• Michigan SRB chapter makes strong showing at national conference in Los Angeles
• CEMP student's research highlighting unrecognized competitive advantageof El Salvador's coffee industry reaches the desk of that country's president
• Graham Mercer, three SRB students, and an Executive Director from Ford debate aspects of corporate responsibility
• SGA subcommittee working to stengthen alumni ties
• SGA kicks offTaste of Culture' series

Michigan SRB chapter makes strong showing at national conference in L.A.

The Sun Was So Bright, They Had To Wear Shades: John LoSciuto, Jerry O'Brien, Tertia Speiser, and Patrick Holcomb (above left, left to right) were in Los Angeles for the Fifth Annual SRB National Conference. They certainly weren't thinking about the chilly weather and snow that would fall back in Ann Arbor a mere 10 days later. To the left is Robert Fischer, CEO of The Gap, Inc. Mr. Fischer gave the keynote address at the conference, which convened at UCLA's Anderson School of Business.     Photos by Kathleen Judd

by Martha Masterman, MBA2, and Lynda Ferrari, MBA2    

This year's conference, entitled "Social Responsibility: The New Competitive Advantage," included speakers from a wide variety of companies--from small non-profits to large multinationals. Some of the organizations represented were Wild Planet Toys, Citibank, UPS, Food from the' Hood, Patagonia, Nike, Bulldog Entertainment, Target, The Gap, Working Assets, and Deloitte and Touche.

The SRB conference began on Friday evening, and was opened by Robert Kemp, CEO of the Los Angeles Community Development Bank. Saturday morning students gathered to listen to keynote speaker Edward James Olmos, actor, producer, director, and activist. Olmos conveyed that his model for decision-making in life and in his profession has been to place his values above his desire for economic gain. He recommended that we as future business leaders do the same. Concluding remarks were given by Robert Fisher, Chief Operating Officer of The Gap.

Panels Galore

The conference continued with a variety of concurrently run panels during which participants could explore the implementation of socially responsible business practices. According to Nancy Katz, Executive Director of SRB, every business falls somewhere along a continuum of social responsibility.

MBA students were exposed to this spectrum of organizations through four panel tracks: Entrepreneurship, Corporate, Nonprofit, and Alumni. One Corporate Track panel, entitled "Socially Responsible Marketing," featured representatives from Target, Odwalla, and Patagonia.

Since the 1950s, Target has allocated 5% of its profits to support a variety of organizations in three categories: the arts, domestic violence, and education. Target has recently signed on 150,000 customers to its charge card in which a percentage of the purchases is allocated to select organizations. Target strongly believes that giving back to the community is a core value, and also considers it a competitive advantage to appeal to its socially conscious customers.

Another company on the panel, Patagonia, has demonstrated its commitment to social responsibility by making it a priority to consider the effects of its manufacturing process on the environment. In doing so, the company has made the decision to use only organically grown cotton to produce its high quality outdoor gear. It is important to note that this high level of quality was not compromised in the pursuit of more environmentally sustainable business practices. Extensive testing was done to ensure the new methods were acceptable to Patagonia's customers.

Reaction from Michigan MBAs

The experience at the SRB conference proved to be very rewarding for many Michigan MBA students. Jenny Griffin, MBA1, commented that it was a rare opportunity to exchange ideas with fellow MBA students across the country. She felt it was stimulating to speak with students who look at businesses objectively and consider not only the financial performance, but also the social impacts.

Despite what some students may believe, a company can establish strong values from its inception that simultaneously promote responsible practices and foster a strong financial position. Ken Outcalt, MBA1, was impressed with the number of companies represented at the conference. In particular, he was encouraged to learn how these organizations have found innovative ways to meet the needs of their diverse stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, and the communities in which they operate. Ken attended the panel "Financing Your Socially Responsible Venture." This discussion involved venture capital firms that have proven there is not necessarily a tradeoff between making a profit and doing good for society. Securing an internship or full-time position at a socially responsible business may require a more time-consuming search. However, despite the challenges, Ken was encouraged by the potential opportunity of working for a company whose values are consistent with his own.

Looking Ahead

Next year's conference will be held at the Yale School of Management in New Haven, Conn. For the past five years, these conferences have attracted a growing number of students with diverse backgrounds and interests. The Michigan Business School chapter of SRB continues to strengthen its membership and has become one of the strongest chapters amongst the top b-schools. For more information, please access the website www.umich.edu/~srbumich.edu for the Michigan chapter and www.srb.org for SRB National.

