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Beyond Grey Pinstripes

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U. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

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U. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) CB 3490, McColl Building
Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3490
United States
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Demographic Information

Number of full-time MBA students (2011): 

288

Number of part-time MBA students (2011): 

0

Total duration of full-time MBA program: 

21 months

MBA faculty (Fall 2010): 

111

Females as percent of student body: 

28%


  • School Information
  • Courses
  • Outside the Classroom
  • Faculty Research

Description of MBA Program: 

UNC Kenan-Flagler is known for our commitment to developing socially responsible, results-driven leaders. Consistently ranked one of the world's best business schools, we have demonstrated our leadership in the field of sustainable enterprise for over a decade. Preparing MBA students to manage the social, ethical and environmental issues inherent in mainstream business is a core commitment from the senior administration and throughout the faculty and staff as demonstrated by the broad range of educational and enrichment opportunities inside and outside the classroom. The 11-year old Center for Sustainable Enterprise (CSE) is the hub of Sustainable Enterprise (SE) activities on campus and works very closely with the UNC MBA Net Impact chapter, one of the largest and most active MBA Net Impact clubs in the United States.

Education

UNC Kenan-Flagler offers MBA students an unparalleled range of curricular opportunities in SE. The MBA Sustainable Enterprise Concentration applies across functions and industries. Students taking it learn how to craft strategies that help companies pursue a triple bottom line. UNC Kenan-Flagler offers 21 MBA courses in sustainable enterprise, 75% of MBA students take at least one sustainable enterprise course and 20% of MBA students graduate with the SE concentration. SE electives include topics on environmental strategy, corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, workplace diversity, Base of the Pyramid markets, green building and urban redevelopment. Students also apply to participate in a sustainable enterprise Global Immersion Elective that includes in-country learning about business and sustainable development in Latin America.


We also bring global leaders to campus to share their expertise with the School and the wider North Carolina community. Covering a wide range of environmental and social management issues, past speakers include Andrew Winston, Muhammad Yunus, John Replogle, Adam Lowry, and Gary Hirshberg. The school has also hosted international conferences including “Global Innovations in Energy: How Business is Addressing Climate Change” and “Microfranchising: Innovation in Practice and Research”, bringing thought leaders from around the globe to share innovative practices.


Practice

UNC Kenan-Flagler provides experiential learning opportunities to provide students with extensive opportunities to practice what they’re learning in the classroom in a real world context. Through the Center for Sustainable Enterprise (CSE) the school connects students with companies to identify and leverage competitive advantage through sustainable enterprise strategies and practices. CSE Consulting is a one of a kind, award-winning program where MBAs offer world-class sustainability consulting services to organizations, providing business-specific, actionable recommendations that address the triple bottom line. Through BASE( Business Accelerator for Sustainable Entrepreneurship), a triple-bottom-line virtual business incubator, MBA students have opportunities to work with early stage sustainable ventures and apply skills they have obtained.


Cases and extracurricular activities further equip MBA students with the tools to identify opportunities that create competitive advantage through sustainability. UNC Kenan-Flagler hosts the one-of-a-kind Social Venture Capital Investment Competition (SVCIC). In addition, UNC Kenan-Flagler students have won top honors in the National Net Impact Challenge, Leeds School of Business Net Impact Case Competition, Thunderbird Global Citizenship Challenge and the SVCIC. Students apply classroom learning to real-world projects through STAR projects (consulting with companies on projects with economic development and social impact), Launching the Venture (launching their own social and sustainable ventures during a series of courses), and the Sustainability Immersion (an experiential-learning capstone course).


Knowledge

UNC Kenan-Flagler also pursues and exposes students to a rigorous applied research agenda. We support faculty and student research projects in sustainable enterprise across the areas of strategy, marketing, finance, real estate, and entrepreneurship. We work with faculty, students, and other research partners to develop and publish case studies, technical papers, models, and field research.


MBA students plan an active role in the content and development of the CSE Knowledge Bank, a publicly accessible database of publications on a wide array of leading-edge sustainability research. Content is developed by both our renowned faculty and our talented students - on a broad range of sustainability topics including design for sustainability, microfinance, sustainable tourism, and more. MBA students are also involved in developing content for the Sustainable Enterprise Quarterly, a quarterly journal highlighting faculty research in SE, CSE news, as well as profiles of alumni and students pursuing sustainability in their work.


Careers in Sustainable Enterprise

The Center for Sustainable Enterprise (CSE) works in partnership with the Career Management Center (CMC) and the MBA Net Impact Club to provide a broad range of resources and programs for students interested in pursuing careers in sustainable enterprise including: The CSE Career Coaching Program which connects MBA students with practitioners to help students refine their interests and career goals while building meaningful one-on-one relationships, and CSE Consulting Internships providing MBAs selected competitively as summer associates an opportunity to work on business-specific, actionable recommendations that honor a triple bottom line.


CSE also hosts a number of sustainable enterprise career events in close partnership with the CMC and Net Impact Club. A Sustainable Enterprise Career Forum each fall introduces students to career possibilities, TASC (Teams Achieving Sustainable Careers) provides students pursuing an off-campus career search with a team approach for accountability and encouragement, and Career Exchanges in the spring are quick, smaller events focused on bringing students and recruiters together to secure fulfilling and impactful career opportunities.


UNC Kenan-Flagler was one of the very first to offer a comprehensive educational, research and outreach program in sustainable enterprise that prepares future leaders to lead at the intersection of financial profitability, environmental integrity and social equity. Our leadership has been recognized in every Beyond Grey Pinstripes report since its inception, with UNC Kenan-Flagler ranked among the very best at preparing MBAs for social and environmental stewardship.



