Debunking the Bug
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT and economics professor Garth Saloner has a relatively optimistic view of the effects of the year 2000 bug on the world economy. Saloner told CIO Enterprise magazine he doesn't think problems caused by computer programs once 2000 arrives are serious enough to cause a recession in their own right. "The biggest effect is that it is distracting many large organizations from making the strategic information technology investments that they would otherwise be making," he told the magazine. Saloner said he fears many firms may spend four or five years dealing with Y2K problems.

A Secret Weapon
HIS MIDDLE NAME is Tiger (a name chosen by his father, a World War II fighter pilot) says Gene T. Sykes, MBA '84. The New York Times calls Sykes "the best-kept secret of Goldman, Sachs & Co." His 1998 list of achievements includes advising Royal Philips Electronics on its $10.6 billion sale of Polygram to Seagram; sitting in on two major acquisitions by AT&T; and helping defend Computer Sciences Corp. against a $9.8 billion hostile takeover bid. "I like the idea of having influence--of taking responsibility for making decisions--but doing so with less public attention," Sykes told the Times.

An Offer He Couldn't Refuse
ARGUABLY THE BUSINESS School's most famous nongraduate, Steve Ballmer, MBA Class of 1981, earned lots of attention this fall when he was named president of Microsoft in charge of sales and product development. Ballmer completed his first year at the School but was lured away in 1980 by former Harvard classmate Bill Gates. Time reported the offer was a $50,000 salary and up to 10 percent of the company to forgo a Stanford MBA. Business Week says it was a 7 percent share. Time reported that after three weeks and some heated discussions, Ballmer, who has long been Microsoft's second in command, convinced Gates the fledgling company needed to hire 50 people. The rest is history.

Silicon Valley Hero
IN THE 10 YEARS Peter Hero, MBA '66, has led the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley, the assets of the nonprofit organization have grown from $8 million to $200 million. Last year the foundation granted $16 million for programs in health and human services, the arts, environment, children and families, education, and neighborhood groups. Although the endowment's size is impressive, Hero told the San Jose Mercury News he'd rather measure success by "the degree to which people feel connected to others to forge solutions together."
       Hero was recruited to head the fund in 1988 by the late Business School dean Ernest C. Arbuckle, who was then its chairman. Today, Hero is up-beat about philanthropy in Silicon Valley. "There is a danger of this becoming a community of very rich people and their servants," he said. "But I don't think that will happen here because more people are interacting with each other."
       Last year the foundation commissioned a survey by Business School senior lecturer Kirk Hanson, MBA '71, that found that 55 percent of the charitable giving by Silicon Valley corporations goes to education, compared to 33 percent for corporations nationally. The picture wasn't all rosy, however. Silicon Valley residents told Hanson they'd give more to charities if they knew the money would be used more effectively. He also found that the number of large companies encouraging their employees to serve on corporate boards has declined in the past four years, hampering efforts to improve the management of nonprofits.

Big Bucks from Busted Growth
The New York Times profiled Kevin C. O'Boyle, MBA '93, lead manager of Meridian Value Fund. While he is classified by Morningstar Inc. as a value manager, O'Boyle identifies what he calls "busted growth stocks," fast-growing firms whose stock prices have fallen as earnings stalled. Once he identifies a potential stock, O'Boyle said, he then looks for a catalyst that will allow the firm to grow by more than 15 percent in the next two years. O'Boyle became lead manager of the four-year-old fund in 1994. Through August 1998 it had returned an average of 20.4 percent annually.

Round Trip to Rio
WHEN BRAZILIAN NATIONAL Rodrigo Abreu enrolled at the Business School this fall, he was part of a new generation of international students whose goal is to get a U.S. business degree and then head home. According to the international edition of Newsweek, students who once wanted to earn engineering degrees and stay in the United States are turning to business schools for skills they can take back to their countries. Abreu worked for Brazilian telecom system-integrator Promon before coming to Stanford. "We were always a company run by engineers. Now we are starting to get more into the business side," he told the magazine.

Popularizing the Khaki Craze
THE GAP WANTS to make it as easy to get khakis and T-shirts in Des Moines as it is in downtown San Francisco, reports Fortune. "Before, we advertised in Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Magazine; we thought if we advertised to the elite, it would trickle down," said Bob Fisher, MBA '80 and head of the division of Gap Inc. that operates The Gap stores.
       But when the firm began advertising heavily on TV, the popular appeal of its casual apparel skyrocketed. Now "people in small towns everywhere know us," said Fisher.

Mickey's Mouse
DISNEY WANTS TO BUILD A new doorway into cyberspace, and Mike Slade, MBA '83, is helping. Slade is CEO of Starwave, an Internet production company purchased by the entertainment giant in early 1998. Fortune reports Disney is now blending Starwave's technology with that of the recently purchased Web search engine firm Infoseek in hopes of building a new portal to the Web. With researchers estimating the Web will be used in 57 million American homes by 2002, the planners hope to open the door to products, services, and information.

Polishing the Stars in Tinseltown
"THE ONE THING everybody wants to do when they come to Hollywood Boulevard is to see the stars," David Malmuth, MBA '79, told Fortune. "I want to make that possible."
       Malmuth, who managed Walt Disney's portion of the project to rejuvenate Times Square, is now trying to work some of the same magic on somewhat tacky Hollywood Boulevard. Heading the project for Canadian real estate power TrizecHahn, Malmuth has broken ground on a $350 million retail and entertainment complex, with promises that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will start presenting its Oscars in the theater complex in 2001.

A Look at the New Factory
SOARING GERMAN WAGES are forcing many German manufacturing firms to look for ways to automate and cut employees, a move that INSEAD professor Christoph Loch, PhD '92, says is shortsighted. The French, in contrast, tend to keep their workers because they see them as assets.
       Loch was one of the academic judges for the French magazine L'Usine Nouvelle's (New Factory) annual operations awards to industry in the two nations. Loch said that Germany's more traditional business structure means that many firms tend to be secretive and directed inward, so they don't benefit from contacts that allow them to observe what goes on at other companies.

They Made the Cut
AS HEAD of a product group that last year contributed an estimated $8.7 billion to HP's bottom line, Carolyn Ticknor, MBA '77, earned a spot on Fortune's list of the 50 most powerful women in corporate America. Ticknor is general manager of the Laserjet Solutions Group at HP. Also on the list was Brenda Barnes, who set off a flurry last year when she quit as CEO of Pepsi-Cola North America to move to Illinois with her husband, Randy Barnes, MBA '78, and their three kids.

Motivation Matters
IN TODAY'S knowledge-based economy, companies that see their employees as resources can increase the firm's value and profitability, Jeffrey Pfeffer told Strategy & Business. "A people-based strategy says that, to be successful in my business, I need to have a superior workforce and capture all the knowledge and skills of these folks," said Pfeffer, PhD '72 and GSB professor of organizational behavior. He cited the case of SAS Institute, a privately held software company, whose CEO said, "If we get and retain and motivate the best brains, the rest--the product development, the numbers, everything else--will take care of itself."