Tuck Business & Society Conference 2012

Social Impact as Strategy Update

2012-02-01T21:26:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how often corporate social responsibility (CSR) gets relegated into the realm of the "fluffy feel-good." We brush it to the side, where the PR department or the environmentalists in the office can take care of it. But what are we missing out on when we leave CSR for only the bleeding-hearts socially-minded?

Greg Hills of FSG is going to answer that question at this year's Business and Society Conference. He's going to enlighten us on just how strategic CSR can be for a corporation. He'll be discussing Shared Value, or how to create economic value that also benefits society. Notice that first part - creating economic value. This is not going to be a soft conversation; it’s going to be about business strategy. Come learn more on Thursday, February 9th at 2pm and leave a better business leader, no matter what you role you may be in.

If you want a Shared Value preview, read this.

If you want more information on the conference, click this.

If you want to email the writer of this post, do it.

Healthcare Panel Update

2012-02-01T00:09:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is getting excited for the Business & Society’s Healthcare panel! Dartmouth’s
President Kim has even cleared his calendar to come moderate this panel which is full of industry experts representing a wide range of backgrounds and opinions. Panelists will include Dr. Jaime Bayona who helps run Dartmouth’s Center for Health Care Delivery Science, Dr. Paul Chew the current Chief Medical Officer at Sanofi U.S., Dr. Vas Narasimhan who was recently promoted to
run Novartis’s global vaccine development, and Dr. Derek Yach the conference’s Keynote speaker and Senior Vice President of Global Health and Agriculture Policy at PepsiCo.

What really strikes me as I look at the panelists are their in-depth experiences at different places in the health care system. Dr. Bayona fought to get medicine to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients in Peru while he headed up Partners in Health, Peru. At the same time, Dr. Narasimhan was busy getting Menveo, a vaccine for meningitis, approved by the FDA and into doctors’ offices. If we are going to learn anything about how to make health care equitable and how to effectively deliver care to those who need it most, this is the group to teach us!

Following the panel, there will also be an opportunity to meet more personally in small groups with many of the panelists as well as Dr. Srishti Gupta, one of McKinsey & Company’s Global Health experts. It will be a great chance to get to know some of the people who have dedicated their lives to improving health care and are making a difference every day.

Mark your calendar for 10:00AM on Friday February 10th, I am looking forward to seeing you there.

Our 2012 Conference Theme

2012-01-30T07:48:00.001-05:00

We’re less than two weeks away from Tuck’s 10th Annual Business & Society Conference, and I wanted to talk a little bit about this year’s conference theme: “Trading Off: Impactful Business Strategy in Uncertain Times.”

Impactful Business Strategy

Our executive committee spent a lot of time this past summer and fall discussing what we wanted the 2012 conference to focus on. We discussed a wide variety of social impact topics, including renewable energy, sustainable supply chains, socially responsible investing, affordable healthcare, and more. What we kept coming back to was that no matter the industry, we need to recognize that in order to be most successful, social impact should not function in a vacuum – for example, in one division of a company, separated from the rest of the business. Corporate responsibility and sustainability need to be integrated with everyday business decisions. We, as future business leaders, need to learn how to incorporate these issues into the overarching strategy for the business.

In Uncertain Times

We also recognize that once we arrive at a solution, we then face the challenge of how to push that idea through an organization. And in times of economic hardship, an uncertain regulatory environment, and demanding shareholders, moving a “social impact” idea through an organization can be difficult. So how do we innovate, who do we influence, and what makes us succeed? It’s not enough to find answers; we also need to understand how to implement them.

We have more than 40 Tuck students helping to organize this year’s conference, and we look forward to hosting you at the BSC this year. In addition to our formal sessions, we’ll have coffee breaks, lunch, and a cocktail reception where participants can mingle with each other and our speakers. We aim to raise the level of discourse about social impact, and we hope that you will join us!

Register now:
http://tuck2012bsc.eventbrite.com/

Welcome T'14s!

2012-01-17T17:46:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the incoming class of 2014 on your admission to Tuck!

We at the Tuck BSC would like to invite you to attend the Business and Society Conference this February 9th and 10th. This is a great chance for you to preview the Tuck community's commitment to business issues that reach beyond the bottom line! At the conference you will have the opportunity to attend panels on energy, healthcare, social impact as strategy, impact investing, and design thinking. If you have any question about visiting Tuck for the conference, please direct them to Sarah Stern T'13 at bsc.tuck@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Save the Date for the 2012 BSC!

2011-11-14T23:46:00.002-05:00

It's official - Save the date for the upcoming Tuck BSC!

The 10th Annual Business and Society Conference will be held Thursday, February 9 to Friday, February 10 at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

The theme for this year's conference, courtesy of the BSC marketing team, will be:

Trading Off: Impactful Business Strategy In Uncertain Times

Business norms are changing. Companies face increasingly complex tradeoffs between surviving quarter-to-quarter and being held accountable to the societies in which they operate. Meanwhile, the costs of healthcare, energy, and compliance are increasingly volatile, exacerbating the challenge of making these tradeoffs. Furthermore, in the wake of the global credit crisis, the call for business accountability has reached a fever pitch.

How should business leaders make these choices? How can we transform from a paradigm of singular responsible decisions to an underlying dynamic of sustainable business strategy?

Tuck’s 10th Annual Business & Society Conference will bring together students and business, government, nonprofit, and thought leaders to discuss how businesses should manage the realities of short-term tradeoffs while remaining focused on long-term growth.

If you are interested in learning more about the conference, please:

Follow @TuckBSC on Twitter

Bookmark this blog and check back for updates on panels & panelists, marketing efforts, and weekend activities!

For those of you needing further inspiration to come visit New Hampshire in February, here are just a few of the myriad ski mountains within an hour's drive of Dartmouth's campus:

Killington

Mt Sunapee

Okemo

Whaleback

Pico Mountain

Dartmouth Skiway

Keynote Speaker: Harvey Pitt

2011-02-21T23:59:00.002-05:00

To kick off the conference, Harvey Pitt, former Chairman of the SEC, gave a thought-provoking keynote address, speaking about the current difficulties facing the United States government, the public sector and government regulators. Touching on the challenges of creating and enforcing effective regulation, Mr. Pitt spoke of his criticisms of the Dodd-Frank act, what regulation the United States needs, and what business leaders need to do in the future to both be successful and avoid another crisis.

