Management in Practice

The global economy is in a severe slowdown. GDPs are dropping, the rosters of the unemployed are getting longer, and there’s no obvious resolution in sight. Will the effects of this economic crisis — and of government responses — threaten the system of commercial relationships that has developed over the last 30 years?

Elizabeth Serlemitsos ’93 is chief advisor to the Zambian National AIDS Council, which is the government entity responsible for coordinating the country’s response to HIV and AIDS. The council works with international donors to develop and implement both private and public sector programs to combat devastating impacts of the disease.

Solving problems at the intersection of business and society may pay dividends for a small Bay Area venture capital firm.

Keith McCullough YC ’99, founder and CEO of Research Edge, left the hedge fund industry in 2007 to try something different. He is assembling a team of research analysts who will bring the day-to-day informational edge of a hedge fund not just to institutional or extremely wealthy clients but to retail investors as well. But is the idea of an open hedge fund an oxymoron?

In 2005, Lenovo, China’s largest PC maker, acquired IBM’s worldwide PC business. The company inherited nearly $10 billion in annual sales, but faced the challenge of introducing itself to millions of consumers.

Soltage is one company looking to finance the widespread adoption of clean, cheap solar power.

When interviews for the print edition of Q4 were conducted in April through August 2008, sovereign wealth funds seemed like a potential source of stability in the global financial system, due to their large pools of available capital. But when credit markets froze and stocks tumbled, SWFs seemed to stay on the sidelines. Rachel Ziemba is an analyst with RGE Monitor specializing in the strategies of SWFs. She provides her perspective on what these funds have been doing during the global economic turmoil.

Larry Summers has analyzed macroeconomic policies as a top academic economist, and helped form those policies in positions such as secretary of the treasury. He provides his take on the new forms of capital that are likely to affect markets, economies, and lives in the years ahead.

Why is a venture capital firm encouraging the employees in a company it funds to give free music lessons? They’re trying to prove the thesis that companies that engage with their communities also reap a business advantage.

Two decades ago, socially motivated investing accounted for a tiny percentage of worldwide capital. Today, investors representing $14 trillion have signed on to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investing. What influence are they having?