Creating Wealth in Low Income Communities
Forescee Hogan-Rowles is the president and CEO of the Community Financial Resource Center (CFRC), the first public/private partnership, nonprofit, economic development corporation. The CFRC is dedicated to creating and enhancing the economic wealth and capacity of residents and businesses in disinvested areas of Los Angeles by delivering quality community development programs and facilitating collaborative efforts among businesses, the community, and government.
GBR readers may find these additional audio and video interviews from the Graziadio School of Business and Management and Pepperdine University interesting.

Forescee Hogan-Rowles, MBA
Forescee Hogan-Rowles founded and was Executive Director of Westview Economic Development Strategies, a Los Angeles-based training, organizational development and consulting organization. From 1990 to 1993, she served as Executive Director of Coalition for Women’s Economic Development. Previously, she taught on the faculty of Brooks College and Woodbury University, both in Southern California. She now teaches as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Phoenix School of Business Administration.
Ms. Hogan-Rowles serves on a number of boards, including the Graziadio Board of Visitors, the Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of Advisors, the National Community Capital Association Board of Directors, and the Comerica Bank California Community Advisory Board. In July 2007, she was named by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a member of the California Commission for Economic Development.
Ms. Hogan-Rowles earned her Masters Degree in Business Administration at the Graziadio School of Business and Management of Pepperdine University in Los Angeles. In December 2007, she was honored by the Graziadio School as a Distinguished Alumnus. Ms. Hogan-Rowles completed her Bachelor of Business Administration at Loyola Marymount University, also in Los Angeles. She also studied at the University of Paris, La Sorbonne, and earned an Associate in Arts Degree at Brooks College. Additionally, she has earned several certifications including Economic Development Finance Professional, Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and a Certificate in Real Estate Finance from the Minority Real Estate Development Program at the University of Southern California.
For more on the Community Financial Resource Center, visit them online: www.cfrc.net
Audio Files
| Full Interview | Listen or read transcript |
| Good, Sound Business Practices | Listen |
| Vision | Listen |
| Time Management Secrets | Listen |
| Entering the Non-Profit Sector | Listen |
| What Did I Learn Today? | Listen |
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L-R: Danielle L. Scott, Associate, Editor, Forescee Hogan-Rowles, MBA, and Owen P. Hall, PhD, Editor-in-Chief
Questions for Ms. Hogan-Rowles:
- What kinds of services and economic tools does the CFRC provide?
- How do you help the average client who walks through your doors? What do they leave with?
- Tell us about some of the CFRC’s accomplishments.
- What private sector groups does the CFRC work with and what do these partnerships involve?
- Why aren’t there other such public/ private partnerships? What are the challenges?
- How have you leveraged technology to help the CFRC in achieving its goals?
- How do you think the upcoming presidential election could impact opportunities for small businesses?
- You have dedicated your professional life to the service of the underserved. Why are you so motivated to help others?
- You have said that part of your inspiration comes from wanting to revive your old neighborhood in South Central and other suffering communities. What are you trying to accomplish in that area and similar neighborhoods?
- How has the housing slowdown in Southern California—and the overall economic downturn—affected the advice you give to those who come into the CFRC? Do you have individuals coming in for help who were affected by subprime loans?
- What are some of the greatest challenges that you and the CFRC have overcome? What did you learn?
- You come from a long line of entrepreneurs. Tell us how your family has influenced your career choices.
- We’ve mentioned just a few of the boards on which you participate—Graziadio Board of Visitors, Department of Water and Power, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of Advisors, and on and on. How did you get involved with such a large range of groups?
- What does being a member of the California Commission for Economic Development consist of? Or a commissioner for the Department of Water and Power?
- How do you find enough hours in the day between your full-time job as president and CEO of CFRC, your board work, and your teaching responsibilities? What is your time management secret?
- What advice would you give to those entering the non-profit sector?
- What is the most important lesson you’ve learned throughout your career?
- It has been 11 years since you earned your MBA. How has it influenced your career?
- What did you wish you knew then as a new graduate?
The “GBR Jingle” was composed by Kyle Rotolo, who was born and raised in northern New Jersey. There he played in a number of rock bands and aspired to become a songwriter before moving to Malibu. At Pepperdine he is a music composition major studying with N. Lincoln Hanks.
2013 Volume 16 Issue 1
- Leading from Character Strength
- Private Businesses Predict Limited Growth for 2013
- Justice in Ethics Programs
- Moving from Misuse to Bricolage
- EDITORIAL: The New Paradigm for Management Education
- The Book Corner
- Video Library
- Dean’s Executive Leadership Series
- Graziadio School Business Programs
2012 Volume 15 Issue 3
- Facilitating the Inventor–Entrepreneur Interaction:
- Bridging the Complexity Gap:
- A No Fault Approach to Recouping Executive Compensation
- Implementing Intrapreneurship:
- Facebook: Data Mining the World’s Largest Focus Group
- The Four-Year U.S. Presidential Cycle and the Stock Market
- VIDEO – Wall of Worry: Elections and the Markets
- Editor’s Note
2012 Volume 15 Issue 2
- VIDEO – Wall of Worry: Elections and the Markets
- The Four-Year U.S. Presidential Cycle and the Stock Market
- CEO Performance of 125 of Northern California’s Largest Companies
- FOR SALE BY OWNER for Less than It Is Worth
- Beyond the Numbers
- Making Decisions with Multiple Attributes: A Case in Sustainability Planning
- The Ethics of Ethics Programs
- Transorganizations: Managing in a Complex and Uncertain World
- The Global Economy is Open for Business
- VIDEO: Leadership, Innovation and Disruption
- UPDATE: Benefits of International Portfolio Diversification
- Editorial: The World of Graduate Management Education Turned Up Side Down
- The Book Corner
- Editor’s Note
2012 Volume 15 Issue 1
- CEO Performance of 100 of Southern California’s Largest Companies
- Editor’s Note
- UPDATE: Reforming Corporate America
- UPDATE: Top 10 U.S. Economic Issues to Monitor
- UPDATE: Airline Industry Key Success Factors
- UPDATE: Management Skills for the 21st Century
- UPDATE: Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture
- UPDATE: The Dollar vs. the Euro
- UPDATE: Making Mergers a Growth Strategy
- UPDATE: The Employers’ Legal Obligations to Employees in the Military
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 4
- Editor’s Note
- Financial Swiss Army Knife: A User-Friendly Tool for Facilitating Financial Analysis and Due Diligence
- Achieving Enterprise Stability Based on Economic Capital
- The Internet and Globalization: Ten Tips to Building an Effective Digital Strategy for Global Success
- Learn to Expect the Unexpected in Global Retail Expansion
- VIDEO: Stop the Madness: A Recipe to Jump-Start the Global Economy
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 3
- Editor’s Note
- Labor Pains: The Recovery of the U.S. Labor Market is about to be Pushed Back
- Creating Advocates: A Values-Oriented Approach to Developing Brand Loyalty
- Leveraging Action Learning as a Talent Management Strategy during Economic Uncertainty
- Protecting Descriptive Brands in Trademark and Trade Dress Law:
- VIDEO: Transforming the Relationship between Business and IT Executives
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 2
- Editor’s Note: Finding Distinctiveness
- Secondary Meaning in Trademark and Trade Dress Law
- Financial Elements of Business Resilience
- Positive Organizational Scholarship and Practice: A Dynamic Duo
- VIDEO: Currency Wars, a Faculty Panel
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 1
- Editor’s Note
- A Consequence Analysis that Needs to be Shared
- Family Business Succession
- The Quest for Distinctiveness in Trademark and Trade Dress Law
- Self-Organizing Conversation as an Invitation to Serendipity
- The ABC’s of Effective Feedback
- “Spiritual Capital and Virtuous Business Leadership” with Yale’s Ted Malloch
- “The Role of the CIO” with Harvey Koeppel
- The Book Corner
2010 Volume 13 Issue 4
- Attn: The Corner Office – Why U.S. Firms Should Pay Special Dividends Before Year-End 2010
- The Charisma of Twitter
- Lessons from the New Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform Law
- The Changing Role of the Residential Real Estate Broker
- 2010 Student Paper Winner: Using Social Media to Grow Your Business
- Editor’s Note: New Look, New Name, Still Great Content
- What to Do when Traditional Diversification Strategies Fail – Revisited
- Great Leaders are Great Decision-Makers
- The Four Levels of Innovation
- The Book Corner
2010 Volume 13 Issue 3
- The Spoiled American
- Choosing Your Negotiation Site
- Editorial: Systems Thinking
- Improvisation as a Way of Dealing with Ambiguity and Complexity
- Economic Recovery Gaining Traction
- The Book Corner
- City National Bank’s Robert Iritani Discusses the Future of Financial Management
- An Interview with Clean Tech Start-up Advisor Susanna Kass
- Servanthood Leadership
2010 Volume 13 Issue 2
- Carl Schramm Talks Expeditionary Economics
- Highly Effective Technical Personnel Strategies
- Real Options: The Value Added through Optimal Decision Making
- 10 Lessons for Entrepreneurs
- Utilizing Business Service Management Concepts to Improve Healthcare Information Services
- Editor’s Note
- Strategies for Leading through Times of Change
- Editorial: Will commercial real estate will follow in the footsteps of the residential property market?
