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The World Economic Forum in Switzerland came to a close this past weekend. The theme this year was The Power of Collaborative Innovation. On the agenda were Anti-corruption, extreme poverty and climate change and more which you can watch online.

2008 is the Year of the Rat, or the Year of the Mouse, as Disney prefers to call it and so enters Mickey Mouse to the China market again. The Disney campaign, called "Mickey brings you the magic of family happiness," launched in early January.

Cultural sensitivities runs high in China, however, the zodiac has helped Disney reopen doors. "Disney is about celebration, bringing families together. We did some research and the idea was very well received among Chinese," said Lance Diaresco, Hong Kong-based VP, marketing for China at Disney. To celebrate the Year of the Mouse, CCTV is putting back Mickey Mouse Clubhouse program on air during February and to rerun the show during the summer.

With limited exposure on television, Disney and BBDO Worldwide in Shanghai revamped the Chinese-language Mickey Mouse web site. With Touchmedia, a Shanghai-based media company, a Disney interactive game platform was created in taxis in China's first and second tier cities.

Read more in AdAgeChina, January 30, 2008

Read the story behind the Bank of America takeover of Countrywide in the January 28th issue of Time magazine. Some say was a bailout, but BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis begs to differ. Before he decided to take over Countrywide, Lewis sent a team bank executives to check out the company. Reports from execs were good. After reviewing the reports, Lewis concluded that problems came from poor management at the top, not problems on the ground. In fact the company had great technology on the front end, great technology in their operations and great people in the trenches. When the deal closes in a few months, Lewis has promised borrowers that he will bend over backwards to avoid foreclosure. His financial limberness is good news for those caught in the subprime debacle.

GSB MBA alum Alvaro Fernandez will speak at "The Emerging Brain Fitness Market: Building Better Brains", an event jointly presented by The MIT Club of Northern California, American Society on Aging, The Business Forum on Aging and SmartSilvers.

Fernandez, CEO of SharpBrains.com, will summarize the science, market segments, players and trends, based on the first Brain Fitness Software Market Report, which will be presented at this event, and will discuss the implications with neuro-technologists, gaming experts and investors. Joining him will be Zack Lynch (Neurotechnology Industry Organization) as Moderator, as well as panelists Andy Donner (Physic Ventures), Kunal Sarkar (CEO Lumos Labs), Alexander Doman (CEO Advanced Brain Technologies), Dan Michel (CEO Dakim). Opening remarks will be given by Susan Ayers Walker, SmartSilvers and AARP.org (Contributing Technology Journalist).

Date: 02/12/2008 Tuesday
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Venue: Wilson Sonsini (950 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto map)
Cost: $20 online, $25 walk-in

See more information and registration at SharpBrains.com.

Michelle Gutman reminds us that the Stanford Law Review, together with the Rock Center for Corporate Governance, is convening its 2008 annual symposium to focus on issues of corporate governance. It will feature a keynote address by Richard Breeden, founder of the activist hedge fund Breeden Partners and former Chairman of the SEC. Interested parties may register.

New Directions for Corporate Governance
Dates: February 8-9, 2008
Location: Stanford Law School, Room 290

The last issue of the year, the Annual, of Advertising Age is all about advertising statistics and ranking. It’s divided into three sections: Marketers, Media, and Agencies. In Marketers section, you’ll find that the most advertising money is spent on cars and in retail sector. Find out how much the top corporations spend on promoting their brands and which media are the most popular, or check out the list of top agencies.

Find out more in print issue in Jackson's Reference Collection (Advertising section). Online access available for Stanford users.

Many people, especially teenagers, don’t necessarily equate loading things on Facebook with publishing to the world, but that is exactly what it is. The whole world is watching -- or at the very least the police are watching, as chatty criminals brag online about their many nefarious deeds, including homicides, rapes, vandalism, underage drinking and other miscellaneous crimes. Pictures of high school and college students swilling beer or pounding down shots have landed many a student in front of a judge, according to the January 13th issue of the Burlington Free Press. This gives credence to the Carnegie Mellon University study, "Information Revelation and Privacy in Online Social Networks", in which authors Ralph Gross and Alessandro Acquisti point out that most users of social networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Friendstar underestimate the security and privacy of social networking sites. Author beware !

