• By Presenter

  Malcolm P. Baker: Behavioral Finance David E. Bell: The Revolution in Food Bhaskar Chakravorti: Letting No Serious Crisis Go to Waste: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Downturn Joshua D. Coval: The Rise and Fall of Structured Finance Thomas J. DeLong: Why Smart People Won't Change Rafael M. Di Tella: The Demand for Capitalism Robert G. Eccles: Building Capabilities: Ensuring Long-Term Success in a Professional Services Firm Thomas R. Eisenmann: Google's Next Moves Tamara J. Erickson: The Challenge of the Changing Workforce Keith Ferrazzi: Who's Got Your Back—Building Relationships for Success in Life Lee Fleming: Regional Disadvantage: How Non-compete Agreements Impact Careers, Entrepreneurship, and Innovative Dynamics C. Fritz Foley: Foreign Direct Investment and Trade during Turbulent Times Julio Frenk: Global Health in the 21st Century: Crossroads of Science, Business and Policy Kenneth A. Froot: Vicious Cycles, Investor Behavior, and the Current Financial Crisis Raymond V. Gilmartin: The Unique Challenges of Leading a Science Based Business Stuart C. Gilson: What Every Manager Needs to Know About Chapter 11: Lessons from the Restructuring of Delphi Corporation Joline Godfrey: Raising Financially Fit Kids in a New Economic Landscape Allen S. Grossman: Building and Sustaining High Performing Nonprofit Organizations Sunil Gupta: Digital Marketing Richard G. Hamermesh: Healthcare at HBS—It's Not Your Father's Oldsmobile Regina E. Herzlinger: Who Killed Health Care and the Current Public Policy Options? Monica Higgins: Learning to Succeed at Scale in Education Linda A. Hill: Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders? Daniel Isenberg: The New Global Entrepreneur Robert Steven Kaplan: Discussion of the Current Economic Crisis Mukti Khaire: Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: The Challenges of Being a Pioneer Tarun Khanna:Thriving During the Financial Crisis in Emerging Markets Professor William C. Kirby: China and the United States: Mutual Dependency? Joseph B. Lassiter: Building Green Business Herman "Dutch" B. Leonard: Into the Unknown: Ernest Shackleton and Leadership in Troubled Times Christopher J. Malloy: Social Networks and the Stock Market Douglas Melton: The Promise of Stem Cell Science Jane Mendillo: Endowment Management in a Changing World Robert C. Merton: Observations on the Financial Crisis: Macro Financial Risk Propagation, Structural Risks, and Regulatory Recommendations Mark H. Moore: The Competitive Struggle for Social Legitimacy Ronald W. Moore: Valuation of Firms in Financial Distress Das Narayandas: Building Capabilities: Ensuring Long-Term Success in a Professional Services Firm Das Narayandas: Managing Mature Products in Declining Markets André Perold: Investment Management in the New Financial Environment Nicholas P. Retsinas: The State of the Nation's Housing William A. Sahlman: Managerial Lessons of the Financial Crisis Bruce R. Scott: Is The Financial Crisis a Crisis in Capitalism or Even U.S. Capitalism? Arthur I. Segel: Re-securitizing Real Estate? Benson P. Shapiro: Tighten the Belt Without Strangling the Business Willy Shih: Rules are Dead, people are Alive: Harnessing Bottom-up Innovation on the Factory Floor Robert N. Stavins: Getting Serious About Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World Howard H. Stevenson: Make Your Own Luck Peter Tufano: Putting Consumers Back Into Finance Richard H.K. Vietor: The Power of Wind Andrew Wasynczuk: Negotiating for Player Talent in the NFL Patti Wilson: How to Build Your Brand Using LinkedIn and Social Media Tools

• By Topic

  Climate Change Getting Serious About Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World Education Learning to Succeed at Scale in Education Finance & Investing Behavioral Finance Putting Consumers Back Into Finance The Financial Crisis The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns Letting No Serious Crisis Go to Waste: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Downturn The Rise and Fall of Structured Finance Foreign Direct Investment and Trade during Turbulent Times Vicious Cycles, Investor Behavior, and the Current Financial Crisis Observations on the Financial Crisis: Macro Financial Risk Propagation, Structural Risks, and Regulatory Recommendations Valuation of Firms in Financial Distress Thriving During the Financial Crisis in Emerging Markets Discussion of the Current Economic Crisis What Every Manager Needs to Know About Chapter 11: Lessons from the Restructuring of Delphi Corporation Managing Mature Products in Declining Markets The Financial Crisis a Crisis in Capitalism or Even US Capitalism? Global Growth Opportunities Building Capabilities: Ensuring Long-Term Success in a Professional Services Firm Regional Disadvantage: How Non-compete Agreements Impact Careers, Entrepreneurship, and Innovative Dynamics The New Global Entrepreneur China and the United States: Mutual Dependency? Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: The Challenges of Being a Pioneer Managerial Lessons of the Financial Crisis Tighten the Belt Without Strangling the Business Healthcare and Nonprofits Building and Sustaining High Performing Nonprofit Organizations Healthcare at HBS—It's Not Your Father's Oldsmobile Who Killed Health Care and the Current Public Policy Options? Global Health in the 21st Century: Crossroads of Science, Business and Policy The Promise of Stem Cell Science Innovation and Green Business The Revolution in Food The Unique Challenges of Leading a Science Based Business Building Green Businesses The Power of Wind Management, Governance, and Leadership Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders? Into the Unknown: Ernest Shackleton and Leadership in Troubled Times Rules are Dead, people are Alive: Harnessing Bottom-up Innovation on the Factory Floor The Demand for Capitalism The Competitive Struggle for Social Legitimacy Endowment Management in a Changing World Investment Management in the New Financial Environment Negotiation Negotiating for Player Talent in the NFL Personal—Professional Why Smart People Won't Change Make Your Own Luck Who's Got Your Back—Building Relationships for Success in Life Raising Financially Fit Kids in a New Economic Landscape The Challenge of the Changing Workforce Real Estate Re-securitizing Real Estate? The State of the Nation's Housing Technology and Social Media Social Networks and the Stock Market Digital Marketing Google's Next Moves How to Build Your Brand Using LinkedIn and Social Media Tools Google Inc. — KIDS CASE ONLY Facebook's Platforms — KIDS CASE ONLY

