Archive for February, 2011

Global companies must consider many factors besides science when thinking about sustainability, Xerox sustainability chief Patricia Calkins said Feb. 22, 2011, at Thunderbird School of Global Management. “If it was just science, even that gets complicated,” Calkins said. “Be we’ve got various players.” The Vice President for Environment, Health and Safety at document management company Xerox says companies must navigate concerns from the public, the media, the government and nonprofit organizations. These concerns often vary from region to region, and different stakeholders often have different agendas. Calkins said Xerox has focused on four “green fundamentals” when setting its priorities. | Video: Smarter ways to go green (2:24) | Audio Podcast: Sustainability confusion and the “Seven Sins of Greenwashing (11:12)
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By Samantha M. Novick

The FORAD simulation that has run at Thunderbird School of Global Management for nearly 30 years remained relatively unchanged until finance Professor Michael Moffett, Ph.D., and alumni Bruce Edlund ’96 and Vesselina Dinova ’05 unveiled a new model for the Spring 2012 trimester. Here’s a peek inside the new simulation, along with descriptions of the added functionality it provides. | Related Article: Alumni Duo Works to Save FORAD
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Health care professionals work in a fast-growing sector full of opportunity for innovation, but many industry leaders lack the business skills necessary to harness and commercialize their entrepreneurial spirit. To help close the gap between the emergency room and boardroom, Thunderbird School of Global Management will launch a 10-week open enrollment course for health care practitioners, administrators, researchers and students starting May 11, 2011. “As a health care professional, it is often difficult for you to move into the world of business and the world of commercializing your innovation,” said Thunderbird Professor Steven Stralser, Ph.D., academic director of the program. “Those talents are very different than what made you a good physician.” Read more in the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship Blog. | Video: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Healthcare (2:45)

The following post on global strategy is by Thunderbird Executive MBA students Marc Simony, Sherrie Zollinger, Kellie Teelander, Casey Hirschman, Fayda Khalek and Dewan Simon

What do you do when you have $40 billion in the bank, net profits of $7.7 billion, an average annual unlevered free cash flow of around $9 billion, the world economy in shambles, and you need to continue to grow because stagnation will kill your stock price? At Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) you announce a $10 billion share buyback to protect your stock price, and you try to maximize your sunk costs and IP (pun intended; both Intellectual Property and Internet Protocol). Cisco has a plethora of business units, but most are geared toward supporting packet flow over Cisco’s core business — networking infrastructure. Networking infrastructure, in this case, represents a large portion the sunk costs, because sold gear does not return any post-sale revenue scaled to the use and value it provides the purchaser. Cisco doesn’t want to just sell shovels; it wants to be part of the gold rush. Read the full article in Thunderbird Student Projects, a blog on the Thunderbird Knowledge Network.

As an up-and-coming executive in the hospitality and entertainment industries, Thunderbird graduate Nikki Mark ’95 worked long hours that often ended past midnight. “I sometimes worked 10 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” she said Feb. 17, 2011, during a Global Issues Forum on campus. “Then I had kids, and I had to redefine what balance means to me.” Mark, the author of a new children’s book about working mothers, shared lessons learned from her experiences as a wife, mother and executive vice president of operations for Los Angeles-based hotel, restaurant and nightclub developer SBE. | Video: Mommy Brings Home the Bacon (3:12)
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Thunderbird graduate Jon Kailey ’76 ruined his sport coat pocket with his previous passport, which swelled to 192 pages as he added stamps from all seven continents. But the Owens Corning director of International Business Development does not complain about the ripped fabric. “It has been a very stimulating career,” he said Feb. 15, 2011, during a Global Issues Forum presentation at Thunderbird School of Global Management. “I have been to more than 65 countries in 18 years as an expatriate, and I am not ready to move back to the United States yet.” Kailey outlined at least seven strategies for young professionals looking for their own expatriate adventures. | Video: Find your first expat assignment (2:16) | Video: Your second language: Metrics (0:53) | Video: Best Thunderbird career? (2:58)
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Download free videos and audio podcasts from Thunderbird School of Global Management on iTunesU. Anyone with Internet access can view the latest knowledge from Thunderbird professors, alumni, students and guest speakers. The channel also showcases Thunderbird student life, history and general information. Content includes more than 600 videos from Thunderbird’s YouTube channel and more than 60 audio files from Thunderbird’s podcast page. Visit www.thunderbird.edu/itunes to tour the iTunesU channel, which went public Feb. 11, 2011.

A global recession and other setbacks have not quelled public appetite for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), an innovative market tool that BlackRock iShares uses to help investors manage risks, control expenses and reduce tax liabilities. “The ETF market has been robust since 1999,” guest speaker David Kimerling said Feb. 7, 2011, during a financial services workshop organized by Thunderbird Professor F. John Mathis, Ph.D. Like the name suggests, ETFs are investment funds traded on stock exchanges. The funds usually track indexes such as the Dow Jones, which means the fund value goes up or down as the index goes up or down. Kimerling, Vice President and Business Development Officer of iShares, said four main advantages set ETFs apart from mutual funds and other investment tools. | Video: Exchange-traded Funds 101 (2:33)
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Political unrest in Bahrain and other parts of the Middle East will not stop growth in the region, the chief executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board said Feb. 14, 2011, during a panel discussion at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. “We are entering an interesting time that ultimately will generate growth and development,” said Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa. “I am optimistic.” He said Arabian Peninsula countries, including Bahrain, represent a $1 trillion economy that could swell to $2 trillion by 2020. “People talk about China and India,” he said. “We want them to talk about China, India and the Middle East.”
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Marketing professionals often view their organization’s finance department as the “Ministry of No Way,” while finance professionals view the marketing department as the “Ministry of Fluff.” Thunderbird Professor Richard Ettenson, Ph.D., has seen the often fractious relationship that results when the two sides try to coexist. Despite his background as the Thelma H. Kieckhefer Research Fellow in Global Brand Marketing at Thunderbird, he lays much of the blame on his own colleagues who manage brands and generate leads for their organizations. | Video: Making the Business Case for Marketing and Branding (35:47)
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