Graziadio School of Business and Management | Pepperdine University

• Subscribe
• iTunesU
• YouTube

Who are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

This article examines the factors that led to the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The authors trace their history, discuss their importance to the U.S. housing market, and consider the implications of their recent government takeover.

Image: Digital Film

The Early Years

The Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, was created at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938. At the time, the mortgage market was segmented and the availability of funds to borrowers was inconsistent. As a government agency, Fannie Mae was authorized to borrow funds to buy Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages from the institution that originated them, thereby providing additional funds to the loan originators and creating a secondary market for mortgages. Fannie then held these mortgages in its portfolio, receiving income as borrowers repaid interest and principals. The agency’s authority was later extended to enable purchases of Veterans Administration (VA) guaranteed mortgages.

From 1938 to 1968, Fannie Mae held a monopoly on secondary mortgage market operations in the United States. In 1968, Fannie Mae was privatized (but still regulated), and some of its responsibilities were shifted to Ginnie Mae, the Government National Mortgage Association, which was created as part of an effort by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to use the “full faith and credit of the U.S. government” to support the FHA and VA mortgage markets. Ginnie Mae operated differently from Fannie in that it did not hold mortgages purchased as part of its portfolio, but instead, pooled them and sold securities backed by this pool to investors.

In 1970, Fannie Mae’s authority was further extended to allow for the purchase of conventional mortgages (non-government-insured loans) for its portfolio. To increase liquidity and stability in the mortgage market, Congress chartered the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac, in 1970, and authorized it to purchase and pool conventional mortgages. Freddie modeled its programs after those of Ginnie Mae. Fannie continued to hold all of the mortgages it purchased until 1981, when it began to pool mortgages.

In 1992, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) within HUD was created to regulate Fannie and Freddie. Among its responsibilities, OFHEO was authorized to place Freddie or Fannie into government conservatorship if it decided either agency was critically undercapitalized.

Prior to the government takeover, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were funded with private capital and their debt securities were not guaranteed by the federal government. They were stockholder-owned corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). However, they were also government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) owned by their shareholders, but regulated by government agencies.

Primary Versus Secondary Markets

Mortgage markets are divided into primary and secondary markets. In primary markets, loans are originated by lending institutions often mortgage banks, savings and loan associations, commercial banks, or credit unions. These lending institutions typically obtain the funds they loan from individual, business, or government deposits or mortgages sales in the secondary markets.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac operate in the secondary mortgage markets. They provide liquidity to the market by borrowing money to purchase the loans originated by lending institutions. They then either hold the mortgages in their portfolio or pool the mortgages and sell securities backed by these pools referred to as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) by Fannie and participation certificates (PC) by Freddie to investors. The pooling process is known as “securitization.” As of 2008, these mortgage giants either own or guarantee $5.2 trillion or approximately half of the U.S.’s $12 trillion mortgage market.

An MBS or PC provides an investor with an attractive option for participating in mortgage markets. First, they are actively traded through a network of dealers. This provides investors with a mortgage alternative that is highly liquid. Second, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee the timely payment of principal and interest on the mortgages they securitize. Investors pay a guarantee fee and eliminate credit risk. Thus, these two mortgage giants increase the amount of funds available in the mortgage market, and provide an attractive mortgage alternative for investors.

How Did it Go Wrong?

Fannie and Freddie’s GSE status benefitted them in several ways. First, they were able to borrow at low interest rates because of the implicit government guarantee and purchase higher-yielding mortgages. This positive spread typically provided a nice profit. Second, they were able to operate at much higher levels of debt than most “private” firms. By the end of 2007, their combined capital of $83.2 billion supported debt and mortgage guarantees of about $5.2 trillion.[1]

However, Fannie and Freddie faced certain risks, mainly interest rate, credit, and pre-payment risks. Interest rate risk is the risk that interest rates will rise, causing the value of a loan portfolio to fall. Credit risk is the risk that borrowers will default on their mortgages. Pre-payment risk is the risk that the borrower will pay off a mortgage earlier than anticipated. Interest rate risk was of particular concern to Fannie and Freddie, given their high debt-to-equity ratios; a small drop in the value of their assets could wipe out their equity, making them insolvent. However, by pooling mortgages and selling securities backed by these pools, they were able to minimize this risk. But even with pooling, credit risk remained as Freddie and Fannie guarantee the timely payment of interest and principals. This risk was minimized as their government mandate stated that they were only allowed to purchase mortgages from individuals offering down payments and possessing good credit ratings. Pre-payment risk exists for the buyer of an MBS, as its price is based on the anticipated life of the mortgages. If borrowers pay off their mortgages early, the return to the investor is negatively impacted since the amount of interest generated by the mortgage is decreased. Interest is paid on outstanding principals no principals, no interest.

During the late 1990s, Freddie and Fannie modified their operations by buying MBSs issued by others, including those containing sub-prime mortgages. Freddie’s investment grew from $25 billion in 1998 to $267 billion by the end of 2007. Fannie’s outside portfolio grew from $18.5 billion in 1997 to $127.8 billion by the end of 2007.[2] These activities exposed them to interest rate, credit, and pre-payment risks.

To minimize credit risk, they purchased insurance; to minimize interest rate risk, they purchased derivative contracts. However, insurance firms are also suffering. Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s recently downgraded the ratings of many insurers based on faltering financial strength,[3] making the value of this insurance questionable. In addition, the value of their $2.3 trillion derivative contracts depends on the ability of their counterparties who are unnamed to pay up. Given that both Fannie and Freddie have reported a loss on hedging transactions, the value of this “insurance” is also unclear.

Too Big to Fail?

Officially, the U.S. government did not guarantee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s securities. Unofficially, it had long been assumed that due to the size of their holdings and their importance to the mortgage market, these GSEs were too big to fail. They enjoyed the widespread perception of being federally-backed financial agencies. Vernon L. Smith, the 2002 Nobel Laureate in economics, called these two agencies “implicitly taxpayer-backed agencies.”[4]

Critics have long argued that Fannie and Freddie did not adequately offset their financial risk because they were seriously undercapitalized. As early as 2002, The Wall Street Journal expressed concern about the size of the outstanding debt of these two GSEs, as well as their increasing dependence on derivatives.[5] However, they were able to circumvent congressional efforts to increase oversight due to many believe their deep and vast political connections. Both Fannie and Freddie were particularly hard hit by the current subprime mortgage crisis. As home prices continued to fall and delinquencies increased, the impact on their balance sheets became obvious. In the nine months that ended on March 31, 2008, the combined losses of Fannie and Freddie soared to more than $11 billion.

The share prices of both mortgage giants were buffeted by speculation that either they would have to issue additional stock to offset losses, leading to greater dilution of current shares, or the government would have to bail them out, causing current shares to become worthless. To compound their problems, Lehman Brothers yes, the recently deceased Lehman Brothers announced on July 7, 2008 that a change in accounting rules would require them to raise billions of dollars in new capital.[6] By July 8, Fannie’s shares had lost 76 percent of their value and Freddie’s shares 80 percent.

