http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/ en Alicia.N.Green@tuck.dartmouth.edu Copyright 2012 2012-05-15T16:09:45+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/flour-power-steve-voigt-t86/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/flour-power-steve-voigt-t86/ Whether baked goods are the definitive answer to global strife or not, one thing’s for sure: It has certainly done wonders to bolster the following of King Arthur lately. And some of the company’s most ardent fans are its employees—all of whom are regularly encouraged to learn about and practice baking as much as possible through classes, community outreach, and free baking supplies. For Voigt, it’s as much a business strategy as a way of life. “We’ve never considered ourselves just an SIC code,” says Voigt. “It’s as important to us to teach and promote the baking culture as it is to sell the most wonderful products.” It wasn’t always thus. When Voigt came to the venerable institution in 1992 as the vice president of finance, he had his work cut out for him. Founded in Boston in 1790, King Arthur had been owned and operated by the same family for five generations, and it enjoyed a trusted, if staid, reputation. “Here I was at a company that wanted to get where it needed to be, but in a socially responsible way,” he says. Then, a few years after Voigt joined on, the company embarked on a plan to sell shares to an employee stock ownership plan. In the meantime, in 1999, Voigt took over as president and CEO. Today, he leads a company that is owned entirely by its 240 employees. Since Voigt, whose background is in finance, took up the mantle, the changes have come fast and furious. Not the least of them is a brand new, state-of-the-art Baking Education Center, expanding room for classes and demonstrations for employees and community members. Courses with names like The Fundamentals of Bread Baking, Setting Up A Successful Bakery, and That Takes The Cake: Divine Decoration regularly sell out and have waiting lists. {media1} They also offer classes online, and employees travel all over the country to teach in-person sessions and spread the gospel of good baking. Voigt has a team on the road constantly, talking to high schoolers about how to make pizza, explaining to crowds how yeast makes bread rise, and presenting at conferences about the benefits of baking with whole grains. But that education and enthusiasm about baking always starts from inside the company before it moves outward, insists Voigt. “The more we empower our employees to love what they make, the easier it will be for them to share that with the larger community.” To that end, in addition to discounts on baking supplies at the company store, all employees get a free bag of flour every month—and a number of them act as instructors themselves. The results are nothing short of inspiring. “People are so interested in baking. They come to visit us here, to a class or to our store, to see our bakers bake here, and they’re so happy, it’s like they’ve arrived at mecca.” Sitting at the center of such a passionate community can make for a lot of moving parts—a fact Voigt is quick to recognize. “There are still new things happening all the time here,” he says. “We’re making so many changes and creating new programs out of many diverse ideas.” As far as how he keeps up, Voigt credits his time at Tuck with providing him with the raw know-how. “There are so many things to keep on top of in a midsize company; you have to wear a lot of hats,” he says. “My professors at Tuck taught me to be nimble and how to be very good on your feet in a triage situation. You figure out how to get a lot going in a very small amount of time, and you have to learn to put certain things on ice but always be fired up about everything.” Getting—and staying—fired up doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for Voigt and his crew, who, on top of their education programs, keep the community engaged with a popular blog called “Baking Banter,” a series of cookbooks, and a recipe-filled, colorful bimonthly newsletter, “The Baking Sheet.” But for all of King Arthur Flour’s recent innovations, Voigt insists that it’s also fundamentally the company’s history that keeps folks coming back. “So much of what attracts people to the company,” he says, are “long-standing traditions.” And the fact that everyone is as involved in the mission as they are, he says, helps empower them to keep driving the company forward. “All of our employee owners,” he adds, “know they have the help they need to overcome roadblocks.”   Alumni, Careers, Finance, News, Featured Media Content, Tuck Today iPad app, Tuck Today Alumni News, 2012-05-15T16:09:45+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/press-releases/tuck-fundraiser-races-into-28th-year/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/press-releases/tuck-fundraiser-races-into-28th-year/ On May 19, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth will host the 28th annual Run for the Kids. The student-organized charity road race features a 10K, 5K walk/run, and a 1K kids' fun run. The event provides people with an opportunity to connect with and give back to the Upper Valley Community. The race is family-friendly and all funds raised will go to three local nonprofit organizations: David's House, the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD), and Upper Valley Child and Family Services. Over its history, Run for the Kids has raised more than $190,000. In 2011, more than 150 runners registered, and the event raised over $3,000 for local charities. This year, Tuck students plan to raise more money than last year by enlisting