Mr. Pitt began by noting that often the debate focuses on whether we have “too much regulation or not enough.” But that focusing on this is wrong and distracts us from the true issue, which is that there is “not enough smart regulation and not enough smart regulators.” The Dodd-Frank act however, does not address this issue, but instead layers on more bureaucracy to the system and opens regulatory agencies like the SEC and the Federal Reserve to increased political pressures. But we must acknowledge that this is going to be the law, and we must operate within the new regulations.

Further, Mr. Pitt stressed that companies must realize that good governance is good for business, and that companies must understand and manage risk. Mr. Pitt then outlined specific recommendations for how business and government should interact, including:

• Business should be required to furnish government with a steady stream of data
• Mandate that the government analyze that data and disseminate in real time
• Authorize the government to set trip wires so that potentially significant economic trends can be halted while the government determines if trends are dangerous.

As a business school student, I was particularly inspired by Mr. Pitt’s call-to-arms of sorts for future business leaders. There are challenges ahead, certainly, but there are ways to prepare, educate, and mitigate those challenges. Here are Mr. Pitt’s points on what good business should do (please note that I’m paraphrasing Mr. Pitt’s remarks):

• Advance planning is critical – if you haven’t started already, you’re late
• Hope for the best, assume the worst
• Avoid negativity
• It is important to educate federal regulators – the implicit assumption that government always knows what it is doing is dangerous and often untrue
• Can’t use the excuse: “that’s the way everyone’s doing it.”
• Avoid conflicts
• Having a solid management team is essential
• Risk management is essential
• Whistleblowers are coming, so be prepared. Businesses must reinvigorate ethics and compliance programs.
• If business doesn’t speak up, it won’t be heard.
• Get your boxing gloves ready. Be prepared to deflect or rebut arguments that your company poses a systemic risk to us markets
• Maintain a sense of humor

It’s a tall order, but one that I believe myself and my classmates are ready to undertake. This keynote speech created a wonderful platform for the rest of the conference; we were able to address issues of jobs, systemic risk, and corporate social responsibility. Can We Innovate Our Way Out? By asking the hard questions and engaging in these discussions, we’re putting ourselves on the right track.

Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Business Strategy

2011-02-14T23:05:00.005-05:00

Looking back to the Body Shop case that all Tuck first year students study in their fall semester Analysis for General Managers class, memories of vigorous debate over whether businesses are right or wrong to consider the social impacts of their decisions come to mind. We heard over and over again from our investment banker classmates that it was wrong, because businesses have a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders to make the greatest profits possible regardless of the cost to society. Well after listening to our panelists on Thursday, it turns out that we were both right…and wrong.

Does environmental responsibility align to the goal of fiduciary responsibility? Barry Caldwell of Waste Management says yes. Barry’s words couldn’t have been more straight, “Sustainability is not an altruistic thing! It is a way to drive cost out of business.” Barry continued to describe how Waste Management’s business requires the support of their local communities due to the highly regulated nature of the business at both the state and local level. By being socially responsible, WM is able to be a good neighbor to the communities that are home to its landfills. As Barry put it, this goodwill translates into votes when WM needs them to continue to build its business. Furthermore, WM is doing a lot more than reducing its costs along the way. WM has been acquiring businesses and technologies that in some way make the business of waste more sustainable and more profitable as well. Companies owned by WM include Bagster, Greenopolis, and Terrabon.Their landfill gas-to-energy and waste-to-energy operations provide enough energy to power a million homes each year…and growing! I dare say that both Anita Roddick and our good friends at Goldman Sachs would approve of this business strategy.

Of course, it’s not always so cut and dry as Jonathon Jacoby from Oxfam was quick to point out. Too often companies find it difficult to properly align their business objectives with their CSR goals and end up falling short on at least one. However, PG&E is a great example of a company that has thrived at both, and its Melissa Lavinson shared insight on how they accomplish this. PG&E believes that all of their actions must be rooted in a set of core corporate values that include being “passionate about meeting our customers’ needs and delivering for our shareholders” and “accountable for all of our own actions: these include safety, protecting the environment, and supporting our communities.” These core values are considered in making every decision and are often reviewed during meetings, ensuring alignment between business and social objectives comes naturally. While these values may be at odds at times, PG&E works hard to make them complimentary objectives and has led to major decisions including the formation of the USCAP (US Climate Action Partnership), investment into cleaner energy sources, and withdrawal from the US Chamber of Commerce. PG&E considers its future to be dependent on the state of our planet both now and in the future, as short term gains now won’t mean much if there’s nothing left in 100 years. While PG&E has demonstrated their commitment to this space through their own activities, they’ve used USCAP as a way to unite leading businesses from all industries in their goal of making environmental sustainability a policy mandate. In the interim, PG&E has made the decision to invest in efficient, clean, and renewable technologies as its current infrastructure ages and needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Melissa pointed out that these investments are paid for by PG&E’s shareholders- not by increased rates to PG&Es customers, but the benefits will be enjoyed by all as traditional energy sources grow more costly due to resource scarcity and the eventual cost of carbon. PG&E is protecting its customers from major rate shocks and its shareholders from future industry liabilities.

So what does this all mean? Businesses owe it to both their shareholders and society to maximize cost savings and profits through sustainable activities. While we’ve focused on the environmental side of things as it is most easily tied to public policy, there is plenty of evidence that a wide range of types of corporate social responsibility activities lead to an improved bottom line for businesses, including more favorable reputations among customers, increased employee satisfaction, talent recruiting advantages, and the ability to charge brand premiums. So next time you think you have to make a choice between making money and doing right by society, take another look and consider both the obvious and the creative alternatives. After all, whether you want to work for an NGO or a bank, everyone at Tuck wants to succeed at both; because there’s nothing more central to business school than money and there’s nothing more central to Tuck than supporting your community!

How are we going to create and protect jobs going forward?

2011-02-12T13:04:00.000-05:00

The issue of job creation and protection is pressing as I embark on my internship search for this summer. The New York Times Magazine published an article last month about the glut of recent law school graduates in this country. According to this article (and from my first hand knowledge of my friends’ experiences), we are educating more lawyers than there are lawyer jobs, leaving many with crushing debt and few job prospects. What about the MBA job market, then? Is the 21^st century American goal of becoming as highly educated as possible just about obtaining a coveted commodity (an advanced degree), instead of helping us actually get better, more satisfying, and higher paying jobs?