The Bailout: Step 1

On July 13, 2008, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson unveiled an emergency plan to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Secretary Paulson noted that without government intervention, the housing market could lose major players, the banking system could face new losses, and foreign investors could flee the country. Roughly $1.5 trillion of Fannie and Freddie’s AAA-rated debt, along with that of other U.S. “government-sponsored enterprises” is now in foreign hands.

The emergency plan was followed weeks later by action the American Housing Rescue and Foreclose Prevention Act passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. The act had three purposes: to prevent foreclosures, increase home purchases, and aid Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It included most of the provisions in the Treasury’s plan, albeit with some limitations. First, it set up a new regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), to oversee Freddie and Fannie. Second, it authorized the Treasury Department to increase its lending to Fannie and Freddie, and to purchase stock in the two corporations if necessary. However, the aid could not cause a breach in the federal debt ceiling, a constraint meant to limit taxpayer losses. Third, it authorized Treasury to restrict dividend payments to shareholders and approve the salaries of top executives. Last, the act permanently increased the cap on mortgages that Fannie and Freddie can purchase in high-cost markets to $625,500.

The lobbying efforts of these two quasi-government institutions appeared to have been successful. Not only did they benefit from the rescue package, but Congress did not impose any changes in their management, nor were there any penalties to be paid by shareholders. The lack of accountability for the executives of these two companies stands today. As Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, remarked, “We’ve created the worst of socialized capitalism private gains combined with public losses.”[7]

In the last election cycle, Freddie Mac’s political action committee (PAC) contributed $202,997 to federal candidates (evenly split between Democrats and Republicans) and Fannie Mae’s PAC contributed $617,900 (59 percent to Democratic candidates).[8] Opponents of the bailout sited the danger of the government and the financial markets becoming too cozy. Republican Senator Jim DeMint proposed an amendment to the housing bill that would have banned Fannie and Freddie from making political contributions if they received a bailout. However, the Democratic leadership refused to allow a vote on his proposal.

The Bailout: Step 2

The first market response to the housing act was positive. Fannie and Freddie saw the value of their shares increase and they were able to borrow at a reduced premium over Treasury securities. However, the positive outcome soon turned, and  on September 7, the government placed Fannie and Freddie in conservatorship in order to prevent a financial meltdown. This provided access to loans, secured by their assets, until the end of 2009. In addition, Treasury assumed the role of buyer of last resort for bonds packaged by Fannie and Freddie, in case there was a slack in demand.[9]

The immediate market reaction was positive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 300 points, the cost of Fannie and Freddie’s borrowing dropped 40 basis points, and the mortgage rate dropped 50 basis points. However, there were losers. The chief executives of both organizations were replaced, although controversy continues over the multimillion-dollar severance packages they are slated to receive and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it is investigating them for possible fraud. The share price of Fannie plunged to $0.73 and the share price of Freddie fell to $0.88, with the takeover expected to further diminish their value.[10] Shareholders suffered, but bondholders, including foreign central banks, were protected.

Conclusion

Given the current turmoil in U.S. capital markets and the faltering housing market, the U.S. government was left with little choice but to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Market observers suggested that the failure of either mortgage giant would substantially decrease the amount of available mortgage funds and increase the cost of funds to home buyers. In addition, the impact on the confidence of foreign investors in U.S. capital markets would be disastrous given the agencies’ implicit government support. However, this step was not enough to stabilize financial markets. The financial crisis soon spread from Wall Street to Main Street, leading to the passage of the $700 billion rescue package by Congress.

The question now is: what will Fannie and Freddie look like after the credit markets stabilize? Several ideas are being discussed both openly and behind closed doors. Some Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Christopher Dodd and Representative Barney Frank proposed that few structural changes be made. Although they have provided no specifics, Dodd and Frank suggest that Fannie and Freddie be nursed back to health and returned to their former structure with additional safeguards. Some have suggested that they shrink in size and become public utilities. In this scenario, their profits and activities would be tightly regulated and their investment portfolios reduced. Others have suggested that Fannie and Freddie should be nationalized, i.e., transformed into government agencies similar to Fannie’s original incarnation. They would then be managed by government-appointed officials, with their profits turned over to the Treasury. Finally, some suggest that after the crisis passes, Fannie and Freddie should be liquidated. Private sector institutions with no government support would then replace them in the marketplace.[11]

At this time, we return to the original question: Who or what are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? They have been important organizations within the housing market, but they are evolving. In the future, what you will see is not necessarily what you will get.

---

[1] Economist.com, End of Illusions, http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11751139.

[2] Ibid.

[3] James Hagerty and Serena Ng, “Mortgage Giants Take Beating on Fears over Loan Defaults” The Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2008, at A1.

[4] Vernon Smith, “The Clinton Housing Bubble” The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2008.

[5] “Fannie Mae Enron” The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2002, at A22.

[6] The Economist, July 12, 2008, 12.

[7] Robert Reich, “A Modest Proposal for Ending Socialized Capitalism” Robert Reich’s Blog, http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/07/modest-proposal-for-ending-socialized.html. (no longer accessible).

[8] Richard Simon, “Congress Tosses a Life Preserver to the Housing Market” The Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2008, at A1.

[9] Economist.com, Suffering a Seizure, http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933.

[10] Walter Hamilton, “Wall Street Applauds Takeover” The Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2008, at C1.

[11] Stephen Labaton and Edmund Andrews, “Reinventing Mortgage Giants: A Big Rebuild or a Teardown?” The New York Times, September 9, 2008, at A1.

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 Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means by George Soros

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means

By George Soros
PublicAffairs, 2008

See more reviews

I must admit up front that I have a bias toward Mr. Soros. He is the reason why, after business school, I headed for Wall Street to start a career as a Euro-convertible bonds trader, which eventually led me to start a hedge fund. However, besides the financial mystique that surrounded Soros’ image at the time, it was his tormented attempt to reconcile ingenuous human complexity with market dynamics that most attracted me to his work.

His first book, The Alchemy of Finance, published in 1987, struck the first blow against financial theories that, in the name of clinically pure equations and solutions, conveniently disregarded the complexity of a market’s interactions with its participants. The theory of reflexivity was born.

In light of the recent market turmoil and in the midst of a credit crisis of biblical proportions, Soros revisits his theory of reflexivity to try to explain the historical forces behind such crises. Reflexivity seems to apply more adeptly than traditional financial theories, like market efficiency or rational expectations, in explaining the self-reinforcing cycle that has fueled this present credit and market distortion to such a degree of systemic risk.

Behavioral finance has climbed to a place of intellectual predominance in the last few years by trying to elaborate on those questions left unanswered by frequently failing financial models. Perhaps, 21 years after Alchemy‘s first release, Soros will have his intellectual revenge.

One caveat: Soros is actively engaged in the political process by funding political organizations around the world. It would be disingenuous to read his book based solely on its financial merits. Toward the end, the book does moves away from a balanced discussion of market dynamics and regrettably becomes a political statement.