How does the MBA program 'walk the talk' of social and environmental impact?: 

UNC Campus-wide Initiatives

UNC Kenan-Flagler is an integral part of a campus that is considered one of the leading “green” schools in the country. The Sustainable Endowments Institute, in its 2010 College Sustainability Report Card, rated UNC among the top 26 U.S. universities and a “Campus Sustainability Leader” for the third year in a row. UNC topped the charts in other rankings such as the 2009 Kaplan College Guide  and recently received a Silver rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s STARS rating. For its innovative water management efforts, Carolina was named the national 2009 WateReuse Institution of the Year.


Highlights of university-wide initiatives include: 1) A new reclaimed water plant funded by UNC and constructed by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) which uses more than 200 million gallons of reclaimed water a year; 2) The Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee, a student government committee, which allocates $200,000 raised annually through a $4 per semester green energy fee to fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and awareness on campus; 3) A UNC commitment to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 and to stop using coal on campus by May 2020; and 4) the Carolina Challenge, a rigorous interdisciplinary business plan competition that awards more than $50,000 each year to promising ventures. Recent winners include MedPLUS, a nonprofit developed by UNC seniors to connect hospitals in Ghana with surplus U.S. medical supplies, and Carolina Liquid Assets, which plans to manufacture and distribute a ceramic water purifier to Cambodia’s poor.


UNC Kenan-Flagler Initiatives


Greening Committee

The UNC Kenan-Flagler Net Impact Greening Committee, a committee of the MBA Net Impact Club, makes sustainability research and thinking actionable on campus and is committed to driving a change in thinking among UNC Kenan-Flagler stakeholders about the environmental impact of our actions.  The school serves as a learning laboratory to achieve measurable improvements in sustainability. The UNC Kenan-Flagler Greening Committee took 1st place in the United States in the 2009 Net Impact National Green Challenge.


The Greening Committee has achieved significant impacts around its three priorities of awareness, LED lighting, and composting. The team replicated UNC’s main campus effort to increase recycling through directional signage above all stand-alone trash bins, directing room users to the nearest recycling bin. The committee partnered closely with UNC’s Energy Office and Facilities to achieve reduced costs and higher lighting efficiency through the use of LED bulbs in the main academic building. All plates, napkins, straws, utensils and the majority of to-go containers in the business school cafeteria are now compostable and periodic composting days and events are raising awareness and diverting waste from the landfill.


In the Spring 2010, the Greening Committee hosted the inaugural Green Week. Highlights from the week-long event include Bike to Kenan-Flagler Day, when many students commuted on bike and received free tune-ups from a local bike shop. During Green Week, the Committee conducted an inaugural waste audit which served as a benchmark, against which subsequent years and waste reduction campaigns can be set. Other Greening Committee projects are ongoing including increasing the use of reusable mugs, eliminating Styrofoam plates in the café, and adding new vacancy sensors in the main academic building.


Community Service

Each semester, UNC Kenan-Flagler holds a Community Service Day to expand the school's commitment to the surrounding community and offer MBA skills to local organizations. These events encourage all MBAs, faculty, partners, and friends to volunteer to work with local non-profit organizations. The UNC Kenan-Flagler community has volunteered with eight local organizations, assisting programs such as The Ronald McDonald House, The Genesis Home (homeless shelter), a community food bank, a local senior center, and the NC Botanical Gardens. UNC Kenan-Flagler students also  travel to Honduras over Spring Break to help the Habitat for Humanity organization address the housing needs of the poor population in the country.


Each year, UNC Kenan-Flagler partners with Habitat for Humanity of Orange County to build a home for a local family. For 15 weeks, students, faculty, and staff come together to build bonds inside the school and in the Chapel Hill community. In addition to the time volunteered at the construction site, UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA students plan and manage fundraising events to sponsor the house, raising over $30,000 each year. A committee of students, staff, and faculty manages all aspects of coordinating volunteer management and fundraising.


Impactful Research

UNC Kenan-Flagler faculty conduct impactful research. Jayashankar Swaminathan, senior associate dean for academic affairs, works with UNICEF on supply chain management that has helped provide timely nourishment for thousands of children in Africa. Dr. Swaminathan has worked with UNICEF to develop solutions to operations challenges around rapid rise in supply chain costs, delivery lead time and emergency orders related to UNICEF’s distribution of ready to use therapeutic food (RUTF). UNICEF has replicated the changes made to its RUTF supply chain in its response to other crises, such as those in Haiti and Pakistan.


Lisa Jones Christensen, assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, conducts research that helps businesses, philanthropists and other leaders better understand how to reach and serve the poor.  Dr. Christensen’s research explores microfranchising, the idea of a ‘business in a box’ paired with a microloan, which creates a more sustainable and scalable business model. Dr. Christensen sees models like microfranchising as a powerful way to fight poverty and improve the lives of the poor throughout the world.  

Academic Department

  • Management
    11 items
  • Entrepreneurship
    8 items
  • International Management
    7 items
  • Strategy
    7 items
  • Finance
    7 items
  • Accounting
    5 items
  • Marketing
    5 items
  • Production and Operations
    3 items
  • Public & Non-Profit Management
    3 items
  • Economics
    3 items
  • Environmental Management
    2 items
  • CSR/Business Ethics
    2 items
  • Human Resource Management
    2 items
  • Business and Government
    2 items
  • Business Law
    1 items
  • Organizational Behavior
    1 items
  • IT & Information Systems
    1 items
Course Name: Advanced Writing Skills
Instructor: Schultz, Heidi M.