greater community participation. "Run for the Kids has been a great Tuck tradition for almost 30 years. We want to take this chance to give back to the Upper Valley community. We are grateful for the wonderful support from the school, our classmates, and the generous sponsors this year: Mascoma Savings Bank, RSG, King Arthur Bakery, TomTom, Brooks, Systems Plus, Long Trail Brewery, TuckStuff, and Bagel Basement" says Mickey Chena, a second-year Tuck student and co-chair of the event. "Every year, we see everyone having so much fun throughout the event to support a great cause." Race day check-in for racers and volunteers is 8:00 a.m. in Tuck Circle on the Dartmouth College campus. The race starts at 9:00 a.m. Runners can register before the race at www.runforthekids.org. The first 250 racers will receive a free t-shirt. David's House is a home-away-from-home for families with children being treated at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. David's House requests $20 per night for rooms and meals which covers only a small portion of its operating costs. Families are never turned away if they are unable to pay and donations help defray the remaining costs. Through its Child Life Program, CHaD provides opportunities for children and families to develop a better understanding about hospitalization and illness in order to minimize psychological trauma. Run for the Kids' donations are used to purchase toys, games, and other supplies for the ChaD program center. Upper Valley Child and Family Services is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the well-being of children by providing an array of social services to strengthen family life and by promoting community commitment to the needs of children. Funds raised through Run for the Kids will help support services to Upper Valley communities.   2012-05-14T13:59:59+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/small-world/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/small-world/ That included seeing Standard Bank’s efforts to expand in impoverished areas like Soweto and learning about the mining company Anglo American’s attempts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS by offering free anti-retroviral treatments to workers. “It was very interesting to get the perspectives of many senior executives,” she says. “Africa is really the next big opportunity and having this experience and understanding how things are done in South Africa will definitely be very helpful throughout my career.” Bouvron’s exposure to global business won’t end with her return to Hanover, however. Like other top MBA programs, Tuck is increasing its international course content and programming, but is doing so in a way that only Tuck can. In addition to Learning Expeditions, students can broaden their global mindset through curricular offerings such as the Tuck Global Consultancy, First-Year Project, Research-to-Practice seminars, and independent studies that emphasize small-group learning with faculty involvement. {media1}Tuck also encourages students to form global education plans and offers counseling to help them understand the options available to them and how they fit with their individual needs and goals. “We’re telling people up front, ‘These are all your options. Now let’s focus on your goals and how to reach them,’” says Penny Paquette T’76, assistant dean for strategic initiatives at Tuck. “We’re trying to help them get the most of what Tuck has to offer.” Tuck’s approach is predicated on the belief that every student needs a global mindset, even if they plan to work in their home country after graduation. For example, American student Ben Dower T’12 plans on joining the Chertoff Group in Washington, a security and defense consulting group founded by former secretary of homeland security Michael Chertoff. Dower has gone to South Africa on the Learning Expedition, been to Peru for a Tuck Global Consultancy project, worked with Tuck’s Center for International Business as an MBA Fellow, and studied the European debt crisis and the bubble in Spain’s solar market through a mini-course at Madrid’s IE University Business School in 2011. “The Chertoff Group works with some clients in a number of different countries in Africa, Asia, South America,” he says. “They’ve got plenty of homeland security and defense expertise there. Thanks to my experiences at Tuck, it’s more the intangibles that I can add.” With global trade increasing at about 6 percent annually for the past two decades, the need for MBA students to grasp the norms of international business is only accelerating. “I fear that some students don’t fully realize the immediacy of globalization when it comes to their careers,” says Lisa Miller, executive director of Tuck’s Center for International Business. “The integration of the global economy has proceeded at a rapid clip. So we think that no matter what you do, there will be a global dimension to your career.” Miller, who previously lived in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Tunisia, Vietnam, and France before coming to Tuck in 2006, tries to get students to engage in projects in parts of the world of which they may know little about. “Sometimes their global education plan will be driven by career goals, sometimes it’s more driven by their personal background,” she says. “Many seek to gain experience with countries they haven’t been to before.” One of the most popular options for Tuck students interested in enhancing their global mindset is the Tuck Global Consultancy, in which teams of second-year students travel overseas to advise an international company; recent clients were based in the Czech