See more reviews

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

Editorial: Crisis in America: A Nation at Risk

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light. It was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope. It was the winter of despair; we had everything before us; we had nothing behind us. We were all going directly to Heaven; we were all going the other way.”

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The U.S. economy is in a “once-in-a-century” crisis, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who appeared on the September 14 episode of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”[1] Little did we know how insightful Greenspan’s comment would prove to be; in the following weeks, we witnessed the entire U.S. financial system bordering on total collapse. On September 28, as the bailout bill languished in Congress, Warren Buffett, “The Sage of Omaha” proclaimed that the government must agree to bail out the economy or face the “biggest financial meltdown in American history.”[2]

The bailout bill finally did pass on its second pork-barrel-enhanced try to become the law of the land. Most economists were in favor of some congressional action, but a substantial number of economists were against the bill that was finally approved. Needless to say, the question remains whether the funds will be sufficient in financial terms or viable enough to save the teetering American, and world, economy.

It is important to recall the words of Karl Marx: “History is economics in action.” Congress’ current actions appear to be in deep conflict with America’s historical economic conduct. The nation is more socialist than at any time in its history. The government not only owns Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (an event that doubled the total debt of the U.S. government overnight if properly accounted for); it also owns American International Group (AIG), and will shortly own an unknown portion of the U.S. financial system. There is no way to even estimate the magnitude of the bailout. The bailout bill (which went though Washington morph-speak on the second try to become the “rescue bill”) stands at over $700 billion, and that does not include the amounts advanced by the Federal Reserve (FED). It is even more remarkable that the FED does not know whether certain derivative investments (this does not even include the $55 trillion for credit default swaps, many of which the U.S. government is now liable for through ownership of American International Group [AIG]) are assets or liabilities to the financial institutions.

It appears that more than just the American economy is bordering on breakdown. It is far more significant that America its culture and spirit is in total crisis and bordering on collapse.

First finance is industry next?

The economic collapse is beginning to take its toll on American industry. Quietly and without fanfare (but preceding the financial system bailout), President Bush approved a $25 billion bailout to the “Big Three” automakers, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, the last of which was recently taken over by a well-connected, Wall Streetleveraged hedge fund. Like Wall Street, the automakers eschew terms like “bailout.” The two presidential candidates even referred to it as part of the overall investment in green technology. As Jim Press of Chrysler told ABC News: “It is not a bailout. It is a good investment between industry and government.”

This crisis in the financial sector will, of course, bring additional negative impact to the industrial sector. The September 1 Barron’s cover story said it all “Look Out Below!”[3] when it noted that the increasingly slow economy and scarce credit spell more disasters at debt-laden companies.

Unfortunately, the list of possible industrial failures is far too long to outline here. However, it should be noted that the problem is so large even General Electric (the highest-credit-rated industrial company in America) announced it is having difficulty securing credit to cover the $15 billion it needs to continue operating in these final months of 2008. GE, like Goldman Sachs, turned to Warren Buffet who is investing $3 billion in the corporation.

In early October, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that General Motors only has enough money to operate through December and, currently, it cannot raise funds. Is the federal government going to bailout industry as well? The states of California and Massachusetts are currently unable to secure sufficient credit to pay all their bills; other states are having difficulty as well. Is the federal government going to bailout states, too?

One major concern centers on whether further erosion is preventable. Congress seems quite willing to shower the privileged elite of American finance and industry with financial bailouts or loans that others cannot secure. Who makes these choices and are they fair to middle-class Americans? The answer remains unclear.

Americans have been polled many times on the bailout bill. Their opinions have vacillated sharply, depending on where the bill was and where the stock-market indices were on any given day. Even after its passage, the bailout bill remains utterly unacceptable to the majority of Americans.

What accounts for this depth of hostility and anger?

This anger and hostility represents, in my opinion, a critical moment in American history, when those who follow the rules realized they had been completely undermined by an unscrupulous and incompetent government that enjoys an incestuous relationship with the corporate and financial elite of the country.

This belief can be seen in the October 21 CNN poll that found widespread dissatisfaction of Americans with over 75 percent saying things are going badly in the United States. Similar numbers say they are both angry and stressed out. Two-thirds of those questioned said they were scared about the way things are going.

“It’s scary how many Americans admit they are scared” said Keating Holland, CNN’s Polling Director.

The message of government is clear: To hell with the rest of you. The message is followed by the realization that the government appears determined to destroy the middle class, the last obstacle threatening a controlled society.

A review of the mortgage meltdown clearly shows this orientation. The real beginning of the financial meltdown came when the Clinton administration wanted Fannie Mae to ease credit scores to allow increased home ownership among minorities and low-income consumers. These credit scores continued to deteriorate during the Bush administration, and under Alan Greenspan, the FED made this orientation into a major problem in the ongoing low-interest environment. Wall Street jumped on the bandwagon reselling these toxic loans without full disclosure, and the key regulators, the FED and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), chose to do nothing to stop this insane party. The minor regulators were pressured by the FED, the SEC, the White House, and Congress to take no action. Congress received kickbacks (also known as “Campaign Contributions for Better Living”) to block the minor regulators from their fiduciary duty. The day of financial judgment would ultimately come.

Many consider the failure to support Lehman Brothers as the defining day and moment of judgment in this crisis. Lehman Brothers’ failure resulted in the subsequent “bankruptcy” of certain money market funds that held Lehman Brothers’ commercial paper. This resulted in the run on many money market funds that caused not only redemption problems, but also Treasury bill interest rates to fall to virtually zero. Was Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson whose net worth (accumulated while Chairman of Goldman Sachs) is estimated at $700 million trying to send a message of drawing the line or was he effectively destroying one of Goldman Sachs’ primary institutional competitors?

Who is representing Main Street?

The middle class, also referred to as “Main Street” has very legitimate reasons to question all of this conduct. Who is representing them? Can they rely on a very tainted Secretary of the Treasury? Can they rely on Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who has received campaign contributions directly from Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae? The latter two even contributed during Congress’ attempt to enforce more regulation that might have avoided their collapse. It would not, of course, come as a surprise that Senator Dodd voted against the increased regulation. In the interests of fairness and full disclosure, seven (three Democrats and four Republicans) of the banking committee’s 21 members received campaign funds from Henry Paulson. I suggest that the members are just a group of his “friends and family.”

Can we even trust the new directors of the bailout plan? They almost all are ex-Goldman Sachs executives. Many have raised questions over this potential conflict of interest. At a House Oversight Committee hearing on the fall of Lehman Brothers in early October, Congressman Henry Waxman, committee chairman, criticized Paulson’s position; A spokesperson for the Treasury stated, “Bringing additional expertise to bear at a time like this is clearly in the best interest of the U.S. financial system and the U.S. economy.” To paraphrase Charlie Wilson of GM’s famous misquote: What is good for Goldman Sachs is good for America.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who sits on the oversight committee, also voiced his apprehension that putting Paulson (and other Goldman executives) in charge puts him “in a direct position where he can benefit the people that he worked with while he was CEO of Goldman Sachs.” This only reinforces the concern over Paulson’s questionable behavior towards both American International and Lehman Brothers.

