The cyber publication contains articles based on research papers, often with links to the original paper, academic summaries and abstracts of research papers, book reviews and author interviews, analysis of current business issues, discussions between Wharton faculty members and business leaders, reports on conferences andseminars, and a searchable database of business research, among many other things.

One reason why Wharton School didn't go for a traditional newsletter was that it didn't want to compete directly with the Harvard Business Review, says Mukul Pandya, editor of Knowledge@Wharton. Wharton opted for the Web publication, which is available to users free of cost. With, of course, a lot of scope for interaction and e-commerce. Surprisingly enough, there are no advertisements on the site. So far funded by the university, the B-school is signing up for corporate sponsorship of the site. But for the user, it's free.

Indians have loftier reasons to cheer, however. First, Indians have had a strong presence on the team that created Knowledge@Wharton, says Pandya. He says: ``As editor, I thought up the broad vision of the site, defined its structure, and will continue to shape its editorial content and overall direction.''

The art director and production manager for Knowledge@Wharton, Karuna Krishna, an Indian,helped design the way the site looks as well as many of its features and navigational functions. Also, the Webmaster for Knowledge@ Wharton is Sanjay Modi, another Indian, who has played a key role in helping develop the site.

Besides, people of Indian origin are rising to top positions in many areas at Wharton, says Pandya. For example, the school has named Jitendra Singh its vice dean of international academic affairs. The present chair of the management department is Harbir Singh.

Finally, during the past year, Wharton has been quite active in India, adds Pandya. Last October, the school announced its intention to collaborate with McKinsey & Co. and Northwestern University to launch the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. Wharton also awarded Dhirubhai Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd its dean's medal last year.

``Knowledge@Wharton much more than a publication''

Soon after the launch of Knowledge@Wharton, its editor, Mukul Pandya, spoke to Nivedita Mookerji in an exclusive onlineinterview. Excerpts:

Would you call Knowledge@Wharton a unique publication? How does it compare with the publications and Websites of other top B schools round the world?
Knowledge@Wharton is a unique online resource for a couple of reasons. What makes it different is its combination of editorial content based on research papers, book reviews, conference reports, current news analysis, etc., and its use of the Internet as its primary publishing medium. The Website presents editorial content in 14 sections, such as Finance and Investment, Leadership and Change, Executive Education, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Business Ethics, etc. In addition, Knowledge@Wharton presents information in layers. The top layer consists of brief summaries; the second consists of articles written primarily for a business audience; the third layer consists of academic papers; and the fourth layer consists of links to related Web sites.

By following this approach, we let users drill as deep into a subject asthey need. At the same time, by using the Internet as the primary publishing medium, we can present the knowledge being generated at Wharton rapidly to a global business audience. Our goal is to have more than 2,000 research papers available through Knowledge@Wharton by early next year. We also have a search engine that lets users hunt through the site and find what they are looking for.

I started out thinking of Knowledge@Wharton as an online publication, but the more we developed it, the more I realised that we were building a system to capture and distribute knowledge over the Internet. To the best of my knowledge, no other business school in the US or anywhere else has a comparable site. The initial response to Knowledge@Wharton seems to confirm this. Within 48 hours of launching the site, we had more than 1,000 registered users from 39 countries signing up with us. That shows how highly people value knowledge from Wharton, and how accessible this knowledge has become.

Who will be the biggestbeneficiaries of your publication and Website?
Business executives are Knowledge@Wharton's primary audience. For example, take Wharton's worldwide alumni base of some 70,000, which constitutes a part of this target audience. Even though these former students may have liked to keep up with the research of their former professors, in the past, they did not have a vehicle that allowed them to do this in a convenient manner. Most of the research papers generated at Wharton are published in highly specialised academic journals that are rarely available readily to busy executives.

Knowledge@Wharton takes these research papers, summarises their key insights, and publishes them on its Website every two weeks using the layered approach. This means faculty members who may discover new facts will be able to place their findings before management practitioners without waiting several months for their research to be published in an academic journal.

Also, when we update our Website each fortnight, we wille-mail summaries of the new research posted on our site to registered users. This makes it possible for Knowledge@Wharton users to keep up with the research being generated at the school on a regular basis, in a convenient manner. Another crucial fact is that this is a free service aimed at disseminating knowledge, rather than a commercial venture. That is why we do not have ads on our Website. Our business model seeks sponsors to help cover the costs of building and further developing this Website.

In addition to business executives, Knowledge@Wharton will benefit academics at other business schools who want easy access to research from Wharton; it will help management students or consultants who want to research business issues; it should help journalists who want to keep track of cutting-edge research at a premier business school.

In short, anyone who needs knowledge about business in this fast-paced global environment will benefit from Knowledge@Wharton.

Which are the areas in the publicationthat should attract Indian executives, management students and others?
Business has become so global that I don't think any Chinese walls separate parts of the publication that should attract Indian readers as compared to non-Indians. Knowledge@Wharton addresses challenging issues of world business, and as such, its contents should be of interest to Indian executives. In fact, lots of Indian readers have already signed up, and I have no doubt that more are on the way. Knowledge@Wharton

(http://knowledge.wharton. upenn.edu) would be a good way for Indian executives, management students as well as others to keep up with the latest thinking on a wide range of subjects. And the best part is that it is free.