Wharton Exterior View (Click on image for source)

A week ago my classmate Peter Byrne in his blog  talked about a recent decision of University of Pennsylvania’s Warlton Business School to implement a non-disclosure policy which would mean that the school would not disclose students’ grades to employers.

I understand Mr. Byrne’s view which is that the students will generally study less and rely mainly on the elite reputation of the school to get good jobs.

However I am not totally against this policy. High marks do not necessarily mean good communication skills, proficient management skills and leadership abilities (especially in business schools). The internships, job placements, awards, volunteering, entrepreneurial and other extracurricular endeavors mean as significant if not a more important role as do marks. Keeping that in mind it would be an excellent idea for universities to conduct several graduation interviews to build the students profiles.

Inside Wharton School (Click on image for source)

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It is apparent that social responsibility, environmental sustainability and management plays a role in investing. As shown in a video series on otpp.com responsible investing is more complicated than it seems.

Take for example the bio-fuel industry. It seemed like a great idea to make an environmentally responsible investment to reduce the environmental harm caused by extraction of oil. However the high increase in demand for wheat driven by increased production of ethanol, drove food prices up. What was an environmentally responsible investment quickly turned into a socially irresponsible one.

What then should we focus on to make the most responsible investments? The nature of the industry plays an important role in this assessment. The tobacco industry is bad because Tobacco kills people. It is also important to take account the companies mission or value set, and the fate of the company’s workers in other parts of the world.

In our highly pluralistic world the level responsibility and transparency has a significant impact on how well the stock of a company is doing in the market. Hence responsible investing seems to reduce risk.

As Milton Friedman would say, the objective of any investment is to make more money. Maybe the way to make more money is to act in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

To read more about this you should also check out this business ethics blog post by Chris McDonald.

Responsible Investing

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According to AT&T the preorders for iPhone 4S have made this launch the most successful iPhone launch to this date racking up 200,000 preorders in the first twelve hours of pre-availability.

Apple store previously listed the arrival time of iPhone 4S for those who preordered the phone to be October 14, 2011 (or next Friday). At this point in time however, those who recently chose to preorder the product now can expect it to be shipped in one-two weeks. The launch day stock (at least at Apple Online Store) has been sold out!

An alternative way to be one of the first to lay hands on Apple’s new smartphone is to simply get early in line at one of Apple’s retail stores. Two people have already been camping outside Apple’s 4th Ave. store in NYC for 12 days.

iPhone 4S does not have a revolutionary new design with a limitted number of modifications to the existing version of iPhone 4. However it is the last Apple product released in life-time of the iconic Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who passed away this Wednesday and is a way for consumers to commemorate his legacy.

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A developmental humanitarian project of Vijay Govindarajan- a professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Darthmouth along with a marketing consultant Christian Sarkar has gained tremendous amount of buzz on the internet. At first the idea was released at the Harvard Business Review Blog in January 2, 2011. The idea was to replace the unsafe, unreliable, and unhygienic cardboard and metal sheet houses in the parts of the world heavily stricken with poverty with a mass produced $300 dollar product. The in work design of the $300 house for the poor includes a mosquito net, built-in furniture, solar cooker, outlets to charge phone/tablet PC as well as sanitation solutions. Govindarajan and Sarkar initially simply wanted for the idea to be out in the air. However the massive response that it received from the online community has opted for them to turn it into reality. As you can see here, this innovative project is being developed through a very innovative strategy. $300 House has issued a series of challenges such as the “Financial Challenge” the “Design Challenge” and “Energy Challenge” to be taken on by various companies and individuals to help turn this project into reality. This seems to be an amazing solution that could drastically help about 50% of the worlds population. I am currently looking into how I can contribute and suggest that you fellow Saudirites do as well! Check out their website for more details.

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