Republic, China, and Jordan. Dower and classmate Ose Oteze, who is originally from Nigeria, spent three weeks in Peru last November and December with a team of students consulting for a company that builds modular housing for the country’s booming mining industry. “The company had been growing rapidly and wanted to see if its organizational structure made sense,” says Dower. “It had done a number of acquisitions and had only one back office.” During the project, Dower also learned that the founders of companies in South America often play a more active role in managing all facets of operations than their counterparts do in the United States. While many of the Tuck team’s recommendations were well received, their advice that the company’s chief executive should delegate some tasks was greeted coolly. “This person wanted to retain a lot more control and I think that’s fairly typical in South America of individual or family controlled firms,” he said. “We got pushback on this.” The global consultancy project was an intense in-the-field experience, says Oteze, who also went to China last year on a Learning Expedition. “It was really hardcore, working 12-hour days minimum,” she says. “It definitely added to my understanding of an international business climate and it was something that will help me going forward.” Fresh off her South Africa Learning Expedition, Bouvron says that Tuck provides more international opportunities than many expect. Along with the travel-abroad programs, there are also numerous on-campus programs and activities with a global theme: conferences, guest speakers, panel discussions, and cultural events. International students also make up about a third of the student body and many American students have lived and worked outside their home country as well. Programs such as Country Chats enable these students to share their experiences with the whole community. “There are so many ways to develop and nurture a global mindset while in business school,” adds the CIB’s Miller, “and we want to continue to offer programs, especially in emerging markets, that have a lasting impact on our students.” Curriculum, International Business, MBA, Students, Tuck Today Portfolio, Tuck Today iPad app, 2012-05-10T17:27:14+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/tuck-gives-raises-68000-for-nonprofit-and-public-sector-internships/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/tuck-gives-raises-68000-for-nonprofit-and-public-sector-internships/ Stop AIDS Now, a non-governmental organization based in Amsterdam, got a lot out of Kelly Winquist T’12 during her internship there last summer. Winquist, who’s also pursuing an MPA degree at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, wrote a grant proposal and helped create a development project to allow grandparents in Ethiopia to care for the orphans and vulnerable children in their communities. By the same token, Winquist benefitted a great deal, too: she got real-world experience that put her one step closer to her dream job as CEO of World Vision or Save the Children. But none of it would have been possible without Tuck GIVES, an annual auction at Tuck that raises money to support students like Winquist in nonprofit and public service internships that otherwise don’t have the financial capacity to hire MBA students. “Stop AIDS Now was able to provide some funds,” Winquist, a co-chair of this year’s event says, “but Tuck GIVES added enough to make the internship feasible.” The GIVES in Tuck GIVES stands for “Grants to Interns and Volunteers for the Environment and Society,” and it’s a program that Tuck students have organized—with the support of the Allwin Initiative for Corporate Citizenship, the Career Development Office, and the Dean’s Office—since 2001. Over the past 12 years, the auctions have raised a total of $658,000 and funded 135 interns. This year’s auction, which took place on April 12, was another resounding success: it brought in more than $68,000 and is funding at least five student internships in Maine, California, Africa, and the Philippines. One of them is Alvin Choy T’13, who will be a Farber Intern at REDF, a venture philanthropy firm in San Francisco that funds and advises nonprofits that help disadvantaged people find jobs. Before Tuck, Choy worked at an investment management firm and an Internet startup, but Tuck GIVES is allowing him to try something different. “I wanted to use the internship as a way to explore the nonprofit sector/social impact space, while still being able to apply the things I’ve learned academically,” he says. At REDF, Choy will help evaluate which nonprofits the firm should support, and provide operations consulting to some organizations REDF is already funding. “This is a chance for me to give back as well as find a greater sense of purpose,” he says. The main engine of Tuck GIVES is the live auction, which is usually a spirited mix of fundraising and “fun-raising” (the theme this year was the “roaring twenties” and Raether Hall was transformed by Tuck students and partners into a ballroom of Gatsby proportions, including a speakeasy). The items up for bid vary from year to year, but they always reflect the interests and skills of the Tuck community. Some examples from this year’s auction included a Titanic 100th anniversary dinner party for eight people, stick shift lessons in a Porsche, Belgian chocolate, Mandarin lessons, and a South Carolina pulled pork barbeque for 15. “We found that the more creative auction items raise more money and awareness,” Winquist says. “Plus, they usually end up facilitating later interactions among faculty, students, and staff in the Tuck community.” Months