1990's

In the 1990s, the SEI Center played a central role in rethinking the design of the MBA curriculum at Wharton, which became a model for other MBA programs around the world. Among many changes, the new curriculum was more team-based, more interdisciplinary and more global. The Center also pursued major research projects on "the value of marketing," ethics, and innovation and new product development. In the middle of the decade, the Center spearheaded Wharton's globalization strategy, launched the Virtual University Lab, and established a major project on diversity (George Harvey Diversity Program). As business underwent a digital transformation, the center launched major initiatives on digital marketing and transformation. In 1998, the Center created a major innovation in executive education, the Wharton Fellows program, a unique network of senior executives and faculty for lifelong learning. It also helped launch the Al West Learning Laboratory, applying the latest technologies and simulations to education.

2000's

The 2000s began with the dot-com collapse followed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks the next year. The events demonstrated the fragility of both technology and globalization, but also how they had both become central features of the economy, as the Center had predicted a decade before. New business models were being created. Consumers were empowered by a world where they could call, click or visit. The changes were so dramatic that managers needed to rethink their mental models to see the new opportunities and threats. This insight led to a major project on mental models, including the publication of The Power of Impossible Thinking. The combination of technology and globalization challenged the theory of the firm as it is taught in business schools and practiced by most managers. These shifts create opportunities to build a new type of networked organization, as explored in a major project on network-based strategies and competencies as well as the book Competing in a Flat World, by Victor Fung, William Fung and center director Jerry Wind. To expand the dissemination of knowledge, the Center led in the creation of Wharton School Publishing in 2004, reinforcing Wharton's thought leadership in management and leading in innovations such as the first collaboratively developed business book (We are Smarter Than Me.)