Report on the School

Friday, May 29. 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

• Details

  SPEAKER: Professor William A. Sahlman, MBA '75
  Senior Associate Dean, External Relations
  SPEAKER: Dean Jay Light, DBA '70

The Global Economic Crisis

Friday, May 29. 8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

• Details

  Burden Auditorium
  PANELISTS: Professor Paul Healy, Professor David Moss, Professor Peter Tufano
  MODERATOR: Dean Jay Light, DBA '70

Faculty Research

HBS Faculty Presentations: Session I

Friday, May 29. 10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

• The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns

  We invite you to re-experience the HBS Classroom through an interactive case discussion on Friday, May 29. HBS faculty members will teach The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns during each of the Friday sessions. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Learn more.

• Behavioral Finance

  Malcolm Baker, Professor of Business Administration

  At the foundation of finance theory is the idea that investors and managers act rationally. This leads to the simple predictions that capital market prices reflect fundamentals and managers respond to incentives in predictable ways. The field of "behavioral" finance proposes a broader role for social, cognitive, and emotional biases in individual choices and market outcomes. Drawing on his research and examples from a new course in the MBA program, Professor Baker will describe how insights from psychology and behavioral finance can help explain the behavior of capital markets and firms and the function of financial intermediaries.

  Related Reading from HBS Working Knowledge

  • Behavioral Finance—Benefiting from Irrational Investors
  • Adam Smith, Behavioral Economist?
• Why Smart People Won't Change

  Thomas J. DeLong, Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice

  Many high-need for achievement personalities find the process of individual change very difficult. Some professionals resign themselves to life and organizational situations that are miserable or where they feel caught, where there is a lack of learning taking place. Professor DeLong will discuss individual motivation and how to leverage the opportunities that confront us in our professional and private lives.

• Google's Next Moves

  Thomas R. Eisenmann, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration

  Following in the path of IBM then Microsoft, Google is emerging as the new hegemon of information industries. We will explore Google's business model and strategy with several questions in mind. Is Google likely to monopolize web search? If it does, what might be the repercussions for advertisers, Internet content providers, and society at large? How will Google gain access to mobile phone and TV screens as it strives to become the dominant intermediary connecting consumers and advertisers? Finally, to what extent is Google vulnerable to external challenges and internal management problems?

• Regional Disadvantage: How Non-compete Agreements Impact Careers, Entrepreneurship, and Innovative Dynamics

  Lee Fleming, Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration

  Most U.S. states enforce employee noncompete covenants. Such agreements typically prohibit the employee from taking a job with a competitor for a specified time (generally one to two years). While some have argued that California's lack of enforcement is largely responsible for Silicon Valley's success, others claim that such agreements are difficult to enforce and thus often ignored. But causality is very hard to determine. For example, is California's technological dynamism due to the lack of enforcement of noncompetes, or other economic, social, and cultural reasons?

  We exploit an inadvertent change in the noncompete laws of Michigan as a natural experiment to explore the implications of noncompete agreements for careers, entrepreneurship, and innovative dynamics. We supplement 35 years of patent data with field interviews and questionnaire data. We find that noncompetes substantially impact career mobility, especially for inventors with specialized technical skills, firm-specific skills, and greater social capital. From field work we learn that much of this impact stems from uncertainty and fear of prosecution: even though few noncompete cases are brought to court, most individuals do not understand the law, and most lack the financial resources to fight a protracted legal battle. While we find historical evidence that inventors and knowledge have migrated from states that enforce noncompetes to those that do not, the causal evidence for a "brain-drain" remains weak. We do find, however, that inventors who leave their employer are less likely to join entrepreneurial firms and more likely to leave their technical specialty.