before the big auction, the Tuck GIVES team took every opportunity to draw attention to the event’s purpose (and, of course, the opportunity to donate), organizing a candy-gram drive around Valentine’s Day, pong, and poker tournaments, and collaborating with Tuck’s social chairs on a Texas party. “Everyone had to make a donation to Tuck GIVES in order to ride the mechanical bull,” Winquist notes. The co-chairs of the event had weekly meetings since the end of last year, and during the two weeks before the auction the organizing was almost a full-time job. “It was a substantial commitment,” says Winquist, “but well worth it.” The value isn’t just for the students who secure grants for their internships. Putting MBA students into nonprofit and public sector organizations that typically can’t compete with private sector salaries has a more subtle effect: proving the impact that business knowledge and skills can have. “Over time, I think it will encourage nonprofits to create long-term positions for MBA graduates,” says Tuck GIVES co-chair Kellie Jo Ciofalo T’12. “That just gives us more options to use our business degree and help society as a career.”   Corporate Citizenship, MBA, Students, Tuck Today iPad app, 2012-05-08T18:55:37+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/tuck-launches-entrepreneur-in-residence-program/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/tuck-launches-entrepreneur-in-residence-program/ At the end of March, serial entrepreneur Mark Ranalli T’92 stood before a room full of Tuck students and told them the story of his business life. It started in 1996, when he became vice president of Fax International, a global IP communications company. Then he launched BaseSix, a marketing strategy firm that served companies such as AT&T Broadband, AOL, and HBO. From there he founded Helium, Inc., which bills itself as the world’s largest editorial content provider and was purchased by R.R. Donnelley last year. After Helium came OurStage, a website where musicians go to get discovered. On the whiteboard, Ranalli had written some topics for discussion: Ideation phase Funding Execution lessons Should you work with a VC? Exit challenges Life as an entrepreneur Boards, advisors, friends When Ranalli opened the floor for questions, they came hurling at him fast and thick. “How did you protect Helium from copycats?” one student asked. The company was susceptible to such a problem because it was the first to create a platform for crowdsourced, peer reviewed writing. “We patented it,” Ranalli said, “and we did it better.” Another question came soon after: “During the idea phase, how do you determine to move forward or scratch it?” Ranalli answered with intuitive advice: research, gut feeling, test as much as possible. Then he added a pithy axiom: “be right, but be on time.” To illustrate the point, he explained that he had the idea for Dropbox in 2003, but the costs of networking and storage were too high back then. “Now it’s a great business,” he said. Ranalli is Tuck’s first Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR), a role organized by the Entrepreneurship Initiative. The idea flowed from the desire to provide more extra curricular entrepreneurship support for students. “We wanted to increase students’ exposure to your classic entrepreneur,” said Joaquin Villarreal T’08, the manager of the initiative. “It’s the person who has an idea, has no money, quits a job, and tries to pull it off. Those are usually the most fun for students to hear, and it’s a story they can relate to.” The EIR comes to campus for a day or two and then has “office hours,” via email or phone, for an entire month. Most of the time, students can contact the EIR directly with their entrepreneurship-related questions. Villarreal chose Ranalli because his narrative is a bit unconventional. Rather than rely on venture capital firms for funding his startups, Ranalli has always preferred to raise money through angel investors, sovereign funds, and broker-dealers. “That’s an exhausting way to do it,” Ranalli told the students, “but we were able to raise $16 million for Helium off a PowerPoint deck.” The lesson, according to Villarreal, is that there’s a wide range of financing options for startups, each with its own form of value. “If you just want money, there are various ways to get it, and at varying costs,” he said. “If you want money plus advice, there are other sources you can tap.” Ranalli was also a good example because he’s started companies on both coasts. “It’s nice for students to see that you can move around, that you don’t need to be in Silicon Valley to do a technology startup,” Villarreal said. Shortly after his hour-long talk, Ranalli sat down with David Weisburd T’12, who’s working on a business that uses a proprietary algorithm to help people find rental apartments and roommates. “He gave me specific advice on executing my business, on how to solve the chicken/egg problem, and he offered to introduce me to Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist,” Weisburd said. Villarreal is having no trouble lining up EIRs for the coming months. “The Tuck network is so big, relative to the class size, and everyone is so eager to help” “This is a very clear value add for students,” Villarreal continued. “It’s just pure experience coming in and telling you how it worked.” Curriculum, Entrepreneurship, News, Tuck Today iPad app, 2012-04-27T17:18:04+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/brand-interrupted-burger-kings-overhaul/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/brand-interrupted-burger-kings-overhaul/ Earlier this month, Burger King rolled out the biggest