Archive for October, 2010

Requesting and providing favors are a common part of doing business. But how are these gestures executed and what are their ethical implications in emerging markets compared to developed economies? Where does the line blur between favor and bribery? Thunderbird Professor Mary Teagarden, Ph.D. (pictured third from left), spoke on these topics during an October 2010 symposium at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Additional presenters at the “Symposium on Managing Favors in a Global Economy” came from Stanford, Wharton, Temple, McGill, University of Bath, University of Texas-Austin, New York University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and other schools. Teagarden and her colleagues will prepare an integrative “position paper” on the topic of favors in emerging markets for publication in a top-tier academic journal, and they will produce a special issue for Journal of International Management based on papers from symposium participants. Read a summary of the symposium at www.northeastern.edu.

Nonprofit organizations that rely on gifts to survive often struggle with sustainability. This means investors who want to make an impact with their philanthropy need to perform rigorous due diligence before writing a check, Arizona Community Foundation CEO Steve Seleznow, Ed.D., said Oct. 22, 2010, at the Thunderbird Global Wealth Management Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. “It is important for any investor — whether you are investing in a financial market, a company or a nonprofit organization — to do your due diligence.” Arizona Community Foundation gathers intelligence on nonprofit organization and helps donors make informed decisions with their gifts. Learn more in this Thunderbird Knowledge Network video. | Video: Due diligence in philanthropy (2:03)
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Gold prices have soared in the global financial crisis, but Blackrock iShares Global Client Group Director Heidi Richardson does not see evidence of a bubble about to burst. “If you look at the central bank purchasing of gold, there has been a structural shift,” she said Oct. 20, 2010, at the Thunderbird Global Wealth Management Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. “Traditionally central banks were net sellers of gold, and now they are net purchasers of gold.” Regarding the issue of looming inflation, Richardson said the problem is still two or three years away. “All the stimulus and spending the government is adding into the system will eventually come back to haunt us,” she said. “But we don’t think it will be an issue for the next two or three years.” Learn more in this Thunderbird Knowledge Network video. | Video: Gold bubble? Runaway inflation? (1:11)
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U.S. millionaires who relied on secret Swiss bank accounts to hide their assets need a new wealth management strategy, an international tax law attorney at Sharp & Kemm said Oct. 20, 2010, at the Thunderbird Global Wealth Management Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. “The days of bank secrecy are over,” William M. Sharp said. “The new tax treaty between the U.S. and Switzerland specifies that if the Swiss are asked about information on an American, they will give that information.” Sharp said wealth managers in the new era of information sharing need to understand the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and similar measures in other countries. Learn more in this Thunderbird Knowledge Network video. | Video: End of bank secrecy (1:33)
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An airplane pilot would not take flight without knowing the desired destination. Yet many wealth managers do something similar when they invest their money without knowing the “Desired Target Return.” Jim Kaffen, president of Sortino Investment Advisors, uses the phrase to signify the return needed to enable individual investors to achieve their financial goals. “The biggest risk for investors is not identifying their Desired Target Return,” he said Oct. 20, 2010, at the Thunderbird Global Wealth Management Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. “If they do not understand that, they will be at the mercy of the market.” Kaffen said identifying financial goals up front allows investors to adjust the level of risk they need to take. “Don’t take more risk if it is not necessary,” he said. Learn more in this Thunderbird Knowledge Network video. | Video: Desired Target Return (2:39)
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Companies in Afghanistan or anywhere else need four things to achieve marketing success, Thunderbird Professor Anne Stringfellow, Ph.D., told women entrepreneurs from the war-torn country Oct. 19, 2010, during a Project Artemis presentation. Stringfellow said a successful marketing plan must include the right product, price, place and publicity. “They all have to be correct for you to have any customers,” Stringfellow told the group of 19 businesswomen from Afghanistan. “If one of these pieces is missing, you will not have results.”
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Thunderbird Professor Gregory Unruh, Ph.D., started his career as an environmental consultant working in remediation. His job was to help U.S. companies clean up their polluted sites and bring them into compliance with Environmental Protection Agency standards. Unruh saw value in the process, but he also recognized a flaw. “Trying to clean up a contaminated industrial site is like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube,” Unruh said at the Sustainable Brand Conference June 7-10, 2010, in Monterey, California. “You can never get all the toothpaste back in.” Unruh said a better approach to environmental protection is to prevent problems before they occur. He said businesses looking for a new model of sustainable manufacturing need to look at their own plant, which has been manufacturing products in a sustainable way for more than 2 billion years. “We have no other place we can look to learn how to operate and manufacture sustainably on the planet,” he said. Unruh shares sustainable business lessons from the Earth in this Sustainable Brand Conference presentation. For additional research and commentary, visit Unruh’s Huffington Post blog or read his new book, Earth, Inc.: Using Nature’s Rules to Build Sustainable Profits. | Video: Doing Business with Earth, Inc. (2:45)
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Expatriates need to rethink their roles in emerging markets if their organizations expect to stay relevant in the post-recession economy, said Thunderbird Professor Nathan Washburn, Ph.D. “They have seen their job as coming in and transferring their expertise to the emerging economies where they are assigned,” Washburn said. Expatriates who cling to this mindset will miss the innovation that increasingly flows the other direction. Washburn said expatriates sent to open factories or implement strategy still need to transfer knowledge in, but they also need to listen and gather information. “The great innovations in the future are not going to happen in our mature markets,” he said. | Video: Rethinking expat assignments (2:55) | Podcast: Nokia’s hard lesson in India (5:23)
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Marketing guru Satjiv Chahil noticed the same thing everywhere he looked when he joined Hewlett-Packard as Senior Vice President of Marketing in 2005. Technology conferences, advertising campaigns and product designs all focused on men. “Our industry has always been about men,” the 1976 Thunderbird graduate told students Oct. 7, 2010, when he returned to campus as a Global Issues Forum speaker. He and his team at HP decided to address the gender gap when they launched a new brand promise in 2006: “The computer is personal again.” They invited Vivienne Tam, a New York fashion designer with Chinese roots, to collaborate with HP on a new laptop made especially for women. | Video: High fashion at HP (6:44) | Podcast: A greener, softer product line at HP (26:00)
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Diversity can be a fuzzy term that means different things to different people. William H. Harper III, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California, says this sometimes causes fear or resentment when companies start talking about implementing diversity programs. His approach at Pacific Gas and Electric has been to provide clear definitions that help employees understand the company’s vision. “Typically here in the United States, when you say diversity, people go straight to race and ethnicity,” he says. “But it’s really about the broader issue of inclusion.” Harper says another way to build buy-in for diversity programs is to help managers see the benefits to the bottom line. | Video: Building Diversity (2:45)
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