Can we even have confidence in Warren Buffett? He touted the bailout bill, which could make him millions if not billions in his yet-to-be-consummated investment in Goldman Sachs? Can we even take Alan Greenspan’s words seriously? He is the man who may have caused the Greenspan-Bush Depression, but he claims that the housing bubble is the fault of unscrupulous bankers repackaging loans as securities and selling them to investors. That is typical of the Washington mentality it is always the other guy’s fault.

After months of not addressing his responsibilities as FED chairman to monitor and, if necessary, modify such banking activities, Sir Alan finally conceded to errors in his regulatory policies in late October. Many, including this author, firmly believe that he absolutely helped inflate housing prices by keeping targeted short-term rates too low for too long, which, in turn encouraged reckless lending and borrowing. The credit derivatives allowed even more reckless behavior by allowing the ultimate justification: You are insured against loss.

The FED is the regulator of bank holding companies as well as the lender of last resort. The FED has deep institutional relationships with the primary dealers of government securities, including all the major securities firms like Goldman Sachs. The FED, even while choosing to continue low short-term rates, could have exercised discipline in the financial community. But the FED chose not to regulate the derivatives, which allowed credit swaps to swell to a degree that certainly contributed to reckless Wall Street behavior.

The FED and the SEC could have used multiple methods to convey their displeasure to banking and securities firms; however, the FED and the SEC chose to do nothing. The call for new regulation is nonsense; we have enough regulation on the books to accomplish any task.

What America needs is a value-centered government that enforces rules and does not become beholden to those they are charged with regulating and taxing. Such beholden relationships develop into incestuous relationships that foster corruption.

Main Street knows that they have been had, and they are furious at the tainted kickback system between congressional members and the privileged elite of finance and industry.

Just how stupid do they think the American middle class is?

It is increasingly obvious that the implosion of Wall Street has created a new populist movement. Hopefully, this will change the political landscape and reshape the country’s economic policies, especially tax and trade. John Sweeney, of the AFL-CIO, commented on this populist sentiment: “One thing is certain. No one no politician, no investment banker, no television commentator, no economist should be able to say again with a straight face that here in the United States we just let markets do whatever markets do and everything works out for the best.”[4]

It is equally obvious that, in the corrupt economic system that is the current America, the economic “trickle down theory” does not work. All the American middle class has received is a “trickle down” in their standard of living. To quote Ross Perot, “the giant sucking sound” one hears is the sound of jobs leaving America in the great sellout.[5] Fair trade only works when the other guy also allows fair trade.

Most Americans believe that something is fundamentally wrong and that we are moving in the wrong direction. Americans want change now more than ever. This is quite true regardless of which presidential candidate one supports or which candidate is elected.

It is increasingly obvious that Americans are becoming very fearful of the economic crisis and its negative implications. The current administration is trying to curb this fear, but they are the ones who created it. They sold the bailout bill through fear tactics and this fear factor, which cannot be easily abated, has the potential to create real havoc. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest blunders of this incompetent administration.

The next president must instill in all Americans, but especially in middle-class Americans, a sense of psychological well-being and a belief in America’s capitalistic system and democratic government. There are no financial panaceas that the government can undertake that will be successful without this belief. Many believe that America came out of the Great Depression not because of the programs undertaken but because Americans believed in their government by 1936.

“The incoming president will be facing many bigger challenges than any president since Roosevelt” said John Kamensky, senior researcher at the IBM Center for The Business of Government, in a CNN.com article. In the same article, it stated that 71 percent of people surveyed in a recent USA/Gallup poll feel the next president “faces more serious or much more serious challenges than any new president in the past 50 years.” According to the poll, two-thirds of those surveyed want stabilizing the economy to be the next president’s top priority; only 12 percent said managing the wars overseas comes first.

This disillusion in both industry and government by Americans can be noted in the statement of Professor Roubini of the Stern School of NYU. He stated that “We have reached the scary point where the dysfunctional behavior of financial markets has destructive effects on the financial system and much worse on real economies.” He further noted “so it is time to think about more radical policy actions and government interventions.”

Thus, the to-be elected President simply must provide forceful and effective leadership to reverse this dysfunctional behavior ominously present in America today.

As Will and Ariel Durant argued, “When the group or a civilization declines, it is through no mystic limitation of a corporate life, but through the failure of its political or intellectual leaders to meet the challenges of change.”[6]

The endgame message is clear: You must take care of yourself.

In these difficult economic times, it is worth remembering Charles Darwin’s observation. The species that survive are not the strongest or the smartest ones, but the ones most responsive to change.[7]

Time is of the essence. Do not delay.

It is time to be politically aggressive. Middle-class Americans must act to save themselves. Middle-class Americans must push government to be responsible, so they can believe in their government. Hopefully, everyone will act in heretofore-unimaginable ways, within the bounds of the laws of the land, to avert what may become The Greatest Crisis of America.

Middle-class Americans must rescue America to save themselves.

Good luck and God bless.

Please refer to my two most recent articles in the Graziadio Business Report: The Top 10 U.S. Economic Items to Monitor and The Top 10 Embracements for Difficult Economic Times. It is my firm belief that they will help in this most difficult of economic times.

---

[1] ABC News Blogs, Greenspan to Stephanopoulos: This is ‘By Far’ the Worst Economic Crisis He’s Seen in His Career, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/greenspan-to-st.html.

[2] CNNPolitics.com, “Buffett to Congress: Bail out economy or face ‘meltdown,’” http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/28/bailout.deal/.

[3] Andrew Bary, “Look Out Below!” Barron’s, September 1, 2008.

[4] Nina Easton, “Main Street turns against Wall Street” Fortune, September 28, 2008.

[5] Andrew Farrell, “‘Giant Sucking Sound,’ Part Deux” Forbes, July 15, 2008.

[6] Will and Ariel Durant. The Lessons of History, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968).

[7] Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, (first edition, 1859).

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

America’s Financial Crisis

On Tuesday, September 30, 2008, members of the Graziadio School community came together from New York to Los Angeles on a conference call to hear about America’s financial crisis from a distinguished panel of professors.

During the 45-minute conversation, moderated by the Graziadio School’s Associate Dean of Executive Education Dr. Ron Ford, listeners from across the country submitted questions to the panel that ranged from explaining the sophisticated complexities behind credit-default swaps (CDS) to understanding the practical reasons that led to the crunch in financial markets. The panel discussed the factors that led to the crisis and offered an outlook for the financial sector and the overall economy.

[powerpress http://gsbm-med.pepperdine.edu/gbr/audio/083/americafinancialcrisis.mp3]

Read the transcript

On the GBR Blog:

Read why Dr. Forsyth thinks a flawed bailout is better than none at all.