overhaul to its menu in the company’s 58-year history. Replete with “better-for-you” options like real-fruit smoothies, garden-fresh salads, and chicken snack wraps, the menu is designed to lure more women, children, and families into the restaurants and, just maybe, regain the franchise’s No. 1 spot in the fast-food rankings. Burger King lost that position to Wendy’s last year and has been struggling for a long time to differentiate itself from the true king of the burger joints: McDonald’s. But after the wrapper came off the new offerings, and after the company announced an advertising campaign featuring Jay Leno, David Beckham, and Mary J. Blige, marketing professor Peter Golder was not impressed. His main question: “What is it about Whoppers that gives you the credibility to sell garden fresh salads and smoothies?” Golder, who has researched enduring market leadership and the fast-food industry, says Burger King’s new persona lacks authenticity because it wasn’t built on a strong brand foundation. Indeed, Golder says, Burger King “is one of the more poorly managed brands of the last three decades, at least.” What happened? According to Golder, the problem is that Burger King has been passed from owner to owner, none of whom seemed to be in the game for the long term. And that’s probably the case with the current owner, private-equity firm 3G Capital, which bought the company in 2010 and has already announced its intentions to partner with an investment fund and go public. “If you want to manage your business for customer value,” Golder asserts, “you don’t want to appear anxious for a quick buck.” It’s not as if Burger King has a dearth of brand equity. From the beginning, the restaurant has been the home of the “flame-broiled” burger. But instead of nurturing that image, the company has experimented with ridiculous characters like “Sir Shakes a Lot,” the “Wizard of Fries,” and most recently, the “Subservient Chicken,” a web marketing boondoggle where a man in his living room orders around a person in a chicken costume. The tagline: “Chicken the way you like it.” According to Golder, these diversions were a waste of time and money. “Long term equity is built around food, or the dining experience. That’s the great thing McDonald’s has built,” he says. “Burger King is more built around, ‘Look at me as I flap my arms around and get attention.’” If Burger King had invested more in communicating the quality of the food—and “flame-broiled” fits in that category—it would have a firmer platform on which to add new items. Even more valuable than the “flame-broiled” brand is the trademarked slogan, “Have it Your Way,” which Burger King introduced in 1974. Type those words into Google and the first search result is Burger King. But if you perform the same search on Burger King’s homepage, nothing comes up. “That, to me,” says Golder, “means they don’t know what they’re doing.” “Have it Your Way” is actually a brilliant brand, because it’s so broad. It’s not about burgers or fries or chicken, but food and the dining experience in general. In that way, it’s similar to McDonald’s corporate model of quality, service, cleanliness, and value. Both are big tents under which the companies can fit almost anything. “If Burger King stuck with ‘Have it Your Way,’” Golder says, “they’d have a platform on which to build new menus and the credibility to try something different.” Take the current menu revamp, with its focus on freshness and healthier food. “Have it Your Way,” could reasonably include those qualities, because that’s what people are looking for these days. McDonald’s and Wendy’s responded to this shifting demand years ago and have been successful for two reasons: the quality of the food, and strong brand equities that allowed for improvisation. However, Burger King has neglected the “Have it Your Way” brand, so today it’s being labeled a McDonald’s copycat. “If Burger King had shown legitimacy from several decades of supporting “Have it Your Way,” it would be harder to say it’s just copying the competition today,” Golder says. Golder hasn’t written off Burger King completely. He points out that Howard Johnson’s was the most popular fast food franchise in the mid-1960s. Then came McDonald’s, with its wondrous efficiencies and value. Even today, there are opportunities to disrupt the industry structure. “Food freshness is not what you think of when you think of McDonald’s or Wendy’s,” Golder says. “It’s not a space they own.” Burger King could own that space by building on the brand equity of the flame-broiled burger and “Have it Your Way,” becoming the fast-food symbol for food quality, freshness and premium ingredients. This strategy would work internationally, too, where most of the growth in this industry is happening. Building a brand around quality and freshness makes it possible to serve any kind of food, whether its burgers or lentil-based snacks. “The pieces are there,” Golder says of Burger King’s brand. “I just think it’s been poorly executed and they’ve gone for the quick fixes.” Faculty, Marketing, News, Tuck Today iPad app, 2012-04-23T13:46:25+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/press-releases/tuck-professors-publish-reverse-innovation-create-far-from-home-win-everywh/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/press-releases/tuck-professors-publish-reverse-innovation-create-far-from-home-win-everywh/ Tuck professors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble T’96 recently released Reverse Innovation, Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere (Harvard Business Review Press). In their new book, they reveal a bold discovery with far-reaching