DEMO is an event where the world's most promising new technologies are presented and can be the launchpad for many emerging technologies. Some of the demos can be viewed on the DEMO website. An article in the February 4 issue of Fortune gives an overview of which startups have a good chance of making it big in business in their article entitled Got Cash? One startup with lots of buzz is Mint.com which provides free money management software on the web.
The February 4 issue of Fortune also lists the 100 Best Companies to Work For.

As a world-class provider of software and business services, India is creating a huge urban middle class. By 2025, household spending could more than quadruple, generating the 5th-largest consumer economy on Earth, up from 12th now. About 400 million Indian city dwellers—nearly 100 million more people than the United States has today—will enjoy comfortable living standards.

The average annual household spending on necessities, i.e. food and apparel, went down from 61% in 1995 to 48% in 2005. The projected discretionary spending including housing, transportation, education, and healthcare, will be 61% in 2015 and 70% in 2025.

Reported in McKinsey Quarterly Chart Focus Newsletter, January 2008

More on the subject in August 2007 issue of McKinsey Quarterly.

Library friend Michelle Gutman has alerted us of an upcoming discussion of the recent JDS Uniphase trial, in which plaintiffs sought damages of up to $20 billion (the jury returned a verdict for the defendants.) Professor Joseph Grundfest of Stanford Law School will moderate a panel discussion of the plaintiff’s allegations, the defense strategy, and implications for securities fraud litigation going forward. Panelists include lead defense counsel and the lead expert witness, and will discuss implications of the litigation.

Date: January 29, 2008 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: Stanford Law School, Room 290

Reception: 5:00 pm, Law School Faculty Lounge
Presentation: 5:30 pm, Room 290, Stanford Law School

Register at http://rockcenter.stanford.edu/dice

The New York Times reports that from India to Indiana, shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food.

In some countries protests have erupted: in Pakistan over wheat shortages, in Indonesia over soybean shortages. And due to the demand for biofuels, the increasing expense of fuel to transport foodstuffs is causing, in part, the growing cost of the food we eat.

Edward F. Greene, General Counsel of the Markets and Banking Group at Citibank, will speak to students about the recent investments in Wall Street firms by Sovereign Wealth Funds after the subprime meltdown, and issues these investments raise for regulators and investors.

Rock Center Governance Lunch for Students
"How the Subprime Meltdown Brought Sovereign Wealth Funds to Wall Street"
Date: January 25, 2008, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m
Location: Stanford Law School, Room 280-B

The topic of December issue of Red Herring is the rapid development of high-tech industry in Israel. You’ll find an interview with Orna Berry, Israel Venture Association Chair, who attributes the country’s success in maintaining the leading position in today’s global economy to huge investments in the early-stage ventures among other factors. In the interview with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president reveals some major directions of developing the economy such as massive switching to electrical cars in the near future and becoming an incubator of the solar energy. Another set of articles talks about close relations between Israeli new enterprises and Silicon Valley in creating new ventures and collaborating with VC companies such as Benchmark, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock Partners among others. You’ll find an article devoted to the state of biotech research in Israel, its successes and challenges. For more, read the magazine in Jackson Library's Periodicals section.

"Why can't a woman be more like a man?" complained Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady. Springing off this quote, the cover story of the December Jungle issue, Women Taking Charge, focuses on differing perceptions of male and female aggression in the workplace. The article includes mention of a 2007 Catalyst report 'The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership: Damned If You Do, Doomed If You Don't' in reflecting on women's challenges for advancement. In today's workplace, author Gwenda Blair notes, male assertiveness is accepted as normal, while an assertive female can be labeled with the 'b' word (it rhymes with 'hitch'). The article goes on to suggest how women can fight stereotyping. In the same issue is a Top 100 'Ideal Employers of Women', with companies like Google, McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs and Nike leading the list. Read the article online or see the issue in Jackson Library.

Age and gender demos as a method for targeting advertising no longer matters. Statistics for broadcast media's famous sites showed that your advertising dollar can be half wasted. For example, 26.4% of ESPN.com's unique visitors are female. Less than half of AARP.org's visitors fall into the 55+ category. iVillage.com is just over 56% female ... The author argued that it's more important to focus on your interests, lifestyles and behaviors if I want to get a relevant ad message to you. The big selling point for digital media has been its ability to focus like a laser on the most qualified prospects for a product or service. There is value in audience-based guarantee system for digital media. The guarantees could be based on ratings against behaviorally and contextually defined audiences.