I had all of these issues on my mind as our panel team planned the Creating and Protecting Jobs panel at the Business and Society Conference. Our team sought to bring together representatives from big business (Reid Jackson T’96, President and CEO of Compusearch, and Barry Doggett, Sr. VP of Public and Community Affairs at Eaton Corporation), government (Steven Greenfield T’71, Chief Operating Officer at the Vermont Economic Development Authority), and experts from research and academia (Brink Lindsey, Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, and Professor Robert Hansen, Senior Associate Dean at Tuck). This diverse group provided valuable insights on the jobs outlook on both the local and national level.

Uncertainty was an issue discussed at length. For both small and large businesses, uncertainty about the economic outlook is a key roadblock to job creation—businesses don’t want to expand staff if they are uncertain about whether cash flows will be constant in the future. Perhaps, then, the role of the government is to offer predictability in regulatory standards and fair tax policies. The panelists all discussed a need for government to establish clarity in procedure and implementation.

International exchange, in both goods and services, was another topic discussed. One very interesting point from Brink Lindsey was about high-skill foreign workers coming to the US. Lindsey mentioned that we attract the best talent from around the world through our prestigious universities, but then chase them away with our restrictive visa policy. Furthermore, immigrants (high or low skill) are more likely to start businesses that create jobs. Thus, one way that our government can drive jobs and innovation would be to relax immigration policy for high-skill foreigners.

The issue of entrepreneurship is also important when thinking about job creation. I have always heard that my generation will not have the benefit of job security and we will float around to several different jobs over our working lifetime. My take on that is that we have a more entrepreneurial approach to our careers: instead of waiting for a company to provide us with our next opportunity, we take our destiny in our own hands. Furthermore, some of the most exciting opportunities may not be with established companies—some of the most important innovation happens at small startups.

To circle back to the New York Times article on the oversupply of lawyers, I think that the most important skill that newly minted professionals can have is the ability to be entrepreneurial. We are entering the workforce in a climate of uncertainty, and to have the flexibility and creativity to seek out new opportunities will be invaluable as we progress in our careers. For the US to continue to lead in innovation and ingenuity, our professional sector must have the courage and resourcefulness to create. Thus, perhaps my internship search Plan B to start my own business should be moved forward to Plan A!

Fueling Innovation: Government’s role in Supporting the Development and Deployment of Clean Energy Technologies - Panel Recap

2011-02-11T21:37:00.005-05:00

A huge thank you to our moderator, Andy Revkin of the New York Times, and panelists for what was a lively and insightful discussion. I can only assume that others in the audience were as inspired as I was by the obvious passion our panelists had for their respective work.

Summarizing the key issues and take-aways from a panel that touched on (and not always with panelist agreement) everything from U.S. competitiveness with China to government’s role in the innovation ecosystem, is a difficult task. So, I enlisted the help of my father who joined me at the conference and, as a former journalist, is much better equipped to rise to the challenge. He had this to say in summary:

The globe needs revolutionary change in both energy technologies and infrastructure, but the United States lacks a clear, long-term vision on where it wants to go and how to get there, a panel of energy experts agreed.

That lack of clarity makes it difficult for U.S. companies to make long-term investments in urgently needed cleaner energy sources, said the experts at Business & Society Conference at Dartmouth University’s Tuck Business School. It also impedes international agreement on clean energy incentives, they said.

“You need some clear, long-term vision,” said Michael Horn, Renewable Energy Policy Modeling Leader for GE Energy. Government should set policies and incentives for long-term transition to new forms of energy, suggested Horn and other panelists. But, stated Owen Barwell, chief operating officer of the Loan Programs Office in the U.S. Department of Energy, “We don’t have a precise and articulated policy.”

“Culturally, this country’s not there yet,” agreed Tom Zarrella, CEO of SustainX, Inc, a renewable energy company. While Europeans have long paid $5 or $6 per gallon for gasoline, U.S. consumers have not. In the U.S., heavy reliance on oil, for instance, “is not hurting us, we do not see it in our pockets.”

Panelists said private sector investment should lead the transition to renewable and less polluting energy, but they noted the absence of market incentives to pursue certain public goals—such as reducing carbon emissions that are widely thought to be changing global climate.

The Tuck panelists agreed that energy changes will be critically needed in the next 10 or 20 years, as the global economy builds vast numbers of new electric generation plants that will last 40 to 60 years. GE’s Horn made clear that most of these will be built in developing countries such as China. “They need new power and they’re going to build it from scratch.” The U.S., in contrast, faces relatively little need for new power, but must scrap many old generation plants and replace them with new sources of energy.

Though the U.S. tends to innovate well, panelists said, China appears better prepared to develop cleaner generating plants. Phil Giudice, undersecretary for energy in the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said China is building the world’s most efficient coal plants and 30 nuclear power plants. Speaking of cleaner energy plants, David Wells, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said “they are going to develop it and sell it to us.”

How can U.S. policymakers promote cleaner energy? While some panelists wanted to raise the cost of carbon emissions with cap-and-trade policies or taxes, none of them thought these were currently feasible politically.

Some panelists praised the use of “feed-in tariffs” in Europe—guaranteeing high rates of return for renewable energy—to quickly expand investment in clean power. But they noted those could cause distortion of markets and also face resistance in the U.S.

Giudice said states like his are leading the way by mandating that power companies get a growing share of their power from renewable energy.

“We need government to be the grownup here,” said Wells. Few panelists, however, expected federal leadership to issue a clear, comprehensive energy policy anytime in the near future.

Preventing the Next Crisis - Panel Recap

2011-02-11T19:27:00.004-05:00

I would like to thank both Professor Slaughter and Mr. Flexner for a rousing and candid discussion on Preventing the Next Crisis.

The potential downside of the "Charlie Rose format" is that the audience may receive an overdose of one viewpoint. For this format to succeed, the questioner must be talented, dynamic, and willing to push the guest. Professor Slaughter was all of these things, presenting alternate viewpoints with his questions and continually pushing Mr. Flexner to support his assertions. The result was a substantive discussion as dense and insightful as one would expect from a Squam Laker and Citigroup's Global Head of Real Estate.

