Description
In this description relating to shaping a clark model of entrepreneurship education.
Summer 2004
News from the Graduate School of Management at Clark University
Shaping a Clark model of entrepreneurship education
E
ntrepreneurship has enjoyed growing popu-
larity at business schools for more than a
decade. But now, many people—including
professors, entrepreneurs and investors—question
whether the way most schools presently teach the
subject connects to the real profile of entrepreneurial
successes. Among such people is Clark’s own
Kauffman Entrepreneur-in-Residence, George
Gendron. Having been editor-in-chief of Inc.
Magazine, the nation’s leading small business maga-
zine, for more than 20 years, Gendron knows some-
thing about what success as an entrepreneur
demands.
To learn others’ thoughts and ideas regarding con-
temporary, entrepreneurial education, Gendron con-
vened a series of roundtable discussions. To date,
roundtables have been held in Worcester,
Framingham, Mass., and New York City. “The idea,”
he says, “is to acquire the best thinking of high-pro-
file Clark alumni and friends who have succeeded as
entrepreneurs or successfully applied the entrepre-
neurial model in established organizations.”
One of the most striking flaws of entrepreneurial
education today, participants agreed, is its strong
focus on venture-capital funding. Yet, of approxi-
mately one million start-ups in the United States
annually, only about 2,000
are actually funded this
way. Larry Bohn M.A. ’76,
a roundtable participant
and managing director of
the Cambridge, Mass.-
based venture-capital firm
General Catalyst Partners,
says there is a major oppor-
tunity to create a program that has a more realistic
focus. GSOM entrepreneurship instructor Daniel
Sullivan concurs.
“Most courses,” Sullivan says, “center on the high-
risk/high-reward approach that has its roots in high
technology—come up with the next big idea, attract
venture-capital funding and then go public or sell the
company. But this isn’t everyone’s idea of entrepre-
neurship.”
“The simple fact is that more than 99% of all
entrepreneurial successes are not backed by venture
capital and depend upon a set of skills and attitudes
that are not being taught,” says Gendron. “The
process of building out a venture-backed company is
dramatically different than launching a self-financed
venture. We’re focused on giving students the skills
that are necessary to create something new in the
absence of resources. We believe that the ability and
capacity to get something done in the absence of
resources will be the crucial skill set in every aspect of
our culture—business, non-profits, the arts, education
and government.”
An example of a major shortcoming is that most
management programs lack an emphasis on the
importance of strong sales skills. “There are plenty of
courses in marketing, but few, if any, in sales,” says
Gendron. “Yet, every entrepreneur will tell you how
much their success depended on their ability to sell
their ideas to many others.”
Similarly, roundtable participant William Aubuchon
M.B.A. ’68, CEO of W.E. Aubuchon & Co., finds
that far too many of today’s business-school graduates
have weak communications skills. “Whether it’s oral
or written communications, or managing and leading
others—these are critical skills that every entrepre-
neur and manager must have,” Aubuchon says. “Yet
daily, I encounter people who simply don’t have
them.”
Roundtable participant and Clark University
Trustee Kija Kim says, “The nature of entrepreneur-
ship calls for a hands-on learning approach, some-
thing akin to the labs in science classes.” Kim is presi-
dent and CEO of Harvard Design & Mapping, a com-
pany she co-founded in 1988 that develops geospatial
information systems. Sullivan agrees with Kim. In
addition to creating a more laboratory-like learning
environment, he thinks involving more local entrepre-
neurs in the teaching process can be highly beneficial.
At the end of his GSOM entrepreneurship course,
student teams present their business plans to a panel
of local entrepreneurs and investors.
The roundtables were extremely productive, reports
Gendron, and he looks forward to having more in the
future. They generated a superb flow of ideas that
confirm his thesis that there are substantial opportu-
nities to advance entrepreneurial education, especial-
ly at Clark. “In effect,” he says, “the roundtables are
a resource and testing ground for ideas that could
become the foundation for a new approach to entre-
preneurship for a small university like Clark.”
Kija Kim, Clark trustee and presi-
dent and CEO of Harvard Design
and Mapping
Larry Bohn M.A. ‘76, managing
director of General Catalyst
Partners
Whether it’s oral or written communications, or managing
and leading others—these are critical skills that every
entrepreneur and manager must have.
—William Aubuchon M.B.A. ’68
William Aubuchon M.B.A. ‘68,
CEO of W.E. Aubuchon & Co.
M
itchell Modell, CEO of Modell’s
Sporting Goods, visited GSOM
on March 18 as part of GSOM’s
Leadership Speaker Series. Founded in 1889,
Modell’s is the nation’s oldest and largest
family-owned retailer of sporting goods.
From its Manhattan headquarters, the com-
pany now operates stores from New York to
Virginia. Clark University Trustee Robert J.
Stevenish, the president and COO of
Modell’s Sporting Goods, introduced Modell.
Modell presented his thoughts on leader-
ship through a string of compelling real-life
stories about his company. The most pivotal
of these occurred soon after he took the
company’s reins in 1986. On leaving the
office late one afternoon, Modell encoun-
tered James, a teenage boy, cleaning the
building’s lobby floor in a brand new pair of
sneakers. He asked James if he had bought
them at Modell’s. James informed the
stranger that he no longer shopped at
Modell’s for several reasons. Modell then
introduced himself and offered James a pair
of tickets to that weekend’s Knick’s game if
he would visit the company’s offices the next
day and repeat his thoughts to Modell’s buyers.
“That encounter
taught me that the
industry was changing,
but we weren’t chang-
ing with the times,” says
Modell. “We then com-
pleted market research,
which confirmed
the feedback that James
had given to us.
We learned that we
needed to deliver
superior customer service.”
“The moral of the story is our mission
statement, ‘Listen, Respect and Respond,’”
Modell said. “You have to apply this to your
customers and your associates, no matter
what business you are in. This has become a
very critical part of our culture. The commit-
ment that Bob Stevenish and I make to this
philosophy is very important to our business
leadership.” The result is that Modell’s
Sporting Goods has grown from 33 stores in
1992 to 109 stores today with 4,500
associates and revenues of more than $500M
annually.
When asked, what key messages he would
leave for the students, Modell said,
“Whatever you do, be passionate. Never
accept the status quo. Embrace change and
live in an environment to learn. Learn the
value of networking and asking questions.
You can learn from anyone, even the person
you meet on the street.”
Listen, respect and respond
Leadership Speaker Series
Serving as dean of Clark’s Graduate School of Management for
the past five years has been a great privilege. An even greater
privilege was being asked by Clark’s President, Provost, Advisory
Council members and my faculty colleagues to stay on the job
for five more years. With so many of our program, admissions
and alumni initiatives coming to fruition, and with such a high
quality faculty and staff creating innovative learning opportunities
for our students, it was an easy decision to make. I’m very excit-
ed by what I see on the horizon for this School.
I will begin my next term as dean by spending the 2004-05 aca-
demic year on a partial sabbatical leave. I plan to catch up on my
own special interests—strategic management and global business
—and will visit other top business schools to observe first hand
some of the most innovative features of their programs. Priscilla
Elsass, who has served with such distinction as GSOM’s associate
dean since 2001, will take on additional responsibilities as acting
dean, overseeing the operations of the School. Both of us will be
working on the next revisions of our strategic plan, program
development and alumni relations. I am confident that, building
on a solid foundation, it will be a year of continued progress for
the School.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work as dean is help-
ing people in the growing GSOM community to connect to one
another. To take a recent example, students in an M.B.A. class
this spring did team projects that focused on one firm’s advertis-
ing plans to support a regional expansion strategy. The top exec-
utive who read their project reports was so impressed that he
invited the students and their
faculty mentor to visit his corpo-
rate headquarters to present
their recommendations to his
senior marketing staff. This type
of real-world project provided
students a chance to show their
talent, have their ideas evaluat-
ed by a senior executive, and
improve their future job
prospects. So, in your search for
talented and motivated interns
or employees, let us connect
you to our current students—
they are very good.
As always, I look forward to
hearing from you about your
ideas for making GSOM even
better, and making our growing
community ever stronger.
Ed Ottensmeyer
[email protected]
Of Privilege and Progress
A Message from the Dean
GSOM Visiting Executives 2003 - 2004
• Sushil Bhatia, Ph.D., President, JMD Manufacturing, Inc.
