Innovational Food for Thought

Harvard Business Blog recently discussed the age-old dilemma of predicting the next big idea - but with twist. Authors of Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities, Wharton professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich, say that instead of attempting to predict the success of early ideas, make sure there are enough of them and the pool is diverse. Check out the four guidelines to consider when launching your next innovation initiative or considering who to hire in your research department here.

Looking for a Productivity Booster?

iCyte, an online tool that aids in web content organization, was featured in an article on smallbiztechnology.com, a site which provides small to medium sized businesses with information on how to use technology to grow their business.You can read the article online here. 

What Makes An Entrepreneur

The Kauffman Foundation recently released a new study entitled "The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur" that aims to discover the family backgrounds and motivations of American entrepreneurs. The study found that unlike the Bill Gates genius high-school dropout entrepreneur, most company founders tend to be middle-aged and well-educated from middle-class or upper-lower-class backgrounds. Read more findings here.

Winning Innovation

Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich, Operations and Information Management professors at The Wharton School, are co-authors of new book Innovation Tournaments, a "great read for anyone who is looking to develop a process to manage innovation... filled with real-world case studies and examples of approaches that will be beneficial to any practitioners who have the task of driving successful innovation..." Find out more here.

Latin America Sees Private Equity and Venture Capital Expansion

Lauder Institute students recently co-authored a groundbreaking report that presents new data and trends of private equity and venture capital in Latin America. Read more about the findings here.

Inside Knowledge

Wharton Professor MacMillan: "Cutting Prices Across The Board...Will Destroy Your Profit Streams"

The newsletter Wharton@Work has just come out with an interview with Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs co-director, Professor Ian MacMillan, on how to grow during a downturn. "Mac" says, "Some customers will enter into your market and others will leave...[Resegment] proactively instead of cutting prices across the board, which will destroy your profit streams." Visit Wharton Executive Education to read the entire article: "Focus on: Finding Strategic Sweet Spots in a Sour Economy".

Rewarding Entrepreneurship

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, one of the world's largest foundations devoted to entrepreneurship, has just announced the 2009 Young Scholars Program Recipients. The program recognizes "the achievements of three sets of young scholars who are making significant contributions to research in entrepreneurship." Gary Dushnitsky, an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has been named a Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship Research recipient and will receive a $50,000 fellowship to support any future research. More information regarding this prestigious award can be found here.