The themes for the first segment--how did we get here?--were conjuncture and interconnectivity. Conjuncture, as defined by Mr. Flexner, is the unexpected correlation of normally unrelated events or conditions. In the context of the financial crisis, the industry's reliance on value at risk (VAR) modeling produced a risk management regime that ignored low probability, high consequence risks. This statistical model had a blind spot: the conjuncture of falling housing prices, subprime mortgages, and the overnight downgrading of many AAA positions to CCC positions. In response to this conjuncture, firms began managing down their inventory exposure but it was all for naught thanks to the interconnectedness of (i) geographically diverse real estate markets by subprime mortgages, and (ii) the various investment houses. Ultimately, Mr. Flexner concluded that there were a number of elements that created the "perfect storm," but ultimately the root cause was an intellectual failure of economics. Mr. Flexner explained that markets cannot always internally correct, and that more than a light regulatory touch is needed but that the regulation must be sensible.

The themes of the second segment, addressing this question of sensible regulation, were that the Dodd-Frank Act is not the answer and that we must decrease interconnectivity between banks.

- The Dodd-Frank Act: Much like Mr. Pitt's keynote address, Mr. Flexner expressed concern that the law of unintended consequences will consume Dodd-Frank. Specifically, the line between proprietary trades and client services is sufficiently blurry that drafting effective regulations on the issue may be impossible. Even in discussing the Act's one admitted strength--derivatives regulation--the admission was prefaced by concerns about the second and third order consequences. Mr. Flexner's preferred alternative to Dodd-Frank is something akin to the Basel II & III agreements, which itself is a double-edged sword because (i) the implementation timeline is unacceptable for banks, which can't simply standby until 2017; and (ii) it heavily discriminates against all non-investment grade businesses. Notwithstanding its feasibility, Mr. Flexner's Basel advocacy is reminiscent of Mr. Pitt's sentiment that "American geocentrism is a disease," and that regulatory competition is necessary in the near future.

- Interconnectivity: Mr. Flexner stated that there is no such thing as too-big-to-fail but there is such a thing as too-interconnected-to-fail. Similarly, Professor Slaughter emphasized that we need to find a way "to allow bad firms to die without taking others with them." Both comments indicate that sensible regulation must focus on decreasing interconnectivity between banks. The two first-order suggestions for accomplishing this were capital requirements and liquidity requirements. Mr. Flexner insisted that not only do we need higher capital requirements for banks, but that the type of capital should be true common equity, not AAA rated mortgage-backed securities. On liquidity, Mr. Flexner suggested that we start using prospective stress tests to determine firm resilience, e.g. a 1-year net stable funding ratio.

- Mr. Flexner's third, more general, suggestion for sensible regulation is to plug the regulatory cracks so that Wall Street "cockroaches," as he jokingly referred to them, can't get through. When new regulation decreases returns, the natural human response is to take on more risk. Thus, if there are cracks in our regulatory response to this crisis, the "cockroaches" will have their day.

As in-depth as this panel discussion was, the topic is an exceedingly complex one and raised new questions for this listener:

- The panelists indicated that the VAR model's shortcoming means regulation is the safeguard against low probability catastrophes. However, one need look no further than the BP oil spill to see that government has difficulty with this. At the same time, complex statistical modeling is the financial sector's bread and butter. Thus, the issue of who should manage these conjuncture risks remains unsettled.

- We are still at the whims of obviously fallible bond rating houses. Do we need to rethink this reliance?

- To paraphrase Mr. Pitt: like it or not, Dodd-Frank is law and we have to learn to deal with it. Today's panel provided many suggestions for how to improve upon Dodd-Frank, but whether such reforms are possible is uncertain at best. Thus, as the new regulations are promulgated we will have to learn to manage our systemic risk within this framework. The obvious question, then, is: are there are ways to shape the forthcoming regulations to improve Dodd-Frank's risk management impact?

I would enjoy hearing others' thoughts on these questions and any others that the panel raised. Also, I welcome anyone to point out errors or omissions in my coverage of this very dense discussion.

Wrap up Discussion: Policy Prescriptions to Encourage Economic Growth

2011-02-11T15:32:00.002-05:00

As we close the conference, we invite a panel of our own to help us answer the questions raised over the past day and a half. Welcome to Dean Robert Hanson, Dean Matthew Slaughter, Professor Richard D'Aveni, and Dartmouth Professor James Feyrer.

The discussion started with Matthew Slaughter soliciting recommendations for 3 policy prescriptions that could be important drivers to encourage growth in the economy.

James Feyrer offered:

1. Simply get prices right. In the context of the last panel's discussion around energy, it is important to get subsidies right and price carbon correctly (if we can even get there).

2. Fix patent policy. Defensive patenting has distorted the landscape.

Robert Hanson's suggestions involved removing wedges from markets and limiting mandates from the Federal government about quality levels that could be better set by the market.

1. Reform personal income tax and corporate tax system - make personal tax levels easier to predict and business taxes more competitive globally.

2. Redo healthcare reform because the large expense may not improve the level of quality. Furthermore, health care should not be tied to or burden the employer.

3. Put an energy policy in place. There should be a price on the carbon externality through a carbon tax.

[He wasn't able to get to immigration, education, etc.]

Though Richard D'Aveni points out that he is not as well educated as the economists on the panel, he does remind us of his closer ties to reality. D'Aveni does not believe that we can innovate or educate our way out, or progress through tax reform. These approaches haven't worked. Our antiquated system is set up to create efficient markets to benefit investors - who are no longer all Americans. We should be looking after the optimal use of American human capital, not just the efficient use of investment capital. More generally, economic models do not fit the reality with which we are faced.

1. Believes in more economic nationalism than current open trade policy because capital and jobs are leaving the country. Practically, we need to negotiate harder with China, Japan, and Germany using non-tariff barriers that are acceptable by the WTO.

2. Reduce the amount of finance capitalism that we have in the world, which prioritizes shareholder interests over public benefit. This could be done be reducing the power of shareholders and governing boards, shifting power to CEOs.

3. Historically, we have encouraged a consumption-focussed economy that has decreased our rate of savings and reinvestment in the economy. Using a consumption tax, we would incentivize personal savings.

Dean Slaughter next asked what policy each would recommend that the President do to spur growth and avoid:

Feyrer

Do tax reform. Avoid picking technology winners.

Hanson

Reform corporate tax. Avoid nationalistic reasoning to limit free trade.

D'Aveni

[aside from asking President to resign] Get the deficit and debt under control. Don't run for reelection.

Thank you to the panelists for the academic, humorous, and sometimes contradicting suggestions on how policy can change to spur growth!