Panelists:

David M. Smith, PhD
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Economics

Joetta Forsyth, PhD
Assistant Professor of Finance

Edward Fredericks, PhD
Practitioner Faculty of Finance and Portfolio Manager at East Wind Asset Management

Moderator:

Ronald D. Ford, PhD
Associate Dean of Executive Education and Practitioner Faculty of Finance

Excerpts:

“The most constructive thing to do is to understand this situation and try to determine how we can move ourselves forward.” ~ Ed Fredericks

“The extent to which we can’t address important issues sooner, rather than later, will be correlated with the performance of the worldwide economy over the coming months.” ~ Dave Smith, PhD

“If we fail to pass a comprehensive bill of some kind, we could potentially be headed for a financial collapse.” ~ Joetta Forsyth, PhD

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

Will the Sub-Prime Meltdown Burst the Housing Bubble?

At first the housing news focused on the miracle of the market as houses in some hot areas increased in price by 20 to 30 to 50 percent per year-year after year! Then the focus turned to the crash of the market as the Affordability Index, a comparison of average house price to average salary, indicated fewer and fewer households could qualify for mortgages. Wonderment and delight were replaced with gloom and doom. The conversation changed from “How much will prices increase this year?” to “When will the housing bubble burst?” to “How much will prices decline?” to “Will defaults cause a recession?”

In “The Real Estate Market: House of Cards,”[1] the authors discussed the existence of a real estate bubble. One driver of the housing boom was the prevalent use of creative mortgage instruments. These mortgages were often used to allow households that would not qualify for fixed-rate mortgages to enter the housing market. Now that the sub-prime mortgage market has begun to implode, it is time to revisit the topic and see what a difference a year makes.

Photo: Aaron Murphy

Creation of an Asset Bubble

The recession in the U.S. that began in early 2001 intensified with the economic, political, and societal uncertainty that followed 9/11. The Federal Reserve (FED) lowered interest rates-monetary easing-to spur the economy. Treasury bill rates hovered around one percent and mortgage rates fell to 40-year lows. More households qualified for mortgages, and the demand for houses increased. Increased demand drove housing prices upward.

Speculators became active participants in the housing market as returns exceeded those on other investments.[2] Stock and bond market returns were low or negative, and very volatile from 2001 to 2004, while the prices of homes in California during the same period rose 71 percent. Some surveys found that real estate investors, many of whom hoped to resell the homes quickly at a profit, bought 23 percent of the homes purchased in the U.S. during 2004. An additional 13 percent of the purchases were second homes.[3] Increased demand from speculators and buyers of second homes put upward pressure on home prices.

House of Cards?

In the “House of Cards,” several factors were mentioned that suggested the housing market could be facing a downturn. The first of these was creative financing. The rapid increase in housing prices caused many borrowers to be priced out of the market. Mortgage lenders reacted by offering a wide variety of mortgage instruments such as low or no documentation of income, adjustable mortgages with low teaser rates, adjustable rate loans with low fixed rates for the first two to five years, no down payment loans, zero percent interest for the first year(s), and interest-only loans with negative amortization. These instruments made borrowers vulnerable not only to rising interest rates (as monthly payments on adjustable rate mortgages increase), but also stagnating or falling prices (as market prices fall below mortgage balances with negative amortization or interest-only mortgages). In June 2004 the Federal Reserve began increasing short-term interest rates, the index for many adjustable rate mortgages. By mid-year 2005, market watchers observed increases in mortgage defaults and delinquencies in the sub-prime category where the delinquency rate, while still low, doubled to 6.23 percent.[4]

The housing market continued to flourish until early 2006 when cracks began to show. Housing prices continued their upward march but at a much slower rate, housing inventory began to build as homes took longer to sell, and buyers stayed on the sidelines in anticipation of price cuts. Speculative and second home purchases slowed in 2006 with second home purchases in California “vacation” areas declining by 37 percent, and sales to Californians in Phoenix, Arizona, declining 50 percent and in Las Vegas, Nevada, by 32 percent.[5]

To exacerbate the problem, mortgages closed two to three years earlier began to reset. Many sub-prime borrowers continually refinanced their homes with loans featuring low teaser rates and postponed large jumps in payments. However, rising delinquencies caused lenders to tighten standards, pushing sub-prime borrowers out of the “refi market,” where borrowers go to refinance their loans. That is, they borrowed again at a lower, “teaser” rate (sometimes increasing the size of the loan and pulling out equity based on the higher appraised value as cash) and used the new borrowed funds to pay off the old loan with the now higher rate.

In February 2007, Freddie Mac, one of the largest players in the mortgage market, announced it was tightening its purchasing standards as of September 1. Freddie Mac does not buy sub-prime loans directly from the institutions that write them. Instead, it purchases bonds backed by pools of sub-prime loans. Under the new guidelines, it will no longer purchase bonds backed by loans with low teaser rates for the first two to three years unless the borrower can qualify at the higher rate.[6]

By January 2007, 14.3 percent of sub-prime loans were at least 60 days late, up from 8.4 percent in January 2006. For Alt-A loans, which fall between sub-prime and prime, the late payment rate rose to 2.6 percent up from 1.3 percent in January 2006. Together sub-prime and Alt-A loans accounted for 40 percent of home mortgages originated in 2006.[7]

The impact of foreclosures is wide-ranging. It is estimated that each foreclosure costs lenders, government, and/or homeowners approximately $80,000. Foreclosures can also cause a ripple effect on the values of nearby properties decreasing them by as much as 1.4 percent. In addition, the real estate boom encouraged mortgage equity withdrawals (MEW) resulting in more than one lender fighting for the leftovers.

To reduce these costs and protect property values, many lenders are trying to reduce foreclosures by providing options such as modifying loan agreements, subsidizing homeowners, or permitting homeowners to sell the houses for less than their outstanding loan (known as underwater or short sale). Lenders forgive the difference to minimize their losses and allow homeowners to preserve their credit rating. Since many lenders are working with borrowers on new repayment terms, the magnitude of the losses on these mortgages is not yet known.[8]

How the Market Works

The sub-prime market works differently than the prime market. Federally insured financial institutions, important lenders in the prime market, originate less than half of sub-prime loans. The sub-prime market has been dominated instead by independent mortgage companies, many specializing in sub-prime loans and having little or no diversification. These companies borrow from investors and lend the money to sub-prime borrowers. They then sell their mortgages often to Wall Street banks-in the past at a nice profit-and pay back their loans. The purchasers of the mortgages then pool them and sell bonds backed by the pool to hedge funds, insurance companies, and other investors. Many of the mortgages are sold to the banks with what the industry calls “repurchase agreements” or the ability of the bank to return non-performing loans to the sub-prime mortgage companies. As delinquencies began to rise, the sub-prime lenders were hit from both sides; funds to lend dried up and investors returned loans, causing a flurry of bankruptcy filings.[9]

As a result of the sub-prime structure and changes in the capital markets, the current real estate slump has affected a different group of lenders. During earlier slowdowns, the majority of the mortgage loans were held by federally insured banks or thrift institutions. However, today 56 percent (versus 12 percent in 1980) of all loans outstanding worth $5.7 trillion have been pooled into mortgage backed securities and sold to private-uninsured-investors such as hedge funds.[10]

This puts at risk individual investors, some of who may not be able to withstand the losses. The extent of the impact is still to be seen. However, some market watchers believe the two hedge funds the investment bank, Bear Stearns, was forced to close down earlier in the summer because of bad bets in the sub-prime market may be just the beginning.[11]

Photo: Henk L.