- The Book Corner
2010 Volume 13 Issue 1
- Six Steps for Confronting the Emerging Leadership Succession Crisis
- Interview with Robert Eckert, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Mattel, Incorporated
- Political Connections: The Missing Dimension in Leadership
- How Coach, H-P, Zara, and Ford Profited from a Comprehensive Application of Market Orientation
- Three Ways Larger Monitors Can Improve Productivity
- The Role of Finance in the Strategic-Planning and Decision-Making Process
- Editorial: Is Robotics America’s Ticket to Continued Global Competitiveness?
- The Power of Collective Wisdom and the Trap of Collective Folly By Alan Briskin, Sheryl Erickson, John Ott, and Tom Callanan
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 4
- Women, the Recession, and the Impending Economic Recovery
- The Power of Sharing in an Uncertain World
- How to Communicate Change to Employees
- Five Tactics to Create a Sustainable Restaurant Business
- IT Solutions for SMBs in an Economic Downturn
- What’s Next, Hollywood?
- Eight Key Attributes of Effective Leaders
- What to Do When Traditional Diversification Strategies Fail
- Video Interview on Corporate Social Responsiblitiy with Golden State Foods
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 3
- Offshoring May Slow Impending U.S. Economic Recovery
- In Memory of Luis Villalobos
- IT Outsourcing: China Grasps for the Lead
- The Buffett Approach to Valuing Stocks
- Audio Interview with BP’s Chief Economist Christof Ruhl
- Audio Interview with McKesson U.S. Pharmaceutical President John Figueroa
- Editorial: E-Learning is Green Learning
- Domestic Partner Benefits in the United States
- Examining the Role of Short-Term Correlation in Portfolio Diversification
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 2
- The Root Causes of Unethical Behavior
- Price Fixing and Minimum Resale Price Restrictions Are Two Different Animals
- Investing for Income in a Down Economy
- What Determines Which Businesses Win and Which Lose?
- Leveraging Opportunities in the Current Economic Climate
- Editorial: Writing a Business Plan to Attract Investors
- What’s Next LA: The Road to Economic Recovery
- Owner-Occupied Commercial Real Estate for the Entrepreneur
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the Workplace
- The Winner’s Curse and Optimal Auction Bidding Strategies
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 1
- Private vs. Public Real Estate Markets
- More Than Money
- The Successful Expatriate Leader in China
- Recognizing Organizational Culture in Managing Change
- Editorial: Taking Advantage of California’s Retirees to Help Close the Budget Gap
- Believe It: Complaints Are Gifts
- An Alternative Way to Manage Equity Portfolios
- Active Alpha Portfolio Management: Appendix A
- Active Alpha Portfolio Management: Appendix B
- The Book Corner
2008 Volume 11 Issue 4
- Best Practices for Headcount Reporting
- 2008 Graziadio School Student Paper Competition – How Intercultural Competence Drives Success in Global Virtual Teams
- Discovering Leadership Potential
- Discovering Leadership Potential – Survey
- Discovering Leadership Potential – Evaluation Guidelines
- Corporate Governance, SOX, and the Business Judgment Rule
- What Will The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Mean to Businesses and Investors?
- Who are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
- Editorial: Crisis in America: A Nation at Risk
- The End of the Beginning for the Global Credit Crisis
- The Book Corner
- All IFRS-Compliant Statements Are Not Equal
2008 Volume 11 Issue 3
- The Book Corner
- IT-Enabled Information Transparency: A Strategic Approach
- Editorial: The Top 10 Embracements for Difficult Economic Times
- Servicing the Software Industry (SaaS)
- Where Do Older Workers Go?
- Creating Wealth in Low Income Communities
- Supplier Diversity and Competitive Advantage: New Opportunities in Emerging Domestic Markets
- The Last 100 Feet of the Supply Chain
- America’s Financial Crisis
2008 Volume 11 Issue 2
- The Tie-In Decision
- The Trybaby Syndrome
- Editorial: California Greening: Boom or Bust?
- High CEO Pay Could Draw Renewed Attention in Election Year
- The Book Corner
- Empowering Employees to Success
- Commercial Banking and Treasury Management in Mexico
2008 Volume 11 Issue 1
- Venture Capital Audio Interview
- Learning to Love Financial Market Barbarians
- The Top 10 U.S. Economic Issues to Monitor
- Putting Performance and Happiness Together in the Workplace
- Harassment Prevention Training 2008
- Editorial: No Child Left Behind-A Blueprint for Success
- A Class with Drucker by William A. Cohen
- The Book Corner
- Is Managed Futures an Asset Class?
2007 Volume 10 Issue 4
- Organizational Design and Implementation
- Managing the Critical Role of the Warehouse Supervisor
- Editorial
- Creating a Community in Southern California that Values Sharing Knowledge
- The Book Corner
- Commercial Banking in the U.S. Versus Canada
2007 Volume 10 Issue 3
- Developing a Barometer for Workplace Attitude (WPA)
- The Employers’ Legal Obligations to Employees in the Military
- Employee Incentives
- Will the Sub-Prime Meltdown Burst the Housing Bubble?
- Strategic Leadership – Part Two
- Editor’s Note
- Assertive Performance Feedback
- To Tell or Not to Tell?
- The Book Corner
2007 Volume 10 Issue 2
- The Trader Joe’s Experience
- Strategic Leadership
- Managing Organizational Knowledge
- The Family-Owned Business
- Editor’s Note
- Emotional Dynamism: Playing the Music of Leadership
- Benefits of International Portfolio Diversification
- Aligning Business with a Value Statement
- The Book Corner
2007 Volume 10 Issue 1
- The Death of Time and Distance
- The Moral and Financial Conflict of Socially Responsible Investing
- What You Need to Know about Labor Shortages
- Women Entrepreneurship
- SEC Quest to Regulate Hedge Funds Hits Speed Bump
- The Book Corner
2006 Volume 9 Issue 4
- Seasonality and the Stock Market
- Airline Industry Key Success Factors
- Seven Neurotic Styles of Management
- IT in Healthcare
- Wings of the Great Northwest
- Gratitude at Work
- Editor’s Note
- The Book Corner
- Using ADR to Resolve Worker’s Compensation Claims
2006 Volume 9 Issue 3
- Making Marketing Accountable
- Conversations about Conscientious Capitalism
- Gen Y and Organizational Life
- The Business Impact of Change Management
- Class Action Shareholder Suits Face Legal Setbacks
- The Book Corner
- Achieving Corporate Success and Maximized Value
2006 Volume 9 Issue 2
- Business Survival Skills
- Six Components of a Model for Workplace Spirituality
- HR’s Strategic Partnership with Line Management
- The Book Corner
- Obesity, Social Responsibility, and Economic Value
- Graziadio Faculty Discuss Ethics
2006 Volume 9 Issue 1
- A Winning Tool to Manage Price: The Pricing Checklist
- Update: The Price of Oil
- Mapping IT Resources for Successful Implementations
- Is the Real Estate Market a House of Cards?
- Whither Now Dow?
- The Book Corner
2005 Volume 8 Issue 4
- Whistleblowers
- Editorial: Does a Non-Public Business Need SOX?
- Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
- 5-Forces Industry Analysis
- IT MATTERS: Measuring Success
- A New Imperative for Management: Sexual Harassment Training
- The Company Director’s Role In Company Growth
- Editor’s Note
- The Book Corner
2005 Volume 8 Issue 3
- IT MATTERS: The IT Governance Road Map
- Fair Trade or Strategic Concern: The Unocal War
- Avoiding Ethical Misconduct Disasters
- The Positive Psychology Approach to Goal Management
- Antitrust Law in the European Union
- Editor’s Note
- The Book Corner
- D & O Policies: Greater Risks Less Coverage
- A Blueprint for Change: Appreciative Inquiry
2005 Volume 8 Issue 2
- Connecting Enterprise Information and People in a Web World
- The Leader’s Role in Strategy
- IT MATTERS: Ethics, Information Systems, and a Steel Ax
- Conversation with author and leadership scholar James M. Kouzes
- Will China Float the Yuan?