Advanced Writing Skills introduces students to rhetorical patterns that help them write more quickly, clearly, and strategically. The course is customized to the needs and interests of the students. Approximately 2/3 of writing samples and exercises revolve around a range of sustainability topics.

Course Name: Alternative Investments
Instructor: Hartley, Patrick

Alternative Investments is designed to be an important component of the Investment Management (IM) concentration curriculum. Students are exposed to a variety of alternative investments and related strategies, from the institutional investor, issuer, and broker/dealer perspective. Asset classes and strategies covered include: venture capital, private equity, commodities, structured credit vehicles (including CDOs and CMBS), and selective hedge fund and fund-of-fund strategies. In addition, students explore current regulatory issues impacting alternative investments. The "seminar" format of the course is a combination of real-time capital markets updates, lectures on the defined topics, student case presentations, guest speakers from both the institutional investor community and financial services industry, and a team-oriented investment management consulting project. The course incudes presentations by a sustainable timber investor, discussions surrounding renewable energy markets, discussions on ethics of investing in particular asset classes, and the responsibilities of state pensions and endowments to their stakeholders.

Course Name: Business Demographics
Instructor: Kasarda, John D.

Business Demographics examines macro forces shaping business development in the U.S. and abroad, including technological change, transforming national and global economies, labor force trends (including diversity management issues), demographic groups, immigration rates, new immigrant groups, new consumer market growth (including “Base of the Pyramid” markets), corporate relocation trends and job growth center and demographic futures (to predict future labor force skill needs). Domestic population changes are assessed as they relate to urban and suburban growth patterns, emerging areas of employment opportunity, marketing strategies for various demographic groups (e.g., Hispanics, Asians, gays, women) and real estate investment. International business strategies are considered in light of changing world demographics and their implications for human resource management and global competitiveness. Public and business policy issues are discussed as they relate to the social issues and environmental topics established in the syllabus. These topics are all key issues for managers’ consideration in developing sustainable business, social entrepreneurship, and diversity management strategies.

Course Name: Business Plan Analysis
Instructor: Myer, Randy

Business Plan Analysis is designed to give the student an understanding of the analysis and writing of a successful business plan. In the class, students read seven actual business plans and have an opportunity to meet and question the founder of the company. Students debate the pros and cons of the plans, and then hear from a local venture capitalist or investment banker about his/her evaluation of the plan. Each year, some of the business plans have an environmental sustainability and/or social entrepreneurship focus—for example, clean technology ventures or non-profit social enterprises. The class begins with an analysis of a business plan from a manufacturer of environmentally-friendly golf equipment. Students analyzing the plans must consider the total value proposition of these proposed ventures.

Course Name: Business Strategy
Instructor: Bingham, Chris

Strategy is an MBA core class that explores the recognition of opportunity and a plan for seizing it, and deals with threats to the firm. These opportunities and threats come from external forces -- changes in customers’ preferences, competitors’ actions, technological breakthroughs, government actions such as deregulation, geopolitical shifts, trends in fashion and many more. Opportunities also arise from a business leader’s convictions, personal values, or a flash of insight on changing times. The course develops students’ skills in analyzing the evolving, sometimes turbulent, environment in which the firm competes, as well as the capabilities of the firm itself. Beyond analysis, however, the course also helps students understand how to design a strategy. Many of the strategic descisions incorporate ethical, social, and environmental issues such as Toyota's launch of the Prius, WalMart's entry into the local and organic food markets and ethics in the drug development process.

Course Name: Business-Government Relations
Instructor: Hodges, Luther

Business-Government Relations examines a number of complex relationships between business and government and society. Through readings, case studies, and class discussion, students examine a wide range of legal and ethical issues for managers, and engage in dialogue with a series of business leaders and guest lecturers. Course topics include: corporate social responsibility, international business and globalization, consumerism and business regulation, banking and government regulation, government incentives in economic development and entrepreneurship, and business influence on government and public policy.

Course Name: Commercializing Emerging Science and Technology
Instructor: Roach, Michael

From the life sciences to renewable energy technologies, emerging fields of science and technology are at the forefront of innovation and firm economic performance. Such fields not only enable exciting business opportunities for new ventures and established companies alike, but they also contribute immensely to both economic growth and social welfare by advancing the frontiers of innovation, creating new products, and transforming markets and industries. In Commercializing Emerging Science and Technology, students examine the array of market opportunities associated with emerging fields of science and technology—including alternative energy/cleantech, nanotechnology, materials science, medical devices, biotechnology, telecommunications, and mobile devices—and the process of commercializing these opportunities from discovery to proof-of-concept to manufacturing and market launch. Many of the student projects focus on clean tech.

Course Name: Communication for Developing Leaders
Instructor: Tisdale, Judy Jones

Communication for Developing Leaders provides students advanced communication skills as they position themselves to make an impact on the job. Students benchmark their individual communication skills—leadership, interpersonal, and presentation—and apply practical strategies to ratchet up the skills they need to refine. Course topics are focused on student interests and include selections from the following list: advocacy, relationship challenges, crisis communication, colleague and employee coaching, planning/leading skills for virtual and in-person meetings, diversity communication skills, mentoring, vision strategy, interpersonal dynamics, self-concept in small group settings, listening and responding skills, nonverbal communication skills, and conflict management.

Course Name: Complex Deals
Instructor: Bushman, Robert M.

