Spreadsheet Three

Illustration by Greg Clarke

The New In-Crowd Is 50 Years Out
At a September reunion weekend luncheon at Stanford's faculty club, more than 25 alumni from the MBA classes of '47, '42, and earlier were welcomed by Dean A. Michael Spence into the GSB's newly established Half-Century Club. Next year, the Class of 1948 will be inducted, and while specific plans are still up in the air, members may meet occasionally at educational or social events.
       "One of the things that worries me most about our institutions in this day and age and, in particular, in our current educational programs, is that we don't have a sense of history built into the way they run," said Spence, noting the importance to the School of having "older citizens" drawn from faculty, staff, and alumni/ae, "who know how we got here."
       Spence noted that the pre- World War II Business School had 600 grads as opposed to 22,600 now; a library of 7,000 books compared with 400,000 books "plus a whole lot of electronic data"; and 53 faculty, including lecturers, against 115. As for class size, 74 MBAs graduated in 1941, compared with 362 in 1997.
       "We broke the 200 limit for MBA class size some time ago," Spence said, "but lest you worry that we could be-come a factory, let me tell you that Stanford Business School is still closer to a third the size of its major competitor (a well-known East Coast institution located near Boston), and we're going to stay that way."
       The 54-year-old dean earned his biggest (and most sympathetic) laugh when he forgot an anecdote in mid-speech.

Top Grades for China Internships
Last summer, Josh Brookhart paid his way to Qingdao, China, to spend four weeks studying a project to manufacture beer bottles. Classmate Anne-Kristin Hedbak was in Guangzhou analyzing the Chinese cable TV market, while Michael Bauer looked at the economics of large-scale versus small-scale cement plants.
       They and 18 other classmates gave top grades to the GSB's first Global Management Immersion Experience (GMIX), in which they worked without salary for companies in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and Qingdao. GMIX internships were limited to four weeks to give students the rest of the summer to work--and earn money--at more traditional jobs.
       What they found was a growing economy where poorly managed state-run firms were being allowed to fail. They found entrepreneurs, an infrastructure that was often still under construction, and a surprisingly sophisticated level of technology.
       "Before I went to China, I heard they needed Western technology," said Dan Nicholson, who worked for a General Motors joint venture in Shanghai. "Instead, I found that the technology was there. What they really needed was good, sound management." For instance, doing a feasibility study before building a plant wasn't standard operating procedure. Brookhart, who worked for a joint project between a major Taiwanese glass manufacturer and its Chinese partner, discovered at the end of a four-hour drive over a rutted, winding dirt road a state-of-the-art, $25 million factory capable of manufacturing flawless glass for skyscrapers. The factory had never been opened. "They had never considered whether they could deliver what they manufactured," he said.
       The students found that China's best and brightest are no longer looking to leave their country but rather seeking the tools and experience to build their careers at home. Added to the mix are a variety of foreign investors who are now taking an interest in China. Said Michael Hungerford, who worked in Shanghai for Pacific Rim Resources, "There is a lot of money searching for good uses."

Family Values
"This survey is just for fun, so have a good time," they were told at their 25th reunion. But 57 members of the MBA Class of 1972 seemed to take it seriously, painting a broad-brush picture of financial security, conservative lifestyle, and family values.
       Comfortable with an average $2 million net worth and annual work-related income of $250,000, most feel secure in their jobs. For entertainment, they are more apt to be seen at the theater, the symphony, or the opera than at a major league sporting event. They're not opposed to sports, mind you: 86 percent play tennis, swim, or jog for an average 6.3 hours a week. They also take 3.5 vacations a year, usually in Europe, Hawaii, or Northern California. But their time off is at a premium: It totals a mere 4.5 work weeks each year.
       If nearly half this group of 50-somethings admits to a past or present midlife crisis, it doesn't seem to have affected their marriages. Fully 82 percent have been married only once; none was currently living with a significant other. Most list marriage as the most satisfying aspect of their lives, and when they cite their accomplishments, family tops the list of two-thirds of them.

"When you run a company, you cannot make decisions on a democratic basis. Teamwork does not work for decision making. Teamwork is for creativity."

Board Chairman Jürgen Schrempp, explaining to GSB students the management philosophy he used in reengineering Daimler Benz