• Norm Brodsky, CEO, Citi Storage and writer for Inc. Magazine
• Trish Carter, CEO, Dancing Deer Bakery
• Linda Cavaioli, Executive Director, YWCA
• Nancy J. Connolly, President, Lasertone Corporation
• Paige Arnoff-Fenn, CEO, Mavens & Moguls
• Karen Green, President, VNA Care Network
• Rosemary Jordano, CEO, ChildrenFirst
• Ryan McNeil, CEO, PBFN and Professional Football Player
• Frank Saba, President, Milford Whitinsville Regional Hospital
• Mitch Sanders, President, ECI Biotech
Dean Edward J. Ottensmeyer
C
lark GSOM alumni, students,
faculty and friends were jolted
out of winter’s doldrums by a
performance of Blue Man Group in New
York City’s Astor Place Theater on Feb.
19. A special reception for Clark atten-
dees preceded the show and featured
Group co-founder Matt Goldman M.B.A.
’84. The event drew one of the biggest
crowds of alumni yet, said Clark President
John Bassett. The reception highlight was
a Q&A session during which Goldman
answered questions about the business
aspects of Blue Man Group posed by
Clark’s entrepreneur-in-residence, George
Gendron.
Gendron: The Blue Man Group’s spec-
tacular theatrical success is widely rec-
ognized. What can you tell us about
the business aspect of the production?
Goldman: With shows now in New York,
Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas, the
Group has about 500 employees. Each
show has 80 to 120 people on staff. And
Blue Man Productions, the umbrella
organization that oversees everything we
do, employs about another 100. Gross rev-
enues are about $100 million annually.
It’s been 15 years since the concept
really crystallized, so we think we’ve
reach a key point in the organization’s life.
Now we’re looking at the next 15 years
and thinking about where it will lead us.
One new step we’re taking is venturing
overseas. We recently licensed the concept
to an Amsterdam group that plans to
open a Blue Man show in Germany on
May 9.
Gendron: Do you see yourself as an
artist or business manager?
Goldman: When we first opened, neither
the press nor the public could put a label
on us. Until then, there hadn’t been stage
shows entirely without language. Not fit-
ting an existing label made it difficult for
the press to write about us. And, within
the Group, we avoid labels. We think that
what occurs backstage and in the office is
also an artistic endeavor. But, as artists,
we’re very realistic. We know we have to
run with black ink to continue for the long
run. And, we’re a completely artist-owned
organization with no managers, agents, or
others who earn a commission on our
work. This differentiates us from almost
everyone in the entertainment field,
besides being bald and blue.
Gendron: You have an extraordinary
partnership that drives this business. It
seems that you manage by consensus.
What makes your partnership work—is
it chemistry or have you put in place
guidelines for yourselves?
Goldman: Well, [co-founder] Chris Wink
and I were in school together when we
were 12 years old, so we have known each
other for 30 years. In addition, [co-
founder] Phil Stanton has been with us for
17 years. If Phil stays three more, we may
give him keys to the office. So, the three
of us go way back. We also devoted a lot
of time to
working on our
relationship
during the
Group’s early
years. At times
it was a real
struggle, but we
had to take
time to under-
stand each
other’s thought
processes and
value systems.
Doing that
hard emotional
and psychologi-
cal groundwork
made the going
much easier
later. We also
operate as a
partnership,
meaning we all
must agree—
there is no such thing as a vote. To all of
us, the Blue Man character is very special,
and the three of us serve the character,
and our decisions are focused to support
that end.
Gendron: People say you can tell a lot
about an organization by what it
chooses to do. I think you can tell by
what it chooses not to do. What is
something Blue Man Group decided
not to do?
Goldman: We’ve been fortunate in having
many opportunities come our way. One
day, my cell phone rang, and it was the
assistant to Jeffery Katzenberg, then head
of Disney Studios. She said Mr. Katzenberg
wanted to fly us to the West Coast to dis-
cuss his idea for a Blue Man movie. I
explained that we were open to talking
and loved flying, but were committed to
producing a special event on which we
were already behind schedule. He eventu-
ally came to us and, after quickly agreeing
to grant us full creative control, we inked
a contract. That same day, he left Disney
Studios. Fortunately, a clause in the con-
tract enabled us to let it expire. Not hav-
ing outside influences on our creative
work for 15 years has been extremely
important.
Gendron: How did your Clark educa-
tion contribute to or influence your
journey with Blue Man Group?
Goldman: I was part of the five-year
B.A./M.B.A. program. The second year of
the M.B.A. program was immensely help-
ful in teaching me a process that I could
apply in my work. Clark has a collabora-
tive and supportive atmosphere among
faculty and students. The case method of
teaching worked particularly well for me
as it allowed me to build a process to
determine solutions. Overall, I consider
my experience at Clark to have been
tremendously positive and helpful. My
first job after Clark was working for CJ
Anand M.B.A. ’82 who is still a close
friend of mine, and he is here with us
tonight. My father, Robert, is also here
tonight. It is the cumulative process of all
of the events in my life that I have built
upon to arrive where I am today. It has
been a pleasure to team up with Clark
tonight to offer this event, as I think of
Clark as a special place.
Blue Man Group’s art of entrepreneurship
GSOM Dean Edward Ottensmeyer (second from left), Matt Goldman ’83,
M.B.A. ’84 (second from right) and President John Bassett (right) with three
Blue Man performers following the Clark/Blue Man Group event in New
York City
We think that what occurs
backstage and in the office
is also an artistic endeavor.
—Matt Goldman ’83, M.B.A. ’84
Hospitals must operate differently
GSOM faculty challenging conventional wisdom
F
or more than 100 years, hospital
administrators have been admon-
ished to run their organizations
like businesses. But GSOM professors
Margarete Arndt and Barbara Bigelow
argue that this assumption should be chal-
lenged before hospitals adopt specific
business practices, and they have nearly 20
years of research to support their case.
In 1986, Arndt and Bigelow were first
struck by some of the decisions many hos-
pitals were making. “We wanted to under-
stand why they were taking certain strate-
gic actions when there was little or no
research into their benefits,” says Bigelow.
As an example, she points to the many
satellite clinics that hospitals were open-
ing. “We discovered they did it because of
the assumption that vertical integration
would increase both inpatient admissions
and market share.” Arndt and Bigelow
questioned this assumption because
patients typically used these clinics for
minor problems. They decided to research
this issue and discovered that the clinics
actually had no impact on either inpatient
admissions or market share.
Hospital executives have long been
pressured to manage their institutions in
business-like ways, the researchers say.
This includes adopting many of the tools
and practices frequently put forth by man-
agement gurus—such as total quality man-
agement and re-engineering. “It started a
century ago,” says Arndt. “There were sig-
nificant writings in the practitioner litera-
ture, even then, that admonished hospitals
to operate like businesses.”
The reason that business practices do
not necessarily yield the desired results,
say Arndt and Bigelow, is that hospitals
and businesses have important differences.
For example, physicians and nurses carry
out most of a hospital’s work resulting in
significant autonomy for these profession-
als. Another difference is that hospitals
are price-takers—they generally must
accept whatever third-party reimbursers
are willing to pay. Still another difference
is that hospitals have a significant commu-
nity obligation to provide free care.
To understand what drives hospitals to
adopt changes that remain unproven in
their industry, Arndt and Bigelow turned
to institutional theory. It holds that con-
formity gives organizations legitimacy—
especially when the product or service is
hard to define and quality is hard to meas-
ure. “Hospitals try to conform to bolster
their legitimacy—even when doing so
makes no sense otherwise,” explains
Arndt. To illustrate, Bigelow adds,
“Keeping costs as low as possible is some-
thing most companies strive for, but if you
need brain surgery, would you choose the
hospital with the lowest cost?”
The researchers are staunch in their
efforts to convince hospital administrators
and others to question business practices
before committing resources to their
adoption. As with satellite clinics, simply
questioning whether the claims made on
behalf of a business practice make sense
enables a hospital to better decide if they
want to adopt the business practice, and if
so, how. For example, total quality man-
agement may be very effective for some
functions but totally ineffective for others.
Without questioning the assumption, a
hospital may try to apply it to functions
where, rather than lowering costs, it may
actually raise them.
Their research finds that hospitals have
long demonstrated remarkable abilities in
managing large groups of highly
autonomous professionals. Given the cur-
rent business trend toward less hierarchi-
cal leadership styles, Arndt and Bigelow
say, corporate managers can learn much
from the health care industry.
“Challenging assumptions is at the very
core of Clark’s mission,” say Arndt and
Bigelow. “We teach students to constantly
identify assumptions and challenge the
conventional wisdom. And that’s just what
our research in the health-care industry
does.”
Arndt earned a master’s degree in manage-
ment at Simmons College and a doctorate
in business administration at Boston
University. She teaches the GSOM capstone
course Leadership and Decision Making,
along with several courses in health-care
management, and is the author of many
professional journal articles. Bigelow grad-
uated from Cornell University, earned a
master’s degree in management at Simmons
College and a Ph.D. at MIT’s Sloan School
of Management. She co-authored “Unions
and Legitimacy” with fellow GSOM faculty
member Gary Chaison and, from 1999 to
2003, was co-editor with Arndt of Health
Care Management Review. Widely recog-
nized in the health-care industry, the pair
recently returned from the Fourth
International Conference on Organizational
Behavior in Health Care in Banff, Canada.