Complex Deals is designed to develop sophisticated users of financial accounting information and helps students to understand and profitably use financial information. The course takes a global perspective on accounting and deal structuring issues. It focuses on the economic realities of complex financial scenarios including mergers & acquisitions (M&A), corporate divestitures and bankruptcy. The course includes in depth discussions of corporate governance, corporate reputation and impacts of executive and employee compensation strategies.

Course Name: Customer Relationship Management
Instructor: Zeithaml, Valarie

Customer Relationship Management is designed to prepare MBA students to be good consumers of marketing research. The course provides an overview of the tools and techniques used in marketing research to provide input to the many decisions that marketing, product, and brand managers have to make every day. It provides an overview of the marketing research process, and gives students insight into how to best prepare for commissioning or conducting a marketing research project and how to use the research information gained to help you in the decision-making process. The course addresses the cultural impacts of marketing and includes a lecture focused on social marketing.

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Type of Offering

  • Extracurriculars
    22 items
  • Career Services
    11 items
  • Degree Types
    4 items
  • Institutes and Centers
    10 items
  • Student Clubs
    13 items
Annual Weatherspoon Lecture Series
Date: January, 2011

The Weatherspoon Lecture, held annually at UNC Kenan-Flagler, provides lectures by outstanding visiting scholars and world leaders from the fields of politics, education, business, and government. The Weatherspoon Lecture highlights current-day issues such as globalization, public policy, macroeconomics, and geopolitics, all relevant to social impact management and global business leadership. The 2011 lecture by author and columnist, David Brooks, discussed "The Social Animal," where Brooks sums up the implications of new findings from the world of brain research, behavioral economics, psychology and the study of the human mind. Brooks asserts that these findings add up to a new view of human nature and a new vision on how people succeed. In his talk, he described the social, political and business implications of the findings.

More information at http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/News/Events/speakervideo/index.cfm.

Women in Business Conference
Date: March, 2011

This annual conference, hosted jointly by UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and Duke's Fuqua School of Business, inspires women through valuable lessons in leadership and cultivates a community of women in business through networking opportunities. The 2010 conference featured panels on corporate social responsibility, innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

UNC's Business Accelerator for Sustainable Entrepreneurship (BASE)
Type: Business Incubator
Date: December, 2010

One of UNC Kenan-Flagler's signature sustainable business programs is BASE, the UNC Business Accelerator for Sustainable Entrepreneurship. BASE is an innovative business accelerator that focuses specifically on supporting the growth of businesses that have environmental and/or social objectives as central to their core business, product, or service. BASE brings these entrepreneurs to campus to work with UNC faculty and students and participate in a wide range of business development events and resources. More information at www.cse.unc.edu/base.

Annual Careers in Sustainability Forum
Date: November, 2010

This annual day-long conference gives students information about different career paths, functions, and industries in the field of sustainable enterprise. It is organized and hosted by the UNC Kenan-Flagler Net Impact Club. In 2010, at the 9th annual forum, over 100 students representing Net Impact clubs from several North Carolina universities came to the forum to hear 27 panelists from companies such as Walmart, Burt's Bees, Environmental Defense Fund, OPOWER, IBM, B Lab, Self-Help, Duke Energy, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and more speak about career paths in sustainable business.

Sustainability Career Treks
Type: Career Treks
Date: November, 2010

The MBA Net Impact chapter hosts a series of Career Treks designed to give students insights into sustainability career opportunities. Recent Career Treks have included Burt’s Bees, iContact, B Lab, Shorebank International, MicroVest Fund and Ashoka Foundation.

Lessons of Experience
Date: December, 2010

“Lessons of Experience” is a monthly speaker series that offers second-year MBA students the opportunity to interact with highly successful executives on specific leadership-related topics in small group sessions. Guest executives focus on “lessons learned” through experience (both successful and unsuccessful), and how those experiences have made them better leaders. Leaders speak with MBA students about topics including ethics, diversity and gender equity, cross-cultural management issues, accountability/risk management, and corporate social responsibility, among others.

Ellen Weinreb, "Career Opportunities in Sustainable Enterprise"
Date: September, 2009

The Center for Sustainable Enterprise and the MBA Net Impact chapter hosted Ellen Weinreb, sustainability recruiter, for a talk on career opportunities in sustainable enterprise.

Community Service Day
Type: Community Service
Date: August, 2010

Each semester, UNC Kenan-Flagler holds a Community Service Day to expand the school's commitment to the surrounding community and offer MBA skills to local organizations. These events encourage all MBAs, faculty, partners, and friends to volunteer to work with local non-profit organizations. The UNC Kenan-Flagler community has volunteered with eight local organizations, assisting programs such as The Ronald McDonald House, The Genesis Home (homeless shelter), a community food bank, a local senior center, the NC Botanical Gardens, and Habitat for Humanity.

Sustainable Enterprise Graduation Event
Type: Networking/Social
Date: April, 2011

Each spring, UNC Kenan-Flagler's Center for Sustainable Enterprise hosts an annual networking social and graduation event with sustainable enterprise MBA students and their families, faculty, staff, alumni, and mentors. MBA students graduating with a concentration in sustainable enterprise are recognized.

