Alumni

Experts discuss how to manage, organize, hire, and reward for innovation.

Naomi Hirose ’83, president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, discusses his company’s efforts since the 2011 tsunami and nuclear meltdown.

Sandra Urie ’85 of Cambridge Associates talks about helping clients find the right level of risk.

Choosing a mate is a calculation that the benefits of further search are outweighed by the costs, says Paul Oyer ’89.

Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. has become a topic of widespread concern and discussion. A recent panel of Yale SOM alumnae posited that action from the federal government is unlikely. But the panelists found reason for hope in examples of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors collaborating to address the nation’s wealth gap.

Healthcare is an industry as much as a science. Innovations that enable the system to deliver better quality at a lower cost are as likely to come from IT, business processes, and design as from new medicines. Moving medicine fully into the digital world could be the linchpin of a more integrated, coordinated approach, if the technology can mesh neatly with the needs of patients, providers, and payers; existing business models; and the complexity of medicine itself.

Organic food is booming. Even after a dip during the financial crisis, organics have continued to grow at an impressive clip worldwide. But organic food remains a small fraction of total food consumption. Will organics will ever be able to break into the mainstream? Yale Insights talks with Denis Ring ’84, founder of organic chocolate company Ocho Candy and creator of Whole Foods’ 365 organic store brand.

Smart beta is the hot thing in investing strategies, marketed as a new way to diversify and reduce risk. But Eugene Podkaminer ’01 argues that common smart beta strategies recycle long-established methods and likely aren’t the most efficient way to achieve those goals.

Electronic medical records and big data have huge promise for improving medicine, but creating a system that works for physicians is a daunting task. By starting with a single specialty—dermatology—Modernizing Medicine has created an electronic application that allows doctors to rapidly enter clinical information, and to draw on the data gathered from thousands of others doing the same. Co-founder Dr. Michael Sherling ’02 discussed the endeavor and how it fits into broader efforts to mesh incentives, incorporate technology, and execute effective change.

Every global company wants to be in China. But for any company, accessing the Chinese market comes with unique questions and challenges. Chris Cabot ’97, the president of Value Retail China, talked with Yale Insights about how he expanded his company’s luxury outlet shopping villages into China. The first step to doing business in China, he says, is to assume you know nothing.