We're Off to Panama and Ecuador!

There was a time—and I remember it well—when we actually taught a course in international business at UC Davis. The idea was that there was business, and then there was that exotic version, international business, that dealt with trying to open markets in places that did not speak English as a first language. Mostly that meant tips on doing business in European capitals.

The rise of Japan as a major manufacturer forever changed our view of the U.S. as the only country that could export large amounts of goods, and even innovate management practices. We spent a decade studying Edward Deming, Theory M, and Toyotism as we tried to move away from domestic management practices we could trace to the era of Henry Ford in favor of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.

More recently we accepted the idea that American goods made by U.S.-based companies such as The Gap and the Chrysler Corporation might have some foreign components, even a majority of them sometimes. We realized those really well-priced goods at Wal-Mart are often sourced from countries we have trouble placing on a map, and even that the Chinese government is ostensibly our banker.

What's the world coming to?

We are linked, for good and for ill. We design in one place, source in another, and sell everywhere it makes business sense.

At the Graduate School School of Management we began teaching an International Study Practicum, which focuses on a specific country or region and culminates with a 10-day, first-hand learning experience. I’m on this journey to Panama and Ecuador with 16 UC Davis MBA students, and Wil Agatstein, the executive director of our Center for Entrepreneurship Executive Director. We have spent 10 weeks planning the trip and making contacts with law firms, political officials, construction companies, tourism developers, agribusiness firms, and a variety of for- and not-for-profit organizations. We’re here to learn about what it is like to be a business person in this region, to understand the opportunities and challenges of these countries in the global economy.

The students, who come from all three of our MBA programs, chose this region because they wanted to learn about developing economies where the possibilities for new markets are great and where market development is not already dominated by established firms. They are motivated by curiosity, concern for the developing world, and by the chance to develop their own savvy about global business processes. By sampling different parts of these societies we hope to get a well-rounded, if initial take on business practice in Panama and Ecuador.

You can follow our travels on the Web site that one of our students, Sonny Johl, has created. We're sharing blogs, photos, comments >>

Teachable Moments

I lived next to an elementary school teacher who had an amazing collection of t-shirts and coffee mugs presumably given to her by students. I would join my neighbor for a cup of coffee and out of her kitchen cabinet would tumble bright cups with saying like “You can’t scare me, I teach 6th grade,” “Teachers do it with Class”, and “Cutie π”.

I was recently reminded of one of her t-shirts which said “To Teach is to Touch the Future.” That’s rather a grand saying, but the recent Cal Aggie Alumni Awards dinner was wonderful evidence that those of us who educate really have an opportunity to shape lives in profound ways.

I know faculty don’t always think of long-term profundity as we try to construct meaningful tests or coming up with a good example to make a point. But this year’s six alumni awardees gave ample evidence that their time at UC Davis had a deep effect on them. These effects spread through our society – and far beyond – in ways their teachers could never have imagined.

All six of the awardees were inspirational but I was especially moved by John Landers, recipient of the Emil M. Mrak International Award. John received a master’s degree in agriculture from UC Davis 44 years ago, in 1965, and has spent his long career in South America where he continues to have impact.

Under John’s leadership, Brazilians are embracing a zero tillage (ZT) soil conservation strategy that is preventing erosion and reducing greenhouse gases. Instead of upending the soil between plantings, seeds are sown directly into uncultivated ground with native grasses still in place. After harvest leftover plant materials such as stalks are left to compost and animals can graze between plantings. This is not only good for the environment, but ZT allows poor growers to succeed without resort to the financial risk of expensive tractors.

Last night I spoke to a group of our students and I wondered what they will do with their management skills. Our MBA students bring backgrounds and ideas garnered through an average of five years of work experience, so we are hardly reforming them in dramatic ways. We teach and provide valuable business skills to students who already know a great deal—they already have degrees, work experience, and well-formed understandings. I have, however, observed how a suggestion, an encouragement, or a reading assignment can open a possibility, build confidence, and reframe an opinion. As that pedagogical scholar Harry S. Truman once wrote: “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

I think I need a t-shirt.

Where Do We Go From Here?

UC Davis has a festive air this year as we celebrate 100 years of transforming the world, serving as an engine for innovation and for ideas that have improved the quality of life for people everywhere. Looking at early pictures of the campus, one is struck by the formal dress and simple technologies used by students and faculty. But 1908 was actually a period of great technological and social ferment, of innovation and exploration, the impact of which we can still feel.

The Wright brothers patented their plane in 1908, the first long-distance radio broadcast was emitted from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Robert Peary sailed off for the Arctic in successful search of the North Pole. The first Model T was built by Henry Ford, and Albert Fisher’s new carriage company produced bodies for both horse-drawn buggies and the new automobiles. General Motors also was formed in 1908.