- Editorial
- Corruption Across Borders
- Resolving Intra-Organization Conflicts
- An Uphill Battle
- Leading and Managing Change
- The Book Corner
2005 Volume 8 Issue 1
- Managing Resistance to Change
- The Link Between Price and Profit Margin in a Global Market
- IT MATTERS: Or more correctly, use of IT matters…
- The Impact of Empowered Employees on Corporate Value
- What You Need to Know about Attorneys’ Fees
- Editor’s Note: Phishing
- The Book Corner
- Strengthening Value-Centered Ethics (Part 3)
- Will Your Company’s Electronic Records Storage Withstand Legal Scrutiny?
- Conversation with Gemstar-TV Guide International’s Jeff Shell
2004 Volume 7 Issue 3
- Litigate or Arbitrate?
- Presidential Elections and Stock Market Cycles
- Businesspersons Beware: Lying is a Crime
- Strengthening Value-Centered Ethics (Part 2)
- Attempting to Control Health Care Costs – Again
- Editor’s Note
- The Crude Facts About the Price of Oil
- Conversation with Sempra Energy’s Stephen Baum
- The Book Corner
2004 Volume 7 Issue 2
- The Uncertain World of Trademark Dilution
- Does Corporate Social Responsibility Pay Off
- Strengthening Values Centered Leadership
- Editor’s Note: Deeper Questions
- The Twin Deficits
- Conversation with Rite Aid’s Robert Miller
- The Book Corner
- From Michelangelo to the Modern Boardroom
- Preparing for a Future Labor Shortage
2004 Volume 7 Issue 1
- Slowing Runaway Juries
- Merger and Acquisition Strategies
- Slips, Trips, and Falls
- Using Conflict to Your Advantage
- Wired!
- Editorial: Don’t Panic!
- IT MATTERS: Seek and You Might Find
- Conversation with American Honda’s Tom Ross
- The Dollar vs. the Euro
- The Book Corner
2003 Volume 6 Issue 4
- Negotiating Effectively
- Why Good Leaders Do Bad Things
- Editorial: Cybersatire
- Main Street and Hedging
- IT MATTERS: Digital Indemnity
- What Stays and Who Pays?
- Inflation to Deflation and Back?
- Conversation with AT&T’s Betsy Bernard
- The Car Deal
- The Book Corner
- Using Dashboard Based Business Intelligence Systems
2003 Volume 6 Issue 3
- The Cost of Lost Data
- Consolidate All IT?
- Blowing the Whistle
- Hedging Strategies for Uncertain Times
- Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture
- Editorial: Onward and Upward?
- IT MATTERS: Portal Combat
- Facing Up to the Possibility of Deflation
- Dialogue With Four Executives
2003 Volume 6 Issue 2
- Do Not Call!*
- Improving Research Performance
- Just-in-Time to Just-in-Case
- Increasing the Firm’s Strategic IQ
- Special Purpose Entities
- Editorial: Shock and Awe
- IT MATTERS: Webhosting
- Conversation with Galpin Ford’s Bert Boeckmann
2003 Volume 6 Issue 1
- Communicating Your Strategy
- Reforming Corporate America
- Recognize the True Cost of Compensation
- Learn from Experience
- Use Emotional Intelligence to Cope in Tough Times
- Conversation with Evoke Software’s Lacy Edwards
- Editorial
- Predicting Bankruptcy in the WorldCom Age
2002 Volume 5 Issue 4
- Build Value in a Small Business
- Protect Your Trade Secrets
- Managing in an Era of Multiple Cultures
- Consider the Pros and Cons of Expensing Stock Options
- IT MATTERS: Web Services May Bridge the Great Culture Gap
- Editor’s Note
- Conversation with Kinko’s Paul Orfalea
- Calculating the Strategic Value of Customer Satisfaction
2002 Volume 5 Issue 3
- Encourage Your Employees to Play
- Managerial Leadership at Twelve O’Clock
- Remembering George L. Graziadio
- Editor’s Note: Bad Boys in the Board Room
- Who’s Driving American Firms?
- Supreme Court Sides With Business
- Using Asset Allocation Strategies to Recover from a Bear Hug
- Mediate, Arbitrate or Litigate?
- IT MATTERS: The Wonderful World of the Wireless Web
2002 Volume 5 Issue 2
- Does Market Efficiency Trump Behavioral Bias in Finance Decisions?
- Making Mergers a Growth Strategy
- Sealing Cracks in the Capital Markets
- Artificial Intelligence Techniques Enhance Business Forecasts
- Editor’s Note: Weapons of Mass Disruption
- E-Commerce Reboots
- IT MATTERS: Web Services Prevail Despite Travail
- Go Directly to Jail?
- Conversation with Trader Joe’s John Shields
2002 Volume 5 Issue 1
- Build a Culture of Value Creation
- Choose Tomorrow’s Leaders Today
- Small Firms Keep R&D Vibrant
- Teams Use IT to Manage Client Impressions
- Putting Spirituality to Work
- IT MATTERS: Fifty Years and Counting
- Defining Disability Under the ADA
- Conversation with Reid Plastics’ Joe Rokus
- Editor’s Note: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
2001 Volume 4 Issue 4
- Gender Impacts Virtual Work Teams
- Doing Business in a Volatile World
- The Strategic Downside of Downsizing
- Editor’s Note: Corporate Citizenship in the Wake of September 11!
- The Economic Downturn is No Surprise
- IT MATTERS: ROI for Tech Deployments in the Downturn
- Supreme Court Faces Key Business Cases
- Conversation with Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics’ Michael Josephson
- Are Workplace Bullies Sabotaging Your Ability to Compete?
2001 Volume 4 Issue 3
- Suddenly Unemployed?
- Too Late for an IPO?
- Electricity Price Gouging in California?
- Editor’s Note: Surf’s Up!
- The Fine Art of Delegation
- Waiting Games People Play
- Business at the Bar
- Conversation with California’s Senator Sandra Bowen
2001 Volume 4 Issue 2
- Knowledge Management and Business Portals
- Trust as a Competitive Advantage
- Is Price Everything?
- Editor’s Note: A Quarter Without Quarter
- Has the Dow Really Escaped the Bear?
- Dot.Gone
- IT MATTERS: E-Business is Definitely an E-Ticket Ride!
- Downsizing with Dignity
- Conversation with Salomon Smith Barney’s Mitchell J. Held
- The California Electricity Crisis
2001 Volume 4 Issue 1
- Repetition Leads To Innovation
- What’s the Problem?
- Editor’s Note: Quakes, Flakes, and Double Takes
- IT MATTERS: CRM Solution Seekers Beware!!!!
- Language, Culture and Global Business
- Conversation with WATTSHealth Systems’ Dr. Clyde Oden, Jr.
- Personality Traits and Workplace Culture
- Who Wants to Lose a Million?
- The Power of Performance Profiling
2000 Volume 3 Issue 4
- Building Wealth
- How Small Firms Plan to Grow
- Using Internet Portals to Manage the Information Deluge
- Editor’s Note: Messy Brains and Global Opportunities
- SEC Requires Fair Disclosure
- IT MATTERS: MP3.com Completes Settlements
- Conversation with Boyd Clarke of tompeters!
- Planning in a Complex World
- Business Be Advised!
2000 Volume 3 Issue 3
- Do Japan’s High Tech Failures Open Doors for Western Firms?
- Managing Earnings … or Cooking the Books?
- The Battle Over Merger Accounting
- Conversation with Development Bank of Japan’s Dr. Kazuyuki Matsumoto
- Editor’s Note: Friends, Romans & Countrymen…
- What Directors Need to Know
- Still Thinking of Doing an IPO?
2000 Volume 3 Issue 2
- Managing Innovation through Corporate Venturing
- The Death of the Sales Force
- Thinking of Doing an IPO?
- Serving Each Other on the Inside
- Editor’s Note: Screaming Into the Future!
- Conversation with Power-One’s Stephen J. Goldman
- Will Marketers Survive the Information Age?
2000 Volume 3 Issue 1
- Re-Assessing the Health of the Asian Tigers
- Knowledge Management and the Internet
- The Learning Organization in Practice
- Economic Forecasting
- Editor’s Note: A Short Hello!
- Are You Ready for E-Commerce?
- E-Business: The New Management Challenge
- Conversation with Raytheon’s Daniel Burhnam
- The Bull Market’s Flawed Foundation
1999 Volume 2 Issue 4
- The Electric Day Trader and Ruin
- Teambuilding for Competitive Advantage
- Parable of the Commons
- Preserve and Strengthen a Business Partnership
- Editor’s Note: Here to Be Thrilled!
- Conversation with McDonald’s Mike Roberts
- Telecommuting… Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
1999 Volume 2 Issue 3
- How Gerber Used a Decision Tree in Strategic Decision-Making
- Customer Satisfaction Measurement
- Get Your Message Across!