Professor Margarete Arndt
Professor Barbara Bigelow
Keeping costs as low as
possible is something most
companies strive for, but if
you need brain surgery would
you choose the hospital with
the lowest cost?
—GSOM professor Barbara Bigelow
Applying learning in real-world business
‘‘I
think this is one of the best courses at Clark,” says
M.B.A. student Paul Guertin of Management
Consulting Projects, a popular GSOM capstone course.
“You spend so much time learning theories and analyzing cases in
the classroom, but learn far more by actually applying them in a
real business.”
Guertin was part of a team of four students whose consulting
assignment was to assist a local entrepreneur who had just bought
a small wine import business. The business was struggling with
antiquated information systems, and, as the team soon discov-
ered, aging may be good for wine but not for the support systems
a wine importer needs to efficiently manage inventory, process
orders and handle accounting. The team’s challenge: to assess the
company’s current and future needs, identify and evaluate avail-
able options and present the owner with a well-founded recom-
mendation.
“Given all the demands on my time, it was extremely helpful
to have the GSOM students take on this important project,” says
entrepreneur John Geagea, who purchased the Central
Distributing Company in Sturbridge, Mass. For many years,
Central was a subsidiary of a corporation that had provided the
company’s systems support for accounting, sales and other busi-
ness functions. Geagea, like many corporate executives, had
decided to make a mid-career change and was preparing to
launch his own wine import business when he learned that
Central, which had been spun off by its parent, was for sale. He
decided that buying the company would save him considerable
time in the startup process. Then came a hiccup.
The bank where Geagea sought a loan to help fund the pur-
chase said his business plan needed to be rewritten and referred
him to the Clark University Small Business Development Center
(SBDC) for assistance. John Rainey, an SBDC consultant and
adjunct faculty member with GSOM, assisted Geagea through
the purchase of Central. When the deal was completed, Geagea
still faced several challenges, including the replacement of its
patchwork of support systems. In his role as one of the faculty
advisers for the Management Consulting Projects course, Rainey
saw this challenge as an excellent student project. He assembled a
team of students with knowledge and skills in several different
areas, including: management information systems, sales and
marketing, finance and entrepreneurship. In addition to Guertin,
the project team included Michele Capacchione, Georg
Schuppert and Ajmeri Rahman.
The group divided the initial phase of the assignment into two
areas. While Capacchione and Schuppert conducted an in-depth
analysis of the company’s needs, Guertin and Rahman contacted
several similar wine distributors to learn about the information
and accounting systems they use, how difficult the systems were
to install and how well they function. Armed with this informa-
tion, the team contacted the vendors of several, often-competing
software systems that they determined might meet Central’s
needs, and subsequently attended on-site demonstrations.
“Suddenly, talking about the software’s price and potential hid-
den costs was no
longer just a class-
room exercise, but a
real concern that we
had to weigh careful-
ly,” says Schuppert.
Rahman adds, “The
consequences of
your efforts in the
classroom affect only
you, but in the real
world they can influ-
ence the company’s
ability to succeed.”
After a detailed
cost-benefits analysis
of the available soft-
ware packages, the
students agreed on
the one they felt best
met Central’s needs. As the final step, they prepared and deliv-
ered their recommendation and rationale behind it in a formal
slide presentation to Geagea. The presentation was accompanied
by a binder filled with their notes and research. “They really
exceeded my expectations,” says Geagea. “They even visited sup-
pliers and saw the software demonstrated.” Central Distributing,
which Geagea says he’ll likely rename soon, recently purchased
the system software recommended by the project team and is
now having it installed.
The Management Consulting Projects Course, taught by
Rainey and SBDC Senior Counselor Michael Holbrook, is an
ideal partnership among the University, GSOM, the business
community, the students and the SBDC. To date, more than 170
students have participated in 41 projects and contributed more
than 18,000 consulting hours to local businesses. “These students
have had a strong favorable impact on local business,” says
Rainey. “It’s a win for everyone.”
The Clark University Small Business
Development Center (SBDC) offers free
and confidential management assistance
to start-up, early-stage and growing
businesses. The SBDC is funded
through federal and state grants and
does not charge for its services. Last
year the SBDC assisted more than
1,000 businesses in Central Massach-
usetts and helped them obtain more
than $10 million in financing. For more
information, visit:
www.clarku.edu/offices/sbdc
or call 508-793-7615.
The consequences of your efforts in the
classroom affect only you, but in the real
world they can influence the company’s
ability to succeed.
—M.B.A. student Ajmeri Rahman
M.B.A. students Paul Guertin (left), Ajmeri Rahman and Michele
Capacchione
The Small Business
Development Center
Partnership for community development
‘‘I
’ve grown so passionate about
this project that I’m volunteer-
ing extra time and plan to stay
on after graduation to see it through,” says
M.B.A. student Richard Boucher.
Boucher’s project is a business expansion
and development initiative, which is part
of a major neighborhood revitalization
effort of the South Worcester
Neighborhood Improvement Corporation
(SWNIC) to which Boucher and classmate
Suwen Chen have been making major
contributions as GSOM interns.
While many GSOM students seek
internships in the corporate sector, others
like Chen and Boucher increasingly see
bringing best business practices to the
nonprofit sector as a way of giving some-
thing valuable to the local community
while honing their management skills by
solving real-world problems. “I plan to
pursue a career in marketing,” adds
Boucher, “and view this internship a big
stepping stone.”
Central to the objectives of SWNIC is
Southbridge Street, a major thoroughfare
through the neighborhood and a gateway
into the heart of Worcester. From the
1930s to the 1950s, it was a thriving area
and home to numerous manufacturers,
foundries and other commercial enterpris-
es. However, growing international com-
petition began to exact its toll in the late
1950s, and the bustling, 22-acre Worcester
neighborhood entered a downward eco-
nomic spiral from which it has yet to
recover.
The success of Boston and other major
cities in restoring such blighted neighbor-
hoods eventually drew the attention of
Worcester Mayor Tim Murray. Encouraged
by what he saw, Murray launched an effort
last year to revitalize the Southbridge
Street area, using urban redevelopment
funds provided by the state. To oversee
the effort, the city formed SWNIC, led by
Executive Director Ron Charette.
Funding for the neighborhood revital-
ization project is expected to become
available July 1, so SWNIC and interns
Boucher and Chen have been busy laying
the all-important groundwork. “The
interns’ primary challenge was to think
about the project in non-traditional ways,”
says Charette. He further explained that
“today’s most popular redevelopment
model focuses on upgrading and
‘streetscaping’ small retail areas, but the
Southbridge Street neighborhood is wide-
spread with an eclectic business mix that
doesn’t lend itself to the café approach.”
The interns also needed to be creative
about funding any activities they planned
to occur before the July 1 funding date,
Charette added.
After carefully assessing the situation
from multiple perspectives, Boucher and
Chen explored numerous options and then
crafted a plan that would take close
account of the project’s many unique chal-
lenges in developing strategies for expand-
ing current businesses and developing new
businesses for the area. While Boucher
concentrated on the marketing and com-
munications
aspects, Chen
applied her
newly developed
financial expert-
ise to such tasks
as cost analyses
and budgeting.
To help city offi-
cials, corporate
partners and
others better
understand the
project’s objec-
tives and plans,
they created
an elaborate
PowerPoint
presentation,
which has been
used extensively
by SWNIC
officials in
business and
community
presentations.
Noting a lack of community pride in
the area, Boucher applied his marketing
knowledge to conceive of a unique symbol
or theme that might serve much like a
brand around which they could build a
fresh new neighborhood image. The
theme he created, “Transportation
Through Time,” and an accompanying
logo reflect the past and convey the signif-
icance of transportation in the area. The
theme and logo will be a prominent fea-
ture on banners, flyers, T-shirts and other
items the project will require.
The interns also encountered the chal-
lenge of neighborhood cleanliness, a prob-
lem common to most economically
depressed areas. To meet this challenge,
they organized a campaign to encourage
residents to participate in an area-wide
clean-up on Earth Day. And to further
strengthen community spirit, the team cre-
ated “Paint Me A People,” a street festival
scheduled for mid-August to celebrate
neighborhood diversity. These efforts and
many others are being supported by local
organizations, principally the College of
the Holy Cross, Massachusetts Electric
Company, Polar Beverages, the
Providence & Worcester Railroad
Company and Rotmans.