CEMP student's research highlighting unrecognized competitive advantageof El Salvador's coffee industry reaches the desk of that country's president

Something's Brewin': Claudia Harner's work will be presented at a "sustainable growth" conference of Central Americangovernment officials and industry leaders.    Photo by Ellen Hodo

Harner is now the resident UMBS expert on coffee after spending her summer working for the Latin America Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development at INCAE University in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The Center is a unique program whose mission is to integrate five Central American countries (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica) into the global economy in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. According to Harner, the primary focus of her research was "the environmental impact and profitability of the coffee industry in El Salvador and Costa Rica."

A key finding of Harner's research was that El Salvador has one of the most sustainable coffee industries in the world. According to Harner, it is the shade-growing methods of the Salvadoran coffee farmers that makes their harvests so sustainable. Typical coffee farming involves cutting down huge swaths of trees so that the beans can grow and mature more quickly.

However, much is lost in this process. First, the trees that are cut down provide vital habitat for thousands of species of animals, including scores of insects that serve as natural pesticides. With these natural pesticides eliminated, coffee farmers must purchase chemical pesticides; the cost of these chemicals offsets much of the increased yield and tends to run-off into local watersheds. Second, the coffee plantations become incredibly inhospitable places to work, with no shade to provide protection for the workers. Also, erosion and soil nutrient depletion become a tremendous problem because of the lack of non-coffee vegetation. And, finally, the coffee itself is of a significantly inferior quality. On the other hand, shade-grown coffee is able to mature and mellow on the vine.

During the summer, Harner discovered that 92% of the Salvadoran coffee industry is shade grown. Harner pointed out that the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) played a key role in this outcome by ignoring El Salvador in the 70s (there was a civil war going on at the time) when USAID undertook a program to "help" Central American companies convert their coffee industry away from the traditional shade-grown methods.

Now, by virtue of this oversight, El Salvador, with Harner's help, is poised to become the leader in sustainable, shade-grown coffee.

Harner's report culminated in a set of recommendations that promoted public-private partnerships to help these shade-grown coffee industries become even more sustainable. One of Harner's key recommendations was to develop a marketing communications campaign for the Salvadoran coffee industry. As a result, Harner is working on a project in Marketing 611, Advertising Management, to craft such a campaign. She and three classmates are developing a comprehensive communication package that will be used to educate consumers on the benefits of shade-grown coffee.

But that's not all. This winter, Harner's work will be presented to a Sustainable Growth conference of Central American government and industry leaders. Her report will also be incorporated into a World Bank grant proposal for the promotion of coffee as a method of habitat conservation. In addition, Harner's report has been read by Miguel Araujo, El Salvador's Minister of the Environment. He then handed it all the way up to El Salvador's President--Armando Calderon Sol! Wow--talk about impact in a summer internship.

So, the next time you're out at the café, request a shade-grown coffee and taste for yourself--it really is a better cup of coffee and it really is better for the environment and the community in which it is grown.

Graham Mercer, three SRB students, and an Executive Director from Ford debate aspects of corporate responsibility

Photos by Kathleen Judd   

	Left Photo: John Cunningham, Heather Lair, Martha Lunbeck, Karen Ritchie, Jeanine Fukuda, Jerry O'Brien, Anne Marie Jacks, and Lewis Garvin. Right Photo: Duane Peterson, of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream.

by Lewis Garvin, MBA1    

After sitting through a long day of presentations on November 4, 1997, sixty community and government relations executives from Ford Motor Company looked forward to the next event.

Ford had asked Graham Mercer, Director of the Leadership Development Program at UMBS, and a panel of three MBA students representing Students for Responsible Business to add a fresh voice to their ongoing discussion of Ford's role in corporate social responsibility. Martin Zimmerman, Executive Director of Governmental Relations and Corporate Economics for Ford, explained that our participation would provide food for thought as they developed Ford's 1998 plan for environmental and community relations to be presented to upper management in January.

Mercer first got their attention with a swift review of the economic and environmental problems facing our world and how business can address these problems. He explained that allowing the current trends of global warming, exponential population growth, and the increasing gap between the world's rich and poor to continue unchecked will lead to environmental crisis and political instability. Mercer went on to describe how economic growth can help increase our overall quality of life and create the wealth needed to tackle these problems, but he also cautioned that such growth must be achieved in environmentally sustainable ways. By pointing out that multinational companies can fuel this economic growth and tackle international environmental problems in a way that national governments cannot, he showed the importance of companies such as Ford actively engaging in these issues.