- Balancing Act for Employers in Today’s Labor Market
- Editor’s Note: Too Much Fun!
- E-Commerce & Taxation
- Conversation with Harvard’s Dr. Gary Hamel
- To Join or Not To Join..?
1999 Volume 2 Issue 2
- Defamation Vs. Negligent Referral
- Maximize Business Achievement
- Preserving Family & Business Assets
- Knowledge is Power…
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the Graziadio Business Review
- E-Commerce & Taxation
- Conversation with Franchise Mortgage Acceptance Company’s Wayne “Buz” Knyal
- Cultivating the Customer Asset
1999 Volume 2 Issue 1
- Business and Universities Moving to Collaborative Technologies
- Tips for Reducing Executive Stress
- Russia at the Crossroads
- Editor’s Note: Volume 2, Issue 1
- GBR Case Study
- Launching an Effective Citizen Advisory Panel
1998 Volume 1 Issue 3
- T.I.P.S.
- Retirement Call to Action
- The European Directive On Data Privacy
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the GBR, Volume I, Issue 3
- Debt Tied to Lower Firm Performance
- Conversation with Countrywide Credit Industries’ Angelo Mozilo
- Boosting Country Club Memberships With Innovative Marketing and Pricing Concepts
1998 Volume 1 Issue 2
- Management Skills for the 21st Century
- Middlaning
- Decision-Making in a Global Environment
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the GBR, Volume I, Issue 2
- Conversation with Global Pacific Information Services’ Jeffrey Rigsby
- Cultural Insights on Doing Business in China
- When Worlds Collide
1998 Volume 1 Issue 1
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the GBR
- Guide to Personal Investment Software
- Southeast Asia: Crisis To Recovery
- Growth Strategies for High Tech Firms
- Conversation with Imperial Bank’s George L. Graziadio
- The Human Realities of Corporate Downsizing
- AB Corporation Case Study
The Moral and Financial Conflict of Socially Responsible Investing
Who is responsible for corporations making socially responsible choices? Is it the CEO, the public, the government, or the investors? If an investor follows his conscience to invest in socially responsible companies, will he lose money, or does socially responsible investing pay off in the end? This article addresses these questions.

Photo: Mikhail Tolstoy
One of the most important tasks of a modern industrial society is the allocation of capital. It is absolutely essential that in a democratic milieu capital assets be allocated to benefit the majority of productive individuals. William J. Baumol, a leading political economist of the 1960s, has noted the following:
The allocation of its capital resources is among the most important decisions which must be made by an economy. In the long-run an appropriate allocation of real capital is absolutely indispensable to the implementation of consumer sovereignty (or of the more appropriate concept—public sovereignty—which takes into account all of the relevant desires of the individuals who constitute the economy).[1]
This article addresses the central question of public sovereignty of the capital markets wherein the public, and not bankers, decide the allocation. Is the current methodology of capital allocation taking into account all of the relevant desires of the public who constitute the economy? The debate centers on socially responsible investing (SRI). What is more important, morality or profitability, and are they mutually exclusive? Do corporations have a responsibility to the environment, to their employees, to the communities in which they reside that supersede the corporations’ responsibilities to investors? On the other hand, do investors have the responsibility of focusing on companies that have great socially responsible track records over corporations that fail on these records while seeking dividends and price appreciation?
While capitalistic markets are disproportionately focused on “profit at all cost,” few trends would so thoroughly “…undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as they possibly can,” said the late Milton Friedman.[2] Likewise the late George J. Stigler noted the importance of capital markets’ regulation of behavior.[3] Both of these economists are Noble Prize recipients as well as coming from the Chicago School of Economic Thought giving even more substance to their comments. This latter comment remains as important today as when Stigler made the statement. Secretary of the Treasury Paulson on November 20, 2006 called for the U.S. to “rethink” governance rules to keep the U.S. capital markets competitive.
If we believe that American public sovereignty of the capital markets include ethical behavior with equal financial results, it is obvious that we are in serious denial with some radical change in business behavior required. Otherwise, we end up just like any other third world country.
Shareholder Wealth
More often than not, corporations today are expected to utilize the shareholder wealth model, developed in the 1950s, stated in terms of maximizing shareholder wealth. In general, such a model demands a large earnings per share (EPS) growth rate without any social considerations. Historically, this has not been the case. Corporations were at one time essentially privately owned as well as local in character. Consumers more or less assumed that the entrepreneur’s own morality was incorporated into the firm. If a corporation behaved poorly by a community’s standards, this firm often would be boycotted especially if a substitutable product or service existed. We still see a modest amount of boycotting, but it is almost solely confined to small businesses with consumer sales. It is perhaps unfortunate that one cannot invest in many of these small businesses and their potentially higher community standards.
This provincial approach all but disappeared with the rise of the modern public corporation by the 1920s. This divorce of ownership from control resulted in a new form of economic behavior as so clearly noted by Berle and Means in 1932.[4] In the opinion of many, one aspect today of this separation of ownership from control is excessive pay to executives, predominately through stock options, which encourages dominance of the EPS growth aspect at all costs. This obsession with wealth has further caused a major ethical issue of backdating of options, which appears to have become widespread among American corporations. The theft of stockholders’ funds in recent times appears to run into billions of dollars.
The magnitude of the ethical problem for American corporations can be noted by the statement from Transparency International (TI), the anti-corruption watchdog, While TI concentrates predominately on international business transactions and the corruption of governments, it is not solely derived from this perspective. Thus, on Monday, November 6, 2006, TI reported that “the U.S. has suffered a ‘significant worsening’ in the perceived levels of corruption.”[5] The U.S. fell from a ranking of the 17th least corrupt nation to 20th among the 163 nations reviewed by the Berlin-based organization with a score of 7.3. This score equaled those of Chile and Belgium. Indeed, it should be noted that both Singapore and Hong Kong are ahead of the U.S. on this critical issue. One concluding comment from The Financial Times stated that “For companies, thinking just in terms of compliance is not enough.”[6]
When corporations make heinous decisions in an attempt to attain a high EPS growth rate (such as Ford’s decision to produce the Pinto in the face of overwhelming evidence that the vehicle was unsafe), the government steps in to administer punishment. Such decisions become more opaque, however, when the ethical/moral issues are less explicit and difficult to quantify. A case in point is the mining industry. Although mining is necessary to gather production resources for a modern industrial economy, it also often damages the environment. Is it wrong to prospect for sources at the expense of the natural environment?
Through their demand for equity, investors can dictate what is most valued in world opinion. For example, if companies whose pollutants damage the environment see their stock prices plummet, the cost to such companies of converting to a more environmentally conscious operation would no doubt be offset by positive price appreciation in their stock accompanied by a reduction in their cost of capital.
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
In a capitalistic marketplace, the stockholders hold the “ultimate authority” over corporate conduct. Unfortunately, it is a “passive” ultimate authority. Due to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s unwavering support of corporate management in proxy matters (in the opinion of the authors), the only “ultimate authority” is the passive strategy of selling the underlying interest rather than trying to change the behavior of management. Another, more pro-active strategy would be to limit investments to companies meeting reasonable criteria for the concept of a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Yet another, even more pro-active strategy, is to have the SEC or Congress change the proxy rules. This may happen due to recent Federal court decisions questioning the SEC’s position on shareholders’ proxy rights and the difficulty of placing issues before shareholders at the annual meeting.
Socially responsible investments “to a large degree depends on the investor.”[7] While some estimate that the market for socially responsible investment (SRI) funds stands at $2.16 trillion,[8] the actual criteria used to define SRI are rather subjective. The Social Investment Forum lists 12 types of screens for company exclusion. These screens include the following industries or issues: alcohol, tobacco, gambling, defense/weapons, animal testing, product/service quality, environment, human rights, labor relations, employment equality, community investment, and community relations. Many believe that other screens need to be added such as ethical management. Needless to say, there will be no end to the debate dealing with the proper selection of screens for SRI.
Value Based Leadership (VBL)
Many individuals can reasonably disagree over some of these screens. Many individuals also believe that other screens need to be added. One of the most commonly suggested is Value Based Leadership (VBL). For example, companies found engaging in unlawful or immoral conduct, such as backdating options, should be rejected as an investment candidate until the guilty company is rehabilitated. In fact, the potential screening list can almost reach the point at which all companies must be eliminated. Hence, there is a real need to develop a consensus regarding the VBL definition. In fact, there is a real need for a consensus selection of companies that would become part of an SRI Index. Investment managers today basically develop their SRI qualified companies through internal analysis.
Finally, there is the problem of selective screening. Certain mutual funds also select companies based on other criteria. For example, the Aquinas SRI mutual funds invest in only those companies that reflect core Catholic religious values, while the Sierra Club mutual funds invest in only those firms that have positive environmental track records.
