Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship Blog

By Melissa Beran Samuelson, Thunderbird instructor

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — I arrived here as anyone does when flying half-way around the world, tired. However, I am so excited to be a part of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) Conference. That excitement carried me through cancelled connections, taxi rides between airports, and a last leg full of turbulence before landing in Kuala Lumpur.
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Corporate leaders looking for guidance in the prolonged economic crisis should check their rearview mirrors for fast-approaching global entrepreneurs, Thunderbird Professor Robert Hisrich, Ph.D., said recently from his office at the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship. He said big corporations can learn important survival lessons from small startups that know how to seize opportunities, stretch resources and create value for everyone around them.
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Women seeking equal participation in business leadership have made progress in some countries, but an award-winning study by Thunderbird Professor Amanda M. Bullough, Ph.D., shows that all countries still have room for improvement. “No country has achieved full gender equality in business leadership, but I think it’s achievable,” Bullough said. “And I don’t think it’s far off.” Her study, which divides 115 countries into four tiers based on women’s participation in business leadership, earned the best paper award for increased gender awareness in international business research at the 2009 Academy of International Business conference June 30 in San Diego.
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Governments around the world have spent trillions of dollars to save banks, automakers and insurance companies, but Thunderbird Professor Robert D. Hisrich, Ph.D., calls that a mistake. Big corporations that benefit the most from the bailouts won’t save the world from economic crisis, he says. The bulk of new jobs, products, services, economic stimulus and philanthropy will come instead from entrepreneurs ready to pounce on new opportunities in the changed economy.
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By Ernesto Poza, Thunderbird professor

Family businesses that are both long-lasting and successful have managed to beat stiff odds. Only 32 percent of family businesses are passed down to the second generation, and 12 percent are still controlled by the founding family by the third. To find out what makes some multigenerational family businesses more resilient, I interviewed fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation leaders of 16 companies that are at least 100 years old.
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Success has come as an unintended side effect for Trevor Stansbury, Thunderbird’s 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year and a 1992 graduate of the business school in Glendale, Ariz. The president of Supply Dynamics in Loveland, Ohio, has put his primary focus on his customers and company since launching the enterprise in 2003. The result has been engaged employees and satisfied customers, including industry leaders such as Honeywell, Cessna, General Electric, Westinghouse and hundreds of their respective suppliers.
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Family business leaders looking for a smooth transition to the next generation can start planning today with six guidelines outlined in an ongoing study from Thunderbird’s Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship in Glendale, Ariz. “Silence or denial of the succession challenge is not the answer,” said Thunderbird Professor Ernesto Poza, co-author of the study prepared for the Dubai International Financial Centre in the United Arab Emirates.
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By Steven Stralser, Thunderbird professor

I have never been a big fan of Star Trek. For me, it’s like having CNN on TV while I’m working on a project at my computer: in the background, kind of knowing what’s going on, but not paying particular attention. But Star Trek’s recent movie release and box office success has interested me in reflecting on some entrepreneurship takeaways from what’s been an enduring franchise, now into a third generation of Trekkies. | Video: Steven Stralser shares business lessons from the Star Trek franchise (4:27) |
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