Reported in iMediaConnection

Here's an example of what Proximic wants to do to beat Google's AdSense by serving up context-specific ads to users. Watch video.

Can there be peace in a glass of cabernet? In Lebanon’s Bekka Valley they are harvesting grapes that will produce more than 4 million bottles of wine each year. The industry is succeeding, despite Lebanon’s diverse demographics. Christians, Sunni and Shiites work side by side toward a common goal – an exceptional bottle of wine. Religious differences are set aside as workers get to know each other as fellow laborers and human beings. Most Bekka Valley wines are exported, but the focus is to build up domestic sales. This concept may seem surprising in a country where most of the population is forbidden alcohol, but at home behind closed doors, winemakers smile, it is different. Here's a toast -- and a wish -- to an acceptance of differences.

GSB Alum Alvaro Fernandez has alerted us to a blog post on his SharpBrains site. Titled Grand Rounds: Briefing the Next U.S. President, the post is framed as a letter to the President, and offers 40 suggested questions in the areas of health care / science / ethics -- with links to the various blogs that have proposed them. Examples include 'A cocaine vaccination is no longer science fiction. Would you allow, enforce or prohibit it?', 'How will you increase price transparency of medical procedures and engage consumer forces?', and 'How will you reward, motivate and recognize medical innovators?' An interesting way to survey what is on the minds of bloggers as the 2008 election approaches.

While browsing the news, I came across a story that covers a few timely topics, football, the Golden Globes and the writer's strike. A veritible trifecta of information!

Who is Dan Snyder and what does he have in common with aforementioned topics? He is the owner of the Washington Redskins. The coach of the Redskins has decided to step down after the team lost to the Seattle Seahawks. Also because of the writers' strike, NBC pulled the plug on its highly rated Golden Globe Awards program, which Snyder's private-equity firm, Red Zone Capital Partners, acquired last summer as part of his $175 million purchase of Dick Clark Productions. The article states that Snyder's private-equity firm gets a rights fee for the Golden Globe Awards whether it is televised or not.

Dan Snyder is not having a great January. Read more about it.

"China is able to package their government programmes, their state-owned enterprises, their aid programmes in ways that the United States can't," said Ambassador Princeton Lyman of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations at the U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Cape Town, 2007. Lyman described China's activities in Africa as "almost breathtaking. They've come with such vigor and such energy and resources."

Reported in allAfrica.com

They look good on TV -- you heard that just one sale can make your year -- but what you see is not necessarily what you get. Just in time for the recruiting season, an article by Marty Nemko in U.S. News and World Report profiles the most overrated career choices for 2008. Tops on the list are doctors, lawyers, small business owners and real estate agents. A link to each career discusses the initial appeal for each job listed, the downside, and an alternative career that might be more rewarding. Look before you leap !

"Emerging IT Trends Impacting Higher Education … and Tools to Deal with Them"
Presenter: Dr. Jan-Martin Lowendahl*, Gartner analyst
Date: Thursday, January 10, 2008, 9:30am – 11:00am
Where: Room L103, Littlefield Building, GSB
Who: Open to all Stanford faculty, staff, and students (Free; limited to 30 participants)

Summary: The higher education environment is culturally complex, with a wide variety of stakeholders and rapidly changing technologies. How do you know what matters, when so much is relevant and important? What should be a priority? We will take a look at some of the IT trends impacting higher education and discuss some simple tools that can be used to bring order to this increasingly complex situation.

*Based in Sweden, Dr. Jan-Martin is a Gartner Research Director focused on higher education technology strategies including identity and access management, governance, learning technologies, and academic and administrative systems. Prior to coming to Gartner two years ago, he was the CIO at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden where his main focus was infrastructure strategies and governance. He holds a PhD. in chemistry from Goteborg University.

