Spreadsheet Two

Great Leap Forward
International study trips have become something of a cottage industry at the GSB (students went to Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, India, and Pakistan this year), but they've taken a great leap forward with the introduction of GMIX, a "global management immersion experience" that includes a new for-credit course, followed by a four-week trip and internship in the People's Republic of China.
Professor Emeritus Gerald Meier created the spring quarter GMIX seminar Managerial Problems in China, which includes such subjects as the past, present, and future economy of China; the structure of the current business environment; "market socialism"; enterprise reform; rural development and urbanization; the political system; and foreign investment in the country.
In August, students will depart for China, where 20 companies have offered internships. The students will meet in Beijing in September for a three-day debriefing and then head back to the GSB to submit individual written reports on their experiences and help plan a workshop to share their insights with the School community later in the fall.
"Despite the similarity in name, GMIX is radically different from its Wharton counterpart," said Michael Bauer, MBA Class of 1998, in the Reporter. "It is not a 'glorified study trip'­there will be no cushions. No luxurious accommodations in a developing country. No bus waiting to take you to the next posh meeting with a boring government official. With GMIX, you are in the thick of it!"

Keen on Green
Susan Colby, MBA '87, is cofounder of McKinsey & Company's environmental management practice. While the Washington, D.C.­based consultant was on campus speaking with students this winter, she stressed the value of addressing environmental concerns as part of an overall business strategy.
"We don't think the environment is an issue you can look at in isolation," says Colby. "It only becomes powerful in the context of general management. Only there can you see the true impact of the issues and all the possibilities for addressing them. Looking at environmental issues in a technical silo of a corporation generally yields a solution­but that answer probably will not be the most efficient, appropriate, or creative one."
As for hoping that the environment will go away as a business concern, it won't happen anytime soon, Colby predicts. The general public has "a bedrock belief in the environment," she says.

Student Job Hunting Goes Global
If you had any doubt about the international appeal of GSB graduates, Career Management Center activities should provide an answer once and for all. Some 30 to 40 percent of the jobs currently available through on-campus recruiting are located outside the United States and even more are featured at new international recruiting receptions.
The Career Management Center plans to hold receptions annually in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, says Sherrie Gong Taguchi, CMC director. In addition, the Business School hosts receptions each year in several U.S. cities­this year traveling to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. More than 250 students and 180 firms from a broad spectrum of organizations attended receptions this year.
Students are enthusiastic about the new international opportunities. Two dozen, most of them on a spring break study trip, paid their own way to Brussels in March for a reception with 30 European firms. A similar reception in Hong Kong in December attracted 28 students.
In addition to spotlighting regional operations of international firms, the receptions draw some local firms that do not visit the Stanford campus. "Typically, senior line managers, like heads of operations, manufacturing, finance, business development, and marketing, plus those in charge of recruiting, participate in these events," said Taguchi. Next year's schedule calls for receptions in Paris, Hong Kong, and Buenos Aires in addition to several U.S. cities.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK HUNDLEY

Calculating the Eco-cost
Future economic success will be tied to the environment, Swiss industrialist and envi-ronmental advocate Stephan Schmidheiny told students in January. Businesses must accelerate the degree to which they integrate environmental concerns into their corporate strategies to combat the high costs of pollution and limited natural resources.
Schmidheiny said business can achieve sustainable development only through eco-efficiency, a concept that requires a shift in thinking from a resource-intensive economy to a resource-efficient economy. "We offer businesspeople a more positive way of looking at this challenge," said Schmidheiny. "By presenting it in terms of efficiency, they can relate to it in terms of their normal business challenges in the competitive arena."
Among the incentives to compel businesses to factor the environment into their strategy are tougher regulatory enforcement and rising costs associ-ated with regulations, pollution cleanup, and litigation. In addition, insurers are increasingly calculating environmental concerns into probability formulas, a practice that can boost insurance costs.
Schmidheiny made his remarks during the 1997 von Gugelberg Memorial Lecture on the Environment. The annual event was established by classmates of Conradin von Gugelberg, MBA '87, an ardent environmentalist and wilderness enthusiast who died shortly after his graduation.
Like von Gugelberg, Schmidheiny was raised on a Rhine Valley vineyard. Sensitive to environmental concerns, he maneuvered his family business out of asbestos building products and into high technology in the 1970s. He has major stakes in ABB Asea Brown Boveri, Swatch watches, and Lanis & Gyr environmental management.
In the 1990s, Schmidheiny accelerated his environmental advocacy by giving $10 million to found the U.N.­affiliated Business Council for Sustainable Development, which promotes cooperation between business and environmental leaders. He has recently turned his attention to the capital markets, stressing that bankers need to figure environmental factors into their lending and investment decisions if they are to succeed. Indeed, banks are taking insurance ratings into account as they determine creditworthiness. Auditors must consider environmental cleanup or litigation when they determine a company's liabilities. Customers and employees are also keenly aware of the social impact of pollution and poor use of forests and water, Schmidheiny warns.
Of course, there are limits to which a company can push its eco-efficiency on its own, acknowledges Schmidheiny. Much depends on the macro-economy. He insists government subsidies, pervasive throughout the world, must go. Such funds subsidize farms that are often inefficient and use huge amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Government subsidies also promote use of fossil and nuclear energy. Tax structures, especially in Europe where taxes of 40 percent or more are levied on employment, must be overhauled. Schmidheiny insists that a tax shift based on company use of public resources, such as raw materials, is essential to eco-efficiency.