Senator Jeanne Shaheen

2011-02-11T09:41:00.002-05:00

It was very exciting to have Senator Jeanne Shaheen speak to the Tuck School.
Senator Shaheen began the discussion by asking, “Can we innovate our way?” Her response was emphatic, “Not only can we, but we must. Our future is to be the global leader in science and technology.”
How can we do that?
Senator Shaheen stated that business, and not government creates jobs. But government has to foster a positive business climate. And how can government do that?
By:
1) Boosting research and development
2) Having a well-educated workforce
3) Increasing exports
4) Decreasing the federal government debt
5) Implementing a comprehensive energy policy

Senator Shaheen started by talking about the federal investment in R&D. That spending has been declining, as a percent of GDP—which is the wrong way to go.
The reason is that federal government research has led to everything from the internet to thermal gloves and boots (which, the Senator pointed out, is quite the boon to New Hampshire residents when the temperature is 5 degrees).
Senator Shaheen emphasized the need to stimulate private sector innovation, citing the fact that government has a role to play because companies underinvest since they don’t reap all the benefits of their R&D spending.

Next, Senator Shaheen turned to the need to improve science, math, technology, and engineering education, as these will be the fastest growing occupation fields in the next decade.

Third, Senator Shaheen discussed the need to source customers for products and services, and a major way to do that is through reducing trade barriers to increase exports. There is tremendous room for growth exports—and legislation such as the Small Business Jobs Act helps to increase exports by advising small businesses on how to manage trade rules and make contacts abroad.

With respect to the national debt--a problem, Senator Shaheen cited, as one we need to address--we need to do more than just cut wasteful programs. There are no easy answers, and we need to look at both the spending side and the revenue side. Examples in Europe show us the consequences of failing to deal with our debt responsibly.

Finally, Senator Shaheen addressed the last topic of the speech--the need to establish a national energy policy. Senator Shaheen stated that the world is on the verge of the most significant transformation since the industrial revolution, because it will go to the heart of how we produce and use energy. Moreover, the jobs in that revolution will go to countries that invest first—which is currently China, Germany, Brazil. Senator Shaheen emphasized that we need a national policy that is going to ensure the US is a world leader in energy.

In closing, Senator Shaheen ended on an upbeat note--that we shouldn't believe for a minute that our best days are behind us.

Overall, it was a great session and quite a treat to have Senator Shaheen join us!

Preventing the Next Crisis - Director & Officer Liability for Enterprise Risk Management

2011-02-10T09:26:00.008-05:00

To what extent were corporate boards and officers responsible for our recent financial crisis? To what extent did the legal system actually hold them accountable? Is there a disparity here that needs to be addressed, or should the rule precluding judicial review of business decisions also apply to enterprise risk management?

Those of you who are particularly interested in these questions, or the Preventing the Next Crisis panel more generally, may want to read the article Caremark and Enterprise Risk Management, by Stephen M. Bainbridge of the UCLA School of Law. The article provides an excellent overview of the current state of director and officer liability for breaching the duty of care to shareholders, and the potential applicability of this category of shareholder derivative suit, a.k.a. Caremark claims, to risk management.

Managing our systemic financial risk going forward will, as the language itself implies, require solutions from all corners of our current system. I'm excited to hear the various solutions our conference attendees have to share based on the unique personal experiences each of us brings. I encourage you to start the discussion now, through comments on this blog, to expand the conference's "marketplace of ideas."

Join Us

2011-02-09T17:18:00.002-05:00

Registration numbers are looking great for tomorrow's opening of the BSC, starting at 1pm in Georgiopoulos!

Start off your weekend by hearing the former SEC Chairman discuss the impacts of new financial regulation and where we go from here.

Follow it up with insights from leading thinkers on what's really required to jumpstart job creation in the United States.

Then, contribute to a discussion of the (mis)alignment between many companies' official CSR positions and their actual lobbying in Washington.

Finish the evening with drinks and hors d'oeuvres in Raether atrium. And then, on to Day 2 on Friday!

Timely article in the Boston Globe

2011-02-08T10:14:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's Boston Globe featured a front page article on the likely growth of charter schools within Massachusetts: http://bit.ly/hUPhWg

Definitely worth a look -- and timely with respect to the BSC education panel for a few reasons:

Interaction between government policy (here, the recently enacted MA law that increased the number of charter "seats" allowed in low-performing school districts) and private initiatives (charter schools are privately operated but still public schools)
Emphasis on performance / on proof that the innovation works: how do charters measure and sustain good results?
Challenges of growing to scale: many of the schools discussed in the article are making the transition from single standalone schools to charter management organizations (CMOs) / charter networks
Tension between solutions within and outside of the public education system

P.S. Fun fact unrelated to the BSC: Excel Academy, one of the schools featured in the article, will be the "client" for a Tuck First-Year Project team this spring.

This year's theme

2011-02-04T19:19:00.003-05:00

This year we've taken a bit of a departure from the usual sustainability and social responsibility focus of the BSC to address a persistent and provocative question that's been on many Americans' minds in recent years: Can We Innovate Our Way Out?

“Out of what?” you might ask. We say out of whatever you see as the challenges facing our nation’s economy today – be it the Global Financial Crisis, the Great Recession, or simply the widely-felt uncertainty about America’s future in the 21st century.

We look forward to your joining us to discuss these questions, and promise that you'll emerge with a deepened understanding of the critical intersection of business and society, as well as new views on the collective role of the public and private sectors in driving long-term economic growth.

2011-02-04T09:39:00.005-05:00

I’m in education mode today – en route to Boston for a final round with Education Pioneers (http://www.educationpioneers.org/) and working on a business plan for the Yale SOM Education Business Plan Competition – so I thought I'd post about our education panel at this year's BSC Conference.

Here's the official description:

Description:

One key driver of economic success for any nation is its educational attainment. A panel of education reform leaders with diverse experiences in the private sector and at different levels of government will discuss the complexities of creating positive change in the American education system. In recent years, reform attempts have received a spike in public attention due to poor performance on international test scores, enhanced federal government incentives and oversight, the recession, popular documentaries such as “Waiting For Superman” and charged political figures like Michelle Rhee. Against this backdrop, private organizations have driven much of the conversation and reforms, while government seeks to innovate its role and perspective. What opportunities does this create? With nonprofit, for-profit, and political leaders working together to advocate for new approaches, what challenges must be overcome and what trade-offs made?