Additional support for the internship
stipends of Boucher and Chen was provid-
ed by BankNorth and Rotmans through
the Clark University Corporate Associates
Program.
“It’s been a highly interesting project
with substantial exposure to senior man-
agement and business owners of many
companies,” says Boucher. Chen, who
grew up in China, says it was an excellent
opportunity to sharpen her business com-
munications skills and improve her knowl-
edge of American culture. Charette
reports that the community’s response to
the project has been tremendous. “We’ll
certainly need more interns in the future,”
he adds, as the preparation and planning
Boucher and Chen helped put in place
shifts into high gear.
It’s been a highly interesting
project with substantial
exposure to senior manage-
ment and business owners
of many companies.
—M.B.A. student Richard Boucher
T. Luke Young (left), development director for SWNIC; Ron Charette, execu-
tive director of SWNIC; Richard Boucher, GSOM marketing intern; Suwen
Chen, GSOM finance intern.
G
SOM’s alumni share a common experience of learning
about business from engaged and dedicated faculty,
while working with a diverse group of students. Shan
Lu, M.D., Ph.D., earned his Master of Health Administration
degree from GSOM in 1992, while overlapping his Ph.D. and
post-doctoral training at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School (UMMS), where he brought a management perspective to
his fellow students and colleagues.
Lu emigrated from China to the United States after finishing
his medical residency. He joined UMMS in 1985 with a sense that
some day he would return to China. He knew that a master’s
degree in management would help him apply his technical skills
to developing medical research in China. By creating relation-
ships with strong mentors at UMMS—and by enhancing his edu-
cation in management—Lu’s career has led to significant accom-
plishments. He is currently an associate professor of medicine at
UMMS and heads their HIV vaccine effort. After dedicating
many years to research on a new HIV vaccine, Lu and his team
have received approval to complete a clinical trial to test the vac-
cine’s safety and immunity in people, as the vaccine has been des-
ignated as an investigational new drug (IND) by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration.
“In my work, I face many challenges related to managing
research studies, such as financial analysis for large grants, inte-
grating global teams and developing biological labs,” says Lu. “I
am like the CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for my research
studies. In obtaining my degree from GSOM, I was able to gain
more knowledge of leadership,
financial management,
accounting and organizational
behavior. The impact of my
business management degree
has been significant on my
career, and I can see how man-
agement and scientific training
complement each other to
achieve considerable results in
a global environment. Today, I
work with teams that include
many different countries,
including China and Congo, to
complete my research studies
on world health issues. It is very
gratifying to apply my skills to the critical area of HIV vaccine
research. It is estimated that more than 40 million people world-
wide are infected with HIV and millions are expected to die from
AIDS this year.”
Lu also maintains a primary-care practice at the University
Hospital affiliated with UMMS. “There is such satisfaction in
working as both a scientist and a physician to balance the daily
service to our patients and the creative work of seeking new pre-
ventive and therapeutic measures,” says Lu. “My Clark education
in management has been very valuable to my career by providing
me with skills that support turning a vision into reality as I work
with my partners around the world.”
CJ Anand M.B.A. ’82*, Shrewsbury, Mass.,
is president of Systems and Management
Consultants.
Larry Bohn M.A. ’76*, Arlington, Mass.,
the former CEO of NetGenesis, is now a part-
ner at the Boston-based venture-capital firm
General Catalyst.
Judy Boyko M.B.A. ’94*, Northborough,
Mass., is CEO of Excelerations, Inc.
Ann Brady M.B.A. ’91*, Westborough,
Mass., is the former CFO for the Art Technology
Group.
Bob Brodeur M.B.A. ‘96*, Worcester,
Mass., is strategic marketing manager at
Allegro Microsystems, Inc.
Diane Clay M.B.A. ’86*, West Boylston,
Mass., is director of product marketing for
Courion Corporation.
Ralph D. Crowley Jr. M.B.A. ’79*,
Worcester, Mass., is president of Polar
Beverages.
Andrew Dahl ’68*, Farmington, Conn., is
vice president of Business Development at
CareGain in Princeton, N.J.
Mike Davis M.B.A. ’77*, Keene, N.H., is
vice president of information services for PC
Connect.
Jim Gorman M.B.A. ’04*, Marlborough,
Mass., is an information technology specialist
for Fidelity Investments.
Pooja Masand M.B.A. ’03*,
Marlborough, Mass., is a technical writer for
Waltech, Inc.
Michael Mooney ’93, M.B.A ’94,
Brookline, Mass., is senior securities lending
trader at Investors Bank and Trust in Boston.
Stefan Nagel M.B.A. ’98, Stanford, Calif.,
recently accepted a teaching position at
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Francisco Ortuzar Cruz M.B.A ’03,
Santiago, Chile, has been promoted to CFO of
LIDER, the main division of D&S, a supermarket
operator in Chile.
Matthias P. Ostertag M.B.A ’93, Taipei,
Taiwan, has relocated from Singapore to head
DyStar’s operations in synthetic fibers.
Lydia Pastuszek ’75*, Sudbury, Mass., is
senior vice president of human resources at
National Grid—USA.
Brad Powers ’97, M.B.A. ’98*, New York
City, is executive vice president of Marketing for
NextResponse Marketing.
Alden Reed ’82, M.B.A. ’85*, Worcester,
Mass., is managing director for Business
Strategy Resources.
Peter Rothstein ’76*, Lincoln, Mass.,
founded Portable Computer Solutions, which
was sold to Lotus. He is now working to launch
Allegro Ventures, a seed-capital investment
fund.
Sebastian Rozas M.B.A. ’01, Santiago,
Chile, has been promoted to real estate manag-
er for D&S, a supermarket operator in Chile.
Josh Shirazi ’02, M.B.A. ’03*, Leominster,
Mass., is CEO o f Shirazi Catering and
Distributing.
Jay Spach M.B.A. ’84*, is senior vice presi-
dent of human resources for the Thomson
Corporation.
Venki Sundaresan M.B.A. ’99*, Boston,
Mass., is offshore programs services director at
the Gillette Company.
Harsh Walia M.B.A. ’94*, Marlborough,
Mass., is president of Waltech, Inc.
* Indicates visitor to GSOM. Many Clark alumni
visit GSOM each year to participate in the
Leadership Speaker Series and career panels,
and to visit classrooms, which enhances our
focus on active learning. GSOM thanks these
alumni who visited Clark during this academic
year.
In Memoriam
John Galvin M.B.A. ‘76
Holden, Mass. Nov. 11, 2003
Alumni Notes: Stay Connected to Clark – View our Web site at www.clarku.edu/mba
Send us your news at our new link www.clarku.edu/gsomalumninews
GSOM alumnus heads major HIV vaccine effort at UMMS
Dr. Shan Lu M.H.A. ‘92
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
P A I D
Worcester, MA
Permit No. l886
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Beta Gamma Sigma inductees (2004 M.B.A. grad-
uates unless otherwise indicated; front row from
left) Ning Qian, Irena Andonova, Matthew Marin
’04, Ellen Tang ’04, Sarah Brooks, Katarzyna
Pianka and Rakhi Bhattacharya; (back row, from
left) Anne Baldridge, Brian Oxman, Russell
Kassatly, Lisa Desrochers, Danielle Sohn, Tatjana
Nagolnaja, Edward Ritzer and Claudia Giliberti
Dean Ed Ottensmeyer with Ajmeri Rahman M.B.A. ’04
Beta Gamma Sigma
2004
GSOM held its annual Beta
Gamma Sigma Dinner and
Induction Ceremony on May
20. Four graduating under-
graduate management
majors and 24 graduating
M.B.A. students were
inducted into Beta Gamma
Sigma, a national honor
society that recognizes and
promotes scholarship in busi-
ness. Clark Trustee William
Mosakowski ’76, president
of Public Consulting Group,
received the Chapter
Honoree Award at the event.
Urmi Bhattacharya M.B.A. ’04 (left), Empi Baryeh
M.B.A. ’04, Rakhi Bhattacharya M.B.A. ’04, Claudia
Giliberti M.B.A. ’04 and Ekow Archer M.B.A. ’04
Commencement 2004
Chief Justice Margaret
Marshall delivered the
keynote address at
Commencement on May 23.
Prior to the ceremony,
GSOM graduating students
and their families and friends
gathered for the annual
GSOM brunch in the Bistro
in the Higgins University
Center. Commencement will
be featured in the summer
issue of Clarknews, which
will be mailed in later July.
Dean Ed Ottensmeyer (left), Dorothy Mosakowski,
Clark Trustee William Mosakowski ’86, president of
the Public Consulting Group, Inc. and recipient of the
2004 Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter Honoree Award,
and his wife Jane Mosakowski
doc_397323786.pdf
In this description relating to shaping a clark model of entrepreneurship education.
