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Knowledgebase


September 2008

Highlights

  1. Effects of the Government Takeover of Freddie Mac
    and Fannie Mae
  2. Businesses Can Win the Competition Against Open Source Technology
  3. Firms Survive by Recognizing Fundamental Changes
    in Their Industry
  4. Rediscovering Social Innovation
  5. Two-Career Couples Pose Big Hiring Problems in Academia
  6. Rediscovering Psych 101 in a Time of Crisis
  7. A View of Entrepreneurship
  8. What Students Are Reading
  9. Readers' Favorites

Finance

Effects of the Government Takeover of Freddie Mac
and Fannie Mae

Business School Finance Professor Darrell Duffie discusses the effects of having the country’s two largest mortgage finance companies placed into conservatorship and what it means for taxpayers and the economy.

Strategic Management

Businesses Can Win the Competition Against
Open Source Technology

Commercial vendors can compete successfully against open source products, says Professor Haim Mendelson. To do so they must be first to market, judiciously improve product features, keep the product closed so the open source competitors cannot tap into the commercial network, and segment the market.

Firms Survive by Recognizing Fundamental Changes
in Their Industry

Enduring companies survive because employees throughout the firm, not just those in the executive suite, learn to keep an eye on how related industries are evolving, say Robert Burgelman and Andrew Grove. Strong firms don't just match the competition, they also recognize fundamental changes in their industries and stay strategically ahead.

Management

Rediscovering Social Innovation

Social entrepreneurship and social enterprise are popular rallypoints to improve the world, but neither is a clear answer to understanding and creating social change. Stanford faculty members argue that social innovation is a better vehicle. (From Stanford Social Innovation Review)

Two-Career Couples Pose Big Hiring Problems in Academia

Women faculty are likely to turn down a job offer if their partner cannot find career opportunities in the same geographic area according to a study of 9,000 professors at 13 leading U.S. research universities. The issue of dual-career couples is a big one for colleges and universities trying to hire new faculty.

Video Resources

Rediscovering Psych 101 in a Time of Crisis

Chip Conley, MBA '84, is the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, California's largest boutique hotel chain. In this video package he talks about the effects of psychology on him as an entrepreneur.

A View of Entrepreneurship

Videos on search funds, franchising, and other entrepreneurial topics are available through the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

Something to Read

What Students Are Reading

Three very different explorations of self-identity were mailed to incoming Stanford undergraduate students during the summer to spark fall discussion. This year's books are Lynda Barry's One! Hundred! Demons!, Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and ZZ Packer's Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.

Readers' Favorites

Stories most frequently read online

1.Underperforming CEOs Risk Being Fired in Economic Downturns
2. Ask and You Will Get Help
3. MBAs Rank Corporate Social Responsibility High on Their List
for Choosing Employers
4.Entrepreneuring: The Ten Commandments
5. Achieving Breakthrough Performance