Stanford Knowledgebase

JULY 2004

Why Your Appendectomy Costs More than Mine
The ability to move insurance subscribers to another hospital, not the sheer number of subscribers a company controls, may be the key bargaining chip as insurance companies negotiate rates with hospitals, according to recent research. [Details]

Aid From First World Nations Falling Short
First world nations have pledged to provide up to 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to aid third-world development. But they are not living up to their commitments argues Trevor Manuel, South Africa's minister of finance. [Details]

Valuing Bestsellers Lists
Making the New York Times bestsellers list is an honor, but it really doesn't boost sales substantially for most of the big name authors who appear on the list, according to research by Prof. Alan Sorensen. [Details]

Setting Salaries and Costs For Nonprofits
In setting executive salaries, nonprofit organizations must walk a fine line between paying enough to get the best people and surviving the shock test of the public and potential donors arguing the pay is too high. A roundtable discussion by the Stanford Social Innovation Review explores salary setting, trustee compensation, and even endowment payout rates. [Details]

MORE STORIES

Human Resources Executive Program
Sept. 19-24 Stanford Campus [Details]

Executive Management Program: Gaining New Perspectives
Sept. 19-25 Stanford Sierra Conference Center
[Details]

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Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation
The fourth edition of this book, by Robert A. Burgelman, Clayton M. Christensen, and Steven C. Wheelwright (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2004) uses text, readings, and cases to bring to life the latest business research on these critical challenges. [Details]

Angola's Mislaid Billions (Case Study)
The case focuses on corruption involving oil production in Angola. By 2001, more than $1 billion (U.S.) per year of Angola's oil revenues had reportedly disappeared in each of the five previous years. With the end of the civil war in 2002, observers forecast foreign oil companies would invest $18 billion (U.S.). The case traces the resulting bidding process and what happened to the money involved. [Details]

The Modern Firm
A new book by John Roberts explores how businesses, as they experiment with ways to improve performance, are changing the scope of their operations, redrawing their organization charts, and taking other steps. Roberts argues there are predictable, necessary relationships among the changes that will improve performance and growth. [Details]

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