The securities markets are comprised of companies having vastly different moral and ethical track records. The concept being suggested here is the recognition of the Value Based Investor (VBI). If Value Based Investors exercised their financial power by encouraging social responsibility among corporations, then a large sum of investment dollars would flow from socially responsible investors, and a goodly number of mutual funds, investment companies, state retirement boards, and investment advisors would utilize screening techniques to isolate companies having high degrees of social and moral responsibility.
Amy Domini notes, “The way you invest can contribute not only to your bottom line but also to a just and fair society.”[9] Yet, overwhelmingly, mutual funds do not utilize any qualitative SRI screening techniques. Perhaps the multiple qualitative criteria make the concept difficult to market? Karin Grablin, a financial planner with Dictor Martin Investments, has stated that “…most clients are pretty much looking for performance, and they’re probably more geared towards that angle than social responsibility.”[10] Investment management firms that manage client assets and/or manage mutual funds for investors have a responsibility to their investors to maximize returns. Without returns, such firms lose clients. Their choices are as much about their clients’ well-being as they are about self-preservation.
Why do the majority of firms seem apathetic towards SRI strategies? It has been strongly suggested that such strategies are simply less profitable than non-SRI strategies. Then the ethical question also becomes, “What is more important—social responsibility or overall profitability?” We know that the Adam Smith “invisible hand” (individuals collectively will undertake the best economic choice) is not always correct from a moral position. Is the return differential between SRI strategies and non-SRI strategies minimal, or does the alpha (or excess return not accounted for in its beta, a measurement of risk) of non-SRI investments compensate society for the negative societal externalities produced by corporations that do not act socially responsible?
Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT)
Two contradictory schools of thought exist about how to construct a portfolio of equities to maximize shareholder return. Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) suggests that SRI investments are inferior to non-SRI investments. As per MPT, there are two categories of risk in the marketplace: systematic, associated with the overall markets, and unsystematic, or specific risk associated with a specific sector, industry, or business.
Diversification is the process by which investors add additional non-perfectly correlated securities in such a manner that Security A can partially mitigate the unsystematic risk of Security B within a portfolio. Efficient capital markets reward investors for systematic risk, which cannot be diversified away, but do not reward unsystematic risk, which is easily diversified away in an efficient portfolio through the addition of non-perfectly correlated securities.[11]
While all this sounds complex, it is not. Every stock and industry has a different business risk. MPT suggests that you take one stock from one industry (like an oil stock) and combine it with another stock with a different business risk profile (like a plastic manufacturer). The stocks move in less than perfect tandem (non-perfectly correlated.) In pragmatic terms, an investor should have no fewer than fifteen stocks in their portfolio with no more than two stocks from any one industry. This will result in a good degree of diversification being achieved.
Investors who choose to limit available securities using qualitative, non-financial criteria limit their ability to achieve adequate diversification. Using our example above, an investor might be forced to use three stocks instead of two from a particular industry. This portfolio like SRI funds will then bear a substantial amount of specific risk versus non-SRI funds and should logically achieve lower risk adjusted returns. In addition, firms that choose to invest capital in costly social programs increase costs and operate less efficiently than do firms that do not. Therefore, not only do SRI funds limit their investment universe at the expense of adequate diversification, but they may also be selecting from a pool of inferior companies that have uncompetitive cost structures.
Stakeholder Theory
Modern Portfolio Theory and simple portfolio construction accurately describe the diversification inefficiency that SRI strategies bear, but do not offer any explanation of possible benefits that socially responsible policies create. In support of SRI investments, the other school of thought is Stakeholder Theory. “Stakeholder Theory….portrays managers as individuals who pay simultaneous attention to legitimate interests of all appropriate stakeholders, both in the establishment of organizational structures and general policies and in case-by-case decision making.”[12]
In Modern Portfolio Theory, all stocks are considered homogenous. Stakeholder Theory suggests that a firm’s management of internal and external relationships will have significant positive or negative effects on future profitability. For example, a social agenda that includes above-market benefits for employees will attract the best workers, thereby making that company’s human capital more productive. Positive interactions with the communities surrounding plants/offices will result in more favorable negotiating power with local government officials for profitable tax breaks and other contractual obligations. Positive goodwill from superior social agendas will result in long-run economic and financial success. While the pool of possible investments is limited by using subjective criteria, Stakeholder Theory suggests that the available pool contains superior investments. As investors randomly select companies from a smaller pool of possibilities, the higher quality of those companies in the smaller sample offsets any negative effects described by MPT.

Eugene Ellmen, executive director of the Toronto-based Social Investment Organization (a non-profit trade association encouraging SRI strategies located at www.socialinvest.org) says: “Some people have the impression that to invest responsibly, you have to sacrifice returns…it’s a misconception to say that SRI investing leads to underperformance.”[13] Unfortunately, there have been many studies that have questioned this statement.
A recent paper by Michael Barnett and Robert Salomon has generated signal interest about SRI performance. Their very insightful paper also sought to distinguish between various SRI criteria, identifying the effects of the various SRI screens. Barnett and Salomon tested all 12 of the accepted screening methods (noted above) for SRI funds, but specifically targeted the effects of singling out firms due to environmental policies, labor policies, and community relations.[14]
The study resulted in several interesting conclusions. One such conclusion states, “The relationship between the intensity of social screening and financial performance for SRI funds is curvilinear or U shaped.”[15]
- Mutual funds that use all 12 criteria are nearly as successful as funds that use none. However, mutual funds that use a handful of criteria, or that periodically relaxed their assumptions around social responsibility, suffer.
- Mutual funds that stick to their core values and use all 12 of the accepted social responsibility screens apparently are able to realize on a broader scale enough long-term value through positive relationship building as to offset any negative results from lacking diversification.
- Mutual funds that relax their criteria and show a lack of discipline towards those core values only end up bearing the negative externalities of less diversification; those companies do not realize sufficient positive value from their socially responsible criteria.
It would thus appear that SRI investing is an “all or none” proposition. This also mitigates the fact that particular SRI screens work at different times. In portfolio management, growth at times does better than value, or the reverse, and many other examples are possible.
Barnett and Salomon found a statistically significant—though small—positive relationship between positive community relations and financial performance. Michael Barnett reports, “Funds that select investments for their portfolio based on community relations screening criteria will earn higher financial returns than those that don’t.”[16] However, the study also showed that positive environmental track record and positive labor relations screening resulted in statistically significant negative effect on returns.
The Calvert Mutual Fund (CMF) organization is one of the better known SRI groups with a long-term record. It is useful to compare their performance against an SRI benchmark, albeit one they created themselves. The Calvert Social Index today contains approximately 600 large capitalized companies. The index is constructed by taking the top 1000 companies by capitalization and then analyzing each company according to SRI attributes. It is from this population that Calvert develops its portfolio selections. The performance of these funds is indicative of the gap differential in constructing SRI portfolios against the market. The performance results of selected funds are as follows for the period ended January 31, 2007 as reflected on the calvert.com website.
| Fund or Benchmarks | One Year | Three Year | Five Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calvert Social Index | 11.93% | 8.05% | 5.25% |
| Calvert Fund Equity/No load | 11.06% | 7.23% | 4.43% |
| Calvert Fund Equity/Load | 5.79% | 5.51% | 3.42% |
| Lipper Multi-Cap. Core | 12.45% | 11.49% | 6.31% |
| S&P 500 Index | 14.51% | 10.32% | 6.82% |
Average Annual Returns (%) For Period Ending 1/31/2007
http://www.calvert.com/funds_performance.html. (no longer accessible).
It is clearly disappointing that the Calvert Social Index (a non-managed fund) underperforms its noted benchmark (Lipper Multi-Cap. Core) in all three periods as well as underperforms the S&P 500 Index (total return) in the same three periods. Likewise, it is disappointing that the other two Calvert funds (managed funds selecting stocks within the index) underperformed as well.
SRI investment returns face a return challenge that must be clearly noted. Recognizing the limited testing period and population, socially responsible investing does appear to provide less than optimal investment performance. It appears that investors are not signally sacrificing their investment performance if they use very stringent social responsibility criteria. The fact that SRI mutual funds involved in the Barnett and Salomon study have higher expense ratios on average than do non-SRI investments[17] could account for the difference. Those higher expense ratios could be the result of lower operating efficiency of smaller firms that operate in the SRI marketplace rather than the difficulty of managing the portfolios. Regardless, the negative relationship is in no way significant enough to dismiss the societal benefit of the socially responsible stock selection. Rather, it raises the question of why more investors are not allocating funds to SRI investments.
