Following the Era of Large Buyouts, Private Equity Funds Find New Ways to Compete  May 08, 2008
Nothing symbolized the most recent private equity boom better than huge buyouts, deals so big that private equity sponsors teamed up to pull off the transactions in so-called consortium -- or "club" -- deals that spurred talk of $100 billion transactions.

Market Manipulation, or just Business as Usual?  April 17, 2008
The financial markets are in turmoil. Inflation is picking up. Home prices are falling. More and more companies are laying off workers. Oil prices are sky-high. It's getting harder and harder to borrow money.

Coming Soon ... Securitization with a New, Improved (and Perhaps Safer) Face  April 10, 2008
For generations, the strength of the U.S. housing market was due, in part, to securitization of mortgages with guarantees from the government-sponsored companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Following the savings and loan debacle of the late 1980s, securitization -- which has been defined as "pooling and repackaging of cash-flow producing financial assets into securities that are then sold to investors" -- helped bring capital back to battered real estate markets.

ETFs Evolve -- For Better or Worse?  April 03, 2008
With their low fees, all-day trading and tax efficiency, exchange-traded funds have captivated investors. There were no ETFs before 1993, and only 80 in 2000. By the end of 2006 there were 359. Today, there are nearly 700, including 280 launched in 2007 and 30 through mid-March this year. They hold about $600 billion.

When Are Emerging Markets No Longer 'Emerging'?  March 13, 2008
The term "emerging markets" is now more than 25 years old and has come to define wide swaths of the world undergoing rapid economic change. Dozens of countries fall under the label even though they are evolving at their own pace and with their own twists on economic development.

The shifting Economic Triad of China, India, and the U.S.  March 06, 2008
When Jagdish Sheth senses the subtle beginnings of a shift in business, he submerges himself in a topic until all of his questions have been answered.

A Closer Look at Sovereign Wealth Funds: Secretive, Powerful, Unregulated and Huge  January 24, 2008
The Abu Dhabi government is buying a 4.9% stake in Citigroup for $7.5 billion. UBS is selling a 10.8% share to the government of Singapore and an unnamed Middle Eastern investor for $11.5 billion.

Do International Financial Reporting Standards Live up to Their Promise?  January 17, 2008
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.

Good, Bad or Ugly -- Is It Impossible to Predict What's Ahead for the U.S. Economy  January 10, 2008
At the end of October, the Federal Reserve gave the financial markets just what they had been asking for: a 0.25% cut in the federal funds rate.

Data in a Liquid World  January 04, 2008
Our context is no doubt a time of exceeding quantitative capacity. Both the smallest remarks and larger insights reflect this context. Recently, I happened to be discussing the growing need for reference data management and its outsourcing with a distinguished group of Senior Asset Managers.

Will Jobs Move Back to Silicon Valley from India? Don't Hold Your Breath...  December 20, 2007
On October 30 Cisco chairman John Chambers was in Bangalore to unveil the San Jose-based company's $50-million campus that sprawls across 14 acres. The integrated high-tech facility will be the new home for 3,000 Indian workers across R&D, IT, sales, and customer support teams.

Emerging Market Mania: Is It Different This Time? December 13, 2007
The sun is shining brightly at the moment on virtually all the world's emerging market economies. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose nearly 45% in the first nine months of 2007, with the IMF forecasting economic growth rates of 8% or higher, versus 2% to 3% for the OECD nations.

Driving Business Value Through B2B Outsourcing December 06, 2007
For many years, business process outsourcing has been identified as a strategic trend for the financial services and other industries. Barchi Gillai and Tongil Kim address the substantial barriers and obstacles plaguing their ambitions to optimize their supply chain and better serve their customers.

Sense and Respond - the Next Generation Business Model November 29, 2007
STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS - "The Minority Report," Steven Spielberg's sci-fi movie release in 2002 has the following scene. John Anderton (Tom Cruise), after having eyeballs replaced to escape police detection, walks into an apparel store (the Gap). The camera in the store scans his eyes, and the flat TV panel instantaneously starts an advertisement showing a holographic image of a woman, "Hello, Mr. Yakamoto! Welcome back to the Gap.

Responding to the Rising Rupee: Why Indian Firms Must Rethink Their Business Models  November 01, 2007
As India Knowledge@Wharton recently reported, many Indian companies and industry organizations -- especially those that are export-oriented -- have been complaining about the strong rupee's negative effects on their operations. Some have urged the Reserve Bank of India to intervene.

Mid-Tier Indian IT Firms Map Their Success by Remaining in the Middle  October 25, 2007
For several years now, analysts have been predicting that the Indian information technology industry is set for a period of consolidation. It hasn't happened yet.

Human Capital: Can India Bridge the Knowledge Gaps Needed for Research?  October 17, 2007
The rapid growth in the market for outsourced research services from India destined for the U.S. and Europe is beginning to expose weak links in the chain. Depending on the nature of the research being outsourced, Indian companies are preparing for the next level of growth by bridging gaps in skills across the organization with investments in training and development.

The Best Way to Construct Unenforceable Contracts  October 11, 2007
STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS -- Strong relationships are frequently more important than legally binding contracts when companies outsource key operational activities.

Operating Partners Promise Performance and Higher Returns, but Do They Always Deliver? September 27, 2007
According to a 2007 Association for Corporate Growth/Thomson Financial survey, private equity professionals see lower returns as the greatest threat looming over them -- more so than competition from other firms and hedge funds.

Outsourcing Executive Sees 'Win-Win' Solution for Global IT Strategies  September 13, 2007
India dominates the software outsourcing market today thanks partly to the British Empire's nearly 200-year-long colonization, according to Surya Kant, vice president of Tata Consultancy Services, a $2.24 billion company based in Mumbai.

Anne Krueger: 'India Has Done a Lot ... But There's a Lot to be Done'  August 30, 2007
From the late 1960s through the early 1990s, Anne Krueger visited India about every five years. Each trip left her feeling like"an inverse Rip Van Winkle," she recalls. The restaurants and hotels were always the same.

Operating Partners Promise Performance and Higher Returns, but Do They Always Deliver?  August 16, 2007
According to a 2007 Association for Corporate Growth/Thomson Financial survey, private equity professionals see lower returns as the greatest threat looming over them -- more so than competition from other firms and hedge funds.

Documenting Wipro's Rise: 'It Challenges Other Companies to Strive for Excellence'  July 26, 2007
The story of how Western India Vegetable Products morphed from a disorganized agriculture-based manufacturing and distribution company into Wipro, the third biggest global tech services provider (behind Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys), is fairly well known in India.

The Weakest Link: Keeping Your Data Secure in a Collaborative Business Environment July 19, 2007
Few companies operate independently in the Electronic Age, which means that the security vulnerability of every business partner -- outsourcer, client, whatever -- whose computer system has access to yours is a potential portal to your most sensitive data.

How Strategic Sourcing Became the Golden Goose  July 12, 2007
Strategic sourcing, including early supplier involvement and outsourcing, provides significant competitive advantage to companies and represents a fundamental change in the way firms drive the bottom line.

As Citigroup Increases Its High-Skilled Headcount in India, Will Others Follow?  June 28, 2007
In late March, when Citigroup CEO Charles Prince visited India, his demeanor hardly showed the pressures induced by the massive global restructuring plan he was about to announce two weeks later.