"Global Innovations in Energy: How Business is Addressing Climate Change"
Date: April, 2010

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the School’s Center for Sustainable Enterprise, the two-day invitation-only conference brought together 100 business and thought leaders from around the world to share innovations in energy and to stimulate opportunities for collaboration. The conference also was webcast to a global audience and provided an online forum for dialogue. Conference topics included: The Energy Policy and Regulation Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities, Taking Energy Efficiency to Scale: Strategy, Operations and Product Innovations, Energy Innovations at the Base of the Pyramid: Adaptive and Disruptive Technologies, and The Role of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Future of Energy. More information at http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/cse/global-innovations-in-energy.cfm

Speed Networking for Sustainable Entrepreneurs
Type: Networking/Social
Date: February, 2010

UNC Kenan-Flagler hosted a "speed networking" event for sustainable entrepreneurs and MBA students—a fun and efficient way for participants to meet each other and form valuable business connections. Participants join a cohort of colleagues with similar interests (for instance, green building, clean energy, or sustainable consumer products), and then rotate seats over the course of an hour. As part of the networking, participants each have a chance to meet all of the others in their cohort, as well as "celebrity" guests—successful sustainable entrepreneurs who are leaders in their field.

Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition
Type: Competition
Date: March, 2011

The Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition (SVCIC) is a national MBA competition hosted annually by UNC Kenan-Flagler that gives students from top business schools a real-world venture capitalist experience in understanding double- and triple-bottom line evaluation techniques. SVCIC is the only MBA competition in which students evaluate business plans that incorporate financial profitability, environmental integrity and social equity from entrepreneurs actively seeking venture capital funding. Student teams review business plans, interview entrepreneurs, and make investment recommendations to a panel of judges from the sustainable venture capital industry. More information at www.svcic.org.

Business Across Borders
Date: February, 2011

UNC Kenan-Flagler’s affiliate institute, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, hosts an annual “Business Across Borders” speaker series to bring leading international business experts to campus to speak with students about globalization trends and business impacts. Events in the series focus on particular regions—for example, the upcoming “On the Ground in Emerging Markets” will address the spectrum of challenges facing today’s business leaders engaging in global ventures throughout the developing world. More information at http://www.kenaninstitute.unc.edu/ontheground/schedule.htm.

Workshop: "Getting Ready for Capital"
Date: May, 2010

This workshop for sustainable entrepreneurs and MBA students addressed strategies for finding and securing investment capital for sustainable and social ventures.

Sustainability Brown Bags
Date: January, 2011

Throughout the year, UNC Kenan-Flagler's Net Impact Club organizes a series of small gatherings, or "brown bags," to discuss sustainability topics. Topics include, for example: renewable energy, green building, socially responsible investing, international development, social entrepreneurship, corporate sustainability strategy, and sustainability trends and key issues. Recent Brown Bag speakers include Heather Turner, Marketing Director, Plastics Sustainability The Dow Chemical Company, Hengly Aung of USAID WaterSHED Asia, and Unmesh Brahme, former Senior VP for Sustainability, HSBC India.

Katie Kross, "Career Opportunities in Sustainable Enterprise"
Date: October, 2010

The Center for Sustainable Enterprise and the MBA Net Impact chapter hosted Katie Kross, author of "Profession and Purpose, A Resource Guide for MBA Careers in Sustainability", for a talk on "Career opportunities and strategies in sustainable enterprise."

Sustainable Enterprise Leaders in Sustainability Speaker Series
Date: January, 2011

Several times each year, UNC Kenan-Flagler brings influential thought-leaders to campus to speak on sustainable business topics to a large audience of MBA students, faculty, and the general public. Recent and upcoming speakers are some of the most visionary experts in the field, including: Matt Kistler, Senior Vice President for Sustainability at Wal-Mart Stores, Greg Allgood, Director of the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program at P&G, Joe Bozich, CEO of Knights Apparel and Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy. More information at http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/cse/speaker-video.cfm.

Career Day Panel: Sustainable Enterprise Careers
Date: September, 2010

UNC Kenan-Flagler's annual Career Day is a career exploration event for first-year MBAs, and includes a panel discussion on sustainable enterprise careers. Past presenters have represented sustainability consulting, energy, green building, marketing, and other industries.

Leadership Day
Date: January, 2011

Leadership Day brings together second-year MBA students with high-level executives for a day of discussion and workshops on various leadership topics including ethics, diversity, gender equity, corporate responsibility, and global/cross-cultural leadership skills. 2011 speakers included: Stick Williams, Senior Vice President (SVP) of Environmental Health and Safety for Duke Energy and President of The Duke Energy Foundation, Reggie Davis, President of RBC Bank, and Anne Lloyd, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.

Spring Break Service Trip
Type: Community Service
Date: February, 2011

UNC Kenan-Flagler students travel to Honduras over Spring Break to help the Habitat for Humanity organization address the housing needs of the poor population in the country.

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A good business for poor people
Author(s): Jones Christensen, Lisa M

Most poor people start businesses because they have no other choice, not because they have a burning desire to become entrepreneurs. For these “necessity entrepreneurs,” microfranchising—that is, replicating someone else’s small business model—poses fewer risks and offers greater benefits than does creating a new business from scratch

Journal Title: Stanford Social Innovation Review Volume: Edition: 10 Page Numbers:
Auditor Switches in the Pre- and Post-Enron Eras: Risk or Realignment?
Author(s): Landsman, Wayne R

Using a comprehensive sample of switches to and from the largest auditors (i.e., the Big N), we examine empirically whether the sensitivity of Big N auditor switches to client risk and misalignment changed between the pre- and post-Enron periods. Although we find an increase in the sensitivity to client misalignment, the sensitivity to client risk generally decreases. The results are consistent with Big N auditors rebalancing their audit client portfolios in response to post-Enron capacity constraints arising from the supply of former Arthur Andersen clients and the audit demands imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley rather than increasing their sensitivity to client risk. Additional evidence indicates that the Sarbanes-Oxley demand shock did not affect Big N auditor switching behavior incremental to the initial Andersen supply shock.

