Archive for June, 2011

By Robert D. Hisrich, Thunderbird professor

Entrepreneurs stand out in a crowd. They like being their own boss. They think big, take risks and shrug off failure. When they feel stifled or bored, they either change their environment or leave. But do not let them go. Your organization needs them. The entrepreneurs on your payroll are the pioneers who spark new enterprises, products, services and processes. They see opportunities that others miss and create value for everyone around them, including customers, employees, shareholders and communities. They are your most important edge in an era of increased global competition. | Video: Why You Need Corporate Entrepreneurs (2:33) | Video: Keeping Entrepreneurs Happy (2:42) | Video: Balancing Freedom with Corporate Controls (2:10) | Video: Should You Keep Your Day Job? (2:23) | Book: Corporate Entrepreneurship
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By Karen A. Brown, Richard Ettenson and Nancy Lea Hyer

Have you ever noticed that some projects benefit from high-profile status that draws participation and support while others seem to languish somewhere in the back row? If you have observed this phenomenon, you aren’t alone. Our interviews and observations over a 10-year period have uncovered a huge gap in the “common body of knowledge” associated with the project management profession. Too many project leaders get so caught up in the usual tools and metrics that they fail to consider their roles as marketers within their organizations. | Read the full article in Sloan Management Review (Summer 2011).
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Story and photos by Samantha M. Novick

Significant financial reforms in the 1990s set India on a course toward a freer, more open economy ripe for entrepreneurship. I traveled to five cities in India to meet Thunderbirds who have ditched the corporate world to strike out on their own. All across the country, Thunderbirds are leveraging their global mindset and corporate business acumen to take advantage of the booming environment. Here is the story of how 2010 Thunderbird graduate Krishna Chilukuri found success in Chennai. | Video: India catches its stride: Krishna Chilukuri (2:37)
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What is the statistical benefit of an international business degree? New analysis of growing survey data at Thunderbird School of Global Management puts the value at roughly eight years abroad in four or more countries. “For the first time ever, we are able to show a return on investment for a global management degree,” said Garvin Distinguished Professor Mansour Javidan, Ph.D., director of Thunderbird’s Global Mindset® Institute in Glendale, Arizona. Javidan’s research team bases its conclusions on more than 10,000 survey results from the Global Mindset Inventory, a scientific self-assessment developed at Thunderbird to measure a manager’s capacity to thrive in unfamiliar environments with people from diverse backgrounds. Javidan said the 10,000 survey milestone — which Thunderbird passed on May 10, 2011 — means the sample size is large enough to identify trends, predict outcomes and make comparisons among subgroups.
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Japan has lost confidence in nuclear power following a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, forcing the country to rethink its long-term energy plan, the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles said June 16, 2011, at Thunderbird School of Global Management. “Before the earthquake and this nuclear incident, the Japanese public showed rather constant support for nuclear utilization,” said Junichi Ihara, who was appointed Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles in April 2008. “After this incident the support of the public is a little bit shaky.”
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Story and photos by Samantha M. Novick

Significant financial reforms in the 1990s set India on a course toward a freer, more open economy ripe for entrepreneurship. I traveled to five cities in India to meet Thunderbirds who have ditched the corporate world to strike out on their own. All across the country, Thunderbirds are leveraging their global mindset and corporate business acumen to take advantage of the booming environment. Here is the story of how 2011 Thunderbird graduate Narasimha Reddy found success in Mumbai. | Video: India catches its stride: Narasimha Reddy (2:33)
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Companies that used to send untested expatriates overseas and hope for the best now have a reservoir of scientific data to rely upon when making assignments and preparing managers for success in complex global environments. The Global Mindset® Inventory, a scientific self-assessment developed at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona, takes much of the guesswork out of what skills and aptitudes a manager needs to thrive in unfamiliar markets with people from diverse backgrounds. In just three years, a research team at Thunderbird’s Global Mindset Institute has amassed 10,000 survey responses from dozens of companies all over the world.
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Story and photos by Samantha M. Novick

Significant financial reforms in the 1990s set India on a course toward a freer, more open economy ripe for entrepreneurship. I traveled to five cities in India to meet Thunderbirds who have ditched the corporate world to strike out on their own. All across the country, Thunderbirds are leveraging their global mindset and corporate business acumen to take advantage of the booming environment. Here is the story of how 2008 Thunderbird graduate Samarth Sangal found success in New Delhi.
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What is the worst-case scenario in Yemen? How will Saudi Arabia react if violence from Yemen spills across the border? What is the future of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya? How will instability in the Middle East affect guest workers in the region? How will U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for a return to 1967 borders affect the Arab-Israeli dispute? Thunderbird School of Global Management Professor Paul Kinsinger, a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officer in the Middle East, explores these questions and more in a faculty webcast for alumni on June 2, 2011. “We definitely have seen a two-track set of developments in the Arab world,” said Kinsinger, who will represent Thunderbird Corporate Learning in Saudi Arabia this weekend. “The wealthier monarchies, while they are watching very carefully what is going on, have not — with the exception of Bahrain — been subject to the same types of pressures as have the authoritarian states of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Lybia.” | Faculty webcast: Paul Kinsinger on the Middle East (57:48)
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Pay-per-view subscribers watch Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts in more than 130 countries and 20 languages, but play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg said the global expansion of mixed martial arts is just beginning. “We’ve just scratched the surface,” he said June 2, 2011, in the global strategy class of Thunderbird School of Global Management Professor Andreas Schotter, Ph.D. “You will see global domination.” | Video: UFC Global Expansion (2:34)
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