Message-ID: <6736096.1075852704525.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 09:09:34 -0700 (PDT) From: knowledge@wharton.upenn.edu To: jarnold@enron.com Subject: K@W Newsletter Oct. 24-Nov 6, 2001: What's Hot - How Swissair Landed in Trouble Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: knowledge@wharton.upenn.edu@ENRON X-To: jarnold@enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \JARNOLD (Non-Privileged)\Arnold, John\Deleted Items X-Origin: Arnold-J X-FileName: JARNOLD (Non-Privileged).pst Knowledge@Wharton Newsletterhttp://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu October 24-November 6, 2001 What's Hot How Swissair Landed in Trouble The problems of Swissair clearly multiplied after the September 11 terrorist attack and subsequent plunge in ticket sales. But industry experts say the company's woes run deeper, involving management missteps that could occur at any corporation as well as troubles rooted in the economics, politics and culture of Europe.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/whatshot.cfm Finance and Investment A New Approach to Valuing Biotech Stocks Now that the U.S. faces a bioterrorist attack in the shape of anthrax, stocks of biotechnology companies are soaring. But while these companies have promising technologies, they are years away from profits. The boomlet shows, however, how hard it is to value biotech stocks. Analysts often use proxy drivers such as the number of patents or the dollar value of partnerships to value such companies, but these drivers fail to show if the companies will be able to turn their research into marketable products. Research by Karl Ulrich, a Wharton professor of operations and information management, and other colleagues offers insights into a new approach to value biotech companies. Hint: Look at how the company's drug discovery process is organized.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=1&articleid=454 Finance and Investment James J. Cramer Finds Truth and Inspiration in the Shopping Habits of Americans When James J. Cramer, co-founder of Smart Money and TheStreet.com and analyst on CNBC, wants to know where the U.S. economy is headed, he looks at the performance of major retailers. That, and his observations on everything from gasoline to telecom to Winston Churchill, formed the basis for an optimistic economic outlook he recently shared with participants at the Wharton Investment Management Conference.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=1&articleid=456 Finance and Investment Should Hong Kong Worry When China Joins the WTO? As Frederick Lau sees it, what's good for China is good for Hong Kong. Lau, chief representative of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's New York office, talked about China's entry into the World Trade Organization - and other events that will have an impact on Hong Kong's future - during a meeting earlier this month with the Wharton Asia Club.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=1&articleid=449 Managing Technology Behind the Telecom Meltdown: Too Much Money, Too Little Foresight While investors in the late 1990s remained oblivious to signs of trouble, it is clear in hindsight that the telecommunications bubble could not possibly have lasted, according to a panel of telecom experts at the October 12 Wharton Finance Conference. They cite a number of reasons for the unraveling of the industry, and point to Europe and Asia as the real leaders in telecom.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=14&articleid=451 Finance and Investment Citigroup CFO Sees Economic Recovery in Mid-2002 "It is going to be a very, very tough next couple of quarters," is how Todd S. Thomas, CFO of Citigroup, described the near-term economic outlook to an audience at the Wharton Finance Conference on Oct. 12. But longer-term, Thomson was more optimistic, predicting that increased government spending and/or tax cuts would stimulate a recovery. He also suggested that the financial markets must learn to adapt to the reality of "continued minor terrorism."http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=1&articleid=450 Managing Technology An Insider's Scathing Look at E-commerce Excesses As a manager in an Old Economy firm, Brian Ross naturally felt defensive when proselytizers of the New Economy preached that the Internet "had changed everything" and folks (like him) who "just didn't get it" would soon be by-passed by competitors who did. Well, Ross has done more than survive; he has written a book entitled, When the Caffeine Wears Off: De-Hyping the New Economy, in which he cheerfully kicks 'em while they're down.http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=14&articleid=452 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links from Knowledge@Wharton Sponsors GE Capital: Sales-Leasebacks: Benefits and Challenges Today CFOs must negotiate their way through a weakened economy. But even as they search for new ways to generate revenue and conserve capital, CFOs from a variety of industries are discovering the value of one strategy -- sale-leasebacks -- that for many years was primarily focused on real estate transactions. Sale-leasebacks are generally structured to unlock the equity a business has in its assets (like machinery and equipment), converting that equity into cash.http://www.gecfo.com/resources/wharton.html?c=Wharton&n=September&t=email GE Capital: Maximizing Your Trucking Fleet in Tough Times Tough times have hit the trucking industry as shippers evaluate the best way to move goods around the country: Lease or buy? For-hire truckers or private fleet? The queries arise as a glut of used trucks comes on the market and some shippers evaluate how long they can stretch existing leases. Learn how to maximize your trucking fleet in tough times from the experts at Wharton and GE Capital.http://www.getrucking.com/resources/wharton.html?c=Wharton&n=Sept&t=email ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Spread Knowledge Do you know people who might be interested in these research studies and more? If you do, please forward this e-mail message to them. The Knowledge@Wharton Newsletter is a free service of The Wharton School (http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/ ) of the University of Pennsylvania. Its companion web site, Knowledge@Wharton, includes full details of the stories listed here. To read these stories, go tohttp://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/ To comment on these stories, go to:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/feedback.cfm To unsubscribe from this newsletter, visit:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/unsubscribe.cfm