2001 Volume 4 Issue 1

Editor’s Note: Quakes, Flakes, and Double Takes

Editor’s Note: Quakes, Flakes, and Double Takes

We examine pressing issues and serve cookies for dessert.

According to recent headlines we have well and truly entered the fray in 2001, fighting our way through earthquakes, a power crisis in California, and a very different power crisis in the Middle East. Now that the gloss is well and truly off the economy, business practitioners are reexamining a number of critical issues, including productivity.

Charla Griffy-Brown, PhD

I recently joined one well-trafficked discussion of this topic on MSN’s Chatterbox where the discussion raged over the question “Is Productivity Oversold?” Interestingly, most people involved in this heated discussion on productivity did so at work, which probably wasn’t so productive!

This issue of the Graziadio Business Review continues to offer business practitioners a rich, just-in-time learning environment. The faculty of the Graziadio School casts a critical eye on global business, product development, problem solving, technical analysis, performance profiling, and workplace culture.

In the arena of international business, Jennifer Roney provides insight into what you should be aware of when selecting an interpreter, and why choosing the right interpreter is such a critical success factor. To follow up on the topic, you can click to a longer working paper on Jennifer’s experience using an interpreter while studying the impact of western business practices in a Polish firm.

Charlie Kerns explains how you can improve evaluation and hiring practices through results-based performance profiling. After reading this article, try out the performance profile sheet that is provided. Another set of tools, provided by Mark Mallinger and Ileana Rizescu, helps you determine the fit between your personality and the culture of your workplace. Are you and your job are a match made in heaven, or should you consider a permanent separation?

Stewart Fliege offers a quantitative approach to complex management problems. Bruce Hanson helps us understand how recursive communications, such as war stories, can help business teams move from old ideas to new ones.

For even ‘edgier’ tools, walk a little on the wild side with Marsh Nickles’ fascinating look at technical analysis and market timing. This interesting work shows how technical analysis can be used to limit losses in the stock market though, for a reality check, we offer a link back to last issue’s article on the tax consequences of different investment strategies. To see if you are ready to be trusted in the market, try our Investment Quiz.

Don’t miss the GBR‘s conversation with the amazing Dr. Clyde Oden, CEO of WATTSHealth System. Dr. Oden, a graduate of the Graziadio School’s Presidential/Key Executive MBA Program, reflects on his professional success and describes his vision for renewal in South Los Angeles. Dr. Oden offers a holistic worldview that integrates career, faith, and values.

The LOOP looks at why cookies are so plentiful on the web. Tasty or troublesome…you decide. We don’t serve up cookies at GBR, and neither do our sponsors, but they are powerful e-business tools and we are probably consuming far more than we realize.

Finally, be sure to come back again and again to check out the free digital tools for business in the ARCADE, and the leading edge perspective on e-marketing, e-business, e-law, e-tc. in EBIZ@GBR.

Thank you for your continued support of GBR. We welcome your comments and invite you to “subscribe” to receive an e-mail announcement of new issues.

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Author of the article
Charla Griffy-Brown, PhD
Charla Griffy-Brown, PhD
Charla Griffy-Brown, PhD, is an associate professor of information systems at the Graziadio School of Business and Management. In 2004, Dr. Griffy-Brown received a research award from the International Association for the Management of Technology and was recognized as one of the most active and prolific researchers in the fields of technology management and innovation. A former researcher at the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development in Tokyo, she has also served as an associate professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Dr. Griffy-Brown graduated from Harvard University, is a former Fulbright Scholar, and holds a PhD in technology management from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. She has worked for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center and has taught innovation/technology management courses in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan. She has also served as a consultant for the United Nation’s Global Environmental Facility and the European Commission.
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