One of the original questions in this article is whether or not social responsibility or investment returns has the greater value. For the individual investor, SRI investments utilizing currently existing SRI mutual funds will on average under-perform non-SRI mutual funds, encouraging investors to avoid them. However, since much of the underperformance appears to be a result of transaction costs and fund management expenses associated with small funds, there remains hope if more investors demand such types of SRI as part of their overall portfolio construction. This orientation could alter corporate decision making by increasing the demand for stocks of corporations having social priorities and policies deemed by society to be ethical.
According to Karl Marx, history is economics in action. If investors demand an SRI orientation, then it will follow. It becomes clearly essential that Value Based Investors insist on investing in Value Based Leadership Companies. This could promote positive initiatives for ethical conduct in workplace relations, production, and the environment.
This article also creates a challenge for pragmatic portfolio managers. The Calvert (or like) Social Index does contain a significant population. Are there not portfolio managing techniques available to construct within the social index a sub-set of companies that can not only outperform the index itself, but can outperform the Lipper benchmark as well? If so, there would be far less reticence by investors to own such SRI portfolios.
[1] William J. Baumol, The Stock Market and Economic Efficiency (New York: Fordham University Press, 1969), 1-2.
[2] Linda S. Munilla, “Corporate Social Responsibility Continuum as a Component of Stakeholder Theory,” Business and Society Review, 110, no. 4 (2005): 371-387.
[3] George J. Stigler, “Public Regulation of the Stock Market,” The Journal of Business, April (1964): 117.
[4] Adolf A. Berle, and Gardner C. Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1932).
[5] Hugh Williamson, “U.S. Seen as Getting More Corrupt, Says Watchdog,” The Financial Times, November 7, 2006.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Brian Neill, “For Some, Conscience Leads the Way“, Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, FL), October 3, 2006.
[8] “Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States,” Social Investment Forum, (1999).
[9] Domini, Amy L. Socially Responsible Investing: Making a Difference and Making Money (Chicago: Dearborn Trade, 2001).
[10] Brian Neill.
[11] Michael L. Barnett. “Beyond Dichotomy: The Curvilinear Relationship Between Social Responsibility & Financial Performance,” Strategic Management Journal 27, March (2006): 1101-1122.
[12] T. Donaldson and L. E. Preston, “The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications,” Academy of Management Review 20, no. 1 (1995): 65-91.
[13] Paul Brent, “Ethical Funds Gain Popularity,” Toronto Star, October 12, 2006.
[14] Michael L. Barnett.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Samuel R William, “Fund Spy“, Morningstar Column, September 5, 2006.
2013 Volume 16 Issue 1
- Leading from Character Strength
- Private Businesses Predict Limited Growth for 2013
- Justice in Ethics Programs
- Moving from Misuse to Bricolage
- EDITORIAL: The New Paradigm for Management Education
- The Book Corner
- Video Library
- Dean’s Executive Leadership Series
- Graziadio School Business Programs
2012 Volume 15 Issue 3
- Facilitating the Inventor–Entrepreneur Interaction:
- Bridging the Complexity Gap:
- A No Fault Approach to Recouping Executive Compensation
- Implementing Intrapreneurship:
- Facebook: Data Mining the World’s Largest Focus Group
- The Four-Year U.S. Presidential Cycle and the Stock Market
- VIDEO – Wall of Worry: Elections and the Markets
- Editor’s Note
2012 Volume 15 Issue 2
- VIDEO – Wall of Worry: Elections and the Markets
- The Four-Year U.S. Presidential Cycle and the Stock Market
- CEO Performance of 125 of Northern California’s Largest Companies
- FOR SALE BY OWNER for Less than It Is Worth
- Beyond the Numbers
- Making Decisions with Multiple Attributes: A Case in Sustainability Planning
- The Ethics of Ethics Programs
- Transorganizations: Managing in a Complex and Uncertain World
- The Global Economy is Open for Business
- VIDEO: Leadership, Innovation and Disruption
- UPDATE: Benefits of International Portfolio Diversification
- Editorial: The World of Graduate Management Education Turned Up Side Down
- The Book Corner
- Editor’s Note
2012 Volume 15 Issue 1
- CEO Performance of 100 of Southern California’s Largest Companies
- Editor’s Note
- UPDATE: Reforming Corporate America
- UPDATE: Top 10 U.S. Economic Issues to Monitor
- UPDATE: Airline Industry Key Success Factors
- UPDATE: Management Skills for the 21st Century
- UPDATE: Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture
- UPDATE: The Dollar vs. the Euro
- UPDATE: Making Mergers a Growth Strategy
- UPDATE: The Employers’ Legal Obligations to Employees in the Military
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 4
- Editor’s Note
- Financial Swiss Army Knife: A User-Friendly Tool for Facilitating Financial Analysis and Due Diligence
- Achieving Enterprise Stability Based on Economic Capital
- The Internet and Globalization: Ten Tips to Building an Effective Digital Strategy for Global Success
- Learn to Expect the Unexpected in Global Retail Expansion
- VIDEO: Stop the Madness: A Recipe to Jump-Start the Global Economy
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 3
- Editor’s Note
- Labor Pains: The Recovery of the U.S. Labor Market is about to be Pushed Back
- Creating Advocates: A Values-Oriented Approach to Developing Brand Loyalty
- Leveraging Action Learning as a Talent Management Strategy during Economic Uncertainty
- Protecting Descriptive Brands in Trademark and Trade Dress Law:
- VIDEO: Transforming the Relationship between Business and IT Executives
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 2
- Editor’s Note: Finding Distinctiveness
- Secondary Meaning in Trademark and Trade Dress Law
- Financial Elements of Business Resilience
- Positive Organizational Scholarship and Practice: A Dynamic Duo
- VIDEO: Currency Wars, a Faculty Panel
- The Book Corner
2011 Volume 14 Issue 1
- Editor’s Note
- A Consequence Analysis that Needs to be Shared
- Family Business Succession
- The Quest for Distinctiveness in Trademark and Trade Dress Law
- Self-Organizing Conversation as an Invitation to Serendipity
- The ABC’s of Effective Feedback
- “Spiritual Capital and Virtuous Business Leadership” with Yale’s Ted Malloch
- “The Role of the CIO” with Harvey Koeppel
- The Book Corner
2010 Volume 13 Issue 4
- Attn: The Corner Office – Why U.S. Firms Should Pay Special Dividends Before Year-End 2010
- The Charisma of Twitter
- Lessons from the New Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform Law
- The Changing Role of the Residential Real Estate Broker
- 2010 Student Paper Winner: Using Social Media to Grow Your Business
- Editor’s Note: New Look, New Name, Still Great Content
- What to Do when Traditional Diversification Strategies Fail – Revisited
- Great Leaders are Great Decision-Makers
- The Four Levels of Innovation
- The Book Corner
2010 Volume 13 Issue 3
- The Spoiled American
- Choosing Your Negotiation Site
- Editorial: Systems Thinking
- Improvisation as a Way of Dealing with Ambiguity and Complexity
- Economic Recovery Gaining Traction
- The Book Corner
- City National Bank’s Robert Iritani Discusses the Future of Financial Management
- An Interview with Clean Tech Start-up Advisor Susanna Kass
- Servanthood Leadership
2010 Volume 13 Issue 2
- Carl Schramm Talks Expeditionary Economics
- Highly Effective Technical Personnel Strategies
- Real Options: The Value Added through Optimal Decision Making
- 10 Lessons for Entrepreneurs
- Utilizing Business Service Management Concepts to Improve Healthcare Information Services
- Editor’s Note
- Strategies for Leading through Times of Change
- Editorial: Will commercial real estate will follow in the footsteps of the residential property market?
- The Book Corner
2010 Volume 13 Issue 1
- Six Steps for Confronting the Emerging Leadership Succession Crisis
- Interview with Robert Eckert, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Mattel, Incorporated
- Political Connections: The Missing Dimension in Leadership
- How Coach, H-P, Zara, and Ford Profited from a Comprehensive Application of Market Orientation
- Three Ways Larger Monitors Can Improve Productivity
- The Role of Finance in the Strategic-Planning and Decision-Making Process
- Editorial: Is Robotics America’s Ticket to Continued Global Competitiveness?
- The Power of Collective Wisdom and the Trap of Collective Folly By Alan Briskin, Sheryl Erickson, John Ott, and Tom Callanan
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 4
- Women, the Recession, and the Impending Economic Recovery
- The Power of Sharing in an Uncertain World
- How to Communicate Change to Employees
- Five Tactics to Create a Sustainable Restaurant Business
- IT Solutions for SMBs in an Economic Downturn
- What’s Next, Hollywood?