Registration and Question:
Registration is free and is limited to 30 participants. To register, contact Ann Groves, Higher Education Executive, Northwestern Region, Gartner, Inc.; 650-366-4942 (office); 510-821-0938 (cell)

In partnership with IBM, information giant Google is moving to use a network of perhaps one million servers to bring access to massive computing power to universities around the world. As BusinessWeek (12/24/07) puts it, this could potentially lead to Google becoming the world's primary computer. The brainchild of Google employee Christophe Bisciglia, the concept utilizes a vast network of servers called a 'cloud' that can store mind-numbing amounts of information. The scenario seems to fit Google's own corporate vision of organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible. Other organizations that may be poised to use 'cloud power' include Yahoo!, Microsoft and Amazon. Read more online or in Jackson Library.

No one escapes cookies, chocolate or any other types of sweets during the holidays. Many of us have gained a pound or two during that time. The January issue of WIRED has an article entitled Nutritional Values where they discuss the fact that most healthy foods such as dairy, fresh produce and meats are arranged along the walls of supermarkets while the aisles are populated with junk foods and other sundry foods high in fat and calories. The article also confirms that buying a piece of fruit can often be many times more expensive than a candy bar.
For those interested in alternative fuel vehicles and the $10 million Automotive X prize the cover article of this issue is The Race to Build the 100-MPG Car.

In the October 2007 issue of US Banker, the fifth annual "The 25 most powerful women in banking" (full-text available to Stanford users) spotlighted Women bankers held 17.9 percent of executive positions at the 100 largest nationally chartered banks last year, an increase of only 1.9 percentage points since 2003.

Since the ranking's inception, the achievements of more than 225 women have been recognized and 10 women have appeared in the rankings all five years.

The Winter 2008 Stanford Social Innovation Review is now on our Jackson display racks. Included in this latest issue is 'The Responsibility Paradox', by Gerald F. Davis, Marina vN. Whitman and Mayer N. Zald, which begins "With operations scattered around the globe, the modern corporation is a different animal from its predecessors. Yet the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has not changed much over the years. As a result, just as stakeholders are holding corporations more responsible for their actions, corporations understand their responsibilities to shareholders even less. To resolve this paradox, firms must update their CSR practices." Also in the issue: 'In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First' by Srikant Datar, Marc J. Epstein and Kristi Yuthas, 'Cultivate Your Ecosystem' by Paul N. Bloom and J. Gregory Dees, 'Getting Human Rights Right', by Jenik Radon, Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos, and Tarek Farouk Maassarani, as well as an interview with Thomas Vander Ark of the X Prize Foundation, explaining how prizes can create social change. Interested? Come take a look at the issue on the racks in Jackson Library, or subscribe.

McKinsey Quarterly reports eight new ways of doing business that will shape the economy in years to come. These trends fall within three broad areas of business activity: managing relationships, managing capital and assets, and leveraging information in new ways.

Here are a few highlights:
1. Cocreation -- company harvesting talents of innovators working outside corporate boundaries. For example, the Linux operationg system was developed over the Internet by a network of specialists. It is estimated that roughly 12% of all labor activity in the U.S. economy could be transformed by distributed and networked forms of innovation.

2. Consumer as innovators -- for instance, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is created by its distributed customers. Another example is Threadless, the online T-shirt store that asks consumer to submit new designes for T-shirts to be voted on by the community at large.

3. Outsourcing -- companies parcel out work to specialists, free agents, and talent networks. Topcoder, a company that has created a network of software developers in order that companies can access this talent pool instead of employing experienced engineers.

4. Extracting value from interactions -- companies invest in interactions may find smarter and faster ways for individuals and teams to create value that is difficult for their rivals to replicate.

6. Unbundling production -- Amazon.com, for example, has expanded its business model to let other retailers use its logistics and distribution services. Unbundling enables the supply side to raise asset utilization rates and therefore their returns on invested capital. On the demand side, unbundling offers access to resources and assets that might otherwise require a large fixed investment or significant scale to achieve competitive marginal cost.

Read the article in December 2007 issue of McKinsey Quarterly

Happy 2008, everybody. Let's start the new year with a look back. Thanks to modern technology and the fortuitous discovery of an archival audiotape, we are privileged to listen again to the words of Ernest Arbuckle, Dean of the Stanford Business School, and his colleagues Professors Theodore Kreps and Alexander Bavelas, in a recording of a 1959 symposium on business education. Enjoy this rare opportunity to venture back in time by going to our GSB Oral History Program webpage. (Special thanks to Instructional Techology Media Services for their work). While there, check out the latest news about the Program, which is dedicated to recovering and preserving the institutional memory of the School.