  These deleterious effects of noncompetes, for both human and social capital, may be exacerbated in difficult economic times. Most noncompetes are constructed to be enforceable against individuals who were laid off, contributing to un- and underemployment. Noncompete enforcement also places a brake on entrepreneurship as incumbents receive extensive subsidies and individuals become more risk averse. We close with a brief discussion of legislative activity on the topic.

• Who Killed Health Care and the Current Public Policy Options?

  Regina E. Herzlinger, Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration

  This session will discuss how the U.S. reached its present health-care situation—47 million uninsured, high costs, and high but erratic quality; the public policy cures currently being discussed; and their impact on the business community and society as a whole.

• The New Global Entrepreneur

  Daniel J. Isenberg, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

  The globalization of capital markets, the growth and other changes in emerging economics, the easy access to information, and the migration of labor are all contributing to a newly emerging model of global entrepreneurship in which opportunities are global in nature and sourced anywhere, and new ventures are "born global." Professor Isenberg will present numerous examples of global ventures from his course development and experience as an entrepreneur, and draw some conclusions about what factors lead to success of global startups.

• Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: The Challenges of Being a Pioneer

  Mukti Khaire, Assistant Professor of Business Administration

  While entrepreneurship in the best of circumstances can be a challenge, being an entrepreneur in an emerging economy is a process with multiple levels of uncertainty. Often, entrepreneurs in emerging economies are pioneers, in fact creating the industry they are in. This raises unique problems of legitimacy and the lack of established templates. Understanding how such "pioneer–entrepreneurs" deal with these challenges has implications for all managers and entrepreneurs operating in highly uncertain environments.

• Thriving During the Financial Crisis in Emerging Markets

  Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor

  Tarun Khanna will speak on entrepreneurship in China and India, during and after the Global Financial Crisis. Understanding the relative strengths of China and India forms the backdrop for this discussion. He will also be drawing comparisons to some crisis situations in other emerging markets, such as Asia, Latin America and the Middle East in the last decade, during his talk.

• Into the Unknown: Ernest Shackleton and Leadership in Troubled Times

  Herman "Dutch" B. Leonard, Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration

  As leaders, we take our organizations into unknown circumstances every time we launch a new project, develop a new product, enter a new market. What can we learn about how to organize ourselves and our team, how to make decisions, and how to stay positive in troubled times from explorers who found themselves in grave peril for extended periods—and survived? Ernest Shackleton and 26 companions ventured south in 1914 in an attempt to cross Antarctica. Instead, they became stuck in the offshore icepack, which eventually crushed and sank their ship. Left with only three small lifeboats and modest provisions, they camped on the ice for months—and, after an epic 15-month struggle including an 800-mile journey across the roughest seas on earth in an open boat, they arranged a self-rescue.

• The State of the Nation's Housing

  Nicolas P. Retsinas, Lecturer of Business Administration; Director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies

  Housing markets imploded in 2007. Mortgage performance eroded badly and lenders responded by tightening underwriting standards, sparking an even steeper slide in home sales and housing starts. The market has overreacted and the government atypically has under-reacted. With housing markets in a tailspin, many have begun to question the long-term underpinnings of demand. When will this housing slide end? What are the prospects for recovery?

  Related Reading from HBS Working Knowledge

  • Podcast: Revisiting Rental Housing
• Managerial Lessons of the Financial Crisis

  William A. Sahlman, Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff — MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean for External Relations

  Will focus on understanding the management decisions that led to the crisis in the first place and how management has to change going forward.

• The Power of Wind

  Richard H.K. Vietor, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management; Senior Associate Dean

  Wind power is the most rapidly growing source of energy in the world today. It is renewable, secure and generates no carbon. But Americans have been relatively slow to develop wind, both because of local political opposition and the absence of consistent and supportive public policies.

• Negotiating for Player Talent in the NFL

  Andrew Wasynczuk, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

  Engaging specialized talent is common and critical in many industries including entertainment, health care and financial services. In this interactive session, a brief case will be analyzed in which an NFL G.M. (disguised) considers what steps to take to retain his star player. An assessment of the "value" of the player is merely a starting point. Other factors, including alternatives, motivation of the player, and impact on the rest of the team are considered. The advantages and challenges of working through an agent are also explored.

  Related Reading from HBS Working Knowledge

  • Marketing Maria: Managing the Athlete Endorsement
  • Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change

HBS Faculty Presentations: Session II

Friday, May 29. 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns

  We invite you to re-experience the HBS Classroom through an interactive case discussion on Friday, May 29. HBS faculty members will teach The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns during each of the Friday sessions. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Learn more.

• The Rise and Fall of Structured Finance

  Joshua D. Coval, Robert G. Kirby Professor of Business Administration

  This presentation will consider the ongoing financial crisis and the central role played by structured finance activities. Professor Coval will examine how structured credit products such as CDOs amplify both investor and rating agency mistakes in evaluating and pricing credit risks. We will assess the dramatic repricing that has occurred in these markets. We will evaluate the government's view that forced liquidations have caused structured credit securities to trade at excessive discounts and thereby imperil banks that are otherwise healthy.