Journal Title: Accounting Review Volume: 2 Edition: 84 Page Numbers: 531-558
Board of directors' responsiveness to shareholders: Evidence from shareholder proposals
Author(s): Stubben, Steve R

In recent years boards have become significantly more likely to implement non-binding, majority-vote (MV) shareholder proposals. Using a sample of 620 MV proposals between 1997 and 2004, we find that shareholder pressure (e.g., the voting outcome and the influence of the proponent) and the type of proposals are the main determinants of the implementation decision, while traditional governance indicators do not seem to affect the decision. We then examine the labor market consequences of the implementation decision for outside directors and find that directors implementing MV shareholder proposals experience a one-fifth reduction in the likelihood of losing their board seat as well as other directorships.

Journal Title: JOURNAL OF CORPORATE FINANCE Volume: 1 Edition: 16 Page Numbers: 53-72
Building Entrepreneurship in Subsistence Markets: Microfranchising as an Employment Incubator
Author(s): Jones Christensen, Lisa M

Scholars indicate significant interest in business models that support entrepreneurial behavior in developing markets [Wankel C., editor. Alleviating Poverty through Business Strategy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2008]—particularly as they relate to job creation. This research introduces microfranchising as a business model adaptation that helps low-income individuals overcome non credit-related barriers to entry in obtaining employment. This study reveals a clear challenge for researchers—to better understand microfranchising and the extent to which the practice creates employment and enables individual business success. Largely unanswered questions concern the profiles of typical microfranchisees as well as the impacts of microfranchising on low-income individuals in subsistence marketplaces. This preliminary research focuses on one type of microfranchise operating in Accra, Ghana. Using data from microfranchises enables the exploration of whether workers in subsistence markets benefit from the microfranchise model. In comparing a microfranchise business with comparably-sized non-franchised businesses, this analysis finds preliminary evidence that the microfranchise creates starter jobs. Baseline results highlight microfranchisee characteristics and indicate that this form of microfranchising positively impacts savings and profits.

Journal Title: Journal of Business Research Volume: 6 Edition: 63 Page Numbers: 595-601
Consumer boycotts: The impact of the Iraq war on French wine sales in the US
Author(s): Chavis, Larry W

The French opposition to the war in Iraq in early 2003 prompted calls for a boycott of French wine in the US. We measure the magnitude of consumers’ participation in the boycott, and look at basic evidence of who participates. Conservative estimates indicate that the boycott resulted in 26% lower weekly sales at its peak, and 13% lower sales over the 6 months period that we estimate the boycott lasted. Although theory suggests consumers would not participate in boycotts due to a free-rider problem, these findings indicate that businesses should be concerned that consumers may boycott their products. We also find that neither political preferences nor media attention are important determinants of boycott participation.

Journal Title: QME-QUANTITATIVE MARKETING AND ECONOMICS Volume: 1 Edition: 7 Page Numbers: 37-67
Decentralizing development: Allocating public goods via competition
Author(s): Chavis, Larry W

Decentralizing the allocation of public goods by giving funds directly to communities takes advantage of local information concerning needs, but leaves funds open to misuse or capture by local elites. A large scale development project in Indonesia attempts to overcome this downside of decentralized allocation by having communities compete locally for block grants. Competition weeds out less efficient projects. Increasing the number of villages bidding by 10% leads to a 1.8% decline in road construction costs. Increased community participation in project planning also leads to better outcomes.

Journal Title: Journal of Development Economics Volume: 2 Edition: 93 Page Numbers: 264-274
Emotional competence and work performance: The mediating effect of proactivity and the moderating effect of job autonomy
Author(s): Cable, Dan M

This paper proposes and tests a model where emotional competence influences work performance through employees' proactive behaviors toward their supervisors. Results from 196 supervisor-employee pairs supported that emotional competence was positively associated with proactive behaviors, and proactive behaviors were positively associated with both task effectiveness and social integration. In addition, proactive behaviors significantly mediated the relationships between emotional competence and work performance, although this was mostly true of followers who had a higher degree of autonomy in their work.

Journal Title: Journal of Organizational Behavior Volume: 7 Edition: 30 Page Numbers: 983-1000
How did Financial Reporting Contribute to the Financial Crisis?
Author(s): Landsman, Wayne R

We scrutinize the role financial reporting for fair values, asset securitizations, derivatives and loan loss provisioning played in the Financial Crisis. Because banks were at the center of the Financial Crisis, we focus our discussion and analysis on the effects of financial reporting by banks. We conclude fair value accounting played little or no role in the Financial Crisis. However, transparency of information associated with asset securitizations and derivatives likely was insufficient for investors to assess properly the values and riskiness of bank assets and liabilities. Although the FASB and IASB have taken laudable steps to improve disclosures relating to asset securitizations, in our view, the approach for accounting for securitizations in the IASB's Exposure Draft that would require banks to recognize whatever assets and liabilities they have after the securitization is executed better reflects the underlying economics of the securitization transaction. Regarding derivatives, we recommend disclosure of more disaggregated information, disclosure of the sensitivity of derivatives' fair values to changes in market risk variables, and implementing a risk-equivalence approach to enable investors to understand better the leverage inherent in derivatives. We also conclude that because the objectives of bank regulation and financial reporting differ, changes in financial reporting needed to improve transparency of information provided to the capital markets likely will not be identical to changes in bank regulations needed to strengthen the stability of the banking sector. We discuss how loan loss provisioning may have contributed to the Financial Crisis through its effects on procyclicality and on the effectiveness of market discipline. Accounting standard setters and bank regulators should find some common ground. However, it is the responsibility of bank regulators, not accounting standard setters, to ensure the stability of the financial system.