Summer 2004
News from the Graduate School of Management at Clark University
Shaping a Clark model of entrepreneurship education
E
ntrepreneurship has enjoyed growing popu-
larity at business schools for more than a
decade. But now, many people—including
professors, entrepreneurs and investors—question
whether the way most schools presently teach the
subject connects to the real profile of entrepreneurial
successes. Among such people is Clark’s own
Kauffman Entrepreneur-in-Residence, George
Gendron. Having been editor-in-chief of Inc.
Magazine, the nation’s leading small business maga-
zine, for more than 20 years, Gendron knows some-
thing about what success as an entrepreneur
demands.
To learn others’ thoughts and ideas regarding con-
temporary, entrepreneurial education, Gendron con-
vened a series of roundtable discussions. To date,
roundtables have been held in Worcester,
Framingham, Mass., and New York City. “The idea,”
he says, “is to acquire the best thinking of high-pro-
file Clark alumni and friends who have succeeded as
entrepreneurs or successfully applied the entrepre-
neurial model in established organizations.”
One of the most striking flaws of entrepreneurial
education today, participants agreed, is its strong
focus on venture-capital funding. Yet, of approxi-
mately one million start-ups in the United States
annually, only about 2,000
are actually funded this
way. Larry Bohn M.A. ’76,
a roundtable participant
and managing director of
the Cambridge, Mass.-
based venture-capital firm
General Catalyst Partners,
says there is a major oppor-
tunity to create a program that has a more realistic
focus. GSOM entrepreneurship instructor Daniel
Sullivan concurs.
“Most courses,” Sullivan says, “center on the high-
risk/high-reward approach that has its roots in high
technology—come up with the next big idea, attract
venture-capital funding and then go public or sell the
company. But this isn’t everyone’s idea of entrepre-
neurship.”
“The simple fact is that more than 99% of all
entrepreneurial successes are not backed by venture
capital and depend upon a set of skills and attitudes
that are not being taught,” says Gendron. “The
process of building out a venture-backed company is
dramatically different than launching a self-financed
venture. We’re focused on giving students the skills
that are necessary to create something new in the
absence of resources. We believe that the ability and
capacity to get something done in the absence of
resources will be the crucial skill set in every aspect of
our culture—business, non-profits, the arts, education
and government.”
An example of a major shortcoming is that most
management programs lack an emphasis on the
importance of strong sales skills. “There are plenty of
courses in marketing, but few, if any, in sales,” says
Gendron. “Yet, every entrepreneur will tell you how
much their success depended on their ability to sell
their ideas to many others.”
Similarly, roundtable participant William Aubuchon
M.B.A. ’68, CEO of W.E. Aubuchon & Co., finds
that far too many of today’s business-school graduates
have weak communications skills. “Whether it’s oral
or written communications, or managing and leading
others—these are critical skills that every entrepre-
neur and manager must have,” Aubuchon says. “Yet
daily, I encounter people who simply don’t have
them.”
Roundtable participant and Clark University
Trustee Kija Kim says, “The nature of entrepreneur-
ship calls for a hands-on learning approach, some-
thing akin to the labs in science classes.” Kim is presi-
dent and CEO of Harvard Design & Mapping, a com-
pany she co-founded in 1988 that develops geospatial
information systems. Sullivan agrees with Kim. In
addition to creating a more laboratory-like learning
environment, he thinks involving more local entrepre-
neurs in the teaching process can be highly beneficial.
At the end of his GSOM entrepreneurship course,
student teams present their business plans to a panel
of local entrepreneurs and investors.
The roundtables were extremely productive, reports
Gendron, and he looks forward to having more in the
future. They generated a superb flow of ideas that
confirm his thesis that there are substantial opportu-
nities to advance entrepreneurial education, especial-
ly at Clark. “In effect,” he says, “the roundtables are
a resource and testing ground for ideas that could
become the foundation for a new approach to entre-
preneurship for a small university like Clark.”
Kija Kim, Clark trustee and presi-
dent and CEO of Harvard Design
and Mapping
Larry Bohn M.A. ‘76, managing
director of General Catalyst
Partners
Whether it’s oral or written communications, or managing
and leading others—these are critical skills that every
entrepreneur and manager must have.
—William Aubuchon M.B.A. ’68
William Aubuchon M.B.A. ‘68,
CEO of W.E. Aubuchon & Co.
M
itchell Modell, CEO of Modell’s
Sporting Goods, visited GSOM
on March 18 as part of GSOM’s
Leadership Speaker Series. Founded in 1889,
Modell’s is the nation’s oldest and largest
family-owned retailer of sporting goods.
From its Manhattan headquarters, the com-
pany now operates stores from New York to
Virginia. Clark University Trustee Robert J.
Stevenish, the president and COO of
Modell’s Sporting Goods, introduced Modell.
Modell presented his thoughts on leader-
ship through a string of compelling real-life
stories about his company. The most pivotal
of these occurred soon after he took the
company’s reins in 1986. On leaving the
office late one afternoon, Modell encoun-
tered James, a teenage boy, cleaning the
building’s lobby floor in a brand new pair of
sneakers. He asked James if he had bought
them at Modell’s. James informed the
stranger that he no longer shopped at
Modell’s for several reasons. Modell then
introduced himself and offered James a pair
of tickets to that weekend’s Knick’s game if
he would visit the company’s offices the next
day and repeat his thoughts to Modell’s buyers.
“That encounter
taught me that the
industry was changing,
but we weren’t chang-
ing with the times,” says
Modell. “We then com-
pleted market research,
which confirmed
the feedback that James
had given to us.
We learned that we
needed to deliver
superior customer service.”
“The moral of the story is our mission
statement, ‘Listen, Respect and Respond,’”
Modell said. “You have to apply this to your
customers and your associates, no matter
what business you are in. This has become a
very critical part of our culture. The commit-
ment that Bob Stevenish and I make to this
philosophy is very important to our business
leadership.” The result is that Modell’s
Sporting Goods has grown from 33 stores in
1992 to 109 stores today with 4,500
associates and revenues of more than $500M
annually.
When asked, what key messages he would
leave for the students, Modell said,
“Whatever you do, be passionate. Never
accept the status quo. Embrace change and
live in an environment to learn. Learn the
value of networking and asking questions.
You can learn from anyone, even the person
you meet on the street.”
Listen, respect and respond
Leadership Speaker Series
Serving as dean of Clark’s Graduate School of Management for
the past five years has been a great privilege. An even greater
privilege was being asked by Clark’s President, Provost, Advisory
Council members and my faculty colleagues to stay on the job
for five more years. With so many of our program, admissions
and alumni initiatives coming to fruition, and with such a high
quality faculty and staff creating innovative learning opportunities
for our students, it was an easy decision to make. I’m very excit-
ed by what I see on the horizon for this School.
I will begin my next term as dean by spending the 2004-05 aca-
demic year on a partial sabbatical leave. I plan to catch up on my
own special interests—strategic management and global business
—and will visit other top business schools to observe first hand
some of the most innovative features of their programs. Priscilla
Elsass, who has served with such distinction as GSOM’s associate
dean since 2001, will take on additional responsibilities as acting
dean, overseeing the operations of the School. Both of us will be
working on the next revisions of our strategic plan, program
development and alumni relations. I am confident that, building
on a solid foundation, it will be a year of continued progress for
the School.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work as dean is help-
ing people in the growing GSOM community to connect to one
another. To take a recent example, students in an M.B.A. class
this spring did team projects that focused on one firm’s advertis-
ing plans to support a regional expansion strategy. The top exec-
utive who read their project reports was so impressed that he
invited the students and their
faculty mentor to visit his corpo-
rate headquarters to present
their recommendations to his
senior marketing staff. This type
of real-world project provided
students a chance to show their
talent, have their ideas evaluat-
ed by a senior executive, and
improve their future job
prospects. So, in your search for
talented and motivated interns
or employees, let us connect
you to our current students—
they are very good.
As always, I look forward to
hearing from you about your
ideas for making GSOM even
better, and making our growing
community ever stronger.
Ed Ottensmeyer
[email protected]
Of Privilege and Progress
A Message from the Dean
GSOM Visiting Executives 2003 - 2004
• Sushil Bhatia, Ph.D., President, JMD Manufacturing, Inc.