Mercer then gave the audience the chance to ask questions of the student panel made up of Gerald O'Brion, MBA1, and Lewis Garvin and Claudia Harner, who are in their first and third years respectively of the Corporate Environmental Management Program (CEMP)--a joint-degree program between UMBS and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. The panel gave the current Ford executives a chance to interact with future business leaders and potential employees in order to understand issues that we feel will be important going into the next century. They took full advantage of the opportunity, enthusiastically asking us one challenging question after another. A selection of their questions and a summary of our answers are shown below.

Q: What do you look for in a future employer?

A: In addition to valuing challenge and opportunity in our careers, we look for companies which provide a good work/life balance for their employees, have a positive impact on the communities in which they do business, and seek to continuously improve their environmental record. Our ideal employers view environmental and social responsibility as a source of innovation and growth, not as a hurdle to trip over.

Q: Would you work for a company such as Ford?

A: Cars have had negative impacts on the congestion of our cities, are a major contributor of greenhouse gasses, and are not ultimately sustainable because our limited resources will not allow every person in the world's exploding population to own a car. Where there are problems, there are also opportunities, and all three of us agreed that we would consider working for Ford. Cars are interwoven into our society and aren't disappearing anytime soon. Why not be a part of finding ways to make personal transportation sustainable?

Q: Then would you work for a tobacco company?

A: Three no's from the students. Unlike cars, the harm produced by tobacco products is inherent in the products and their use.

Q: What's the business case for social responsibility?

A: In the short-term, incremental improvements in environmental performance and employee relations can result in reduced material and regulatory costs and enhanced employee morale and productivity. In the long-term, companies can use the call for environmental sustainability as an opportunity to find new drivers of growth by rethinking their role in innovative ways (e.g. Ford as transportation company, not gasoline-fueled car company). Companies that lead their industries towards sustainability will be well positioned strategically to take advantage of the inevitable need for environmentally sustainable economic growth.

Q: Should government take business costs into account when defining environmental regulation?

A: Absolutely. While tradeoffs are sometimes necessary, truly sustainable growth must be financially as well as environmentally sustainable. An antagonistic style of EPA regulation creates red tape and countless inefficiencies that reduce the competitiveness of American firms. Fortunately, the EPA has realized this problem. Fred Hansen, deputy administrator for the EPA, has described numerous ways that the EPA seeks to partner with business, defining innovative solutions to environmental regulation which give businesses more freedom without reducing environmental protection.

Q: How can business address the increasing gap between rich and poor?

A: The comparative advantage of developing countries in cheap, unskilled labor has led to a flight of unskilled jobs overseas. Unskilled American workers have been the hardest hit by these changes but are also an untapped resource for business. Businesses that find ways to harness the potential of America's poor as employees and customers benefit themselves and the surrounding community. For example, Focus: Hope has helped many unskilled and poor residents of Detroit transform themselves into world-class machinists and engineers. Micro-loan programs focusing on inner-city communities have given banks access to previously ignored market opportunities.

SGA subcommittee working to stengthen alumni ties

Whether you realize it or not, you are building traditions at the University of Michigan Business School. You study and party with your section; you go through recruiting with your class; and you build traditions in your three-year network.

The Class of '99 (both MBAs and BBAs) is sharing experiences with the Class of '98, from Orientation through recruiting, and will build on existing traditions and establish new ones (like Wednesday's at the Liquid Lounge) that they will pass on to the Class of 2000! This is your three-year network.

Your network will be the strongest the school has ever had because of the actions you take now in school and the commitment from the administration to continually make it even stronger. Lifetime email and M-Track will be part of the core for long-term contact with each other and the school. M-Track has an alumni database that is accessible via the web and offers unlimited possibilities for innovation.

However, our active alumni network is not yet as strong as some other top b-schools. Dean White, in an address to alumni and student leaders at the Leadership Conference last week, described our current alumni network as the missing link in his mission, which I believe we all share, to become the best b-school in the country. To this end, we need to make our network active and, as Dean White urged us, "set a new standard for an alumni network and work toward fostering stronger relations."

Your student government, SGA, has recognized this need through interactions with Dean White, Jeanne Wilt (Director of OCD), Ann LaCivita (Director of Alumni Relations), other student groups, and individual students. The SGA Placement Subcommittee is focused on strengthening relations and making the alumni network more active in order to improve career opportunities for current and future MBAs and BBAs.

