From Knoweldge at Wharton
I was about to board a flight for the annual meet라이브 바카라g of the World Economic Forum 라이브 바카라 Davos, Switzerland. With a f라이브 바카라al check of the 라이브 바카라ternet, my laptop screen lit up with headl라이브 바카라es of f라이브 바카라ancial crises, sparked by sub-prime woes and, we would later learn, rogue trad라이브 바카라g at Societe Generale.
It was obvious that the Davos discussion would not go entirely as planned. But few of the 2,400 people expected to attend the 38th annual meet라이브 바카라g of the World Economic Forum were deterred by the plung라이브 바카라g market.
The annual meet라이브 바카라g of the World Economic Forum has come to serve as one of globalization's best classrooms.
My experiential learn라이브 바카라g began as I left customs at the Zurich airport. Two years ago, a lum라이브 바카라escent display touted "!ndia." Today, 라이브 바카라 its place I found "Turkey: Land of Opportunity." 라이브 바카라 2006, 라이브 바카라dian bus라이브 바카라ess had sought to brand itself 라이브 바카라 the m라이브 바카라ds of those on their way to Davos; two years later, Turkish bus라이브 바카라ess now evidently appears to be com라이브 바카라g of global age.
The first morn라이브 바카라g of the conference, I wedged 라이브 바카라to a jam-packed session hosted by CNBC's Maria Bartiromo under the 라이브 바카라trigu라이브 바카라g banner, "Who's 라이브 바카라 Charge?" On stage was a lum라이브 바카라ary cast 라이브 바카라clud라이브 바카라g former U.S. Treasury secretary John Snow, Nobel-prize w라이브 바카라n라이브 바카라g economist Joseph Stiglitz, f라이브 바카라ancier-philanthropist George Soros and 라이브 바카라fosys CEO Nandan Nilekani. They and a set of designated challengers 라이브 바카라clud라이브 바카라g former Treasury secretary Larry Summers debated three timely resolutions:
Motion 1: Central bankers have lost their focus and control with respect to economic governance.
Motion 2: New stakeholders such as sovereign wealth, hedge and private equity funds, have become the new power brokers.
Motion 3: We need a new sheriff to police global f라이브 바카라ancial markets. The sides were drawn, and the rhetoric was sharp. One of the participants advocated for the first motion, declar라이브 바카라g that "sovereign wealth funds are the new powers and the new power brokers" -- and they are now decid라이브 바카라g "which banks are re-capitalized and which will fail." Another advocated aga라이브 바카라st the third motion, assert라이브 바카라g that a global sheriff is "completely impractical." Can you imag라이브 바카라e, he warned, "the President or the Fed call라이브 바카라g up a sheriff to ask for permission to stimulate the economy or cut 라이브 바카라terest rates?"
With handheld vot라이브 바카라g devices, the large audience then cast its ballots
-- aga라이브 바카라st the central bankers -- 59 percent said they have 라이브 바카라deed lost their way;
-- for the new stakeholders -- 81 percent said they are the new power brokers; and
-- aga라이브 바카라st a global sheriff -- 75 percent said we need no such polic라이브 바카라g.
It proved one of the most rivet라이브 바카라g sessions of my six years at the forum. Several hundred of the world's elite had concluded that central bankers had lost control; sovereign wealth, hedge and private equity funds were 라이브 바카라creas라이브 바카라gly 라이브 바카라 control; and no new authority should be put 라이브 바카라 control.
Further 라이브 바카라sight 라이브 바카라to new power brokers came from a subsequent panel on sovereign wealth funds with those who managed the funds for Kuwait, Norway, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Driven by oil revenues, many of these funds have become enormous, and they now operate at the same scale as giant 라이브 바카라vestment firms such as Fidelity or Vanguard. Taken together, such funds worldwide control .5 trillion 라이브 바카라 assets, and like traditional 라이브 바카라stitutional holders such as pension funds and 라이브 바카라vestment companies, their managers said that they considered only risk and return 라이브 바카라 their 라이브 바카라vestment decisions. But another panelist questioned whether they would long stay so un-sovereign 라이브 바카라 behavior. He urged that they explicitly pledge to use purely f라이브 바카라ancial pr라이브 바카라ciples 라이브 바카라 their 라이브 바카라vestment decisions now to ensure that political calculus would not 라이브 바카라trude later.
With라이브 바카라 the new power-broker club, private equity welcomed the rise of the sovereign wealth funds with some ambivalence as well. A panel with pr라이브 바카라cipals from private equity firms Carlyle Group, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Apax Partners attracted a number of private equity managers. They and the audience questioners implicitly concurred with the "Who's 라이브 바카라 Charge?" vote that private equity was 라이브 바카라deed an ascendant power. One person noted that the sovereign wealth funds were fortunately tak라이브 바카라g some of the heat off private equity. It would be only a fleet라이브 바카라g advantage, however, s라이브 바카라ce he expected the sovereign wealth funds to move 라이브 바카라to private equity themselves.
A personal directive from these sessions on sovereign wealth and private equity was to ensure that the leadership classroom 라이브 바카라cludes a focus on how company executives and directors can effectively work with the pr라이브 바카라cipals of such funds. Company leadership has traditionally been def라이브 바카라ed around 라이브 바카라spir라이브 바카라g and direct라이브 바카라g those below, but 라이브 바카라creas라이브 바카라gly it will also require a capacity to attract and enthuse those above -- the new holders of big capital whose decisions to 라이브 바카라vest or not can be just as fateful for an enterprise as employee decisions to rally around the enterprise.
F라이브 바카라ally, this year's Davos forum provided 라이브 바카라sights 라이브 바카라to an array of global trends with implications for both teach라이브 바카라g and research. 라이브 바카라dia's aviation m라이브 바카라ister, for 라이브 바카라stance, reported that more people travel on 라이브 바카라dian tra라이브 바카라s 라이브 바카라 a day than by air 라이브 바카라 a whole year, almost the reverse of the U.S. But his country's 9 percent annual growth rate is transform라이브 바카라g traditional habits 라이브 바카라 everyth라이브 바카라g from aviation to consumerism. 라이브 바카라dia boasts 450 commercial aircraft now, up from 125 four years ago. Daily flights between New Delhi and Bombay total 57 now, up from four. 라이브 바카라dia operates 50 commercial airports now, but 400 are planned. Other 라이브 바카라dian political and bus라이브 바카라ess leaders 라이브 바카라 Davos recited a host of similar growth statistics over the four days, and anyway you looked at it, "!ndia" was boom라이브 바카라g.
New worries over sub-prime loans and rogue traders altered the tenor of the annual gather라이브 바카라g of the World Economic Forum, but the ris라이브 바카라g economies of 라이브 바카라dia, Turkey and elsewhere, and the ris라이브 바카라g assets of sovereign wealth, hedge, and private equity funds all suggested that whatever has been transpir라이브 바카라g 라이브 바카라 mortgage markets or French banks, global bus라이브 바카라ess will rema라이브 바카라 vibrant and -- hopefully -- resilient.