Why Should We Care?

All markets and participants are affected, either directly or indirectly, by events in the housing market. The real estate market has an enormous impact on the health of the economy by affecting consumer spending, the employment rate, and company profits. The housing boom increased consumer spending and the slump may reduce it. This is important to economic health since consumer spending accounts for approximately two-thirds of all spending, and is a major driver of the economy. Increases in property values made people feel rich and this “wealth effect” encouraged them to spend more. In addition, homeowners took advantage of the low interest rates and high real estate prices. They converted their real estate investment into cash by either refinancing and pulling cash out, or borrowing with a home equity loan against the higher value. Consumers are now faced with stagnating or falling house prices, and higher interest rates that discourage borrowing. The question is: Will the slump affect consumer spending and, if so, by how much? Early data while not conclusive is worrisome. Consumer spending adjusted for inflation increased just 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2007 versus 3.7 percent during the first quarter.[12]

In addition, the stalling of the housing market and implosion of the sub-prime industry has impacted the employment rate. More than 40 lenders have halted operations, gone bankrupt, or sought buyers since the sub-prime market began its slide in the last half of 2006. The largest bankruptcy involved New Century Financial Corporation, a 12-year old, independent sub-prime lender headquartered in Irvine, California. New Century filed for bankruptcy, fired 3,200 workers-half its workforce-and announced it would try to sell its remaining operations.[13] The number of employees fired by New Century was dramatic, but not the only example. Smaller firms have also closed their doors or announced lay-offs as well. Even diversified mortgages companies such as Countrywide have announced employee reductions. In California, mortgage industry job losses soared 367 percent in the first quarter. But, the mortgage industry is not the only one hurt. Employment related to the housing industry-construction workers, architects, mortgage lending services, etc.-will also slow. It is estimated that 70,000 jobs in the construction industry will be lost over the next two years in the U.S.[14]

Firms’ profits are also feeling the pinch. Homebuilders have been hit by events in the housing market. As lending standards tighten, demand for new homes drops. Toll Brothers, a luxury homebuilder, is typical. Their profits fell 67 percent in the first quarter of 2007. Earnings declined from $0.98 per share a year earlier to $0.33 per share. Net contracts signed in the first quarter fell 34 percent and the contract cancellation rate jumped to 29.8 percent, more than four times the historical average of 7 percent.[15]

Profits at the Lowe’s Companies fell 11.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006. Same store sales declined 4 percent. Home Depot announced that it expected fiscal 2007 sales growth to be flat and that earnings per share are expected to decline by 4 to 9 percent.

A little noticed consequence of the real estate boom but one with potentially long lasting impact is the allocation of resources. The boom caused a reallocation of resources from the productive sectors to the real estate sector. During the last few years, residential investment has risen to 6 percent of GDP resulting in the diversion of resources from the hi-tech sectors to the low-tech real estate sectors. As a result, more than 50 percent of the private sector jobs created since 2001 was linked to housing-related industries.[16] The impact of this reallocation on the ability of the economy to produce goods and services is still to be seen.

Conclusion

So, what does it all mean? Will the meltdown in the sub-prime market decrease consumer spending, decrease corporate profits, and increase unemployment forcing the economy into a recession? Will the real estate boom be followed by a bust as we saw with the dotcoms? The good news is that unlike stock prices, housing prices do not normally plunge immediately; rather, housing prices drop slowly as they lag a reduction in employment and income. If history is an indication, we will see a return to “normal” or a correction rather than a collapse of the market. However, some areas may be hit harder than others. It is estimated that houses in some areas of California may be overvalued by as much as 40 percent.

The sub-prime debacle may delay the recovery as tighter lending standards and foreclosures increase the housing inventory. Nevertheless, lower housing prices and still favorable interest rates should provide some support. On the positive side, the end of the housing boom may be good news for the overall economy. A return to normalcy in the market should increase affordability while still providing reasonable returns on housing investments. In addition, the meltdown of the sub-prime market may bring more attention and more favorable terms to prime borrowers.

On the negative side, the end of the housing boom may substantially slow economic growth by reducing consumer spending and deflating consumer confidence. Wall Street experienced its sharpest fall in five months on July 26, 2007, after the announcements that new home sales fell 6.6 percent and existing home sales fell 3.8 percent (to a five-year low) in June; mortgage delinquencies increased to 2.9 percent (exceeding expectations); home builders, D. R. Horton and Beazer Homes USA, posted larger-than-expected losses in the spring quarter; and economists reported that the housing weakness could linger through the rest of the year.[17]

Most market observers do not expect the housing slump to cause a recession because employment remains strong. However, events do have implications for the real estate market. As the authors stated in the conclusion of “Is the Real Estate Market a House of Cards?”, real estate basics have not changed. The three most important factors are still location, location, location!

---

[1] Peggy J. Crawford and Terry Young. “The Real Estate Market: House of Cards?” Graziadio Business Review, 9, no. 1 (2006/01).

[2] Bill Sing. “Peak for Housing Said to Be Near,” The Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2005, at C1.

[3] Michael Corkery and Christine Haughney. “Investors Hold the Key to Housing Boom’s Fate,” The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2005, at B4.

[4] Jesse Eisinger. “Consumers May Be Starting to Bend, Judging by Those Subprime Mortgages,” The Wall Street Journal, November, 30 2005, at C1.

[5] Annette Haddad. “Sales of Vacation Homes Sink 37% in ’06,” The Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2007, at C1.

[6] Vikas Bajaj. “Freddie Mac Tightens Standards,” The New York Times, February 28, 2007, at C1.

[7] James Hagerty. “Payment Woes Worsen on Riskiest Mortgages,” The Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2007, at A2.

[8] Ibid, p. 35.

[9] Vikas Bajaj. “Defaults Rise in Next Level of Mortgages,” The New York Times, April 10, 2007, at C1.

[10] Christopher Palmeri, Dawn Kopecki and Mara Der Hovanesian. “Why This Slump is Different,” Business Week, no. 4033 (5/7/2007): 32-35.

[11] Julie Creswell and Vikas Bajal. “Jittery Stock Market Drops as Mortgage Fallout Spreads,” The New York Times, August 1, 2007, at C1.

[12] Jeremy W. Peters. “Economy Expands 3.4%; Interpretation Is Debated,” The New York Times, July 28, 2007, at B3.

[13] Scott E. Reckard. “Top Lender Files Bankruptcy, Lays Off 3,200,” The Los Angeles Times, April 3, 2007, at C1.

[14] “Leslie Earnest, “Pink Slips Litter the Loan Industry,” The Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2007, at C1.

[15] “A Builder of Luxury Homes Adopts a More Somber Tone,” The New York Times, February 23, 2007, at C2.

[16] “A Home-Grown Problem,” The Economist, 376, no. 843 (2005/09): 69.