It was also an era of new ideas. Under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt the conservation movement gained political traction and several national parks and monuments were dedicated, including Natural Bridges, Muir Woods and the Grand Canyon Museum. The women’s suffrage movement was growing in fits and starts around the world, but it wasn’t until 1911 that the men of California voted to allow women—but not Asians—the right to vote. Women’s participation in sports was on the rise, and they were admitted to the Olympic Games in 1912.

Commerce was exploding with new industrial machines and processes, and more reliable transportation distributed goods far beyond the areas of their manufacture. Increasing the geographic size of markets increased awareness of and the demand for goods. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s monograph, The Principles of Scientific Management launched an era of time-and-motion studies and spurred on management as an area of study in universities. Harvard Business School, founded in 1908, was only the seventh U.S. college of commerce, but 40 more would open by World War I.

Today mass manufacturing and mass consumption have made life materially comfortable for many of us. We enjoy a much longer life-span than the 47 years a U.S. adult could expect a century ago. Modern medicine and a less physically strenuous work life make it common for people to live into their 70s and 80s now. But we can also see the toll that conveniences have taken on our lives, our bodies and our world. We consume massive amounts of cheap, empty calories and many of us are obese and suffer from diabetes. We use a huge amount of energy, too, in our homes and vehicles, much of it from fossil fuels that pollute our air and water. However, many do not have access to the products, food and services we take for granted. Distrust of the West is, in part, a product of this disparity.

As I write this in late 2008, I feel the tempest of new technologies, certainly, but perhaps, more importantly, of new ideas. MBA students today are truly global citizens with wide-ranging skills and understandings. Many at UC Davis are using their knowledge to “fix” the problems of pollution, end unsustainable manufacturing practices and address the issues of underdeveloped communities. They are marrying the scientific and medical knowledge of campus colleagues with an understanding of the market to bring promising technologies to society more quickly.

What will business and society look like in 100 years? Despite the formidable social and environmental problems we face today, I am an optimist. I expect that the university—and the knowledge and alumni we produce—will be part of the process that brings us back into a sustainable balance. I know that business will be an important mechanism for delivering the goods.

I announced in September that this academic year will be my last as dean. I look forward to a sabbatical leave next year to continue my study of technology and the global economy. Then I will be back in the classroom with the terrific students we have at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

UC Davis study: Women still lag in holding top business posts

At a press conference on Monday, November 18, we released our fourth annual UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders. The UC Davis Graduate School of Management, in partnership with the Palo Alto-based Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives, conducts the annual census, which details the presence of women at the very top of the 400 largest publicly held corporations headquartered in the state.

Our findings continue to paint a disappointing picture of female representation on the boards and in the executive suites of these high-profile companies: women hold only 10.9% of the top decision-making positions, virtually unchanged from last year. Nearly a third of these 400 companies have no women in top executive posts or on the board of directors.

It's a disappointment and a missed opportunity to include a more diverse pool of leaders in California's corporations. The same innovative thinking that drives the world's eighth largest economy is not propelling women into key management positions at the largest public companies in the Golden State. Once a year, we'll continue to shine a spotlight on what the top of corporations look like.

In fact, our 2008 census suggests that a woman today stands a better shot at winning a seat in the U.S. Senate than a CEO job in California. Only 13 of the 400 companies have a woman serving as CEO.

California has more high-profile women political leaders than ever before: U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington, and here at home, state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. Their achievements, individually and collectively, are cause for celebration. But I have to ask: What will it take for us to see similar progress in California's boardrooms and executive suites?

Read my Op-Ed on this issue in the Sacramento Bee.

Read more about the census, the press coverage and download the study

Seeing Big Changes

I recently had an hour-long conversation with Sacramento Bee business reporter Jon Ortiz. We talked about the changes I’ve seen at the Graduate School of Management, in management education and in the economy since I joined the faculty in 1981. We covered everything from how business students and faculty have changed, to Wall Street and international competition in the auto industry (which I’ve researched). The Q&A was published in the Bee on November 10. Enjoy the article: “UCD Dean Has Seen Big Changes.”

Shanghai, Mumbai, Dubai - or Goodbye?

A few days ago I went to the annual deans’ meeting of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges of Business held this year in Park City, Utah. We WASCB b-school deans are connected by geography – our schools are located in US states located from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific – but we have great differences of mission and circumstance. Some WASCB business schools are faith-based institutions such as Pepperdine and Brigham Young University, others are large state supported schools such as the many California State University campuses, and yet others are business schools located in major research universities including the University of California campuses, the University of Southern California and the University of Washington. Some have large undergraduate populations, others only teach MBA students, and some offer undergraduate-through-doctoral training.