implications: Innovation flows uphill and its future lies in emerging markets. Today’s poor countries are being tapped for breakthrough innovations that can unlock new markets in the rich world and help solve global societal problems such as the high cost and poor access to health care. With their new book, “Govindarajan and Trimble offer a framework for the next phase of globalization,” says Jeffrey Immelt D’78, CEO of General Electric. Most global companies recognize that emerging markets have become today’s last source of growth. But all they do is modify and export products that they developed in their home country. To capitalize on the full potential of emerging markets, they must head in the opposite direction—by innovating specifically for and in developing countries to create breakthroughs that will be adopted at home and around the globe. The idea for the book originated in 2008, when Govindarajan was chosen as GE’s first Professor-in-Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant. Reverse Innovation offers an inside account of how reverse innovation is transforming GE’s strategy. It includes seven additional in-depth case studies based on original interviews with senior leaders, including: • PepsiCo, which drew upon local teams and global resources to develop Aliva, a new savory cracker created by Indians for the Indian market, but with high global potential. • Before employing reverse innovation, Logitech almost lost leadership of computer mice in China to an unexpected Chinese rival with a better understanding of local needs. • Procter & Gamble, which developed a globally successful tampon called Naturella in Mexico after discovering why its American product, Always, was losing market share to rivals there. • In China and India, Harman designed from scratch a completely new infotainment system for emerging markets with functionality similar to their high-end products at half the price and one-third the cost.  It has generated more than $3 billion in new business. As these examples show, the biggest hurdles to reverse innovation are not scientific, technical, or budgetary. They are managerial and organizational, and with the right mindset and tools they can be overcome by any manager. Better yet, the evidence shows that companies can earn the same or even better margins and return on investment for a low-cost product designed for China or India than for a higher cost current product at home. The result is a win-win at home and abroad. About the Authors  Vijay Govindarajan is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at Tuck and the first Professor in Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at General Electric. He is ranked third on the Thinkers50 list of the world’s most influential business thinkers and has appeared on CNBC-TV and Bloomberg TV and in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek and many other publications. He has worked with CEOs and top management teams in more than 25 percent of Fortune 500 firms to discuss, challenge, and escalate their thinking about strategy. He is a co-leader of a global initiative to design a $300 house for the poor. Chris Trimble T’96 is an adjunct associate professor at the Tuck School of Business. Govindarajan and Trimble co-authored Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators and The Other Side of Innovation. For more information, please visit www.innovationreverse.com 2012-04-18T19:19:58+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/press-releases/govindarajan-receives-visionary-award-from-hunt-institute-for-engineering-a/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/press-releases/govindarajan-receives-visionary-award-from-hunt-institute-for-engineering-a/ Vijay Govindarajan, an expert in strategy and innovation at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and author of the recently published Reverse Innovation (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012), will receive the Hunt Institute Award for Vision at the Innovation Leaders Forum in Dallas on April 16. Govindarajan received the award in recognition of his pioneering work on the $300 House.  He will be honored at the Fairmont Hotel during the Second Annual Engineering & Humanity Week, produced by the Hunt Institute. The week includes a series of events focused on free-market solutions for those living in extreme poverty. Speakers from around the world will participate. “Last year, two entrepreneurs met and started a project to build affordable homes in India,” said Stephanie Hunt, who co-founded the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity in 2009 with her husband, Hunter. “If we can help people get beyond basic survival, we can help influence learning and leadership,” Hunt says.  “VG brings that vision and ‘how-to’ to the conference and to companies throughout the world.” In addition to presenting the keynote address on Reverse Innovation, Govindarajan will participate in a panel entitled “Business Models Turned Upside Down” with moderator, Jeff Ball of Stanford University and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute and author of Reinventing Fire. The panel brings together creative minds with global experience to explore how business models must evolve to meet the demands of a changing world.  