The special, March/April 2008, issue of Technology Review presents its annual listing of top emerging technologies in various industries and their frontrunners. Among those is Frances Arnold. He is designing better enzymes capable of breaking down cellulose found in biomass which can be used as biofuels. Another example is physicist Marin Soljačič, who is working on creating wireless power technology, e.g. transmitting electricity to devices without cables. To find out what all new technologies are about, read the article in Jackson Library or online.
Scientists who study play in animals and humans are beginning to view it as an important part of neurological growth and development. They believe play can help children build "complex, skilled, responsive, socially adept and cognitively flexible brains." But what about the darker side of 'play'? Read Robin Marantz Henig's complete story of play and its importance in human development in the February 17th issue of the New York Times Magazine.
Google is getting into the Web site building business, enabling just about anyone to quickly set up and update a Web site with pictures, calendars and video.
"We are literally adding an edit button to the Web," said Dave Girouard, general manager of the division overseeing the new application. All sites created on the service will run on one of Google's computers.
Google acquired many of the Web-site tools when it bought a Silicon Valley startup, JotSpot, last year.
Washingtonpost.com
Taken a look lately at our Business Web Sites ? These are sites our librarians discover on the public Web, and we're constantly adding to them. For example, some selections from our latest crop, with the subject section of the BWS where they may be found : Ecosystem Marketplace (in 'Environment'), about markets and payment schemes for ecosystem services, IRS Business Tax Statistics (in 'Accounting & Taxes') with data on tax returns, Kidon Media Link (in 'News') with links to thousands of newspaper sites, PayScale (in 'Human Resources') offering how to compare your job and skills with your peers, and Webopedia (in 'Reference'), an online dictionary of computer and Internet terms. There are lots more, and in coming days we'll be highlighting some of these. (This is the first in a series on the Business Web Sites.)
GSB Professor Bob Sutton writes in his blog about the 'rollicking interview' he and colleague Professor Hayagreeva "Huggy" Rao did at Pixar recently with Oscar winning director (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) Brad Bird. Apparently Bird was brought in to Pixar, among other things, to mix it up -- to keep the firm from resting on its laurels. Sutton promises more about the interview later, but notes that Bird explicitly told the company "Give me your black sheep". In addition to seeking out those employees who had been dissatisfied with the direction of the firm, Bird threw in other radical ideas to keep the pot bubbling, ideas found in Sutton's book Weird Ideas That Work. Apropos, one piece of advice from the book: 'Forget the past, especially your company's successes'.
I’m not sure how many people in the United States have heard of Northern Rock, however in Europe and especially in England it has made headlines. As one of the top five mortgage lenders in the UK the bank was hit hard following problems in the credit markets caused by the US subprime mortgage financial crisis. The Bank was Nationalized on February 17, 2008 to help ally investor fears. Was this a good or bad move? The newly appointed head of Northern Rock is a Stanford GSB alum who was able to turn Lloyd’s around in the mid-1990s. You can read more about him in the Forbes article entitled Sandler Takes Northern Rock Helm.
Harvard University Arts & Sciences faculty voted on February 12 to give the University a worldwide license to publish their scholarly articles online, making them available free of charge. This act on the part of a world-class university will be seen as a major step in the expansion of the open access movement. Harvard faculty will continue to retain copyright for their articles, subject to the University's license, but will be allowed to obtain a waiver of the license in particular cases.
How did Kenny G make the cover of the Billboard February 16, 2008 cover? He has left his music label and is selling his new album exclusively through Starbucks. It has turned out that besides imbibing your latte at the store many consumers have been buying music too. Starbucks has become one of the most powerful retailers in music, selling over half a million copies of Paul McCartney's last CD. You can read more about this in a series of articles in Billboard about music and Starbucks entitled 'The Future Sound of Starbucks'. A report on the Sunday morning show entitled G Whiz goes into more detail about the business relationship between the coffee maker and music.
Well, the sun is not coming out in Palo Alto today, and rain is on the way. The title of my blog has to do with an article in The New York Times about Silicon Valley becoming a world leader in cheap and ubiquitous solar panels for the masses. The author suggests some of the valley’s best brains are captivated by the challenge of prodcing low cost solar panels and they hope to put the development of solar technologies onto a faster track.