The subcommittee has met regularly to discuss ways for current students to build traditions that will close the alumni network "gap" with other leading b-schools. For example, the subcommittee will institute a process to help student clubs identify key alumni in diverse industries in order to improve the mix of companies that recruit on campus. These efforts are being coordinated with efforts from other clubs like Global Blue (the elected leaders of the University of Michigan Business School Alumni Network).

But why is it so important to act now, to internalize the concept that it is valuable to maintain contact with each other, with current alumni, and the school?

We have a great opportunity to identify now what a strong network will provide us as alumni ten years from now and get a head start towards achieving that goal. Unlike other top b-schools, we do not have to get rid of arcane institutions and programs that do not provide value. Instead, we can skip directly to developing valuable programs like online, real-time connections that will keep alumni in touch with each other and students and up-to-date on the latest industry trends and teaching philosophies.

Students have long played an active and vibrant role in the improvement of the b-school. Through individual student efforts, student clubs, and student government, students have initiated changes and implemented new programs. It will be no different with developing an active alumni network. According to Global Blue President Brad Schorer, this is an important initiative because "our alumni network helps to demonstrate the strength of our school by enhancing student placement within industry now as well as providing continuous business and social opportunities after the students graduate."

This is but one initiative that the SGA is working on for current students. The Placement subcommittee leading this effort is one of three subcommittees of the Admissions & Placement Committee. The Admissions & Placement Committee is working on several initiatives through partnerships with Admissions, Student Services, OCD, and Alumni Relations and through coordinated efforts with other student groups like Global Blue and UMBSA. The Admissions and Placement Committee is open to your ideas --please contact any of the following members: Michele Bartnik (MBA Chair), Andrea Will (BBA Chair), Christina Egge, Eric Horowitz, Nitin Pai, Scott Reed, Tige Savage, and Rene Villegas.

SGA is pursuing several other efforts simultaneously and welcomes your input. Additional committees include Facilities, Communications, Curriculum & Teaching, International & Diversity, Image & Ranking, Programming & Special Events, Spring Swing, Fundraising & Corporate Relations, and Constitutional Reform. Inquiries can be made via your section representatives or through any member of the Executive Board, including Reem Anani (V.P. BBA Affairs--ranani@umcih.edu) and Kelly Hutchison (V.P. Communications --khutchis@umich.edu).

SGA kicks off Taste of Culture' series

The Student Government Association is an umbrella organization for all the clubs at UMBS and supports student activities in partnership with the clubs. One of the activities that SGA is actively involved with is the "Taste of Culture." In this event, social clubs provide a glimpse of their culture via a cultural activity and foods from their region.

On November 11, the Indian Sub-Continent Business Association (ISBA) jump-started the Taste of Culture with a well attended event in the UMBS student lounge. The Indian food and the cultural dance provided a great opportunity for students to capture the energy and festivity of India. A sampling of the food was enjoyed by many students and staff. The clear highlight was the dance presented by the students. This dance is called "Garba Ras" and is performed at the time of festivals. Their performance of elegant moves recreated the mellow emotions of an idyllic rural Indian setting. Timing of this event coincides with the most prominent festival in India: "Diwali."

More popularly known as the "festival of lights," Diwali is a time of celebration in vibrant colors. Most houses in India are decorated with small earthen lamps filled with oil. After sunset, each house and each street is illuminated in the soft light of hundreds of lamps. Imagine hundreds of millions of houses decorated with earthen oil lamps across the length and breadth of India.

Another key aspect of this festival is the celebration with firecrackers. Children particularly look forward to the evening time to light up and enjoy firecrackers. Every street and every house resounds with firecrackers of all varieties. Of course, one should not attempt to travel in India during Diwali. For those seeking adventure, travel during Diwali will provide adequate thrills in terms of firecrackers landing and exploding all around you.

People in India add another dimension to celebrate Diwali, along with earthen lamps, firecrackers, and food of course. Elaborate preparations of sweets, curries, and snacks add immensely to the enjoyment. Overall, the excitement of Diwali in the student lounge was made possible by the efforts of two students Mita Gupta (MBA2) and Sapna Chadha (BBA2).

Now it is time to encourage all other clubs to take advantage of this event and initiate such a Taste of Culture. Also, mark your calendars for November 20 when the Asian Business Association will bring alive the student lounge with another exciting "Taste of Culture."