Stanford GSB News

August 2009

Economy

Can We Grow the Economy?

What can we expect as the world’s economy emerges from its most serious downturn in almost a century? Economist A. Michael Spence forsees a “new normal,” with slower growth, a less risky and more stable core financial system, and challenges in areas such as energy, climate, and demographic imbalance.

Compensation

Are Star Employees Worth their Bonuses?

"Chasing talent doesn’t work and just costs the companies doing the chasing a lot of wasted money,” says Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer in his column at Bnet.com. Financial institutions that argue they must pay huge performance bonuses to keep talented employees may be demonstrating that they don’t understand this principal, he adds.

Political Economy

India’s Slums Are Complex Political and Social Communities

The popular film “Slumdog Millionaire” gave the public a glimpse of India's slums. These communities with residents of different income levels, sometimes intricate relations between ethnic groups, and systems of political patronage, are remarkably vibrant and complex says Saumitra Jha, an assistant professor of political economy who studies them.

Marketing

Market Rebels can Make or Break Product Demand

Activists who defy authority and can use unconventional techniques to mobilize masses for change are the subject of a new book by Professor Hayagreeva Rao. They've been around since Henry Ford was an entrepreneur.
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Video interview with Rao (14:13 min.)

Effective Donors and Volunteers See Themselves as Giving Individuals

How nonprofits ask for support can make their potential donors more generous with both their time or money, says Professor Jennifer Aaker. The trick is to help donors develop a more giving identity—for instance helping them see themselves as the kind of people who support a specific cause.

Social Change

Protest Movements: How Do They Create Change?

Social Movements have their greatest effect in their early stages, when a cause is first being debated and before it has attracted too many vocal critics says Professor Sarah Soule whose research probed 22,000 protests and demonstrations from the 1960s to the mid '90s. These movements can change stock prices or public policy.

Social Networks Can Cloud Your Judgment

People who are closely connected to their peers through social networks tend to overestimate how much other people agree with them, according to research by Professor Frank Flynn and doctoral student Scott Wiltermuth. (requires registration)

Ranking System for Socially Responsible Business

The B (Beneficial) Corp. seal of approval is a rating that certifies that firms are working to solve social and environmental problems. So why should a company pursue this credential? (From Stanford Social Innovation Review)

Stanford Faculty Online

Serving up Philosophy on Facebook

Six years ago two Stanford professors of philosophy launched a radio program devoted to their subject. Today they're taking it to Facebook as part of Stanford University's "Office Hours" series of short faculty lectures.

Exploring Creativity

Using Play-Doh and the Apple iPod as examples, Robert Sutton, Co-Director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization at Stanford University, explains that often creativity is simply making new things out of old ones.

Health Care

Relenza and Tamiflu both fight Flu, but. . .

Two common anti-influenza drugs—Relenza and Tamiflu—appear equally effective at preventing common flu symptoms when given before infection, say medical researchers. However, data is lacking on their effectiveness and safety in vulnerable groups such as the very young.

A Call for Portable Health Care Benefits (Video)

George Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State, proposes national markets in health insurance, making company-sponsored health savings accounts portable across employers, and making relatively low-cost catastrophic insurance available to all without employer-sonsored plans, during a talk before San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club discussing his recent book Putting Our House in Order: A Guide to Social Security and Health Care Reform, authored with economist John Shoven. Video (16:00)

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