Fishing for reading for the holiday weekend? The Popular Books Rack in Jackson Library has some new catches. Revolt in the Boardroom: The New Rules of Power in Corporate America, a new book by Alan Murray of the Wall Street Journal, describes the recent shift of corporate power from CEOs to the boardroom. Former President Bill Clinton's Giving: How Each of Us Can Change The World reveals the innovative efforts being made by companies and organizations to solve problems are save lives, and calls upon each of us to join in, "regardless of income, available time, age, and skills." Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis offers a framework for making tough calls when the stakes are high and the right path is far from obvious. In Opting Out: Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home, Pamela Stone interviews professional women who returned home after promising careers, and concludes that most of these women were not 'opting out' but were being forced out. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus points us toward 'creating a world without poverty' in his book of the same name. Finally, The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York by Chandler Burr of the New York Times Style Magazine, chronicles an unprecedented year spent behind the scenes of the industry, focusing on perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena and actress Sarah Jessica Parker and their independent quests to create 'the perfect scent'. All this -- and more -- on our Popular Books display.
Were you struck by Cupid’s arrow, or does your prospective partner just smell right? Much like the rest of the animal kingdom, humans respond to olfactory cues. Pheromones and MHC tend to impact who we choose as a mate. And rejection may activate the regions of the brain that control addiction. Could this be the reason you can’t stop thinking about the lover that said adieu before you were ready to say goodbye? Read about the science behind the romance in the January 28th issue of Time magazine. Happy Valentine’s Day.
Local police departments, including Palo Alto, use a public database by Public Engines, a private company that works only with government entities, to plot daily crime incidents using Google Maps. 45 agencies now use the web site, which launched last spring in Washington, D.C. "Citizens can do a search in their particular community to see what's going on in their neighborhoods," Sgt. Sandra Brown of the Palo Alto Police Department said. After a recent burst of national publicity, the site handled more than 100,000 visitors in a single day.
Reported in Palo Alto Daily News
According to the LBO section of Mergers and Acquisitions magazine (February 2008), the article The Mezz Revival: As other financing option fade, the mezzanine market marches forward mezzanine providers are swamped with work. Churchill Capital mentions they have up to 15 transactions waiting in the wings. During this time of financial ups and downs the mezzanine investments are more stable than other forms of financing.
The Environment News Service reports that the Carbon Disclosure Project, a collaboration of 385 institutional investors with assets of $57 trillion ( that's with a t ) under management, has issued a request to the world's largest corporations. Companies are asked to measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, and report on their strategy for dealing with risks and opportunities associated with climate change. The resulting information will be held on the website of the Project, an independent not-for-profit organization based in London. Also available on the website is Bill Clinton's 2007 launch speech, as well as a video message from Rupert Murdoch and a letter from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As more and more leaders testify, green is the way to go.
A chance for free books and a free lunch can be found in the February issue of JacksonLine. You can get details on our new source for analyst reports and learn about a new Lehman Brothers offering that we are testing.
A blog by GSB Professor Bob Sutton notes a recent HBR piece that argues female corporate superstars are importable across firms, their male counterparts less so. Sutton points to Harvard Professor Boris Groysberg's article 'How Star Women Build Portable Skills' in the Harvard Business Review, that makes the case for the transferability of women superstar employees. Groysberg writes that there are at least two explanations for this discrepancy ... Well, you'll need to read the article. Or at least Bob Sutton's blog. The issue is on our current periodical racks in Jackson Library (or, if you are a member of the Stanford community, go to the Business Source Complete database.)
Biofuels, such as corn ethanol and soybean diesel, have long been welcomed as the environmental friendly alternatives to gasoline. However, in recent months, more scientists have scrutinized the environmental cost of the production of biofuels and presented contrary findings and controversial viewpoints. The latest two studies, published in the the prestigious journal Science, concluded that "almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these 'green' fuels are taken into account." Read more about the controversy in the story "Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat" in The New York Times.
On this same topic are also two excellent NPR programs: Talk of the Nation's "Environmentalists Debate the Promise of Biofuels" and All Things Considered's "Study: Ethanol Worse for Climate Than Gasoline".
There's a new study out that says it costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer. "It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. "But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more." So the moral of this story is to save money, eat all of those fattening burgers and smoke as much as you want, but then again you'll be dead and you won't be able to spend all the money you saved?
Those who are interested in investment industry please check out the Private Equity Analyst 2007 Review and 2008 Outlook. This annual supplement contains statistics on top VC and Buyout deals of the past year along with the ranking of the top fund managers and alternative investors. As for the future, the Private Equity Analyst gives its outlook on overall economic environment, fund raising, LP, and emerging markets. Find the publication in Jackson library's Reference Collection (Alphabetical Subject Section: Venture Capital).
Has the 'tipping point' toppled ? Guy Kawasaki in his blog cites an article by Clive Thompson in FastWired magazine that takes on the currently popular concept fostered by Malcolm Gladwell. The gist of Thompson’s piece is that the theory that a select few 'key influencers' matter more than 'the rest of us' in viral and word-of-mouth marketing campaigns is flawed. Has Gladwell tipped too far ?