The situation of Weber State College in Utah is hardly the same as that of UCLA, and the UC Davis Graduate School of Management would seem to have little in common with BYU, which is funded by the Mormon Church. Yet, diverse as our missions, resources and settings, we are all committed to producing the next generation of men and women who will run businesses, governments and non-governmental organizations in the next generation.

While our conference agenda included management school issues surrounding globalization of our curriculum and changes in accreditation standards, the red elephant in the room was the economy and everyone, no matter what their apparent circumstance, is affected in ways that the group of us were only beginning to imagine.

The Downside

A financial meltdown and shrinking economy translates into clear losses of opportunity and financial strains and these are some of the worries I heard from deans.

• The inability of students to pay even in-state tuition. Parents and some working professional MBA students have been using home equity lines of credit to pay for degrees; the slump in housing prices and access to credit will limit access to education for some student, or delay it


• Public universities, often but not always tied to state budgets, are concerned about “poaching” from well-endowed private universities. The loss of the best faculty, and dilution of faculty-teacher ratios, is a real concern of all but the most elite universities.


• Some state universities in the US, including the Universities of Virginia, Michigan and Colorado, have already become de-facto private universities because their states’ legislatures provide little or no financial support for higher education. Now others are looking at that option. Should we cut ties with our states in order to have more programmatic and financial freedom? Schools with minimal funding, but tied by state mandates, are considering supporting this especially when they can generate income from executive education and research grants.


• I find it ironic that private institutions typically have the largest endowments. As one public school dean cynically noted “the way to get an endowment is to charge high tuition and your alumni will give you money.”


• Schools in major corporate centers have depended on generous support for business education for current students and executives. Now there is concern that employer tuition assistance will wither with falling corporate revenues, and impact executive education.


• Major research universities are concerned that state and federal research grants will impact the support of doctoral students and faculty researchers - threatening research missions. The shortage of new faculty in some business disciplines – already tight – could make it difficult for some schools to maintain accreditation standards, which require substantial proportions of Ph.D.-level faculty.

The Other Side

There are always upsides, or at least new possibilities, during any crisis, as any repo-man can tell you. While much of the conversation was glum most business school deans were looking for a bright spot, or at least alternate ways to think about what they could do during a downward economic cycle.

• Finance faculty will be easier to find as Wall Street releases a slew of highly educated finance experts; deans seemed universally happy to see a probable loosening in the supply of our most expensive faculty experts. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal had an article on the last day of our conference discussing the conditions of work for business school faculty, a happy indicator for deans.


• In recent years some b-schools have started one-year masters programs in financial engineering to develop high-level math skills used in financial markets. The future demand for these programs is under question and the resources could be redirected.


• There will be a major acceleration in the movement overseas of MBA programs to where the economies and demand for sophisticated managers are growing. As one dean put it, “Shanghai, Mumbai, Dubai - or Good Bye”. Even if we have a global recession, the growth rates of China, India, and places such as the United Arab Emirates will grow much faster than North American and European economies. There are literally hundreds of business programs emerging in these settings where management talent is in great demand, and where established business schools are flocking to create programs, sometimes in partnership with local colleges and universities.
  I was astounded to hear that Montana State University at Bozeman is considering a Middle East program, and that Malibu-based Pepperdine University now owns six non-US campuses!


• We have all been globalizing our curricula and many schools now require a study abroad component for their MBA students. (Because we have so international a student body now, I’m not sure that makes sense for UC Davis MBA students although many choose to do global study). Europe is no longer a favored destination for study abroad for many students as the global economy reaches beyond Rome and London. Instead schools want students to go to places where they are “culturally uncomfortable”. This is not only a better personal learning experience it is often in underdeveloped areas that the business opportunities are greatest.


• Schools are working hard to incorporate their alumni abroad into their campus networks, seeing them as critical social and intellectual capital as universities put stakes in foreign soil.


• Interest in energy as an industrial sector will boom. If there are new sectors that deans look toward further supporting it will be health care – already a large economic sector – and energy. Schools on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains including the Universities of Alberta, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico sit atop or near oil and coal deposits and their economies should literally heat up. Indeed, there are no taxes in the Province of Alberta. The rest of us on the Pacific Coast and in the Southwest are in regions developing alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass. We all expect energy, energy efficiency, and sustainability to play larger roles in our curricula because business and students are demanding them.