• The Demand for Capitalism

  Rafael M. Di Tella, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration

  To maintain public support for capitalism, we must regularly punish people who are perceived to be corrupt and "mean". This is a theme which runs from Teddy Roosevelt in his "Trust Buster" days to anti-trust regulation and law enforcement of today. It is hard to know why this institutional aspect of capitalism is under-supplied in the developing world, but we believe that it should be part of the agenda of international development institutions like the World Bank.

• Building Capabilities: Ensuring Long-Term Success in a Professional Services Firm

  Robert G. Eccles, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration and Das Narayandas, James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration; Chair, Program for Leadership Development

  Economic, regulatory and technological forces are constantly creating new challenges for companies, the clients of professional service firms (PSFs). In order to help their clients meet these challenges, PSFs must build new capabilities. Expanding into new territories or new service offerings also involves building capabilities, both for the individual professionals and for the firm. One of the most effective ways to build capabilities is through a disciplined process for selecting projects and clients. This is surprisingly rare in PSFs where the more typical process is an ad-hoc and reactive one. Other important aspects of building capabilities including branding, thought leadership and knowledge management. Long-term success in a PSF depends upon institutionalizing capability building as a core process of the firm.

• Foreign Direct Investment and Trade during Turbulent Times

  C. Fritz Foley, Associate Professor of Business Administration

  In this session, we will discuss some of the challenges that multinational firms, importers, and exporters are facing during the global financial crisis. Levels of foreign direct investment and trade had reached record levels and were showing signs of continued growth at the beginning of the 21st century. However, multinational firms now face threats that are a consequence of turbulence in financial markets as well as several other risks including the possibility of significant tax policy changes. The session will explain some basic aspects of the nature of trade and foreign investment and consider how these inform current challenges.

• What Every Manager Needs to Know About Chapter 11: Lessons from the Restructuring of Delphi Corporation

  Stuart C. Gilson, Steven R. Fenster Professor of Business Administration

  In late 2005, Delphi Corporation, principal supplier of automotive parts to General Motors, filed for Chapter 11, making it the largest industrial company to ever seek U.S. bankruptcy protection. Delphi's ongoing effort to restructure itself, complicated by the global credit crisis and economic recession, represents one of the most complex and challenging bankruptcies in modern times. Through analysis of Delphi's bankruptcy, this session will cover the basics of Chapter 11, including the tools and strategies that managers can use to restructure debt and other obligations (e.g., leases, pension plans, and retiree health care benefits). The session will also cover the increasingly influential role played by "vulture investors" in restructuring of distressed companies, and the serious challenges that currently confront the U.S. auto industry.

• Digital Marketing

  Sunil Gupta, Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration; Unit Head, Marketing

  Digital media, and in particular social media like YouTube, Facebook, blogs, and Twitter, represent radically new tools for reaching and collaborating with customers. In this presentation we will discuss the trends in new media and a framework for formulating your digital strategy.

• Healthcare at HBS—It's Not Your Father's Oldsmobile

  Richard G. Hamermesh, MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice

  Healthcare accounts for 17% of US GDP, attracts 10% of HBS students and is a key research focus of close to 20% of the faculty. In 2005, the HBS Healthcare Initiative was launched under the leadership of Professor Richard Hamermesh. Professor Hamermesh will review the accomplishments of the Initiative and the key role the School is playing throughout the Harvard community in healthcare. In addition, Professor Hamermesh will discuss his own research on Personalized Medicine. He will try to answer what the $1000 genome means for you as an individual and as a source of new business opportunities.

• Where Will We Find Tomorrow's Leaders

  Linda A. Hill, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration

  What kind of leadership do world-class organizations need? Professor Hill will discuss the connection between leadership and innovation, explaining that the type of leaders we need in the future may differ from those in the past.

• Discussion of the Current Economic Crisis

  Robert Steven Kaplan, Professor of Management Practice

  Discussion of the current economic crisis and implications for participants.

• Building Green Businesses

  Joseph B. Lassiter, Baker Foundation Professor

  This is a field-based program designed for students, alumni and faculty who have a specific interest where environmental & energy impacts, consumer & social attitudes, and political & regulatory processes are dominant forces providing the opportunity for the creation of new businesses, the scaling of embryonic businesses, or the re-design of established businesses.

• Tighten the Belt Without Strangling the Business

  Benson P. Shapiro, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, Emeritus

  Managing a business has always been difficult. But, almost everyone agrees that managing a business during the current economic malaise is more difficult than at any time in memory. In this crisis period, it is particularly important to manage customer value, costs, prices, and risks. But, it is not terribly clear how to balance conflicting needs and goals. This talk will deal with those issues. Much of the time will be spent in interactive discussion after the presentation of a framework for considering management in these tough times. The material is based on Professor Ben Shapiro's continuing research on high profit, high performance companies.

