's game of competing for customers on price, of treating them like commodities.
Hear the podcast at:

http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com/2008/08/singapore_airlines_
winning_str.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-LISTSERV-_-AUG_2008-_-STRATEGY

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Starbucks announcement that it will close 600 stores in the US is a long-overdue admission that there are limits to growth.

So what went wrong? Find out what Harvard has to say at:

http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/quelch/2008/07/how_starbucks_g
rowth_destroyed.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-LISTSERV-_-JULY_2008-_-ORGDEV

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Got a great idea? Whether it's a new vision for your marketing team or a better way to handle shipping delays, your idea is only as good as your ability to get others to buy into it and execute it. Effective persuasion, say the authors of The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, is about "pull," not "push." Read this article by HMU editor Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay to learn two powerful strategies that will increase your chances of winning even the most skeptical constituents over to your side.

This is a pay per view article from Harvard - access at:

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/ite
m_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=PQVEQRWMLV15AAKRGWCB5VQBKE0YOISW?id=U
0807A&cm_mmc=npv-_-listserv-_-JULY_2008-_-HMU&_requesti
d=69309

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Over the next 20 years, India will likely grow to become the world’s fifth-largest consumer economy.
A study by the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that if India can achieve 7.3 percent annual growth—a reasonable assumption if economic reforms continue—consumer spending will quadruple, from about 17 trillion Indian rupees ($372 billion) in 2005 to 70 trillion rupees in 2025. The dramatic growth in India’s middle class, from 50 million to 583 million people, will power this surge.
Spending patterns will shift dramatically as expenditures grow rapidly on discretionary items ranging from personal products to consumer electronics. Incumbents will have to fight to retain their market dominance, while attackers could find lucrative ways to exploit the evolving tastes of India’s massive new middle class.

Find out what this means for your business at:

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.aspx?ar=2032&
amp;l2=7&l3=8&srid=63

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Technology alone is rarely the key to unlocking economic value: companies create real wealth when they combine technology with new ways of doing business. McKinseys has identified eight technology-enabled trends that will help shape businesses and the economy in coming years. These trends fall within three broad areas of business activity: managing relationships, managing capital and assets, and leveraging information in new ways.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Information_Technology/Applica
tions/Eight_business_technology_trends_to_watch_2080

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Though the subprime mess and rising oil prices slammed the U.S. economy during much of 2007, other emerging markets -- especially China and India -- seem to be on a roll. China's growth rate of more than 11% is likely to continue, and India, too, should be able to sustain a high rate of GDP growth, even if it slows from last year's 9%. Latin America, meanwhile, is cautiously optimistic but could see a moderate decline in 2008. The Knowledge@Wharton Network sites -- including Universia Knowledge@Wharton, China Knowledge@Wharton and India Knowledge@Wharton -- spoke with Wharton faculty and other experts about what to expect during the coming year.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1871.cfm

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Most businesspeople focus primarily on institutional complexity and thus fail to see that some forms of complexity, if managed well, can create value and do not have to generate excessive complexity at the individual level. Institutional complexity can enhance organizational resilience and enable companies to take on new strategic opportunities.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.aspx?ar=2001&
amp;l2=18&l3=30&srid=110

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Richard Rumelt, a giant in the field of strategic planning, explains why it often isn't strategic at all. He also sounds off on diversification, how companies can capitalize on a changing business environment, managing for share prices, and the role of the CEO.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/newsletters/2007_09.htm

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In Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose (Wharton School Publishing), authors Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth and David Wolfe suggest that the best firms in today's marketplace are those that deliver emotional, experiential and social value to all their stakeholders, from customers and partners to investors and society. By emphasizing such principles as authenticity and empathy, the authors contend, companies gain "share of heart," not just share of wallet, and, in the long run, are able to gain competitive advantage over firms that are focused only on profits. Below, Knowledge@Wharton offers an excerpt from Chapter Six, "Investors -- Reaping What FoEs Sow."


http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1670.cfm

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Jim Andrew and Hal Sirkin are Senior Partners and Managing Directors of The Boston Consulting Group and coauthors of Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation.

If you read recent cover stories in BusinessWeek and the Economist, you might conclude that Apple is the ultimate innovator. And you might be right. The company has reinvented itself multiple times and in the process has already transformed at least two industries -- personal computing and digital music. What will be the impact of the iPhone? While there are no certainties, major seems to be a safe bet.

So - is Apple's continued innovation leadership a foregone conclusion?

This is a fascinating look at strategy, innovation and leadership. Read the full summary and order the book via Harvard Online:


http://conversationstarter.hbsp.com/2007/06/in_innovation_apple
_rules_

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This Knowledge at Wharton podcase looks into the $5billion offer Rupert Murdoch made in April to buy Dow Jones and Co., which publishes the Wall Street Journal and also owns Dow Jones Newswires and Marketwatch.com. The Bancroft family, majority owners of Dow Jones, initially rejected the offer but came back several weeks ago to say they would consider it, along with offers from any other groups. Murdoch's move has dismayed some Journal staffers, who worry that the paper's editorial quality and objectivity will suffer. Murdoch, though, seems to have more in mind for this acquisition than just getting control of the Journal. Knowledge@Wharton asked Wharton management professor Larry Hrebiniak and Joseph Turow, professor of communication at the Annenberg School, for their thoughts on this possible deal.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1758.cfm

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From Knowledge at Wharton: When Circuit City announced last week that it was laying off 3,400 workers so it could rehire new ones at lower salaries, it raised the question of just what strategic benefits the company -- or any company -- expects to achieve through employee downsizing. Clearly these benefits depend on the underlying strength of the organization and the specific reasons behind the cost-cutting, but most experts agree that unless layoffs are part of a well-planned strategy, the move could cause as many problems as it was intended to cure.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1703.cfm

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