Alumni News: Center for Global Business and the Economy: Stanford GSB

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A Global Fine Line Challenges Marketing Today

Not all marketing messages are so well received across the world, and this fine line between cultural difference and shared desires was the theme of the Global Marketing Conference at the Stanford Graduate School of Business on February 7, 2007. Details

Alum Commissioners Analyze Foreign Aid
Members of a bipartisan commission were selected by the president and Congress to analyze U.S. foreign development assistance and find ways to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. Leo Hindery, MBA ’71, (pictured above, at right) the commission’s co-vice chairman, and Eric Postel, MBA ’83, were appointed by former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. The two Business School alumni joined forces on a study trip to Malawi and later worked long hours on the committee that wrote and revised the commission’s final report, which was delivered to the president, secretary of state, and Congress Dec. 10. Details

Give Yourself Sound Career Advice says Ellis of Bain & Co.
Bain & Co. worldwide managing director Stephen Ellis, MBA ’90, urged students to have a clear understanding of their own strengths, weaknesses, passions, and motivations to guide their career paths in the right directions. (February 2007) Details

Invasive Plants on Her Don’t List
“Fifty percent of invasive plants in California are introduced by gardeners,” says Ashley Boren, MBA ’89. Boren is executive director of Sustainable Conservation, which has teamed with stakeholders in the horticultural industry, environmental organizations, and government to prevent gardeners from innocently cultivating plants that jump from garden to wilderness and take over. Details

Stanford Smarts in China’s Art Marts
In the mid-1990s, a European contemporary art connoisseur called the Chinese contemporary art collection of Guy Ullens, MBA ’60, “rubbish.” Few people internationally, let alone in China, were interested in Chinese contemporary artists or their art. “Nobody knew about them,” the retired Belgian businessman chuckled. Details

Web-based Nonprofit Helps Mom and Pop Grow
After two years of operation, a web-based nonprofit called Kiva has 123,000 lenders whose money goes to support 18,000 entrepreneurs in 39 countries. At $25 per donor the organization, founded by Jessica Flannery, MBA '07, and her husband Matt, attracts $1.5 million a month to help the poorest of the poor. Details

Separate interview with Jessica Flannery.

Around the Globe in 950 Miles
Was it the hard-boiled egg at breakfast or the dumplings at dinner? Thirty-eight days into a 15,200-mile, muscle-punishing, round-the-world relay run, Sean Harrington, MBA ’07, didn’t know what had caused his food poisoning, but he was happy to have a recovery day to finish reading Anna Karenina before he left Russia. Read full story

PHD Alum to Head Singapore B-School
The new dean of the business school at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University is Jitendra Singh, PhD ’83. Singh, who also holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, has extensive ties to both academia and business in India and China, according to the Financial Times. He has advised Silicon Valley startups and served on the board of Infosys Technologies in India.

Stanford Business School’s Offspring in Peru Spreads Worldwide
More than 40 years after he served as its founding dean, Alan B. Coleman, PhD ’60, has been honored by ESAN, the graduate management program he helped the Business School create in Lima, Peru. Details

Investor in the World’s Poor
Jacqueline Novogratz once wrote off loans to the wealthy in poor countries. Now she invests in businesses to improve the lives of the desperately poor. Details

Plastic Pellets Pierce Chinese Fog
Running a joint venture in China involves more than dragon dances, multi-course banquets, and a trillion frequent flier miles. "It's a chance to combine all your Business School skills and experience and adapt to something entirely different," says MBA Polymers President Richard McCombs, MBA '79. Details

Little Guy' in Lebanon Ignored
Pierre Doumet, MBA '82, learned that his family successfully escaped the war in Lebanon last summer while Doumet himself stayed on in Beirut, where he heads the large cement company Cimenterie Nationale. At the time, Doumet was optimistic about Lebanonâs future. Now he's not so sure. Details

MicroFinance: An Answer to Poverty?
While attending a national sales meeting in Acapulco in 1992, Mike Murray (MBA '81) took a walk on the beach. Murray came across a destitute young boy dressed in rags holding the hand of his blind younger sister. After giving the boy money, Murray wondered about a more constructive and long lasting way to help. He found an answer - microfinance - and Rachel Payne (MBA '04) and Vinod Khosla (MBA '80) agree. All three alumni have been involved in supporting small loan programs to help borrowers forge a path toward self-sufficiency. Details