• Norm Brodsky, CEO, Citi Storage and writer for Inc. Magazine
• Trish Carter, CEO, Dancing Deer Bakery
• Linda Cavaioli, Executive Director, YWCA
• Nancy J. Connolly, President, Lasertone Corporation
• Paige Arnoff-Fenn, CEO, Mavens & Moguls
• Karen Green, President, VNA Care Network
• Rosemary Jordano, CEO, ChildrenFirst
• Ryan McNeil, CEO, PBFN and Professional Football Player
• Frank Saba, President, Milford Whitinsville Regional Hospital
• Mitch Sanders, President, ECI Biotech
Dean Edward J. Ottensmeyer
C
lark GSOM alumni, students,
faculty and friends were jolted
out of winter’s doldrums by a
performance of Blue Man Group in New
York City’s Astor Place Theater on Feb.
19. A special reception for Clark atten-
dees preceded the show and featured
Group co-founder Matt Goldman M.B.A.
’84. The event drew one of the biggest
crowds of alumni yet, said Clark President
John Bassett. The reception highlight was
a Q&A session during which Goldman
answered questions about the business
aspects of Blue Man Group posed by
Clark’s entrepreneur-in-residence, George
Gendron.
Gendron: The Blue Man Group’s spec-
tacular theatrical success is widely rec-
ognized. What can you tell us about
the business aspect of the production?
Goldman: With shows now in New York,
Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas, the
Group has about 500 employees. Each
show has 80 to 120 people on staff. And
Blue Man Productions, the umbrella
organization that oversees everything we
do, employs about another 100. Gross rev-
enues are about $100 million annually.
It’s been 15 years since the concept
really crystallized, so we think we’ve
reach a key point in the organization’s life.
Now we’re looking at the next 15 years
and thinking about where it will lead us.
One new step we’re taking is venturing
overseas. We recently licensed the concept
to an Amsterdam group that plans to
open a Blue Man show in Germany on
May 9.
Gendron: Do you see yourself as an
artist or business manager?
Goldman: When we first opened, neither
the press nor the public could put a label
on us. Until then, there hadn’t been stage
shows entirely without language. Not fit-
ting an existing label made it difficult for
the press to write about us. And, within
the Group, we avoid labels. We think that
what occurs backstage and in the office is
also an artistic endeavor. But, as artists,
we’re very realistic. We know we have to
run with black ink to continue for the long
run. And, we’re a completely artist-owned
organization with no managers, agents, or
others who earn a commission on our
work. This differentiates us from almost
everyone in the entertainment field,
besides being bald and blue.
Gendron: You have an extraordinary
partnership that drives this business. It
seems that you manage by consensus.
What makes your partnership work—is
it chemistry or have you put in place
guidelines for yourselves?
Goldman: Well, [co-founder] Chris Wink
and I were in school together when we
were 12 years old, so we have known each
other for 30 years. In addition, [co-
founder] Phil Stanton has been with us for
17 years. If Phil stays three more, we may
give him keys to the office. So, the three
of us go way back. We also devoted a lot
of time to
working on our
relationship
during the
Group’s early
years. At times
it was a real
struggle, but we
had to take
time to under-
stand each
other’s thought
processes and
value systems.
Doing that
hard emotional
and psychologi-
cal groundwork
made the going
much easier
later. We also
operate as a
partnership,
meaning we all
must agree—
there is no such thing as a vote. To all of
us, the Blue Man character is very special,
and the three of us serve the character,
and our decisions are focused to support
that end.
Gendron: People say you can tell a lot
about an organization by what it
chooses to do. I think you can tell by
what it chooses not to do. What is
something Blue Man Group decided
not to do?
Goldman: We’ve been fortunate in having
many opportunities come our way. One
day, my cell phone rang, and it was the
assistant to Jeffery Katzenberg, then head
of Disney Studios. She said Mr. Katzenberg
wanted to fly us to the West Coast to dis-
cuss his idea for a Blue Man movie. I
explained that we were open to talking
and loved flying, but were committed to
producing a special event on which we
were already behind schedule. He eventu-
ally came to us and, after quickly agreeing
to grant us full creative control, we inked
a contract. That same day, he left Disney
Studios. Fortunately, a clause in the con-
tract enabled us to let it expire. Not hav-
ing outside influences on our creative
work for 15 years has been extremely
important.
Gendron: How did your Clark educa-
tion contribute to or influence your
journey with Blue Man Group?
Goldman: I was part of the five-year
B.A./M.B.A. program. The second year of
the M.B.A. program was immensely help-
ful in teaching me a process that I could
apply in my work. Clark has a collabora-
tive and supportive atmosphere among
faculty and students. The case method of
teaching worked particularly well for me
as it allowed me to build a process to
determine solutions. Overall, I consider
my experience at Clark to have been
tremendously positive and helpful. My
first job after Clark was working for CJ
Anand M.B.A. ’82 who is still a close
friend of mine, and he is here with us
tonight. My father, Robert, is also here
tonight. It is the cumulative process of all
of the events in my life that I have built
upon to arrive where I am today. It has
been a pleasure to team up with Clark
tonight to offer this event, as I think of
Clark as a special place.
Blue Man Group’s art of entrepreneurship
GSOM Dean Edward Ottensmeyer (second from left), Matt Goldman ’83,
M.B.A. ’84 (second from right) and President John Bassett (right) with three
Blue Man performers following the Clark/Blue Man Group event in New
York City
We think that what occurs
backstage and in the office
is also an artistic endeavor.
—Matt Goldman ’83, M.B.A. ’84
Hospitals must operate differently
GSOM faculty challenging conventional wisdom
F
or more than 100 years, hospital
administrators have been admon-
ished to run their organizations
like businesses. But GSOM professors
Margarete Arndt and Barbara Bigelow
argue that this assumption should be chal-
lenged before hospitals adopt specific
business practices, and they have nearly 20
years of research to support their case.
In 1986, Arndt and Bigelow were first
struck by some of the decisions many hos-
pitals were making. “We wanted to under-
stand why they were taking certain strate-
gic actions when there was little or no
research into their benefits,” says Bigelow.
As an example, she points to the many
satellite clinics that hospitals were open-
ing. “We discovered they did it because of
the assumption that vertical integration
would increase both inpatient admissions
and market share.” Arndt and Bigelow
questioned this assumption because
patients typically used these clinics for
minor problems. They decided to research
this issue and discovered that the clinics
actually had no impact on either inpatient
admissions or market share.
Hospital executives have long been
pressured to manage their institutions in
business-like ways, the researchers say.
This includes adopting many of the tools
and practices frequently put forth by man-
agement gurus—such as total quality man-
agement and re-engineering. “It started a
century ago,” says Arndt. “There were sig-
nificant writings in the practitioner litera-
ture, even then, that admonished hospitals
to operate like businesses.”
The reason that business practices do
not necessarily yield the desired results,
say Arndt and Bigelow, is that hospitals
and businesses have important differences.
For example, physicians and nurses carry
out most of a hospital’s work resulting in
significant autonomy for these profession-
als. Another difference is that hospitals
are price-takers—they generally must
accept whatever third-party reimbursers
are willing to pay. Still another difference
is that hospitals have a significant commu-
nity obligation to provide free care.
To understand what drives hospitals to
adopt changes that remain unproven in
their industry, Arndt and Bigelow turned
to institutional theory. It holds that con-
formity gives organizations legitimacy—
especially when the product or service is
hard to define and quality is hard to meas-
ure. “Hospitals try to conform to bolster
their legitimacy—even when doing so
makes no sense otherwise,” explains
Arndt. To illustrate, Bigelow adds,
“Keeping costs as low as possible is some-
thing most companies strive for, but if you
need brain surgery, would you choose the
hospital with the lowest cost?”
The researchers are staunch in their
efforts to convince hospital administrators
and others to question business practices
before committing resources to their
adoption. As with satellite clinics, simply
questioning whether the claims made on
behalf of a business practice make sense
enables a hospital to better decide if they
want to adopt the business practice, and if
so, how. For example, total quality man-
agement may be very effective for some
functions but totally ineffective for others.
Without questioning the assumption, a
hospital may try to apply it to functions
where, rather than lowering costs, it may
actually raise them.
Their research finds that hospitals have
long demonstrated remarkable abilities in
managing large groups of highly
autonomous professionals. Given the cur-
rent business trend toward less hierarchi-
cal leadership styles, Arndt and Bigelow
say, corporate managers can learn much
from the health care industry.
“Challenging assumptions is at the very
core of Clark’s mission,” say Arndt and
Bigelow. “We teach students to constantly
identify assumptions and challenge the
conventional wisdom. And that’s just what
our research in the health-care industry
does.”
Arndt earned a master’s degree in manage-
ment at Simmons College and a doctorate
in business administration at Boston
University. She teaches the GSOM capstone
course Leadership and Decision Making,
along with several courses in health-care
management, and is the author of many
professional journal articles. Bigelow grad-
uated from Cornell University, earned a
master’s degree in management at Simmons
College and a Ph.D. at MIT’s Sloan School
of Management. She co-authored “Unions
and Legitimacy” with fellow GSOM faculty
member Gary Chaison and, from 1999 to
2003, was co-editor with Arndt of Health
Care Management Review. Widely recog-
nized in the health-care industry, the pair
recently returned from the Fourth
International Conference on Organizational
Behavior in Health Care in Banff, Canada.