Panelists:

Haven Ladd T'03, The Parthenon Group, Partner
Matt Dunne, Google Community Affairs
Meredith Liu, Mass Insight Education, Managing Director of School Turnaround Group

The unofficial background is that we're really excited about this panel! We in this case is Abby Whitbeck (first year at Tuck, formerly a consultant at Parthenon), Liam Kerr (first year at Tuck, formerly at New Profit Inc. and Alan Khazei's US Senate campaign), and myself (first year at Tuck, formerly a consultant at Monitor). We're all passionate about education, having explored it in various ways before and at Tuck, and drew upon some of our past experiences in bringing together the above group of panelists.

After some great conversations with the panelists and our moderator, Professor Maggie Hanson, it's clear that next Friday's conversation will provide some diverse perspectives on education (particularly K-12 education in the US) and – more specifically – the role of public and private actors in supporting innovative approaches to education.

Haven's a leader in Parthenon's education consulting practice, which has given him exposure to how districts, foundations, and for-profit companies address some of the challenges in the sector
Matt's a self-described "politician in remission" and (given his current role at Google) can speak to the federal, state, and corporate philanthropy perspective on supporting innovation
Meredith (a Dartmouth grad) has worked in a high-performing charter school and in DC Public Schools' Office of Portfolio Management; in her current role as Managing Director for MassInsight's School Turnaround Group, she directs research, policy, and implementation initiatives with districts and schools who are working to fix and support failing schools

That's all for now...the business plan calls! Hope to see many of you at next week's panel.

-- Divya

2011 Keynote Speakers

2011-02-02T22:16:00.002-05:00

We're just about a week away from the 2011 Tuck Business & Society Conference (have we mentioned it's the 9th annual!), and we're busy finalizing all of our plans in anticipation of our guests' arrival.

We're particularly excited about our keynote speakers: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, U.S. Senator for New Hampshire, and Harvey Pitt, former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

I've gotten you interested, haven't I? Excellent. Read more about our keynote speakers here.

Tuck Business & Society Conference 2011

2011-01-28T10:43:00.006-05:00

Welcome back! The 2011 Business & Society Conference is less than two weeks away, and we here at Tuck can't wait for our panelists and guests to descend on campus. This year's conference will address the issues of:

Can We Innovate Our Way Out?

The collective role of the public and private sectors in driving long-term growth

For more information on the conference, check out our website, Tuck's Business & Society Conference, or just check back here for updates.

Water Shortage: Crisis or Opportunity?

2010-02-12T17:53:00.003-05:00

Featured Panelists:

Lee Addams: Practice Expert / Engagement Manager in McKinsey & Company.
Dan Bena: Director of Sustainability, Health, Safety, and Environment for PepsiCo.
Peter Karlen: Vice President of EarthWater Global, LLC.
Sharon Nunes: Vice President of Big Green Innovations in IBM Systems & Technology Group.
Michael Dworkin: Director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment and Professor of Law (Moderator).

The water panel engaged the audience on a very difficult yet timely question of how business leaders should think about water scarcity. The panelist presented some of the multidimensional implications that water shortage has imposed on topics related to global health, food security, energy calamity, among other things. But they also shared their insights on how these auxiliary concerns along with the main issue of water shortage can be overcome with the right combination of talent, innovation, and partnership.

The panel represented companies that deal with water issues in vastly different ways. For example, Dan shared how PepsiCo, though not a big user of water from an operational perspective, is concerned about water from supply management perspective. Sharon provided a completely different viewpoint for IBM, which does not provide any goods related to water, but utilizes large amount of water in its operations. Peter of EarthWater demonstrated how innovation has allowed his company to deliver water from previously untapped sources to developing countries in a cost-effective manner. Lee shared how McKinsey advises business institutions and regulatory agencies on innovative ways to navigate within and tackle the water issue. And Professor Dworkin brought to light the interconnectedness of water and energy issues how these problems cannot be viewed in isolation. Though the panel highlighted different vantage points, the panelists were all in agreement that the situation can be improved if we act quickly, intelligently, and collaboratively to solve this pressing issue.

To read more about the topic, please find below the resources mentioned on the panel:
http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/water_management/ideas/
http://earthwaterglobal.com/documentary.htm
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/water/charting_our_water_future.aspx
http://www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Environment/Water.html
http://www.circleofblue.org/
http://www.globescan.com/
http://www.sustainability.com/

Cleantech VCs: What wave are we going to ride?

2010-02-12T12:50:00.005-05:00

This morning's keynote panel on cleantech VC investing was a remarkable discussion between 5 well-informed, experienced practitioners. The consensus view was that VC plays a key role in helping companies "bet the farm" on new technologies, but that the VC model may not meet the capital needs of many cleantech businesses in reaching commercial scale.

The panelists made a number of excellent and provocative points in support of this argument, which we'll summarize in a separate post. But I wanted to draw particular attention to something Jon Karlen of Flybridge Partners said. VC investors earn their returns from the "homeruns" in their portfolio, which, by definition, will comprise only a handful of their investments. A key success factor in these homeruns is the timing of the investments; that is to say, a great many investments fail because their products are simply too far ahead of where the market is.

As Jon put it: early-stage companies cannot create the demand for their products, so the question for those companies (and their backers) becomes "what wave are we going to ride?" What demand-side trends are large enough to fuel the growth of these companies? How good are investors at detecting those trends? What external forces (e.g. social changes, behavior shifts) are poweful enough to support those demand trends? And how do we better understand those forces?

These questions were a terrific reminder (I thought) of some of the natural constraints of investors and companies in this space, and evidence of our continued relevance as the Business and Society Conference here at Tuck.

Connecting with your customer and redefining your brand

2010-02-12T01:13:00.012-05:00

The ‘Connecting With Your Customer and Redefining Your Brand’ panel discussed the ways in which organizations are creating new techniques for responsible business conduct and incorporating sustainable thinking into their brand strategy and DNA. The panelists were:

Susan Coté, Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing, Green Mountain Coffee

Daniel Gisser, Director of Corporate Marketing, Eaton Corporation

Jennifer Rushmore, Global Sustainability Leader, Procter & Gamble

Jonathan Yohannan, Senior Vice President, Cone Incorporated

The panel: The panel began with introductions of our distinguished panelists. We then delved into how the sustainable practices at different organizations have evolved. Sustainability at P&G focuses on both social and environmental responsibility. Sustainability has strong heritage at the company which has been awarded and recognized in different parts of the world. P&G focuses on strategic social responsibility which has paved the way for a more environmentally and socially responsible business model.