[17] Walter Hamilton and Annette Haddad. “Investors Fear End of an Era,” The Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2007, at A1.

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

Is the Real Estate Market a House of Cards?

In 2005, prices for homes climbed to dizzying new heights. Does this trend in prices represent a bubble? Will the bubble burst? Are these higher prices sustainable? What will be the economic impact?

During 2005, the housing market has been a frequent news topic. Why all the interest? First, the price of housing, particularly in some “hot” areas of the country, has seen annual double digit growth over the last five years-up to 50 percent per year in Las Vegas! Second, the housing affordability index has been dropping. This index is a measurement of those who can qualify for a mortgage on a median priced house given current interest rates, a 20 percent down payment, and the median income in the area. For example, the average cost of a house in California as of November 2005 was $545,910, and the median salary was $54,140-less than half the salary needed to qualify for a mortgage. In Southern California the gap was even bigger. The median salary of $52,580 was $74,240 below the salary needed to qualify for the median priced house.[1] These figures indicate that less than 14 percent of households can purchase the median priced house-down from 18 percent a year earlier. As housing prices increased and the affordability index fell, market participants began to question whether the high prices could be sustained or if a housing price bubble existed.

Why Should Businesses Care?

If there is a housing price bubble and it does burst, why should business people care-other than be concerned about a drop in the value of their own homes? The economy is driven by consumer spending, which makes up approximately two-thirds of all spending. Consumers who have seen the price of their houses double in the last few years feel “rich” even if they do not plan to sell. If consumers feel rich, they spend. In addition, homeowners have taken advantage of the low interest rates and high real estate prices. They have converted their real estate investment into cash either by refinancing and pulling cash out or borrowing with a home equity loan against the higher value. If consumers see the price of their houses stagnate or fall, they may cut spending and thereby impact economic growth.

This article explains an asset bubble, analyzes the causes of a possible bubble, and examines the implications of a bubble.

What is an Asset Bubble?

An asset bubble exists if prices are high today because investors believe they will be higher tomorrow-not because fundamental factors justify the rise in prices. History provides several examples of asset bubbles-and the big pop.

On March 10, 2000, the NASDAQ stock index, which lists many technology firms, hit 5,049, followed by the pop heard round the world. The market plunged downward, reaching its bottom of 1,114 on October 9, 2002. The “experts” cite many causes of the technology bubble, including the belief of many market participants that a “new economy” had emerged in which technology ensured that recessions were a thing of the past and productivity gains would continue at levels that formerly had seemed unattainable. Though many technology companies had yet to produce a profit, overconfident investors felt that this was a temporary condition and that the inevitable profits would ensure that technology stock prices would continue to rise. By January 2006, the NASDAQ index had regained less than half its peak value.[2]

On December 29th, 1989, the Nikkei 225 Index, which reflects the value of Japanese stocks, hit its all time high of 38,916, and then, “pop!” The Nikkei slid downward for more than a decade, reaching its bottom of 12,698 on June 18, 2001. Again, the experts cite many causes for the Nikkei bubble, including financial institutions exhibiting aggressive behavior and inadequate risk management, monetary easing and low interest rates, regulations encouraging increases in real estate prices, and investor overconfidence and euphoria.[3] After a decade of deflation and banking reform, the Nikkei hit a five-year high in January 2006, about 33 percent of its peak value.

However, asset bubbles are not a recent phenomenon, nor are they limited to stock markets. The Dutch Tulip bubble of the 17th century was one of the most dramatic examples. After tulip bulbs were introduced into Europe, they became the prized possessions of the rich. As the price of tulip bulbs increased, speculators began buying the bulbs from sailors and selling them to the wealthy. By 1634, bulbs could be bought and resold within a few days for a significant profit. In 1636, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange began trading interests in bulbs, and notaries began specializing in recording tulip transactions. It is estimated that a bulb at the peak of the bubble sold for $34,584 in today’s dollars. Eventually, some investors began to liquidate their interests in tulips, supply increased dramatically, and during a six week period in 1636, tulip prices fell by 90 percent. To limit the chaos that followed, the government nullified all tulip contracts and declared tulip speculation a form of gambling. Tulip prices never recovered after the bubble burst, and today rare tulip bulbs sell for $0.30 to $0.40 apiece.[4]

A House of Cards?

Are we experiencing an asset bubble in the U.S. real estate market? There are some interesting parallels to previous asset bubbles-particularly low interest rates, aggressive behavior by financial institutions, and high short-term profit potential, which encourages speculation.

The U.S. economy entered a recession in 2001, and the Federal Reserve (Fed) lowered interest rates-monetary easing-to spur the economy. As mortgage rates fell to 40-year lows, more households qualified for mortgages, and the demand for houses increased. Increased demand helped to inflate housing prices.

Increasing prices eliminated some potential buyers from the market even with low mortgage rates. Financial institutions stepped in by pushing adjustable rate mortgages (which lower salary requirements with lower initial payments) and by offering creative mortgage financing featuring such things as no down payment, zero percent interest for the first year, negative amortization (the monthly payment is less than the repayment of principal and interest) and interest-only loans (no repayment of principal). Interest-only mortgages accounted for 17 percent of all mortgages in the second half of 2004.[5] Creative financing allowed more households to qualify for mortgages, increased the demand for houses, and helped to inflate housing prices.

Returns in the stock and bond markets since 2000 have been low or negative, and volatile. At the end of 2004, stock and mutual funds were worth 21 percent less than five years earlier.[6] However since 2002, house prices in California have risen 71 percent. High housing returns versus returns on other investments attract speculators.[7] It is estimated that 23 percent of the homes purchased in the U.S. during 2004 were bought by real estate investors, many of whom hoped to resell the homes quickly at a profit. An additional 13 percent of the purchases were second homes. Housing experts report that people who do not live full-time in a home are inclined to sell quickly if prices stagnate or decline.[8] If supply increases rapidly, there will be downward pressure on home prices.

Will the Bubble Burst?

Some evidence suggests that there is an asset bubble in the housing market. The question is, will it burst? There are two views on that question.

The bubble will burst: Some factors that suggest it could.