Professor Margarete Arndt
Professor Barbara Bigelow
Keeping costs as low as
possible is something most
companies strive for, but if
you need brain surgery would
you choose the hospital with
the lowest cost?
—GSOM professor Barbara Bigelow
Applying learning in real-world business
‘‘I
think this is one of the best courses at Clark,” says
M.B.A. student Paul Guertin of Management
Consulting Projects, a popular GSOM capstone course.
“You spend so much time learning theories and analyzing cases in
the classroom, but learn far more by actually applying them in a
real business.”
Guertin was part of a team of four students whose consulting
assignment was to assist a local entrepreneur who had just bought
a small wine import business. The business was struggling with
antiquated information systems, and, as the team soon discov-
ered, aging may be good for wine but not for the support systems
a wine importer needs to efficiently manage inventory, process
orders and handle accounting. The team’s challenge: to assess the
company’s current and future needs, identify and evaluate avail-
able options and present the owner with a well-founded recom-
mendation.
“Given all the demands on my time, it was extremely helpful
to have the GSOM students take on this important project,” says
entrepreneur John Geagea, who purchased the Central
Distributing Company in Sturbridge, Mass. For many years,
Central was a subsidiary of a corporation that had provided the
company’s systems support for accounting, sales and other busi-
ness functions. Geagea, like many corporate executives, had
decided to make a mid-career change and was preparing to
launch his own wine import business when he learned that
Central, which had been spun off by its parent, was for sale. He
decided that buying the company would save him considerable
time in the startup process. Then came a hiccup.
The bank where Geagea sought a loan to help fund the pur-
chase said his business plan needed to be rewritten and referred
him to the Clark University Small Business Development Center
(SBDC) for assistance. John Rainey, an SBDC consultant and
adjunct faculty member with GSOM, assisted Geagea through
the purchase of Central. When the deal was completed, Geagea
still faced several challenges, including the replacement of its
patchwork of support systems. In his role as one of the faculty
advisers for the Management Consulting Projects course, Rainey
saw this challenge as an excellent student project. He assembled a
team of students with knowledge and skills in several different
areas, including: management information systems, sales and
marketing, finance and entrepreneurship. In addition to Guertin,
the project team included Michele Capacchione, Georg
Schuppert and Ajmeri Rahman.
The group divided the initial phase of the assignment into two
areas. While Capacchione and Schuppert conducted an in-depth
analysis of the company’s needs, Guertin and Rahman contacted
several similar wine distributors to learn about the information
and accounting systems they use, how difficult the systems were
to install and how well they function. Armed with this informa-
tion, the team contacted the vendors of several, often-competing
software systems that they determined might meet Central’s
needs, and subsequently attended on-site demonstrations.
“Suddenly, talking about the software’s price and potential hid-
den costs was no
longer just a class-
room exercise, but a
real concern that we
had to weigh careful-
ly,” says Schuppert.
Rahman adds, “The
consequences of
your efforts in the
classroom affect only
you, but in the real
world they can influ-
ence the company’s
ability to succeed.”
After a detailed
cost-benefits analysis
of the available soft-
ware packages, the
students agreed on
the one they felt best
met Central’s needs. As the final step, they prepared and deliv-
ered their recommendation and rationale behind it in a formal
slide presentation to Geagea. The presentation was accompanied
by a binder filled with their notes and research. “They really
exceeded my expectations,” says Geagea. “They even visited sup-
pliers and saw the software demonstrated.” Central Distributing,
which Geagea says he’ll likely rename soon, recently purchased
the system software recommended by the project team and is
now having it installed.
The Management Consulting Projects Course, taught by
Rainey and SBDC Senior Counselor Michael Holbrook, is an
ideal partnership among the University, GSOM, the business
community, the students and the SBDC. To date, more than 170
students have participated in 41 projects and contributed more
than 18,000 consulting hours to local businesses. “These students
have had a strong favorable impact on local business,” says
Rainey. “It’s a win for everyone.”
The Clark University Small Business
Development Center (SBDC) offers free
and confidential management assistance
to start-up, early-stage and growing
businesses. The SBDC is funded
through federal and state grants and
does not charge for its services. Last
year the SBDC assisted more than
1,000 businesses in Central Massach-
usetts and helped them obtain more
than $10 million in financing. For more
information, visit:
www.clarku.edu/offices/sbdc
or call 508-793-7615.
The consequences of your efforts in the
classroom affect only you, but in the real
world they can influence the company’s
ability to succeed.
—M.B.A. student Ajmeri Rahman
M.B.A. students Paul Guertin (left), Ajmeri Rahman and Michele
Capacchione
The Small Business
Development Center
Partnership for community development
‘‘I
’ve grown so passionate about
this project that I’m volunteer-
ing extra time and plan to stay
on after graduation to see it through,” says
M.B.A. student Richard Boucher.
Boucher’s project is a business expansion
and development initiative, which is part
of a major neighborhood revitalization
effort of the South Worcester
Neighborhood Improvement Corporation
(SWNIC) to which Boucher and classmate
Suwen Chen have been making major
contributions as GSOM interns.
While many GSOM students seek
internships in the corporate sector, others
like Chen and Boucher increasingly see
bringing best business practices to the
nonprofit sector as a way of giving some-
thing valuable to the local community
while honing their management skills by
solving real-world problems. “I plan to
pursue a career in marketing,” adds
Boucher, “and view this internship a big
stepping stone.”
Central to the objectives of SWNIC is
Southbridge Street, a major thoroughfare
through the neighborhood and a gateway
into the heart of Worcester. From the
1930s to the 1950s, it was a thriving area
and home to numerous manufacturers,
foundries and other commercial enterpris-
es. However, growing international com-
petition began to exact its toll in the late
1950s, and the bustling, 22-acre Worcester
neighborhood entered a downward eco-
nomic spiral from which it has yet to
recover.
The success of Boston and other major
cities in restoring such blighted neighbor-
hoods eventually drew the attention of
Worcester Mayor Tim Murray. Encouraged
by what he saw, Murray launched an effort
last year to revitalize the Southbridge
Street area, using urban redevelopment
funds provided by the state. To oversee
the effort, the city formed SWNIC, led by
Executive Director Ron Charette.
Funding for the neighborhood revital-
ization project is expected to become
available July 1, so SWNIC and interns
Boucher and Chen have been busy laying
the all-important groundwork. “The
interns’ primary challenge was to think
about the project in non-traditional ways,”
says Charette. He further explained that
“today’s most popular redevelopment
model focuses on upgrading and
‘streetscaping’ small retail areas, but the
Southbridge Street neighborhood is wide-
spread with an eclectic business mix that
doesn’t lend itself to the café approach.”
The interns also needed to be creative
about funding any activities they planned
to occur before the July 1 funding date,
Charette added.
After carefully assessing the situation
from multiple perspectives, Boucher and
Chen explored numerous options and then
crafted a plan that would take close
account of the project’s many unique chal-
lenges in developing strategies for expand-
ing current businesses and developing new
businesses for the area. While Boucher
concentrated on the marketing and com-
munications
aspects, Chen
applied her
newly developed
financial expert-
ise to such tasks
as cost analyses
and budgeting.
To help city offi-
cials, corporate
partners and
others better
understand the
project’s objec-
tives and plans,
they created
an elaborate
PowerPoint
presentation,
which has been
used extensively
by SWNIC
officials in
business and
community
presentations.
Noting a lack of community pride in
the area, Boucher applied his marketing
knowledge to conceive of a unique symbol
or theme that might serve much like a
brand around which they could build a
fresh new neighborhood image. The
theme he created, “Transportation
Through Time,” and an accompanying
logo reflect the past and convey the signif-
icance of transportation in the area. The
theme and logo will be a prominent fea-
ture on banners, flyers, T-shirts and other
items the project will require.
The interns also encountered the chal-
lenge of neighborhood cleanliness, a prob-
lem common to most economically
depressed areas. To meet this challenge,
they organized a campaign to encourage
residents to participate in an area-wide
clean-up on Earth Day. And to further
strengthen community spirit, the team cre-
ated “Paint Me A People,” a street festival
scheduled for mid-August to celebrate
neighborhood diversity. These efforts and
many others are being supported by local
organizations, principally the College of
the Holy Cross, Massachusetts Electric
Company, Polar Beverages, the
Providence & Worcester Railroad
Company and Rotmans.