Sustainability is addressed differently in a B2B business like Eaton. Eaton focuses on efficiency issues related to fuel consumption and greener buildings. The company has embraced green solutions in its best practices as such practices are a big revenue draw and a chance for the company to build its brand.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters have sustainability embedded in their DNA. They built a tremendously efficient system involving sustainability in all aspects of their business processes. GMCR’s various brands are involved in different areas such as supporting local communities, protecting the environment, taking care of the employees. The triple bottom line concept resonates throughout the company.

Cone was able to address similar issues from a unique perspective, those of the customers themselves. Cone works with different companies to help them improve their communication and corporate responsibility strategy. It is critical for most customer and consumer facing companies to understand and become more engaged with its customers whether it is through cause branding, corporate responsibility, employee management , or others.

Obstacles Companies Have Come Across While Developing Sustainable Initiatives: The panel discussed various issues encountered while addressing sustainability in the products and processes of organizations. The most significant challenge most panelists have come across is the cost of the final product. P&G’s consumer research found that customers on an average are willing to buy green products as long as they function similar and are priced similar to other available products. The company has numerous innovations it would like to bring to market but has postponed doing so because of these concerns.

One of the other concerns facing these companies is how to integrate best processes into the systems of their manufactures and suppliers. For example, GMCR worked with the cup manufacturing company to help integrate better processes in its value chain which led to greener cups and helped reduce its environmental footprint. A company can achieve a better and greener system by not only making its processes better but also by involving other stakeholders in the process building.

The panel also discussed the marketing challenges associated with such initiatives and how companies walk the thin line between making the right communication and avoiding green washing. Both GMCR and P&G work within their strategy which enables them to stay on course for making the right communication with their customers. Eaton mentioned how B2B business are able to deal better with such challenges because it works with its customers throughout the entire process.

Insights from the panel: One of the interesting insights of the panel was how to decide which products and processes are worth investing green innovative ideas and energy. Many products and processes do not have as much ‘green’ potential as one might assume. For example, many products can be designed to be bio-degradable, but would involve chemicals during manufacturing (does this make it no longer sustainable?); A product could be made from glass instead of plastic but the transportation of the heavy glass packaging would have a larger carbon footprint and would reduce the benefit of having glass packaging in place of the plastic. Among several such difficult choices companies have to decide which would make more environmental impact and better business sense. A company has to recognize these challenges and develop its strategy accordingly.

The panel also navigated the predicament companies may face while making such decisions in different geographies, specifically developing countries. The consumers in these countries may not be aware of such issues or may not be really concerned about such products. For a consumer products company it is essential to be aware of regional concerns and address these concerns appropriately.

Finally, the panel had an interesting discussion involving social media – using Facebook and Twitter in the marketing strategy of the company. These channels open the company to an honest dialogue with their customers. However, these channels also must be closely managed as consumers may use this avenue as a safe place to vent and ‘think’ with little consequence to the consumer, but a much larger consequence for the company.

Out of Africa: What Innovation in Africa Can Teach the Business World

2010-02-11T21:55:00.002-05:00

Panelist:

Jonathan Bloom, Deputy Vice President, Department of Compact Implementation, Millennium Challenge Corporation

Acting as a one man show because of the last minute absence of 2 of the 3 panelists due to travel delays and the blizzard in DC, Jonathan Bloom presented engaging commentary on the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) work with businesses and governments in Africa. MCC's work is focused on poverty reduction through economic development. While Bloom highlighted the need for financial solutions ranging from traditional lending to microfinance, he stressed that before finance comes entrepreneurs, and before entrepreneurs comes markets. "The difficulty in Africa," he said, "is that the economies are sub-scale."

Citing examples as diverse as banks in Tanzania, an increasingly mechanized pineapple plantation in Ghana, and the development of a water treatment system in Mozambique, Bloom is encouraged by the increasing level of innovation and economic development he sees across the continent. The MCC must agree, as it works with more countries in Africa than in any other part of the world.

The business case for strategic partnerships with the social sector: A literacy case study

2010-02-11T18:37:00.002-05:00

Featured panelists:

James Cleveland, President, Jumpstart
Kathleen VanDernoot, Alliances and Programs, Pearson Foundation
David Murphy, President and CEO, Better World Books
LuAnne Zurlo, Founder and Executive Director, WorldFund

Partnership lifecycle overview: The panel began by exploring the lifecycle of partnerships from birth to exit. The discussion aimed to uncover answers to some key questions: How do partnerships begin? How do they evolve? What kind of tensions emerge in a non profit - for profit relationship, and how are they managed? What happens to partnerships when there is a downturn in the market?

Key insights of partnership lifecycles:
The formation of the Jumpstart and Pearson relationship was not random - it was due to a deliberate search on Pearson's part to find the right organization to partner with. Specifically, they were looking for a "like-minded partner that was aligned with our goals." Jumpstart originally engaged in the partnership with grand plans to form a large Teacher Fellowship program to address the issue of teacher quality in the United States, but ultimately discovered that this goal extended outside the bounds of their core competencies, and their grand goals would likely not be reached. Together, Pearson and Jumpstart evolved their relationship to create a new program, Jumpstart's Read of the Record campaign, which met both of the organizations' objectives and worked well within their key capabilities. A key to success was the combined drive to a solution; the partnership evolved not unilaterally, but rather, with both sides as equal players in making decisions.

The partnership between Better World Books and WorldFund began serendipitously: Better world Books was in need of a credible literacy partner to reach the underserved population in Latin America, and a member of the organization had a common connection with WorldFund. The partnership has seen less evolution since its beginnings primarily due to its relatively short time frame. Better World Books' entire business model relies on the mission of its partner organizations, for it is primarily these partners who drive book donations to the organizations.

Value creation overview: The second key theme of the panel was the exploration of value, and the incremental value provided to each partner organization because of the partnership. Without question, value is not just about money. Money is important, but it can be limiting as a metric. Thus, the panelists addressed key questions that dug into the value creation process of their partnerships: How do the organizations think about value creation? How about value capture? What makes it sustainable? What unique resources do partners offer in collaborations? How do they work with partners that might share their values (literacy) but are organized differently (non profit vs. for profit models)?