Journal Title: European Accounting Review Volume: 3 Edition: 19 Page Numbers: 399-423
How passive 'face time' affects perceptions of employees: Evidence of spontaneous trait inference
Author(s): Cable, Dan M

We examine how passive ‘face time’ (i.e. the amount of time one is passively observed, without interaction) affects how one is perceived at work. Findings from a qualitative study of professional office workers suggest that passive face time exists in two forms: 1) being seen at work during normal business hours — or expected face time, and 2) being seen at work outside of normal business hours — or extracurricular face time. These two forms of passive face time appear to lead observers to make trait inferences (i.e. they lead observers to perceive employees as either ‘dependable’ or ‘committed’, depending on the form of passive face time). Findings from an experimental study confirm our qualitative findings and suggest that trait inferences are made spontaneously (i.e. without intent or knowledge of doing so).We discuss the implications of our findings for theories of person perception and the practice of performance appraisal.

Journal Title: HUMAN RELATIONS Volume: 6 Edition: 63 Page Numbers: 735-760
Leading Parallel Global Virtual Teams: Lessons from Alcoa
Author(s): Rosen, Benson

When Alcoa Inc. sought to improve knowledge transfer and innovation in its Global Primary Products division, it saw huge potential for performance improvements-if only operational and technical know-how that had developed uniquely within separate refineries could be shared more widely. To leverage this highly dispersed expertise (refineries are located as far apart as Australia, Brazil, Suriname, U.S.A., Spain and Jamaica), Alcoa has adapted the concept of "communities of practice" within its organization to create a web of global virtual teams that operate outside and across the main operational and divisional lines of authority. These parallel global virtual teams (pGVTs) bring together people who are working in similar functions within each of the geographically separate locations, in a virtual environment. Since mid-2004, more than 80 of these pGVTs have been launched, and the best practices that have been subsequently implemented are credited with generating significant increases in production output and saving millions of dollars in operating costs. Despite the overall success of Alcoa's innovative approach, their early experience involved a steep learning curve. Our research shows that it is the leadership of these pGVTs that is primarily responsible for their success or failure. We identify both the challenges facing pGVT leaders, and the actions those leaders can take to overcome these challenges and ensure their teams' success.

Journal Title: Organizational Dynamics Volume: 3 Edition: 38 Page Numbers: 204-216
Managing new and differentiated remanufactured products
Author(s): Swaminathan, Jayashankar M.

We study a firm that makes new products in the first period and uses returned cores to make remanufactured products (along with new products) in future periods. The remanufactured product is differentiated from the new product, so the firm needs to choose differentiated prices. We analyze the monopoly environment in two-period, multi-period (three, four and five) and infinite planning horizons, and characterize the optimal remanufacturing and pricing strategy for the firm. In the process, we identify remanufacturing savings thresholds that determine the production and pricing strategy for the firm. Among other results, we find—counter to intuition—that in a finite-horizon, multi-period setting, the optimal policy is not necessarily monotone in remanufacturing savings.

Journal Title: Europearn Journal of Operational Research Volume: 2 Edition: 203 Page Numbers: 370-379
Seeking help in the shadow of doubt: The sensemaking processes underlying how nurses decide who to ask for advice
Author(s): Hofmann, David A.

This study of nurses finds that the decision to seek help depends on perceptions of experts’ accessibility and trustworthiness, and these perceptions are predicted by experience, formal roles, and affective organizational commitment.

Journal Title: Journal of Applied Psychology Volume: 5 Edition: 94 Page Numbers: 1261-1274
Socially Desirable Response Tendencies in Survey Research
Author(s): Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E.M.

Socially desirable responding (SDR) has been of long-standing interest to the field of marketing. Unfortunately, the construct has not always been well understood by marketing researchers. The authors provide a review of the SDR literature organized around three key issues—the conceptualization and measurement of SDR; the nomological constellation of personality traits, values, sociodemographics, and cultural factors associated with SDR; and the vexing issue of substance versus style in SDR measures. The authors review the current “state of the literature,” identify unresolved issues, and provide new empirical evidence to assess the generalizability of existing knowledge, which is disproportionately based on U.S. student samples, to a global context. The new evidence is derived from a large international data set involving 12,424 respondents in 26 countries on four continents.

Journal Title: Journal of Marketing Research (American Marketing Association) Volume: 2 Edition: 47 Page Numbers: 199-214
South Korean managerial reactions to voicing discontent: The effects of employee attitude and employee communication styles
Author(s): Rosen, Benson

Using a scenario-based experiment, this study examined how employee attitude and employee communication styles affected managers' reactions to employees' objections to a company policy. In the experiment, employee attitude (cynical versus trusting) and employee communication styles (aggressive versus diplomatic) were manipulated, and managers' reactions to voicing discontent were assessed through a questionnaire. Based on a sample of 185 middle managers working in various organizations in South Korea, the results showed that managers were more likely to engage in social undermining and were less likely to provide social support when cynical (rather than trusting) employees objected to a company policy. Also, attributed motives (i.e., personal attack and health concern) fully mediated the relationship between employee attitude and social support and social undermining. In addition, managers more likely attributed the objection to moral concerns when trusting (rather than cynical) employees communicated in an aggressive manner.