• Make Your Own Luck

  Howard H. Stevenson, Baker Foundation Professor; Senior Associate Dean, Director of HBS Publishing

  Humans are gambling animals, and not just when we invest in the stock market. Every time we take an action—deciding which job applicant to hire, which product to launch, how to price a product, or even whom to marry—we are betting our time, reputation, effort, and money in the expectation or hope but not the certainty of achieving some future result. Some people base their bets on dumb luck. But people who have consistent records of success don't depend on dumb luck. Highly and consistently successful people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Oprah Winfrey make their own luck, repeatedly. These people develop core skills for making their own luck. They develop "predictive intelligence." With a few simple steps, you can up the odds that you will achieve the results you desire with the least risk and the most upside and avoid "analysis paralysis," which can keep you spending so much time thinking that you miss the opportunities to take the actions with the best chances of getting you where you want to go.

• Putting Consumers Back Into Finance

  Peter Tufano, Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management; Senior Associate Dean for Planning and University Affairs

  "Finance" at HBS is more than corporate finance, hedge funds and private equity. Professor Tufano has been studying the multi-trillion dollar consumer finance activities in the US and around the world. In 2009, he co-launched a new joint MBA–JD course (and an Exec Ed offering) on consumer finance. Much of his work involves research and development of financial services aimed at better serving low to moderate income families. Tufano has been testing his ideas in practice through a nonprofit he founded (Doorways to Dreams Fund, www.d2dfund.org). The session will explore a host of innovations to help families save, better control their credit, and to learn how to manage their finances through an engaging new approach of "financial entertainment."

HBS Faculty Presentations: Session III

Friday, May 29, 2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m

• The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns

  We invite you to re-experience the HBS Classroom through an interactive case discussion on Friday, May 29. HBS faculty members will teach The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan and Bear Stearns during each of the Friday sessions. Pre-registration is required and space is limited. Learn more.

• Campus Tour

  James E. Aisner, Director of Media Relations, Harvard Business School

  Want to reminisce about buildings you used to frequent as a student? Want to see new additions to the campus plan since you graduated? Then this leisurely walking tour is for you and your family as we see the sights, including Baker Library I Bloomberg Center, Morgan Hall, Shad (the School's physical fitness center), the Class of 1959 Chapel, and the Spangler Campus Center.

• The Revolution in Food

  David Bell, George M. Moffett Professor of Agriculture and Business; Unit Head, Marketing

  Exciting things are happening in the food business. After 5,000 years of at best steady progress, the last 20 years have seen dramatic changes in the way food is grown, distributed, and eaten. In this talk you'll hear how farming has changed (think Brazil), hear how brands are dying (thank Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, each in its own way), and come to grips for the first time with the implications of the fact that 99% of all twentysomethings can't and won't cook. (Hint: forget kitchens). This presentation will give an overview of the industry, project the future and help you lose weight. Guaranteed, or your money back.

  Related Reading from HBS Working Knowledge

  • Finding Missing Markets (and a disturbing epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya
• Letting No Serious Crisis Go to Waste: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Downturn

  Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

  As the economy and the job market continues to look forbidding for the foreseeable future, many of our students ask me if the time is right for a plunge into the murky waters of entrepreneurship. At the other end of the business spectrum, even in the very largest of companies, I find managers puzzling over a similar question and wondering if they ought to invest in innovation and new ventures precisely because the competition is pulling back. Of course, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that creativity can thrive in crises. 18 out of the 30 Dow Jones industrials were launched during a downturn, as were iconic innovations from nylon to the iPod. But we also know that the capital to fund entrepreneurship is scarce. Clearly, this limited pool of capital must find its way to the best ideas. I offer a three-part framework for spotting the most promising innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities—for corporate and for stand-alone entrepreneurs.

• Vicious Cycles, Investor Behavior, and the Current Financial Crisis

  Kenneth A. Froot, André R. Jakurski Professor of Business Administration

  This talk examines some of the basic mechanisms that are driving the propagation of financial and economic malaise. It looks at a serious of facts drawn from markets and investor actions to help piece together a better sense of why losses in sub-prime mortgage debt have led to the most severe downturn since the great depression. It also examines financial policies that might help avoid such severe exposure.

• The Unique Challenges of Leading a Science Based Business

  Raymond V. Gilmartin, Professor of Management Practice

  If you are the CEO of a science based business, you invest on behalf of your successor in high risk discovery projects that have ten to fifteen year time horizons. Most of these projects will fail. These Investments are made in a stock market environment where shareholders do not seem to look any farther ahead than the next quarter. What are the implications for the role, responsibilities, and attributes of the CEO?

• Building and Sustaining High Performing Nonprofit Organizations

  Allen Grossman, MBA Class of 1957 Professor of Management Practice

  In a time of shrinking resources, donors and board members are demanding higher levels of performance from nonprofit organizations. More than ever before, these stakeholders expect demonstrable results for their investments of time and money. However, high performance in the nonprofit sector is often elusive—hard to define and difficult to achieve. Key to the challenge is that the numerous barriers to nonprofit high performance are often different from those in the for-profit sector. This session will analyze some of the barriers to high performance and discuss a new framework to address them.

• China and the United States: Mutual Dependency?

  William C. Kirby, Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration; T.M. Chang Professor of China Studies

  How have China and the United States come to matter so much, in so many areas, to each other? What are the economic, political and cultural dimensions to the world's most important international relationship? Which American companies have done best in China? What are the areas of opportunity in coming years? This presentation will look at the past, present, and future of US–China relations, and will discuss, as examples, new HBS cases developed for the EC course, "Doing Business in China in the 21st Century."

