OwenBloggers: Isha - MBA '08

How deep is your corporate footprint?

It might sound absolutely insane when a company declares that it’s going green. The degree is irrelevant, but the intention is crucial. I was listening to speakers at the Improving Climate Performance and Your Bottom Line at the Same Time and the main thought that came across is that if there is a passion for sustainability results will just fall into lace. Sure it might take a while, but green companies are like a wild fire (Sorry to all those nice California folks who lost their homes in the recent fires). Ron L. Vlasic said that we need champions to own green initiatives in their offices. That way involvement is guaranteed. How to get that ownership is a different story, but with so many people talking green those days, there is bound to be someone who will gladly volunteer and steer the green ship. Businesses can leverage their position with their suppliers or vendors to expect, no demand them to turn to green (or at east greener) solutions. If you are doing laundry for three hotels and the manager of those hotels tells you: environmentally friendly detergents or we go to another service provider, what do you do? Can you really afford to loose that client?

Sometimes an idea introduced by one company gets copied by another as bigger and better. If it was a business idea they were borrowing, one might a bit touchy, but in this case it’s OK. I am talking about putting up a whole bunch of solar panels and then showing off: mine is bigger then yours… In this case Google was first, then Microsoft (just because they have to be bigger, don’t they?), flowed by Tesco. Hopefully solar panels will become trendier then they already are.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Net Impact, Owen, Vanderbilt, Business School, MBA, Sustainability, Environment

Innovation and money

There is a close link between the two. Money drives innovation and successful innovation makes money. Simple right? Not so much. Especially if you look at how the world is becoming a smaller place, innovation, especially in healthcare, is becoming more challenging and complicated. In pharma, on one side you have the time it takes to develop the drug, test it, etc. and on the other how and where do you recover the costs of putting forward your innovation.

In the panel The Development of Medical Innovation: Who Stands to Benefit? one of the issues discussed was drug trails in foreign countries (especially phase III) and upon completion the product not being available in this part of the world. Why? Because the idea is to push the drug into the US market and reap the benefits of full cost recovery. Often the regions whe re the drug is tested patients simply can’t afford the price tag. Unfortunately the panelists were not too concerned about it. Yes, they did raise the issue, but offered no solution.

On the home front, we discussed clinics run by nurse practitioners who provide a service to the insurance-poor in facilities located at drugstores or Wal-Mart locations. Is it the way to go to cure the ills of healthcare? The jury is still out on that one. But innovation is crucial, what we, as business people, must do is try to figure out how to ensure that money follows those “little” innovations so they keep on coming. As a wise man said: innovate or die.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Net Impact, Owen, Vanderbilt, Business School, MBA, Health Care

Thursday night social – on a slightly larger scale

Oh, the buzz of excitement! People coming in from (almost) all around the globe to exchange ideas and to see how they can change the world one company at a time. Last night the welcome reception was held in a huge tent. We had hundreds of people attending. In the beginning of the evening the most common question were “how do we get Net Impact at our school?” and “what are the benefits of having the conference at your school?” etc.  I think running around with the camera had something to do with people mistaking me for one of the organizers. Sorry folks, just taking pictures here. However, it was really cool to talk about the changes that the conference brought about. I can see a definite trend developing and let’s not forget, this is the Deep South and the only green things around here are the magnolia trees. OK, not really, but close enough.

As the night progressed, the conversation moved away from “what school are you from?” to more meaningful topics like the carbon emissions in production of petroleum based siding panels and following debate if it can be considered sustainable. Now, all I have to do is wait for the breakout sessions. With a great variety of topics and the fantastic panelists the choice is hard, but I can only go to one session at a time, so I will have to sacrifice nine others.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Net Impact, Owen, Vanderbilt, Business School, MBA

Phantom of the Opera is here

Well, he was, and he was great, even if he was criminally insane, hideous and misunderstood. I had the pleasure of seeing this 1925 silent production accompanied by an organ. Talk about a live performance with a twist. The program said that it was an improvisation, but I somehow doubt it. I think that Tom Trenney, the organist, had a set of pieces ready and the improvisation was a deviation from the original plan based on audience reaction. If you’ve done it 25 times, are you really improvising? One way or the other, it was a great performance and I would definitely do it again. I’ve been to a silent film festival that is accompanied by live music. There are groups coming from all around the world to partake in the experience. And let me tell you, it is incredible.

If you ever get a chance to see a silent movie accompanied live, don't hesitate – just go and see it. It will be more fun than you probably ever imagined!

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