They will share ideas on how companies can emulate big brands that are turning business models upside down through innovative pricing, customer service or reverse innovation strategies. The opening discussion will take place Sunday, April 15 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas. It is free and open to the public. Events throughout the week are open to the public with tickets required for the April 16 luncheon and panels. Tickets are available at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3065068703. About the Hunt Institute The Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity, located in the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist Universite, is focused on using technological innovation and market-based solutions to address the needs of those living in poverty. The Hunt Institute strives to bring together the most talented minds from engineering, science, business, international development and global economics, and combine their efforts with market forces to improve the standard of living for the world’s most impoverished communities. It focuses on access to clean water; creating affordable shelter; hygiene education and promotion; access to energy; and meeting basic infrastructure needs. For further details, to attend any of the events or to interview speakers, please contact: Linda Mastaglio – 903.312.8651 – Linda@twi-pr.com Alternate Contact: Tracy O’Day – (206) 200-5160 – tracy@tracyoday.com 2012-04-16T15:01:07+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/demystifying-do-not-track/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/demystifying-do-not-track/ Businesses have been leveraging valuable customer data for decades, starting with credit card companies selling your personal data and buying habits in anonymous forms to the highest bidder. Data gathering has only become more intense and lucrative with the rise of the Internet. You don’t even need to buy something online to create a data trail; just looking at a web page or clicking on an advertisement is enough. Companies gather that data and then use it serve up other advertisements targeted especially to you, or to develop new products and services. So far, the public has mostly been OK with sharing information about online behavior. But that sentiment is shifting as consumers become more aware of ever-present surveillance, like when iPhone users discovered that Apple was tracking their whereabouts through the cell phone networks. And recently Facebook and Google have agreed to reform their privacy practices to be less deceptive. Because of these high-profile mistakes, online privacy is becoming a concern for consumers and the government alike. “Slowly, the water’s getting hotter,” Johnson says. The latest evidence is the news that the Federal Trade Commission has asked Congress to enact legislation regulating data brokers. It has also asked technology and advertising companies to install a “Do Not Track” mechanism in web browsers that would allow consumers to choose not to have their online activity watched and shared. After more than a year of fighting such a feature, Google, Yahoo, and other major Internet companies have agreed to support it. But between social media, mobile networks, “freemium” services like Google Mail, and “cookies”—the little bits of data stored on your computer when you visit a website—online privacy is a big, complicated problem. “Do Not Track,” it turns out, targets only a tiny segment of the issue. We sat down with Johnson to parse fact from fiction. The popular press has compared “Do Not Track” to the Do Not Call registry. Is that a good way to think about this? The analogy is very poor. Do Not Call is simply saying, Don’t call me at home. “Do Not Track” is a much bigger deal. You’re saying to firms, Don’t collect any data on me, and don’t use it in any way to develop a better product or service. Last year, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8 with a feature that allowed users to block websites and advertisements from specific sources. Was that an early effort at “Do Not Track”? In a way, yes, because using that feature—which is complicated and not designed for the casual user—blocks specific advertisers’ servers from touching your computer. But not many people use it, and the default setting is to share everything. How is “Do Not Track” different? The FTC is trying to broker an agreement with the Digital Advertising Alliance whereby if a user clicks a “Do Not Track” button on their browser, what would happen is that ads wouldn’t be blocked from your browser, but it would send the server of the ad a message saying you’re on the “Do Not Track” list. If the advertiser sees an HTML header that said this user is on the list, it wouldn’t take the information and use it, sell it, etc. That’s the bottom line here. Why is the FTC going the route of a voluntary agreement, rather than an official regulation? It’s trying to have the industry come up with the solution itself. And, for enforcement, there’s this veiled threat of regulatory action for fraudulent practices. What’s been the reaction from privacy advocates? The skeptics are all saying, “Right, all these web marketers are suddenly going to stop using our data just because someone clicks a button.” There’s deep and systemic skepticism among the privacy advocates, but they’re happy for progress because right now it’s just open season. Would the “Do Not Track” feature apply to Facebook and Google? Interestingly enough, this has nothing to do with companies you have relationships with already. It has nothing to do with the fact that you use Google Mail and Google Docs and it’s mining your mail and documents to dish up better ads to you. That’s a relationship you already have with Google, and in many ways is the underpinning of the “freemium” model—my data for your cool apps. Does “Do Not Track” represent a threat to the e-commerce and online advertising industries? Yes and no. There’s a whole industry of companies—Experian, Acxiom, LexisNexis—that survive on data from people with whom they have no relationship. This data is getting richer and richer as we spend more time on the web, and if those companies can’t get it, they will suffer. But on the other hand, maybe there are these companies you don’t have relationships with and they’re taking your data and you hate them for it. Yet, they are serving up and paying for ads that support content you like to read on the New York Times, for example. It is all interlinked. Is online privacy something you personally worry about? I like the ability to wipe out cookies. And, for my own security, I’ve never been a one-browser user. There’s a benefit to using different browsers for different things. But I won’t put a lot of energy into it. I know people who will, but I am not that paranoid. Most of the time, I’m happy to serve up my data for cool apps.   