Working as a collaborative partner with our clients, Wharton dedicates the time necessary to understand your particular organizational needs and draws from a wealth of resources in developing and delivering customized solutions. The following case studies illustrate the types of solutions we can provide to meet your organization’s unique challenges. These results typify the quantifiable outcomes that you and your organization can expect in a partnership with Wharton.
- Case Study: Transforming a Strategic Objective from Goal to Policy
- Case Study: Executives Hone Strategy and Service Skills
- Case Study: Modular Learning Builds Leadership Team
- Case Study: Providing Excellence in Wealth Management
- Case Study: Leadership in Risk Management
Case Study: Transforming a Strategic Objective from Goal to Policy
A global 50 company from the insurance industry came to us with three distinct organizational challenges. Most recently, they sought our help in moving beyond financial success to become the preferred company for employees, customers, and shareholders.
The company sent 25 of their top 200 executives to Wharton for a combination of traditional executive education and a senior leadership retreat. During the program, participants worked closely with Wharton faculty to identify more clearly the challenge and to map out a change in their metrics that would include qualitative incentive structures. In the process, they transformed the way their organization handles compensation.
The participants returned to the workplace as internal consultants. An ongoing relationship with the faculty members who ran their program ensures that they will receive the guidance they need to both champion the recommendations they formulated and participate in their implementation.
Case Study: Executives Hone Strategy and Service Skills
The CEO of a global top five bank asked Wharton to design and deliver a program on service strategy and supply-chain effectiveness for senior managers.
Based on the success of that program, a year-two curriculum was developed that emphasized strategic decision-making and innovation in the modern service corporation. Wharton is currently developing a year-three curriculum that addresses the company’s customer-centric innovation goals — ultimately providing best-in-class service to both the internal and the end customer and firm’s end customers.
More than 200 managers have participated in the program since its inception. Feedback has been positive regarding the participants’ ability to take a strategic, creative approach with their internal customers in solving business challenges.
Here is what some participants had to say:
- "Continue to run this — I firmly believe this is a valuable recruiting aid; clearly demonstrates the value we place on our people, both internally as well as at the firm level."
- "The program covered ground that wouldn't normally be touched in a traditional training event… It was extremely refreshing."
- "A very good grounding in modern business approach, seeing how theory is played out with good solid business cases."
- "We are already using the strategy tools — a great enabler for our ‘08 and beyond strategy."
- "The sessions were excellent — content, method of delivery all very conducive to actually using the material going forward."
Case Study: Modular Learning Builds Leadership Team
A merger/joint venture of the regional operations for two large international banks resulted in one bank that is a strong regional player in North America. After the integration of the two businesses, many of the expatriate executives returned to their home institutions. This created tremendous opportunity for the executives in place to take on significant roles in the organization. The CEO asked Wharton to create a modular program for them that resembled a customized executive MBA.
Academic Director Joseph Ryan explains, “I teach in the Wharton Executive MBA program, and this customized venture has that feel to it. The participants are experienced and savvy. By working with people over a longer period, you get to know them better and get the harder issues on the table.”
Twenty top executives participated in the first cohort of the18-month program, which focused on building personal leadership skills and strategic management capabilities. With the success of the first cohort, the bank expects to put its entire leadership team through the Wharton program in the next three years.
Several participants have been promoted to the bank’s executive committee, citing the Wharton program as essential to their success. The bank has also received positive press about the investment in its people, resulting in brand enhancement as an employer of choice.
A participant in the program noted, “I was never involved in something quite so interesting, insightful, and entertaining. The Wharton School has a reputation bar none, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of something like that. It was an incredible experience, and the professors are in a class by themselves.”
Case Study: Providing Excellence in Wealth Management
One of the world’s largest insurance companies sought a program for its top-tier financial advisors. Specifically, it asked Wharton to assist these executives in addressing the complex needs of clients who are at or nearing retirement. Olivia Mitchell, the pre-eminent scholar on pensions and social security and director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research, is the academic director of the program. Highly customized content includes sessions on real estate in the retirement portfolio, health care and medical care issues, communication skills, marketing, and asset allocation and diversification. A hands-on segment allows participants to assimilate information by working on a proprietary case written by Dr. Mitchell.
Since 2006, the program has been offered 20 times, with 700 financial advisors participating.
Case Study: Leadership in Risk Management
One of the world’s leading banks partnered with Wharton to develop top talent in its Risk division. The Chief Risk Officer wanted his top executives to adopt an enterprise perspective of risk, evolving the risk function into more of a business partner model. The Wharton program focused on three areas: decision-making; working across global boundaries; and communicating more effectively. The bank’s Risk leaders examined their obstacles to making sound decisions, tested their assumptions, and examined the psychological barriers that impact the ability to see both dangers and opportunities. To expand their role across global boundaries, the participants focused on how to build their global acumen and operate more effectively in different cultural contexts. The program also emphasized the ability to influence across functions so that the Risk leadership team could be viewed as a valued resource across the bank’s global operations. Three of the bank’s Risk executives taught in the program, integrating cases that Wharton helped them prepare with the program content. After attending the program, which served as a proving ground for them, several participants were moved into more senior, more demanding roles within the organization.