Spreadsheet One
*Serving Up Wild Boar
and Witty Repartee
*Forensic Gumshoe
*John Scully Wins Arbuckle Award
*Resources for Global Managers

Spreadsheet One

PHOTOGRAPH BY BETTINA SALOMON

Serving Up Wild Boar and Witty Repartee

CIVILIZED TABLE conversation is not necessarily a skill developed by the fast-food generation. Yet in this gulp-and-go world, GSB students have made good food and—more important —leisurely dinner table exchange part of their student life.

Hungry for dinner fellowship, some 260 MBA students signed up this year for the e@t club. At one club event in early March, second-year Victoria Dimitrakopoulos (pouring wine in photo at right) cooked up a meal for club participants including Bart Menayas (left) and Hubert Sonnelet (right) and his wife, Brigitte.

At ordinary standup social events, the guests chat with each other for a few minutes and then move on, never getting beyond the top layer of pleasantries. So, 15 to 20 times each quarter, e@t members pull up chairs and spend two or more hours sharing food, drink, and the kind of conversation that can build real friendships. “You can make great friends when you find yourself in any situation where you spend some period of time together talking,” says Menayas, one of the club’s copresidents.

Most dinners involve 10 to 12 guests selected through a system that mimics the Business School’s bidding system for its elective courses. Instead of wagering the silver bullets students use to get into popular classes, e@t members bid chocolates for the chance to sup on sushi, Indian cuisine, or some other meal whipped up by a classmate.

“Many Americans find cooking scary,” jokes French citizen Menayas. Yet e@t members rise to the occasion. The club has extended its membership to a few recent alums, including Daniel Beltramo, MBA ’94, who hosted a dinner featuring wild boar (the result of a hunting trip) and chutney made from Beltramo’s homegrown peaches.

“It’s not all that much harder to cook for 20 than for 4,” says Menayas. Last year the club hosted a Friday night LPF to attract new members. “I think we had food for more than 600 people. We got a little carried away, but it was a great evening,” he recalls.

ILLUSTRATION BY MARK MATCHO

Forensic Gumshoe

WHEN SECURITY AGENCIES want to know where a videotape or a hostage letter originated, they can turn to Stoney Forensic Inc., a Clifton, Va., business founded by Paul Stoney, MBA ’84, and his brother David, a forensic scientist. Their customers want to know such things as, “If this item came from near a specific factory, can you confirm that the activity inside the factory is related to producing fertilizer or are the owners up to some unpleasant activity?” says Paul, who has been a consultant to small businesses since 1992. Stoney’s firm provides answers but often does not know what its government clients do with the information.

“Following September 11, there has been a large demand for anything appearing like it might help identify terrorist activities,” says Paul. “We considered pursuing a rapid growth plan; however, we decided to stick with our original objective of selecting only projects where we find both the science and end-use exciting and the profitability and long-term potential compelling.”

Resources for Global Managers

COMPANIES IN GLOBALIZING industries often pay “too much attention to acquiring assets and too little to how they are going to improve their ability to access and serve customers,” said Lorenzo Zambrano, MBA ’68, at a conference on “Winning Globally,” held at the GSB winter quarter. Zambrano is chairman and CEO of CEMEX, one of the world’s largest cement companies.

Sponsored by the Stanford/ McKinsey globe Initiative and the GSB’s Global Management Program, the daylong event provided a chance for executives from different leading global businesses to compare notes on the challenges they face.

In his keynote address, Zambrano cited Stanford ties as an important element in CEMEX’s success. Several other prominent speakers focused on the challenges of managing brands, addressing ethical issues, and sustaining growth in tomorrow’s global economy.

The conference also showcased initial findings of the globe Initiative, a research-based study of global firms. Working with a growing number of companies, globe is studying the mechanisms used by large firms to address the tensions that arise when they attempt to “think global, act local.” Researchers identified seven levers, or “drivers,” that companies use in combination to resolve global–local tensions and evaluated which combinations work best in different global contexts.

To view the study's initial findings, or to learn how you can help further GSB research in this area while gaining insights about your own company’s ability to "think global, act local," contact Professor John Roberts: 650.723.9345, email: roberts_john@gsb.stanford.edu.