• Social Networks and the Stock Market

  Christopher J. Malloy, Assistant Professor of Business Administration

  We study the impact of social networks on financial market behavior and investment performance. Exploiting novel data on the educational backgrounds of mutual fund managers, sell side equity analysts and senior officers of firms, we test the hypothesis that school ties to senior officers facilitate information transfer in financial markets. We find evidence that both mutual funds and sell side analysts outperform on their stock holdings and stock recommendations when they have an educational link to the company.

• Observations on the Financial Crisis: Macro Financial Risk Propagation, Structural Risks, and Regulatory Recommendations

  Robert C. Merton, John and Natty McArthur University Professor

  For nearly four decades, financial innovation has been a central force driving the global financial system toward greater efficiency with considerable economic benefit having accrued from those changes. The scientific breakthroughs in finance in this period both shaped, and were shaped by, the extraordinary innovations in finance practice that expanded opportunities for risk sharing, lowering transaction costs and reducing information and agency costs. Today no major financial institution in the world, including central banks, can function without the computer-based mathematical models of modern financial science and the myriad of derivative contracts and markets used to extract price- and risk-discovery information as well as execute risk-transfer transactions. But, also today we are in a global financial crisis of a magnitude and scope not seen in nearly eighty years, which some attribute to the changes in the financial system brought about by financial innovation, derivatives and mathematical models. The lecture will analyze and offer observations on structural questions about financial crisis: How does risk propagate so rapidly across the system? Why do the reported losses in financial institutions continue and actually get larger, even though those institutions are largely in a static portfolio position and are not actively adding more risk? Is there a structural relation between financial innovation and the risk of crisis? What are the implications of the inevitable incompleteness of all models: proprietary risk, accounting, and regulatory? What can be said at this point about institutional and needed regulatory changes? What will be the role of financial innovation in the future beyond the crisis?

• The Competitive Struggle for Social Legitimacy

  Mark H. Moore, Visiting Professor of Business Administration

  Increasingly, private firms have to compete not only for customers in consumer markets, and investors in capital markets, they also have to compete for social standing and legitimacy in the wider society. In the past, this function has not been given much standing in discussions of corporate strategy. The job has been left to some combination of corporate PR operations, to the Offices of General Counsel, and to government lobbying activities. However, as business firms enter developing markets, and as they are expected to do more for social purposes in developed markets, the strategic task of managing a firm's social legitimacy is becoming more important as a tool of competitive advantage. The important question is how these legitimating functions of the firm might best be managed for competitive advantage.

• Valuation of Firms in Financial Distress

  Ronald W. Moore, Adjunct Professor

  The need for corporate restructuring arises when a gap opens between the value of the enterprise—present value of expected free cash flows—and the aggregate claims of stakeholders such as creditors, employees, retirees, vendors, etc. The restructuring process thus entails multi-party negotiations with the objective of scaling back future commitments to a level consistent with available value. Such negotiations may take place out-of-court or under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge. In either case, a successful resolution requires that the interested parties reach consensus about enterprise value.

  My proposal is to explore three interrelated issues that frequently arise in this context, using the Sunbeam–Oster case as a basis for discussion and illustration. The first is the inadequacy of weighted average cost of capital based discounted cash flow analysis to estimate enterprise value in this context. The second is the basis and implications of self-serving valuation biases on the part of interested parties. The third is a review of empirical evidence as to whether such biases materially influence valuations used in corporate restructurings.

• Managing Mature Products in Declining Markets

  Das Narayandas, James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration; Chair, Program for Leadership Development

  Co-author—Vic Hunter. A third of industrial marketing firms product offerings are either mature or late stage products with stagnant or declining sales and margins. Firms typically respond by investing in new features and product line extensions to extend the product life cycle profitably. In the current environment, with limited resources available, firms are no longer able to invest in product development efforts to rejuvenate sales and margins. As a result, they are being forced to drop a number of these mature products. We believe that this is a classic case of "killing the goose that lays the golden egg." A key managerial oversight, in these situations, is that these mature products actually have a very loyal customer base. We will discuss an approach that can sustain these products profitably over time. The heart of this approach is a radical shift in focus from "managing products for profits" to "managing customers for profit."

• Is The Financial Crisis a Crisis in Capitalism or Even U.S. Capitalism?

  Bruce R. Scott, Paul Whiton Cherington Professor of Business Administration

  The Financial Crisis that apparently began in August 2007 seems to have been centered initially in the U.S., and to have spread to the rest of the world. I will consider its causes, and especially the possibility that its root causes were in capitalism, and particularly in a notion of self regulating markets that took root in the U.S. in the 19th century. I will review some of U.S. legal history, and the role of the Supreme Court in supporting the notion that the economic system was independent of the political system, an idea that was revived with deregulation after 1980. In addition I will inquire whether certain ideas of Theodore Roosevelt, e.g., when he proposed that the all firms which wished to operate in the U.S. continental market would require a federal license or federal charter as a precondition for such operations, might be a partial model for reform in the current search for appropriate reforms in the global financial system.

