Spreadsheet One
*Profs Go to the Mat Not for Profit
*The GSB's Living Treasure
*Berlin Site of SEP 50th Celebration
*Hoop Dreams

Spreadsheet Three

Chan Returns to Head Career Center

AS PRESIDENT AND CEO of eProNet, Andy Chan, MBA ’88, provided online job opportunities and career services to the alumni/ae associations of 22 universities, including Stanford. The GSB captured his undivided attention in October by naming him assistant dean and director of the School’s Career Management Center. He succeeds Sherrie Taguchi, MBA ’89, who moved to London after seven years as director.

Chan, who also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stanford and volunteers for the University’s Athletics Department, where he was a varsity swimmer, “brings both functional and managerial experience to a critical role at the School,” said Dean Robert Joss. Chan spent five years leading two career development firms, eProNet and the online startup MindSteps, but also has worked in consumer products, consumer software, and consulting.

Asked by the GSB Reporter for advice to jobseekers in a bear market, Chan said bear or bull, it’s wise to write down what kind of work you like and don’t like and where you would like to be in five years. Then review it often.

ILLUSTRATION BY LEO ESPINOSA

Wireless in Japan

ONE OF THE MAJOR business failures of the wired Internet is that early entrepreneurs did not successfully develop effective revenue models.

Professor Seungjin Whang told an Alumni Weekend audience that today Japan is building a wireless Internet network on a tried and true revenue model—the traditional billing standard of established telephone companies.

In Japan, he said, commuter trains are packed with passengers staring into their cell phone screens, as these ubiquitous devices have become the tool of choice for wireless applications. Content aggregators gravitated toward using cell phones after they surveyed high school girls who were not already addicted computer users to find out what kinds of content they might like on a cell phone. The result is that the cell phone is becoming a “horizontal device” for a “vertical” mix of applications, starting with games, cartoons, fortune telling, and train schedules, said Whang, who is a professor of operations, information, and technology.

Business-to-business use of wireless lags behind consumer use, said Whang, who recently toured Japan, China, and Korea to investigate wireless applications. In Japan, wireless is used primarily for entertainment; in China, for buying and selling stocks; in Korea, for playing interactive games. Given these differences within Asia, Whang said, he doesn’t want to predict what will happen in the United States and Europe. “It is not just a matter of prediction. It is a matter of who does what—a chicken and egg problem.”

For a video file of Whang’s lecture, go to www.gsb.stanford.edu/services/news/audiovideo.html#alumni2001