Additional support for the internship
stipends of Boucher and Chen was provid-
ed by BankNorth and Rotmans through
the Clark University Corporate Associates
Program.
“It’s been a highly interesting project
with substantial exposure to senior man-
agement and business owners of many
companies,” says Boucher. Chen, who
grew up in China, says it was an excellent
opportunity to sharpen her business com-
munications skills and improve her knowl-
edge of American culture. Charette
reports that the community’s response to
the project has been tremendous. “We’ll
certainly need more interns in the future,”
he adds, as the preparation and planning
Boucher and Chen helped put in place
shifts into high gear.
It’s been a highly interesting
project with substantial
exposure to senior manage-
ment and business owners
of many companies.
—M.B.A. student Richard Boucher
T. Luke Young (left), development director for SWNIC; Ron Charette, execu-
tive director of SWNIC; Richard Boucher, GSOM marketing intern; Suwen
Chen, GSOM finance intern.
G
SOM’s alumni share a common experience of learning
about business from engaged and dedicated faculty,
while working with a diverse group of students. Shan
Lu, M.D., Ph.D., earned his Master of Health Administration
degree from GSOM in 1992, while overlapping his Ph.D. and
post-doctoral training at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School (UMMS), where he brought a management perspective to
his fellow students and colleagues.
Lu emigrated from China to the United States after finishing
his medical residency. He joined UMMS in 1985 with a sense that
some day he would return to China. He knew that a master’s
degree in management would help him apply his technical skills
to developing medical research in China. By creating relation-
ships with strong mentors at UMMS—and by enhancing his edu-
cation in management—Lu’s career has led to significant accom-
plishments. He is currently an associate professor of medicine at
UMMS and heads their HIV vaccine effort. After dedicating
many years to research on a new HIV vaccine, Lu and his team
have received approval to complete a clinical trial to test the vac-
cine’s safety and immunity in people, as the vaccine has been des-
ignated as an investigational new drug (IND) by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration.
“In my work, I face many challenges related to managing
research studies, such as financial analysis for large grants, inte-
grating global teams and developing biological labs,” says Lu. “I
am like the CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for my research
studies. In obtaining my degree from GSOM, I was able to gain
more knowledge of leadership,
financial management,
accounting and organizational
behavior. The impact of my
business management degree
has been significant on my
career, and I can see how man-
agement and scientific training
complement each other to
achieve considerable results in
a global environment. Today, I
work with teams that include
many different countries,
including China and Congo, to
complete my research studies
on world health issues. It is very
gratifying to apply my skills to the critical area of HIV vaccine
research. It is estimated that more than 40 million people world-
wide are infected with HIV and millions are expected to die from
AIDS this year.”
Lu also maintains a primary-care practice at the University
Hospital affiliated with UMMS. “There is such satisfaction in
working as both a scientist and a physician to balance the daily
service to our patients and the creative work of seeking new pre-
ventive and therapeutic measures,” says Lu. “My Clark education
in management has been very valuable to my career by providing
me with skills that support turning a vision into reality as I work
with my partners around the world.”
CJ Anand M.B.A. ’82*, Shrewsbury, Mass.,
is president of Systems and Management
Consultants.
Larry Bohn M.A. ’76*, Arlington, Mass.,
the former CEO of NetGenesis, is now a part-
ner at the Boston-based venture-capital firm
General Catalyst.
Judy Boyko M.B.A. ’94*, Northborough,
Mass., is CEO of Excelerations, Inc.
Ann Brady M.B.A. ’91*, Westborough,
Mass., is the former CFO for the Art Technology
Group.
Bob Brodeur M.B.A. ‘96*, Worcester,
Mass., is strategic marketing manager at
Allegro Microsystems, Inc.
Diane Clay M.B.A. ’86*, West Boylston,
Mass., is director of product marketing for
Courion Corporation.
Ralph D. Crowley Jr. M.B.A. ’79*,
Worcester, Mass., is president of Polar
Beverages.
Andrew Dahl ’68*, Farmington, Conn., is
vice president of Business Development at
CareGain in Princeton, N.J.
Mike Davis M.B.A. ’77*, Keene, N.H., is
vice president of information services for PC
Connect.
Jim Gorman M.B.A. ’04*, Marlborough,
Mass., is an information technology specialist
for Fidelity Investments.
Pooja Masand M.B.A. ’03*,
Marlborough, Mass., is a technical writer for
Waltech, Inc.
Michael Mooney ’93, M.B.A ’94,
Brookline, Mass., is senior securities lending
trader at Investors Bank and Trust in Boston.
Stefan Nagel M.B.A. ’98, Stanford, Calif.,
recently accepted a teaching position at
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Francisco Ortuzar Cruz M.B.A ’03,
Santiago, Chile, has been promoted to CFO of
LIDER, the main division of D&S, a supermarket
operator in Chile.
Matthias P. Ostertag M.B.A ’93, Taipei,
Taiwan, has relocated from Singapore to head
DyStar’s operations in synthetic fibers.
Lydia Pastuszek ’75*, Sudbury, Mass., is
senior vice president of human resources at
National Grid—USA.
Brad Powers ’97, M.B.A. ’98*, New York
City, is executive vice president of Marketing for
NextResponse Marketing.
Alden Reed ’82, M.B.A. ’85*, Worcester,
Mass., is managing director for Business
Strategy Resources.
Peter Rothstein ’76*, Lincoln, Mass.,
founded Portable Computer Solutions, which
was sold to Lotus. He is now working to launch
Allegro Ventures, a seed-capital investment
fund.
Sebastian Rozas M.B.A. ’01, Santiago,
Chile, has been promoted to real estate manag-
er for D&S, a supermarket operator in Chile.
Josh Shirazi ’02, M.B.A. ’03*, Leominster,
Mass., is CEO o f Shirazi Catering and
Distributing.
Jay Spach M.B.A. ’84*, is senior vice presi-
dent of human resources for the Thomson
Corporation.
Venki Sundaresan M.B.A. ’99*, Boston,
Mass., is offshore programs services director at
the Gillette Company.
Harsh Walia M.B.A. ’94*, Marlborough,
Mass., is president of Waltech, Inc.
* Indicates visitor to GSOM. Many Clark alumni
visit GSOM each year to participate in the
Leadership Speaker Series and career panels,
and to visit classrooms, which enhances our
focus on active learning. GSOM thanks these
alumni who visited Clark during this academic
year.
In Memoriam
John Galvin M.B.A. ‘76
Holden, Mass. Nov. 11, 2003
Alumni Notes: Stay Connected to Clark – View our Web site at www.clarku.edu/mba
Send us your news at our new link www.clarku.edu/gsomalumninews
GSOM alumnus heads major HIV vaccine effort at UMMS
Dr. Shan Lu M.H.A. ‘92
Non-Profit Org.
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Worcester, MA 01610-1477
Beta Gamma Sigma inductees (2004 M.B.A. grad-
uates unless otherwise indicated; front row from
left) Ning Qian, Irena Andonova, Matthew Marin
’04, Ellen Tang ’04, Sarah Brooks, Katarzyna
Pianka and Rakhi Bhattacharya; (back row, from
left) Anne Baldridge, Brian Oxman, Russell
Kassatly, Lisa Desrochers, Danielle Sohn, Tatjana
Nagolnaja, Edward Ritzer and Claudia Giliberti
Dean Ed Ottensmeyer with Ajmeri Rahman M.B.A. ’04
Beta Gamma Sigma
2004
GSOM held its annual Beta
Gamma Sigma Dinner and
Induction Ceremony on May
20. Four graduating under-
graduate management
majors and 24 graduating
M.B.A. students were
inducted into Beta Gamma
Sigma, a national honor
society that recognizes and
promotes scholarship in busi-
ness. Clark Trustee William
Mosakowski ’76, president
of Public Consulting Group,
received the Chapter
Honoree Award at the event.
Urmi Bhattacharya M.B.A. ’04 (left), Empi Baryeh
M.B.A. ’04, Rakhi Bhattacharya M.B.A. ’04, Claudia
Giliberti M.B.A. ’04 and Ekow Archer M.B.A. ’04
Commencement 2004
Chief Justice Margaret
Marshall delivered the
keynote address at
Commencement on May 23.
Prior to the ceremony,
GSOM graduating students
and their families and friends
gathered for the annual
GSOM brunch in the Bistro
in the Higgins University
Center. Commencement will
be featured in the summer
issue of Clarknews, which
will be mailed in later July.
Dean Ed Ottensmeyer (left), Dorothy Mosakowski,
Clark Trustee William Mosakowski ’86, president of
the Public Consulting Group, Inc. and recipient of the
2004 Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter Honoree Award,
and his wife Jane Mosakowski
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