• Re-securitizing Real Estate?

  Arthur I. Segel, Professor of Management Practice

  With the recent economic turmoil, many commentators have focused their attention on securitization, particularly the securitization of homes, offices, and other types of real property assets. This presentation discusses the many types of securitization that developers use to attain financing. It examines whether securitization is a healthy economic process, and if real estate should be and will be widely securitized ever again.

  Related Reading from HBS Working Knowledge

  • Real Estate: The Most Imperfect Asset
• Rules are Dead, people are Alive: Harnessing Bottom-up Innovation on the Factory Floor

  Willy Shih, Professor of Management Practice

  Our ongoing studies of factory floor settings seek to give managers tools for understanding the causes of variability between different factory settings that manufacture the same products or utilize the same processes, and for capturing and harnessing the bottoms up innovations that come from production workers.

Academic Sessions

Topical Presentations: Session I

Saturday, May 30, 10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m

• How to Build Your Brand Using LinkedIn and Social Media Tools

  Alumni Career Services & Patti Wilson

  Alumni Career Services partners with Patti Wilson to bring you How to Build Your Brand Using LinkedIn and Social Media Tools. This workshop will focus on understanding the impact of social media in developing effective job strategies. If you can't be found on a Google search, then you don't exist, is the new motto for executives, search firms and aspiring job seekers. The entire thrust of business and consumer marketing today is online. Why would it be any different for executive self-marketing and personal branding? Online visibility enables 24/7 availability for opportunities and extends your reach globally. In this seminar you will learn:

  • A step by step approach of how to build a brand-enhancing LinkedIn profile
  • How to enhance a LinkedIn profile using applications such as Slideshare, blogs, book lists
  • Build your brand through Linkedin's Recommendations, Groups, and Answers
  • Find out brand extending key tips to use with other social media tools
  • An overview of the suite of career management tools available to you through HBS

  Patti Wilson's experience encompasses organizational structure and cultural nuance for companies of all sizes and the successful functioning of the high value talent within them. This informs her strategic career consulting and insightful advice. Patti has consulted to the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, Anderson School of Business, UCLA and Stanford School of Engineering and Graduate Business School, and London School of Business. Prior to founding her first company, the Career Company, Patti was an Employment Manager: Sun Microsystems, a business and technical recruiter at Advanced Micro Devices, and Apple Computer. Patti was also Assistant Director of Career Services Santa Clara University, School of Engineering. With an MA, Career Development, emphasis in Clinical Psychology, she is a certified trainer in Behavioral Interviewing, the Myers-Briggs, and the Predictive Index. Patti has been featured in the best seller, What Color is Your Parachute? since 1988. Po Bronson in the best seller, "What Should I do with My Life" called her the guru of Silicon Valley career counselors." In addition she has been quoted by National Public Radio, San Francisco Chronicle, San Joe Mercury News, Monster.com, India Post, and USA Today.

• Google, Inc.

  Thomas R. Eisenmann, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration
  A case for HBS kids 10 and up
  Preregistration is required for this session.

  The first half of the case describes Google's business model in its core search business as well as its distinctive governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. We'll focus our class discussion on how Google makes money in search, and whether it's likely to become a monopoly in that market. The second half of the case—which we won't assign because it's out of date and perhaps too complex for our young audience—describes Google's expansion strategy through 2006 and prospects for competition with Microsoft, Yahoo, and eBay.

• Raising Financially Fit Kids in a New Economic Landscape

  Joline Godfrey, founder and president of Independent Means, Inc.

  Even if your family is not materially affected by recent economic crises, they feel something in the ether. Whether they have overheard teachers and or other adults voice concerns or have a friend whose family HAS been effected, they sense something is not quite right. Godfrey will discuss what to say to kids in an economically unpredictable environment.

  Today's 16 year old may well live to be 110 and older, making financial sustainability for ever longer life cycles an unprecedented challenge, even as structural supports like social security and pensions fade away. Godfrey provides insight on how to help young people develop skills to build and maintain lifelong personal financial safety nets.

  Whether your kids have a simple 529 fund or a series of trusts—raising them to be thoughtful beneficiaries takes at least as much intention as helping them master tennis or the piano. Godfrey's session helps families think about how to prepare children for the possibilities and responsibilities of privilege.

  What does it take to be a great financial mentor for kids? Joline covers best practices of thought leader families as well as insight on how to help kids develop a healthy work ethic and deep life purpose.

• Endowment Management in a Changing World

  Jane Mendillo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Harvard Management Company

  Jane will speak about endowment management in volatile times. She will discuss HMC investment policies and philosophies and will give an update, as appropriate, on recent endowment results.

• Investment Management in the New Financial Environment

  André Perold, George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking

  Investment management in today's financial environment is a particularly daunting task. As the financial system and the world economy have fallen into distress, the investment opportunity set has changed dramatically. Many assets that traditionally have been considered safe and/or liquid are no longer so. Government policies and actions are indeterminate at best, and investors must assess investment opportunities, products, and services though a new set of lenses. The session will discuss the challenges of investment management in the current context, with a particular focus on endowment and institutional asset management.