- Eight Key Attributes of Effective Leaders
- What to Do When Traditional Diversification Strategies Fail
- Video Interview on Corporate Social Responsiblitiy with Golden State Foods
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 3
- Offshoring May Slow Impending U.S. Economic Recovery
- In Memory of Luis Villalobos
- IT Outsourcing: China Grasps for the Lead
- The Buffett Approach to Valuing Stocks
- Audio Interview with BP’s Chief Economist Christof Ruhl
- Audio Interview with McKesson U.S. Pharmaceutical President John Figueroa
- Editorial: E-Learning is Green Learning
- Domestic Partner Benefits in the United States
- Examining the Role of Short-Term Correlation in Portfolio Diversification
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 2
- The Root Causes of Unethical Behavior
- Price Fixing and Minimum Resale Price Restrictions Are Two Different Animals
- Investing for Income in a Down Economy
- What Determines Which Businesses Win and Which Lose?
- Leveraging Opportunities in the Current Economic Climate
- Editorial: Writing a Business Plan to Attract Investors
- What’s Next LA: The Road to Economic Recovery
- Owner-Occupied Commercial Real Estate for the Entrepreneur
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the Workplace
- The Winner’s Curse and Optimal Auction Bidding Strategies
- The Book Corner
2009 Volume 12 Issue 1
- Private vs. Public Real Estate Markets
- More Than Money
- The Successful Expatriate Leader in China
- Recognizing Organizational Culture in Managing Change
- Editorial: Taking Advantage of California’s Retirees to Help Close the Budget Gap
- Believe It: Complaints Are Gifts
- An Alternative Way to Manage Equity Portfolios
- Active Alpha Portfolio Management: Appendix A
- Active Alpha Portfolio Management: Appendix B
- The Book Corner
2008 Volume 11 Issue 4
- Best Practices for Headcount Reporting
- 2008 Graziadio School Student Paper Competition – How Intercultural Competence Drives Success in Global Virtual Teams
- Discovering Leadership Potential
- Discovering Leadership Potential – Survey
- Discovering Leadership Potential – Evaluation Guidelines
- Corporate Governance, SOX, and the Business Judgment Rule
- What Will The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Mean to Businesses and Investors?
- Who are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
- Editorial: Crisis in America: A Nation at Risk
- The End of the Beginning for the Global Credit Crisis
- The Book Corner
- All IFRS-Compliant Statements Are Not Equal
2008 Volume 11 Issue 3
- The Book Corner
- IT-Enabled Information Transparency: A Strategic Approach
- Editorial: The Top 10 Embracements for Difficult Economic Times
- Servicing the Software Industry (SaaS)
- Where Do Older Workers Go?
- Creating Wealth in Low Income Communities
- Supplier Diversity and Competitive Advantage: New Opportunities in Emerging Domestic Markets
- The Last 100 Feet of the Supply Chain
- America’s Financial Crisis
2008 Volume 11 Issue 2
- The Tie-In Decision
- The Trybaby Syndrome
- Editorial: California Greening: Boom or Bust?
- High CEO Pay Could Draw Renewed Attention in Election Year
- The Book Corner
- Empowering Employees to Success
- Commercial Banking and Treasury Management in Mexico
2008 Volume 11 Issue 1
- Venture Capital Audio Interview
- Learning to Love Financial Market Barbarians
- The Top 10 U.S. Economic Issues to Monitor
- Putting Performance and Happiness Together in the Workplace
- Harassment Prevention Training 2008
- Editorial: No Child Left Behind-A Blueprint for Success
- A Class with Drucker by William A. Cohen
- The Book Corner
- Is Managed Futures an Asset Class?
2007 Volume 10 Issue 4
- Organizational Design and Implementation
- Managing the Critical Role of the Warehouse Supervisor
- Editorial
- Creating a Community in Southern California that Values Sharing Knowledge
- The Book Corner
- Commercial Banking in the U.S. Versus Canada
2007 Volume 10 Issue 3
- Developing a Barometer for Workplace Attitude (WPA)
- The Employers’ Legal Obligations to Employees in the Military
- Employee Incentives
- Will the Sub-Prime Meltdown Burst the Housing Bubble?
- Strategic Leadership – Part Two
- Editor’s Note
- Assertive Performance Feedback
- To Tell or Not to Tell?
- The Book Corner
2007 Volume 10 Issue 2
- The Trader Joe’s Experience
- Strategic Leadership
- Managing Organizational Knowledge
- The Family-Owned Business
- Editor’s Note
- Emotional Dynamism: Playing the Music of Leadership
- Benefits of International Portfolio Diversification
- Aligning Business with a Value Statement
- The Book Corner
2007 Volume 10 Issue 1
- The Death of Time and Distance
- The Moral and Financial Conflict of Socially Responsible Investing
- What You Need to Know about Labor Shortages
- Women Entrepreneurship
- SEC Quest to Regulate Hedge Funds Hits Speed Bump
- The Book Corner
2006 Volume 9 Issue 4
- Seasonality and the Stock Market
- Airline Industry Key Success Factors
- Seven Neurotic Styles of Management
- IT in Healthcare
- Wings of the Great Northwest
- Gratitude at Work
- Editor’s Note
- The Book Corner
- Using ADR to Resolve Worker’s Compensation Claims
2006 Volume 9 Issue 3
- Making Marketing Accountable
- Conversations about Conscientious Capitalism
- Gen Y and Organizational Life
- The Business Impact of Change Management
- Class Action Shareholder Suits Face Legal Setbacks
- The Book Corner
- Achieving Corporate Success and Maximized Value
2006 Volume 9 Issue 2
- Business Survival Skills
- Six Components of a Model for Workplace Spirituality
- HR’s Strategic Partnership with Line Management
- The Book Corner
- Obesity, Social Responsibility, and Economic Value
- Graziadio Faculty Discuss Ethics
2006 Volume 9 Issue 1
- A Winning Tool to Manage Price: The Pricing Checklist
- Update: The Price of Oil
- Mapping IT Resources for Successful Implementations
- Is the Real Estate Market a House of Cards?
- Whither Now Dow?
- The Book Corner
2005 Volume 8 Issue 4
- Whistleblowers
- Editorial: Does a Non-Public Business Need SOX?
- Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
- 5-Forces Industry Analysis
- IT MATTERS: Measuring Success
- A New Imperative for Management: Sexual Harassment Training
- The Company Director’s Role In Company Growth
- Editor’s Note
- The Book Corner
2005 Volume 8 Issue 3
- IT MATTERS: The IT Governance Road Map
- Fair Trade or Strategic Concern: The Unocal War
- Avoiding Ethical Misconduct Disasters
- The Positive Psychology Approach to Goal Management
- Antitrust Law in the European Union
- Editor’s Note
- The Book Corner
- D & O Policies: Greater Risks Less Coverage
- A Blueprint for Change: Appreciative Inquiry
2005 Volume 8 Issue 2
- Connecting Enterprise Information and People in a Web World
- The Leader’s Role in Strategy
- IT MATTERS: Ethics, Information Systems, and a Steel Ax
- Conversation with author and leadership scholar James M. Kouzes
- Will China Float the Yuan?
- Editorial
- Corruption Across Borders
- Resolving Intra-Organization Conflicts
- An Uphill Battle
- Leading and Managing Change
- The Book Corner
2005 Volume 8 Issue 1
- Managing Resistance to Change
- The Link Between Price and Profit Margin in a Global Market
- IT MATTERS: Or more correctly, use of IT matters…
- The Impact of Empowered Employees on Corporate Value
- What You Need to Know about Attorneys’ Fees
- Editor’s Note: Phishing
- The Book Corner
- Strengthening Value-Centered Ethics (Part 3)
- Will Your Company’s Electronic Records Storage Withstand Legal Scrutiny?
- Conversation with Gemstar-TV Guide International’s Jeff Shell
2004 Volume 7 Issue 3
- Litigate or Arbitrate?
- Presidential Elections and Stock Market Cycles
- Businesspersons Beware: Lying is a Crime
- Strengthening Value-Centered Ethics (Part 2)
- Attempting to Control Health Care Costs – Again
- Editor’s Note
- The Crude Facts About the Price of Oil
- Conversation with Sempra Energy’s Stephen Baum
- The Book Corner
2004 Volume 7 Issue 2
- The Uncertain World of Trademark Dilution
- Does Corporate Social Responsibility Pay Off
- Strengthening Values Centered Leadership
- Editor’s Note: Deeper Questions
- The Twin Deficits
- Conversation with Rite Aid’s Robert Miller
- The Book Corner
- From Michelangelo to the Modern Boardroom
- Preparing for a Future Labor Shortage
2004 Volume 7 Issue 1
- Slowing Runaway Juries
- Merger and Acquisition Strategies
- Slips, Trips, and Falls
- Using Conflict to Your Advantage
- Wired!