Key insights of value creation:
The Pearson-Jumpstart relationship has helped open many new customer relationships for Pearson, which they would not have been able to have without the partnership because of their "big corporate status." Often, when potential customers realize that Pearson is heavily connected to Jumpstart and its Read for the Record campaign, they are far more open to continuing the dialogue than they may have been previously. Likewise, Jumpstart has been able to grow tremendously as an organization because of this partnership with Pearson. Not only has Pearson's resources helped grow a campaign that allows them to reach more children, but they've also provided invaluable strategic support. These intangible means of value (versus just dollars) are some of the most important value areas that allow Jumpstart to have a higher impact in child literacy.

To have a business, Better World Books is faced with the challenge of needing to create a high level of trust among its constituents (the donors of books and the buyers of books). It is their nonprofit partners that provide them the credibility to create the trust with its constituents. Through the integrity created from partnerships with organizations like WorldFund, Better World Books has been able to scale its business to a very high level: they provide $7/minute of donations to their partner organization, which translates to $4M of donations per year. In turn, WorldFund is able to focus its efforts on its programs, its area of greatest strength, and lean on Better World Books to fill its skill gaps on the business side.

Final insights: seven key takeaways to a successful partnership:

Build strong relationships within and across the partnering organizations
Foster clear communication between each partner organization
Be clear on what you can and cannot do; manage expectations and be honest
Understand the business objectives of the corporation and try to align your own work within those objectives
Ensure senior level buy-in
Have complementary skills and objectives
Focus on values: long-term viability of partnership relies on understanding the values of each partner organization

CSR at IBM?

2010-02-11T18:15:00.004-05:00

Given the Smarter Planet strategy of harnessing IBM's core business capabilities toward social ends, what is the necessary role for IBM's CSR department? If the dog catches the car, now what?

(credit to Harry for the good question)

IBM's Iwata on Toyota

2010-02-11T17:43:00.003-05:00

In a small group roundtable, a Tuck student asked Mr. Iwata how he would advise Toyota in its current crisis. He cited a top communications official at Domino's Pizza, following their handling of their own social media crisis:

"People want to watch you put the fire out"

Even though a company's first instinct is to investigate internally and get the facts straight, today's consumers want to witness more of the internal process. Is this realistic? Can companies manage their response in a more transparent way, even as they are figuring out exactly how to respond?

The Commercialization of Microfinance: From Muhammad Yunus to J.P. Morgan

2010-02-11T16:37:00.002-05:00

Panelists:
Caroline Allen (Vice President, Creation Investments)
Dana Dakin (Founder/President, WomensTrust)
Shedd Glassmeyer (Assistant Fund Manager, Developing World Markets)
John Wilson (Analyst Frontier Investment Group: ACCION International)

Moderator:
Richard McNulty (Adjunct Associate Professor of Business Administration, Tuck)

The Microfinance panel provided a lively discussion surrounding the spectrum of approaches to serving the micro-lending need. The panel started with with thoughts about the profit-driven approach to micro-lending employed by Compartamos in Mexico as opposed to a non-profit model. Questions got at the issues of usury rates, transaction costs of a local institution, the education and training involved, and the impact of the financial crisis on microfinance.

The panel represented a diversity of vantage points within the microfinance "value chain" and highlighted the importance of different micro-lending models to meet the array of needs. The issue of "scale" was raised on several occasions during the conversation. While there was agreement that the non-profit model is important to support the on-the-ground education and ultimate success for communities, however, the for-profit institutions facilitate growth and have been vital in helping to provide increased access to funds.

"Smarter Planet: A Leadership Agenda"

2010-02-11T15:52:00.004-05:00

Tuck's eighth annual Business & Society Conference kicked off this afternoon with a keynote address from Jon Iwata, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM. Mr. Iwata spoke about the new realities of global business today, the requirements for businesses to meet those realities, and how IBM is changing the game through it's Smarter Planet initiative.

We have all heard of the two big new business realities of the past few decades, namely globalization and the digital network revolution (Internet, technology, or however one chooses to define it). The third new business reality is stakeholder empowerment, or the ability of stakeholders to exert influence over the actions of companies. Not surprisingly, this increased empowerment of stakeholders has been enhanced and perhaps influenced by the other two realities of globalization and digitization.

These drivers of change have key implications for businesses across the globe. The first is that the new competitive battle between companies will be based on experts and expertise. As companies find themselves no longer in complete control over the messaging and communication around their products or services, they will begin to expose their own experts and expertise to the outside world. The second implication is that there will be a shift from marketing to audiences to creating constituencies. These customers must be defined, built, and fed. Apple, for example, doesn't just market products to consumers. Rather, the company teaches consumers how to get the most out of their Apple product through the "genius bar" in their retail stores and through online video tutorials. In so doing, Apple creates a customer who will champion the product and company. Finally, the third implication is that every business will become a "technology company" and must face new policy challenges because of this.

IBM has faced these new implications and challenges head on, with the creation of their Smarter Planet initiative. Smarter Planet represents the intersection of economic comparative benefit with social issue and technology. Essentially, IBM is helping large customers become "Smart" by both improving their business and, at the same time, doing good for society. One example Mr. Iwata cited was a project to create a "Smarter Train", where a company knew that operating their trains at 1 MPH faster would generate greater profits while also creating significant social benefits. With improved transit time, the company could take 250 locomotives and 5,000 train cars off the tracks, and could redeploy hundreds of employees. It was unable to do so, however, because at that speed a single "wobbly" wheel would derail the entire train. IBM is collaborating with this company to create sensors that would track heat and vibration on all the wheels of these massive freight trains, enabling the train to drive 1 MPH faster with the confidence that problems could be spotted early and derailment averted. With this, the company will be reducing its carbon footprint, decreasing energy usage, and improving safety for employees and others.

Smarter Planet is a perfect example of a company doing good by doing well. IBM estimated that its addressable market could increase by 40% with this initiative, which is substantial considering the company plays in a $1.3 trillion industry.

In all, Jon Iwata's keynote speech set a great tone for the Business and Society Conference. Watch this page for summaries of the discussion and key learnings from all of our interesting panels and speakers over the rest of today and tomorrow!

Welcome!

2010-01-22T15:48:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Tuck Business & Society Conference live blog! We will be live blogging the conference on February 11-12, 2010.

In the meantime, please take a look at our conference website for information on panels, keynote speakers, schedules, and much more: Tuck Business and Society Conference 2010.