Journal Title: Journal of Organizational Behavior Volume: 7 Edition: 30 Page Numbers: 1001-1018
The Effects of Managers on Corporate Tax Avoidance
Author(s): Maydew, Edward L

This study investigates whether individual top executives have incremental effects on their firms' tax avoidance that cannot be explained by characteristics of the firm. To identify executive effects on firms' effective tax rates, we construct a data set that tracks the movement of 908 executives across firms over time. Results indicate that individual executives play a significant role in determining the level of tax avoidance that firms undertake. The economic magnitude of the executive effects on tax avoidance is large. Moving between the top and bottom quartiles of executives results in approximately an 11 percent swing in GAAP effective tax rates; thus, executive effects appear to be an important determinant in firms' tax avoidance

Journal Title: Accounting Review Volume: 4 Edition: 85 Page Numbers: 1163-1189
The Influence of Psychological Safety and Confidence in Knowledge on Employee Knowledge Sharing
Author(s): Balasubramanian, Sridhar

This research empirically examines the influence of psychological safety on knowledge sharing among coworkers in manufacturing and service operations contexts. Reconciling conflicting findings in the literature, we demonstrate that whereas psychological safety is an important antecedent of knowledge sharing, the relationship between psychological safety and knowledge sharing is moderated by the level of confidence that employees have in what they know. The greater this confidence, the lesser is the importance of psychological safety in facilitating knowledge sharing. Linking this result to social network theory, we find that psychological safety increases with the frequency of communication among coworkers and that the confidence of employees in their knowledge is related to the codifiability of the knowledge involved. We further investigate direct and indirect antecedents of psychological safety. This research offers insights into actions that managers can take to enhance psychological safety and, consequently, motivate their employees to share knowledge.

Journal Title: MSOM Volume: 3 Edition: 11 Page Numbers: 429-447
The Pros and Cons of Regulating Corporate Reporting: A Critical Review of the Arguments
Author(s): Bushman, Robert M; Landsman, Wayne R

In this paper, we distill essential insights about the regulation of financial reporting from the academic literature. The key objective is to synthesise extant theory to provide a basis for evaluating implications of pressures on the regulation of financial accounting following the recent financial crisis. We succinctly lay out arguments put forth both for and against the regulation of corporate disclosure and standard-setting. We then examine current developments suggesting that accounting standard-setting is at risk of becoming entangled in a web of political forces with potentially significant consequences. The crisis has brought into sharp focus the reality that the regulation of corporate reporting is just one piece of a larger regulatory configuration, and that forces are at play that would subjugate accounting standard-setting to broader regulatory demands. Recent actions by the European Commission relating to IFRS 9 and proposed legislation in the US Congress to create a systemic risk council serve to illustrate this point. We conclude by discussing in detail the recent fair value debate as a case study of the way in which bank regulatory policy and accounting standard-setting decisions were jointly determined as a potentially socially optimal means to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis.

Journal Title: Accounting and Business Research Volume: 3 Edition: 40 Page Numbers: 259-273
The Role of National Culture in Advertising's Sensitivity to Business Cycles: An Investigation Across Continents
Author(s): Steenkamp, JBEM

The authors conduct a systematic investigation into the cyclical sensitivity of advertising expenditures in 37 countries, covering four key media: magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. They show that advertising is considerably more sensitive to business-cycle fluctuations than the economy as a whole. Advertising behaves less cyclically in countries high in long-term orientation and power distance, but it is more cyclical in countries high in uncertainty avoidance. Furthermore, advertising is more sensitive to the business cycle in countries characterized by significant stock market pressure and few foreign-owned multinational corporations. The authors provide initial evidence on the long-term social and managerial losses incurred when companies tie ad spending too tightly to business cycles. Countries in which advertising behaves more cyclically exhibit slower growth of the advertising industry. Moreover, private-label growth is higher in countries characterized by more cyclical advertising spending, implying significant losses for brand manufacturers. Finally, an examination of 26 global companies shows that stock price performance is lower for companies that exhibit stronger procyclical advertising spending patterns

Journal Title: Journal of Marketing Research (American Marketing Association) Volume: 5 Edition: 46 Page Numbers: 623-636
The U.S. Economic Crisis: Root Causes and the Road to Recovery
Author(s): Brown, Gregory W; Lundblad, Christian T

The root cause of the economic crisis is excessive consumption accompanied by record low savings rates and huge budget and current account deficits. Thawing credit markets alone will not mean a rapid economic recovery in output growth and employment. Unemployment will remain high in the near term and only decline slowly over many years as adjustments are made in the skills of the labor force. Expect inflation to remain low in the near term. Inflation risks will be present in the long run as the result of monetary stimulus provided by the Federal Reserve. The current fiscal stimulus package may not be the best approach since it ignores the need to reduce consumption relative to income. Higher tax rates and lower spending will be required once the economy has stabilized.

Journal Title: Journal of Accountancy Volume: 4 Edition: 208 Page Numbers: 42-49
The Value of Control in Emerging Markets
Author(s): Ouimet, Paige P

When a developed-country multinational firm acquires majority control of a firm in an emerging market, there is an economically large and statistically significant increase in the acquiring firm's stock price. In 1986–2006, developed-market acquirers experienced positive and significant abnormal returns of 1.16%, on average, over a three-day event window. Positive acquirer returns and dollar value gains appear unique to emerging-market mergers and acquisitions and are not replicated when the same developed-market acquirers take over firms in developed markets. The size of the stock price increase is more pronounced (a) the weaker the contracting environment in the emerging market and (b) for industries with high asset intangibility.

Journal Title: Review of Financial Studies (Oxford University Press) Volume: 4 Edition: 23 Page Numbers: 1741-1770

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