Should Your Next CEO Be a Philosopher?

According to a Wharton professor Yoram "Jerry" Wind and an Israeli venture capitalist, in a a recent article in 'Knowledge at Wharton', a company's ability to understand its customers' philosophical outlook may be as vital to its success as R&D and other efforts.

Sounds like Marketing 101 Revisited ?!

But if you ignore the hyperbole & cliches which Wind, a purveyor of pop-strategy (like Ram Charan), is very fond of, it does make sense.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1125.cfm

Stocks ain't hot, claim LBS researchers

In a paper titled 'Irrational Optimism' three London Business School (LBS) Professors have asserted that historically stocks have had lower returns and higher risks than was previously believed.

To quote "Although the probable rewards from equity investment are attractive, stocks did not and cannot offer a guaranteed superior performance over the investment horizon of most investors. Furthermore, their prospective returns are lower than many investors project, whereas their risk is higher than many investors appreciate."

"Investors who assume that favorable equity returns can be relied on in the long term or that stocks are safe so long as they are held for 20 years are optimists. Their optimism is irrational. "

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The paper can be downloaded from : - http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=476981

A Great Vision Statement

Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company

We will build good ships
At a profit when we can
At a loss if we must
But, always, good ships.

Note: NNS&D was recently acquired. You can compare the new "Value Statement" ( http://www.nn.northropgrumman.com/about/our_values.stm ) with this powerful vision .