• Facebook's Platforms

  Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
  A case for HBS teens 13 and up
  Preregistration is required for this session.

  In early 2009, Facebook was the largest global on-line social network, with 175 million members. However, it generated relatively little revenue from its advertising programs. The case asks students to consider two options of improving the top line. First, the company could deepen its commitment to advertising, particularly by using profile data to better target ads. Second, the company could help other businesses develop new on-line applications that used Facebook Connect—a second-generation platform released in late 2008. Connect allowed members to use their Facebook credentials to log onto third-party websites and bring their on-line social network with them, which can then be used to power social functionalities on these websites. In the future, Connect could, for example, help friends coordinate their travel plans on Expedia. If Expedia could charge for such services, or use Connect to reduce its customer acquisition costs, Facebook could conceivably appropriate some of the value.

• Getting Serious About Global Climate Change in the Post-Kyoto World

  Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School

  Professor Stavins will examine the challenges and opportunities the world faces in developing a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to address the threat of global climate change. He will begin by highlighting key lessons learned from the Protocol, and will then describe the major types of alternative policy architectures that can be employed in a successor international agreement, which may be negotiated at the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, 2009. Drawing upon research from the Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements, he will identify the key design elements of a scientifically sound, economically rational, and politically pragmatic post-2012 international policy architecture. He will also examine links between international policy discussions and likely U.S. actions on climate change. He will conclude by commenting on the path ahead within both the domestic and the international realms, touching on policy as well as politics.

Topical Presentations: Session II

Saturday, May 30, 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m

• The Challenge of the Changing Workforce

  Tamara J. Erickson, Executive Vice President, nGenera

  Seismic shifts are occurring in the workforce. The economic downturn has eliminated millions of jobs. Older employees are working longer. Globally, several decades of declining birth rates are translating into a dramatic slowdown in the number of new workers. The shifting nature of work means that many of today's jobs require skills many in the existing workforce don't have. As the economy rebounds, most corporations will experience talent shortages in key skill sets.

  And, values toward "work" are changing. Today four generations are working together—each bringing different experiences and assumptions to the job. It's easy to misinterpret "the other guy"—or fall into easy stereotypes for thinking about the other generations' actions. But as the talent shortage grows, it's increasingly important to create a culture that is welcoming and engaging for talented individuals of all ages.

  These and other changes will affect the relationships we forge with employees, the opportunities ahead for us and our children, our approaches to education, our philosophies toward retirement, and the fundamental way we live out our lives.

  In this provocative and fun session, Tammy offers a deep understanding of the composition of the future workforce, characteristics and expectations of the four generations in today's workforce, and actions to attract and retain great talent.

• Who's Got Your Back—Building Relationships for Success in Life

  Keith Ferrazzi, founder and CEO of the business consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight

  Keith Ferrazzi presents Who's Got Your Back: the breakthrough program to build deep trusting relationships that create success—and won't let you fail.

  In this interactive keynote, participants learn:

  • The Four Mindsets to build deeper, more trusting "lifeline relationships"
  • Tips and tools to overcome the career-crippling habits that hold us back
  • How to set goals in a dramatically more powerful way
  • Why we should replace "yes men" in our lives with those who get it and care—and will hold us accountable to achieving our goals
  • How to lower our guards and let others help

  None of us can do it alone. We need the perspective and advice of a trusted team. And in Who's Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi shows us how to put our own "dream team" together. Keith is making an eclusive resource available to HBS alumni: the Conference Commando e-book.

• Global Health in the 21st Century: Crossroads of Science, Business and Policy

  Julio Frenk, T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development; Dean of the Faculty, Harvard School of Public Health

  As we face the pressing global health challenges of the 21st Century—for example, pandemics, environmental change, inequities, inefficiencies in health systems—we must analyze them in economic and political terms, showing the crucial link between health and economic growth and the central role of health in global and national security. A vision for addressing these challenges must include building bridges with business, governments and global institutions.

• Learning to Succeed at Scale in Education

  Monica Higgins, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

  This presentation will showcase research that focuses on the challenges and opportunities facing the education sector in the United States today. With a background in organizational behavior, Professor Monica Higgins of Harvard's Graduate School of Education will present a new model of leadership that focuses on capacity-building in schools and school systems. This approach to leadership emphasizes learning as well as accountability, development as well as evaluation, and so, counters the default culture in education (and elsewhere) that has stressed hiring and firing approaches to talent management for decades. Professor Higgins will share her recent research in two large urban districts in the public school arena along with some insights regarding how to scale up examples of entrepreneur-driven success in education.

• The Promise of Stem Cell Science

  Dr. Douglas Melton, Thomas Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences, Co-Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Co-Chair of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology

  Douglas Melton will review the basics of stem cell science, why scientists are so excited about this field and the potential clinical outcomes, including the impact on the healthcare system. He will also discuss the business model of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, which was established to deliver on the scientific promise.