Faculty, News, Tuck Today iPad app, 2012-04-16T13:35:40+00:00 http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/reverse-type/ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/reverse-type/ {media1}California-based Logitech had a winning strategy for selling wireless computer mice in China—until an unheralded Chinese company called Rapoo began selling mice at one-third the cost. Within six months Logitech responded by designing a mouse that had less memory and simpler software but could still perform the functions most consumers wanted—and cut its entry-level price from $50 to $19.99, nearly the same as Rapoo’s. The redesign went global, and within a year Logitech had shipped 4.5 million units. The migration of such innovations from poor to rich countries has been rare over the course of history, Tuck faculty members Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble T’96 explain in their new book, Reverse Innovation. Consumers in wealthy countries traditionally demand the most advanced technologies, and eventually those innovations trickle down to the poor. Now, with the rise of Chinese, Indian, and other developing-country multinationals, disruptive innovations from the developing world are migrating to the U.S. and Europe much more rapidly—and pose an existential threat to developed-country multinationals. Logitech’s successful response to Rapoo—and the redesigned mouse’s spread across the globe—is just one example of reverse innovation, but it holds lessons for companies in numerous industries. “If America wants to be a strong country in 20 years, we have to be curious about the problems of poor customers as well as rich customers,” says Govindarajan, the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business. “You can’t ignore them anymore because the opportunity cost is huge. The Tatas and the Mahindras are smart, savvy companies, and they’re going to come after you.” As firms from developing countries increasingly step onto the world stage, rich-world multinationals will have to fend them off, not only in the U.S. and Europe but in developing markets as well. That means innovating in ways that take into account the infrastructure, regulatory, and sustainability gaps in the developing world—as well as cultural differences and the willingness of poorer consumers to sacrifice some performance for a better price. Too often, Western companies make the same kind of mistake that GE Healthcare did in China. Since the 1980s, the company had been trying to sell its premium-priced ultrasound scanners, with little success. GE’s strategy was to depend on what Govindarajan and Trimble call glocalization—a classic export strategy of taking an existing product from a home market and selling it in the developing world with slight modifications. After a decade in the market, GE’s ultrasound sales were a paltry $5 million. The scanners were competitive at the very top of the market in China, but 90 percent of hospitals couldn’t afford them. In response, the company decided to create an independent team in China to develop a scanner just for the domestic market. The team came up with a $15,000 handheld scanner—just 15 percent of the cost of the company’s previous low-end ultrasound. Performance was not as good, but that was outweighed by the portability, ease of use, and low price in a market where most of the population is served by low-tech, low-budget rural hospitals and clinics. After the new scanner’s introduction, GE’s ultrasound sales in the country rose from $5 million  in 2002 to $278 million by 2008. Today GE sells the portable scanners in the U.S. and other developed countries for use in ambulances and operating rooms—where a market never previously existed because traditional scanners were too big. The genesis of the book came during Govindarajan’s stint as professor in residence and chief innovation consultant at GE from 2008 to 2009. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt D’78 sent Govindarajan to Asia to help the company learn how to grow market share for its energy and medical divisions in the developing world. Govindarajan saw that the company hadn’t adapted as many of the lessons of the Chinese ultrasound experience as it could have. “Where they were participating, they were just selling to customers who looked like the U.S., the top 10 percent of society,” he says. “The 90 percent also get heart attacks and cancer. But there was no product for them.” That’s a recipe for the success of Chinese companies like Rapoo, which can innovate for the mass market in developing countries—and then export those innovations to the West. To succeed, Govindarajan and Trimble argue, Western multinationals must beat them at their own game. Alumni, Faculty, Health Care, International Business, News, Tuck Today iPad app, 2012-04-13T12:59:16+00:00