Many of the possible changes I have mentioned are already taking hold at UC Davis Graduate School of Management. The students want to go to Vietnam, Shanghai and South America on field trips, and do. Germany and France are for vacations, not business study. Our students are active in learning and promoting sustainable business practices, developing “green” financial portfolios, and jumping on opportunities to work on commercializing alternative energy technologies coming out of the campus.

What do I plan to do to help us through the trough? I’ll work on strengthening our alumni network, which always proves helpful in finding jobs for students and fellow alums in tight job markets. I’ll also be trying to remind our alumni, friends and students that private support isn’t just for private universities and that a public university is a great private investment too.

Green Money

Last year UC Davis hosted the first annual AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference, a confab of entrepreneurs and investors trying to figure out what the new green revolution was all about. There were people with ideas, and people with money, and they were doing a strange mating dance, circling and wondering “Are you what I’m looking for?”

Always On, a high-tech conference organization owned by UC Davis alum Tony Perkins, gathers together leading thinkers, inventors, prognosticators, and start-up professionals in several industries, perhaps most famously in IT at the Stanford Innovation Summit. Information technology is a pretty mature industry now and it is based on a limited number of established technology categories such as information security, social networking, and so on. There are leading venture firms, organizations, and now-accepted categories of technology and business activity.

Last year’s GoingGreen meeting was interesting insofar as the technology categories of the rising green and clean technology industry were very much up in the air: Did it include agriculture? Energy storage? Carbon exchange markets? Vehicles? Energy efficiency? There was a lot of interest in just figuring out who and what was central, peripheral, and maybe outside the emerging green market space.

This year’s GoingGreen conference showed some firming up of categories, although there is still ferment. One of the keynotes was given by Vinod Khosla, one of four founders of Sun Microsystems, a long-time venture capitalist, and now a leading clean tech investor through his eponymous Khosla Ventures. Khosla, who believes that dramatic measures must be taken if we are going to avoid environmental catastrophe, said that it really isn’t about “green tech” but rather about radical new approaches to “main tech”. He believes that the “wars on coal and oil”, the development of sustainable materials, and energy efficiency are the critical categories. It’s about real leaps in technologies that will make a difference, not about improving diesel performance or wind turbines by one or two percent.

I learned that producing a pound of concrete creates a pound of CO2 and that replacing concrete with a sustainable building material would basically take care of our carbon problem. Efficient technologies – using less and using what we do take from the earth more prudently and recycling it for further use – is by far the fastest way out of our environmental problems. Someone said, “the greenest electron is the one you don’t use.”

There were fascinating panels on energy storage devices – how do you store wind power for times when the wind doesn’t blow? – and on desalination advances that could solve California’s north-south water battles if the energy cost of “desal” processing can come down.

Mostly, though, I got the sense from Khosla and others that the new categories are really about doing what we already do in a more mindful and frugal way, whether it’s constructing buildings (half of our energy usage), lighting our streets, powering our vehicles, or growing our food (fertilizer is largely petrochemical).

It was interesting to be part of something that is so clearly revolutionary in some ways, yet so fundamental and traditional in others.

I kept thinking about UC Davis, now celebrating our 100th year, and how well we are positioned to contribute to solving the very real problems, and creating the very real fortunes, that will come out of this economic shift. There is no campus anywhere better able to advance plant biology for this new world. I kept thinking about plant geneticist Professor Pam Ronald’s rice that can withstand flooding, predicted to increase in many areas with global warming. Or Professor Eduardo Blumwald’s tomato variety that will grow in soils damaged by salt. We are leaders in the development of biofuels – we have the plant biology and bioengineering expertise, and a $25 million partnership with Chevron. Our Institute for Transportation Studies is helping China to develop cleaner transportation systems, developing better understanding of vehicle choice by consumers, and has partnered with the auto industry to develop alternative fuels. We have the California Lighting Technology Center on campus, an Energy Efficiency Center that is supported by all of the state’s major utilities, and so much more in the old categories of food, water, materials science, plant genetics, air quality, and environmental management and study. We have the first Agriculture College to rename itself Agriculture and Environment – which it did in the 1970s.

UC Davis is a bit traditional in some ways, but we are poised to deal with tomorrow’s environmental challenges. We actually talk unashamedly about “solving pressing social problems” and truly believe in the land grant university mission of using knowledge to work out society’s problems. At one time the problems were often out in the field and the solutions were taken by university extension agents from the campus to the farmers.

Ironically, in our 100th year, at least some of the problems will be solved by sophisticated plant biology in the field and laboratory, but I think the important carrier of solutions will not be extension agents, but rather the market and hopefully, some of the MBA students we are educating.