- Editorial: Don’t Panic!
- IT MATTERS: Seek and You Might Find
- Conversation with American Honda’s Tom Ross
- The Dollar vs. the Euro
- The Book Corner
2003 Volume 6 Issue 4
- Negotiating Effectively
- Why Good Leaders Do Bad Things
- Editorial: Cybersatire
- Main Street and Hedging
- IT MATTERS: Digital Indemnity
- What Stays and Who Pays?
- Inflation to Deflation and Back?
- Conversation with AT&T’s Betsy Bernard
- The Car Deal
- The Book Corner
- Using Dashboard Based Business Intelligence Systems
2003 Volume 6 Issue 3
- The Cost of Lost Data
- Consolidate All IT?
- Blowing the Whistle
- Hedging Strategies for Uncertain Times
- Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture
- Editorial: Onward and Upward?
- IT MATTERS: Portal Combat
- Facing Up to the Possibility of Deflation
- Dialogue With Four Executives
2003 Volume 6 Issue 2
- Do Not Call!*
- Improving Research Performance
- Just-in-Time to Just-in-Case
- Increasing the Firm’s Strategic IQ
- Special Purpose Entities
- Editorial: Shock and Awe
- IT MATTERS: Webhosting
- Conversation with Galpin Ford’s Bert Boeckmann
2003 Volume 6 Issue 1
- Communicating Your Strategy
- Reforming Corporate America
- Recognize the True Cost of Compensation
- Learn from Experience
- Use Emotional Intelligence to Cope in Tough Times
- Conversation with Evoke Software’s Lacy Edwards
- Editorial
- Predicting Bankruptcy in the WorldCom Age
2002 Volume 5 Issue 4
- Build Value in a Small Business
- Protect Your Trade Secrets
- Managing in an Era of Multiple Cultures
- Consider the Pros and Cons of Expensing Stock Options
- IT MATTERS: Web Services May Bridge the Great Culture Gap
- Editor’s Note
- Conversation with Kinko’s Paul Orfalea
- Calculating the Strategic Value of Customer Satisfaction
2002 Volume 5 Issue 3
- Encourage Your Employees to Play
- Managerial Leadership at Twelve O’Clock
- Remembering George L. Graziadio
- Editor’s Note: Bad Boys in the Board Room
- Who’s Driving American Firms?
- Supreme Court Sides With Business
- Using Asset Allocation Strategies to Recover from a Bear Hug
- Mediate, Arbitrate or Litigate?
- IT MATTERS: The Wonderful World of the Wireless Web
2002 Volume 5 Issue 2
- Does Market Efficiency Trump Behavioral Bias in Finance Decisions?
- Making Mergers a Growth Strategy
- Sealing Cracks in the Capital Markets
- Artificial Intelligence Techniques Enhance Business Forecasts
- Editor’s Note: Weapons of Mass Disruption
- E-Commerce Reboots
- IT MATTERS: Web Services Prevail Despite Travail
- Go Directly to Jail?
- Conversation with Trader Joe’s John Shields
2002 Volume 5 Issue 1
- Build a Culture of Value Creation
- Choose Tomorrow’s Leaders Today
- Small Firms Keep R&D Vibrant
- Teams Use IT to Manage Client Impressions
- Putting Spirituality to Work
- IT MATTERS: Fifty Years and Counting
- Defining Disability Under the ADA
- Conversation with Reid Plastics’ Joe Rokus
- Editor’s Note: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
2001 Volume 4 Issue 4
- Gender Impacts Virtual Work Teams
- Doing Business in a Volatile World
- The Strategic Downside of Downsizing
- Editor’s Note: Corporate Citizenship in the Wake of September 11!
- The Economic Downturn is No Surprise
- IT MATTERS: ROI for Tech Deployments in the Downturn
- Supreme Court Faces Key Business Cases
- Conversation with Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics’ Michael Josephson
- Are Workplace Bullies Sabotaging Your Ability to Compete?
2001 Volume 4 Issue 3
- Suddenly Unemployed?
- Too Late for an IPO?
- Electricity Price Gouging in California?
- Editor’s Note: Surf’s Up!
- The Fine Art of Delegation
- Waiting Games People Play
- Business at the Bar
- Conversation with California’s Senator Sandra Bowen
2001 Volume 4 Issue 2
- Knowledge Management and Business Portals
- Trust as a Competitive Advantage
- Is Price Everything?
- Editor’s Note: A Quarter Without Quarter
- Has the Dow Really Escaped the Bear?
- Dot.Gone
- IT MATTERS: E-Business is Definitely an E-Ticket Ride!
- Downsizing with Dignity
- Conversation with Salomon Smith Barney’s Mitchell J. Held
- The California Electricity Crisis
2001 Volume 4 Issue 1
- Repetition Leads To Innovation
- What’s the Problem?
- Editor’s Note: Quakes, Flakes, and Double Takes
- IT MATTERS: CRM Solution Seekers Beware!!!!
- Language, Culture and Global Business
- Conversation with WATTSHealth Systems’ Dr. Clyde Oden, Jr.
- Personality Traits and Workplace Culture
- Who Wants to Lose a Million?
- The Power of Performance Profiling
2000 Volume 3 Issue 4
- Building Wealth
- How Small Firms Plan to Grow
- Using Internet Portals to Manage the Information Deluge
- Editor’s Note: Messy Brains and Global Opportunities
- SEC Requires Fair Disclosure
- IT MATTERS: MP3.com Completes Settlements
- Conversation with Boyd Clarke of tompeters!
- Planning in a Complex World
- Business Be Advised!
2000 Volume 3 Issue 3
- Do Japan’s High Tech Failures Open Doors for Western Firms?
- Managing Earnings … or Cooking the Books?
- The Battle Over Merger Accounting
- Conversation with Development Bank of Japan’s Dr. Kazuyuki Matsumoto
- Editor’s Note: Friends, Romans & Countrymen…
- What Directors Need to Know
- Still Thinking of Doing an IPO?
2000 Volume 3 Issue 2
- Managing Innovation through Corporate Venturing
- The Death of the Sales Force
- Thinking of Doing an IPO?
- Serving Each Other on the Inside
- Editor’s Note: Screaming Into the Future!
- Conversation with Power-One’s Stephen J. Goldman
- Will Marketers Survive the Information Age?
2000 Volume 3 Issue 1
- Re-Assessing the Health of the Asian Tigers
- Knowledge Management and the Internet
- The Learning Organization in Practice
- Economic Forecasting
- Editor’s Note: A Short Hello!
- Are You Ready for E-Commerce?
- E-Business: The New Management Challenge
- Conversation with Raytheon’s Daniel Burhnam
- The Bull Market’s Flawed Foundation
1999 Volume 2 Issue 4
- The Electric Day Trader and Ruin
- Teambuilding for Competitive Advantage
- Parable of the Commons
- Preserve and Strengthen a Business Partnership
- Editor’s Note: Here to Be Thrilled!
- Conversation with McDonald’s Mike Roberts
- Telecommuting… Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
1999 Volume 2 Issue 3
- How Gerber Used a Decision Tree in Strategic Decision-Making
- Customer Satisfaction Measurement
- Get Your Message Across!
- Balancing Act for Employers in Today’s Labor Market
- Editor’s Note: Too Much Fun!
- E-Commerce & Taxation
- Conversation with Harvard’s Dr. Gary Hamel
- To Join or Not To Join..?
1999 Volume 2 Issue 2
- Defamation Vs. Negligent Referral
- Maximize Business Achievement
- Preserving Family & Business Assets
- Knowledge is Power…
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the Graziadio Business Review
- E-Commerce & Taxation
- Conversation with Franchise Mortgage Acceptance Company’s Wayne “Buz” Knyal
- Cultivating the Customer Asset
1999 Volume 2 Issue 1
- Business and Universities Moving to Collaborative Technologies
- Tips for Reducing Executive Stress
- Russia at the Crossroads
- Editor’s Note: Volume 2, Issue 1
- GBR Case Study
- Launching an Effective Citizen Advisory Panel
1998 Volume 1 Issue 3
- T.I.P.S.
- Retirement Call to Action
- The European Directive On Data Privacy
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the GBR, Volume I, Issue 3
- Debt Tied to Lower Firm Performance
- Conversation with Countrywide Credit Industries’ Angelo Mozilo
- Boosting Country Club Memberships With Innovative Marketing and Pricing Concepts
1998 Volume 1 Issue 2
- Management Skills for the 21st Century
- Middlaning
- Decision-Making in a Global Environment
- Editor’s Note: Welcome to the GBR, Volume I, Issue 2
- Conversation with Global Pacific Information Services’ Jeffrey Rigsby
- Cultural Insights on Doing Business in China
- When Worlds Collide