wharton guys - -
first of all , louise , i understand we have a baby ? ? congratulations ! ! ( details please , at your earliest chance )
regarding the wharton e - business initiative ( see below for one of the many emails i ' ve received concerning enron ' s participation - - link to the referenced web site for specific agenda ; also , i ' ve received several voice messages from leaders of the effort ) . the information below discusses one of the forums ( coming up 5 / 31 - 6 / 1 ) that comprise an on - going e - business initiative in which enron has invested with wharton .
the participants from wharton include senior level professors ; while there may be some student involvement , the intentional focus is high level discussion and research endeavors at the professorial level .
other participants in webi are corporate representatives . the idea is for the professors to offer their latest research issues , promote discussions among the corporate participants to talk through the professors research and other research in the literature , as well as for the professors to listen for new areas for which commercial ebusinesses are seeking new research .
again , this is intentionally designed as a high level professor participation on the wharton side , and high level e - business corporate executives on the other side . this is intentionally designed to create a high - level ' e - think - tank ' environment for senior level professors and corporate executives .
o . k . . . . . have i labored enough to describe what webi is all about ? ?
as opposed to the several other efforts enron university affairs has to directly increase enron ' s favorability and familiarity on campus at levels above recruiting , but that ultimately trickle down to recruiting , this is intentionally a research / discussion effort . clearly , the enron brand equity in dealing with professors is that the professors ultimately incorporate work from information from the participatory forums into their class teachings , references , course work , etc .
a few weeks ago , louise and i breifly chatted about enron ' s involvement in this effort . clearly , there is a huge interest by the wharton professors and other corporate participants involved to have enron attend and participate - - - they quite respectfully call me and email me very frequently . . . . . . . all of this is very interesting to me and i have shepherded our minimal involvement - in - fact . . . . . . . . yet the question remains : is there someone at enron , directly involved in enron ' s ebusiness initiatives , interested in jumping into this effort and participating ? do those of you involved in these businesses think it worth your time and expense , or the time and expense of one of your senior ( at least director level ) people to participate ? would it be viewed , at least at this time , simply as an " enron brain drain " ( i ' ve received this realistic and possibly quite legitimate concern from more than one business person at enron ) .
the bottom line is , i ' d like to be able to respond intelligently and honestly to those at wharton committed to this effort . i feel more than comfortable telling wharton that , at this time , enron is satisfied to participate in the webi effort largely at the
financial level it has already invested - - with the option to participate at other levels in the future , at enron ' s discretion .
all comments solicited - - - -
many thanks ! !
- - christie .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - forwarded by christie patrick / hou / ect on 05 / 21 / 2001 04 : 02 pm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
hartleyr on 05 / 21 / 2001 03 : 03 : 44 pm
to : " ' christie _ patrick @ enron . com ' "
cc :
subject : icg / wharton forum meeting may 31 - june 1
christie ,
lee goldring , our new forum director mentioned that he placed a call to you
to introduce himself and follow up on enron ' s representation at the next
meeting . i ' m emailing this information to you to alert you to the situation
since i do not think you would want enron to go unrepresented at the next
meeting . to date , no one from enron has registered for the forum sponsored
online conversion workshop , the forum meeting on 5 / 31 or the members only
meeting on 6 / 1 . please note that the " from browsers to buyers : online
conversion workshop " on may 30 th is purely optional in case some folks from
enron are interested in attending . since the forum is co - sponsoring the
workshop - - webi affiliated registrants will not be charged the $ 495
registration fee as an added benefit for their sponsorship .
here are all the relevent links to the forum agenda and registration sites
for your convenience :
forum agenda : http : / / webi . wharton . upenn . edu / meetingnotes / m _ n _ 5 _ 01 . asp
forum registration site : http : / / ecom . wharton . upenn . edu / conferencereg / reg . asp
from browsers to buyers : online conversion workshop :
please let me know if there ' s anything i can help you with .
best regards ,
robin
robin hartley
associate director
wharton electronic business initiative
university of pennsylvania
vance hall - room 415
3733 spruce street
philadelphia , pa 19104
tel ( 215 ) 898 - 4158 / fax ( 215 ) 898 - 1905
hartleyr @ wharton . upenn . edu
http : / / webi . wharton . upenn . edu