Michelle Gutman of GSB Corporate Governance Research informs us of the latest addition to their corporate governance case study series:
Models of Corporate Governance: Who’s the Fairest of Them All?
Case Number: CG-11 Publication Year: 2008 Authors: David F. Larcker; Brian Tayan
In 2007, corporate governance became a well-discussed topic in the business press. Central to these stories was the assumption that somehow corporate governance was to blame. That is, there was a functional failure in the system of checks and balances established to prevent abuse by executives. This case explores the various corporate governance systems that have been adopted in the United States and in various countries in Europe and Asia. The issues of control, director independence, auditor independence, dual-board vs. unitary-board structure, comply-or-explain, and legislative versus market-driven solutions are explored. Readers are asked to evaluate what governance systems or elements they consider to be most effective. Plentiful examples -- Johnson & Johnson, BMW Group, Michelin, Heineken, Toyota, Samsung, Posco, PetroChina, Infosys, and many others -- are included.
A searchable list of available GSB cases can be found on the GSB website.
What is at the 'root of evil' in sports and business? According to Andy Kern, doctoral student in Finance at the University of Missouri-Columbia, it is financial incentives. In the locker room athletes take tremendous risks in pursuit of big money. Are executives taking risks with stock options for the same reason? Mr Kern seems to think there is no other reason for the Enron debacle.
恭喜發財 "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" We wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year, as the lunar new year eve falls today. Chinese and non-Chinese around the world will join in the celebrations, which kick off this evening. Reuniting with one's family at this time is considered highly important. This 'Year of the Rat' is 4706 by the ancient counting, and begins the 12-year zodiacal cycle anew. Accounts of the origins of the calendar vary; they lie in the mythical past. New year parades are held in different parts of the United States, including our local one in San Francisco Chinatown. Check for the parade nearest you !
Many cars in the United States have EDR (event data recorder) devices installed; these devices are similar to black boxes found in planes. The box records, among other things, the speed of the vehicle, seatbelt usage, and airbag and brake status. The EDR is a double edge sword. It’s a great tool to find out what happened in an accident but on the other hand it’s giving out personal information on the driver.
Risk Management Magazine in a February 2008 article entitled A Spy Under the Hood discusses how a company can best leverage EDR technology when managing a fleet of vehicles.
Researchers at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom have designed an interactive color Sudoku game, one of many programs designed to explore the interplay between logic and perception as humans interact with computers. Empirical Modelling, what the scientists call this approach, pays more attention to what humans take into account and provides a practical means to explore problems that aren’t so cut and dry.
In the case of color Sudoku, it can mean a mix of perception, expectation, experience, logic, and of course, color discernment.
Reported at MSNBC
Related blog on Sudoku
The Jackson Library provides access to Thomson Investext database effective February 1, 2008 for the GSB community. It provides investment research reports written by analysts at investment banks and consulting firms. To access Investext reports, please look under "Company Analysis > Research" in the database (via WebApps for GSB students/faculty/staff off-campus). About 30 MBA students and staff participated in trials of analyst report databases. Library staff appreciated their feedback and hope this new service is useful. Please stop by at the Library's Info Desk or call 650-723-2163 if you have any questions.
No it doesn't stand for "extra funny thoughts" or some such thing, EFT stands for "exchange traded funds". While at the reference desk, here at the b-school library, I've been asked where to find information about these funds. Well, today I happened to find a site by Bloomberg.com that answers the question "What are EFTs?" I thought I would pass the site along to others out there in the blog-o-sphere who also maybe seeking. Enjoy.
I have to blog on the Super Bowl today. This year the Super Bowl ads, in my opinion didn't measure up. Perhaps I have ad burnout between all the political ads and weight loss companies trying to get you to sign up because of new year resolutions I have had enough.
Okay my rant is over, back to our scheduled blog. Take a look at the article posted on CNN today to see how much those super bowl commercials costs.
Did you miss the ads? You may catch them at MySpace Superspots.
Atlantic magazine January / February 2008 asks the $1.4 trillion question: Are we playing the Chinese for suckers, or are they playing us? Author James Fallows ponders the vast sum that the Chinese government has mostly placed in U.S. Treasury notes, an amount that increases roughly $1 billion per day. By his calculations, every person in the United States has over the past 10 years borrowed about $4,000 from the People's Republic of China. But there are potential future risks involved -- political and economic. And China has its own hopes. Chinese economic movers and shakers like Lou Jiwei and Gao Xiqing may in future play a far bigger role in U.S. economics than Americans would prefer. What will be the answer to the $1.4 trillion dollar question? Read more
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