1. Creative financing-Creative mortgage instruments have made borrowers vulnerable, not only to rising interest rates (as monthly payments on adjustable rate mortgages increase), but also to stagnating or falling prices (as market prices fall below mortgage balances with negative amortization or interest-only mortgages). Short-term interest rates, the index for many adjustable rate mortgages, have increased steadily since the Fed began raising interest rates in June 2004. Market watchers have yet to observe a significant increase in mortgage defaults or delinquencies, except in the sub-prime category in which the delinquency rate, while still low, doubled in 2005 to 6.23 percent. However, the negative impact of creative financing may be obscured by the large number of bankruptcies declared in October 2005 prior to the tightening of bankruptcy laws.[9] A clear picture may not be available for some months to come.
2. High household debt-Creative mortgage financing has been a major driver in the housing boom. Mortgage debt in the U.S. has nearly doubled since 1995.[10] In addition, because of relaxed lending standards, more than 50 percent of new home buyers in California during the last two years spend more than a third of their pretax household income on mortgage payments-the maximum recommended by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. An additional 20 percent spend more than half their pretax income.[11] If these households have payments that increase over time and their incomes do not increase at the rate of their payments, the number of delinquencies and defaults may rise quickly.
3. Spillover effect-Two-fifths of the jobs created in the U.S. since 2001 are related to the housing market, including jobs in construction, real estate brokers and appraisals, and mortgage lending.[12] If the real estate market stalls, these jobs could be lost. If these jobs are lost and not replaced by jobs in other sectors of the economy, the number of delinquencies and defaults may rise.
4. Interest rates-The U.S. government continues to run a budget deficit that must be financed. Demand for Treasury securities by foreign investors and governments has allowed the Fed to raise interest rates at a measured rate. However, if foreign demand slows, interest rates may rise quickly and to undesirable levels in order to attract additional funds.[13] Higher interest rates could increase bankruptcies and defaults on mortgages.
5. Global asset bubble-The total value of residential property in developed countries increased by more than $30 trillion over the past five years to over $70 trillion, equivalent to 100 percent of those countries’ combined GDPs. Some markets are beginning to slow, with the market in Britain reflecting the sharpest drop. Real estate markets in the southern hemisphere countries-Australia, New Zealand, South Africa-also appear to be slowing.[14] If weaknesses in housing markets slow growth in the global economies, the U.S. economy could be impacted. A slowing of the U.S. economy could increase delinquencies and defaults on mortgages.

What bubble?: Other factors suggest the housing market will not crash.

1. Limited land-There is still much open space in the U.S., but most people don’t want to live where it is located! They prefer economically vibrant areas where housing is often constrained by limited unused land and rules and regulations passed by governments and neighborhood associations. Limited supply in high demand areas could protect home prices from significant losses.[15]
2. Demand for housing-The demand for housing will stay strong. Financial security and empty nests have increased baby boomers’ demands for second and vacation homes. The children of baby boomers-a mini population boom-are beginning to enter the housing market. Immigration continues to increase the U.S. population. Foreign ownership of housing, for investment returns or living space, continues to grow. All of these factors will keep demand high and reduce downward pressure on U.S. real estate prices.[16]
3. Control of inflation-Many economists and market watchers believe that the Fed has developed the tools and expertise necessary to control inflation. If inflation is under control, then interest rates should not climb dramatically. Historically, the number of prospective home buyers has not been significantly reduced until mortgage rates exceed 8 percent, and few expect mortgage rates to approach that level.[17]

Conclusion

Will the bubble pop, or will we simply hear a hiss? Headlines as early as July 2005 warned that the peak of the housing market was near. As late as September 2005, UCLA’s Anderson Forecast warned that the peak was near and that the resulting slowdown would weaken economic growth-and possibly cause a recession-for the next two years.[18] However, even UCLA has now changed its song. In the latest report, the Anderson Forecast states that there is evidence of some slowing in certain regions, but no convincing evidence of a slowdown “in the big picture.” Although UCLA still sees slowing and some job loss over the next two years, it is predicted to be minor.[19]

The annual double-digit price increases are probably coming to an end, but large price decreases and a significant economic downturn seem unlikely. In some less desirable areas, prices may stagnate or decline slightly-less than 5 percent. In desirable areas, prices are not expected to decline, but will appreciate at a slower rate-in the 5 to 8 percent range. U.S. real estate basics have not changed. The three most important factors are still location, location, location.

---

[1] “Realtor Group Sees Gap in Income, House Prices,” The Los Angeles Times, 2 November 2005, C-2.

[2] “The Cost of All Those McMansions,” Business Week, 6 June 2005, 44.

[3] Okina, Kunio, Shirakawa, Masaaki, and Shiratsuka, Shigenori. “The Asset Price Bubble and Monetary Policy: Japan’s Experience in the Late 1980s and the Lessons,” Bank of Tokyo Discussion Paper No. 2000-E-12, May 2000.

[4] Hirshey, Mark. “How Much is a Tulip Worth?” Financial Analyst Journal, 1998.

[5] “Housing Market Has Lost Touch with Reality,” The Economist, 28 May 2005, 36.

[6] “So Long to the Wealth Effect,” Newsweek, 17 October 2005.

[7] Sing, Bill. “Peak for Housing Said to Be Near,” The Los Angeles Times, 28 September 2005, C-1.

[8] Corkery, Michael and Haughney, Christine. “Investors Hold the Key to Housing Boom’s Fate,” The Wall Street Journal, 17 August 2005, B-4.

[9] Eisinger, Jesse. “Consumers May Be Starting to Bend, Judging by Those Subprime Mortgages,” The Wall Street Journal, 30 November 2005, C-1.

[10] “Why Home Owners Could Get Pinched,” Business Week, 19 July 2005, 36.

[11] Green, Chuck and Wedner, Diane. “Mortgages Take a Bigger Bite,” The Los Angeles Times, 4 September 2005, K-1.

[12] “The Global Housing Boom,” The Economist, 18 June 2005, 13.

[13] Crawford, Peggy and Young, Terry. “The Twin Deficits: A Looming Crisis?” The Graziadio Business Review, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2004.

[14] “The Global Housing Boom,” The Economist, 18 June 2005, 13.

[15] Hagerty, James. “What’s Behind the Housing Boom,” The Wall Street Journal, 21 November 2005, R-4.

[16] Leonhardt, David. “Be Warned: Mr. Bubble’s Worried Again,” The New York Times, 21 August 2005, BU-1.

[17] “Higher Rates Won’t Hammer Housing,” Business Week,10 May 2005, 33.

[18] Sing, Bill. “Peak for Housing Said to be Near,” The Los Angeles Times, 28 September 2005, C-1.

[19] Haddad, Annette. “Hot Housing Market Still ‘Cruising’,” The Los Angeles Times, 7 December 2005, C-1.

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

Editorial Review Board

• Editorials
• Interviews
• Book Corner

• Topics

  • ARCHIVE – VIDEO LIBRARY
  • Business Law
  • CEO Performance
  • Diversity
  • Economics
  • Entrepreneurship / Innovation
  • Ethics / Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Finance / Investing / Accounting
  • Global Business
  • Information Management
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Operations Management
  • Organizational Behavior
  • Strategy
  • Work-Life Balance

• Top Five Posts

  • City National Bank’s Robert Iritani Discusses the Future of Financial Management
  • Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture
  • Strategies for Leading through Times of Change
  • 5-Forces Industry Analysis
  • Reforming Corporate America

• New in the GBR Blog

  • Our Degree Is What We Make of It
    As I outlined in my Three Part MBA Philanthropy Series, alumni are a critical financial component to business schools.  However, alumni can contribute in many other ways. In addition to providing financial support to their alma mater, alumni also play an equally important role in pre-student recruiting and job placement. Why is pre-student recruiting importa […]

Graziadio School of Business and Management | 6100 Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045-1590

Copyright © 2013 Pepperdine University

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Graziadio School of Business and Management nor Pepperdine University.