1 April 2002

Dear CBG Faculty, Staff, Fellows and Friends,

While today is April Fool's Day and time for some fun and foolishness (as well as opening day at Fenway), here at CBG we’re also serious about institutional collaborations and excellence in teaching.

Institutional collaborations.  Harvard operates on that ancient accounting principle, "every tub on its own bottom."  That tends to make Harvard a highly entrepreneurial environment; it can also lead to sometimes unhealthy degrees of competitiveness and resistance to cooperation.  At CBG, we're trying hard to be both innovative and collaborative, and to prove that institutional partnerships don't have to be an oxymoron.  I'm pleased to report that we're making substantial progress in working with others, both within the Kennedy School and beyond Harvard, and that we're discovering that collaboration isn’t an unnatural act, after all.  Here are eight examples of partnerships that work and seem to achieve the kind of synergies that justify the effort:

1.  Last month, CBG collaborated with the Center for Public Leadership and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations in hosting a major conference designed to help bridge the gap between theory, research, practice and need in the area of leadership.  "Leadership 2002" attracted some 75 serious academic pioneers and successful practitioners from business and the community and produced a wealth of knowledge and interaction that went well beyond what any single center alone would have been able to produce.  David Gergen, Mark Moore and I were so pleased with how well it went and how seamlessly our centers and staff collaborated that we're already planning "Leadership 2003"!

2.  This Thursday, April 4th, CBG collaborates with the Kansai Keizai Doyukai business association of Osaka, Japan in hosting a symposium entitled: "Economic Development and Security in the Asia-Pacific Region."  Featuring a score of Harvard faculty -- including Asia Center Director Bill Kirby, Dean Joe Nye and Prof. Ezra Vogel on "The Paradox of American Power" and governance, Rob Stavins on the economics of global climate change, and Tony Saich on the Asia-Pacific economy after China’s accession to the WTO, this nearly decade-old partnership attracts the CEOs and vice chairman level executives of some of Japan's leading industrial corporations, including Matsushita, Sony, Suntory, NTT and Daikin Industries.  The CBG-Doyukai collaboration also involves two resident Doyukai Fellows, substantial applied research, and a major annual conference (the most recent conference, dedicated to the memory of CBG's Ray Vernon, produced a book from Brookings entitled Efficiency, Equity, Legitimacy: The Multilateral Trading System at the Millennium).

3.  April 12^th and 13^th, CBG will be collaborating with the Harvard School of Public Health, the Shorenstein Center, BCSIA, the Harvard Divinity School, the Weatherhead Center, CID,  HLS and HBS in the 2002 Harvard Colloquium on International Affairs:  "Globalization after September 11: Has Anything Changed?" Organized by Prof. Anne-Marie Slaughter, this ambitious event attempts to tap intellectual resources across the entire University -- and it seems to be working just fine!  Come hear former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin on "Globalization and Poverty Amidst Today's Complexities" in the Kennedy School's Forum, 7:00 PM Friday night, or take in a closing conversation on globalization with Harvard President Larry Summers and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Saturday at 4:00 PM in the Ames Courtroom at Harvard Law School.

4.  Last month, at the invitation of the Hauser Center and the Carr Center for Human Rights, CBG collaborated on a very productive and stimulating first annual retreat on "Broadening Intellectual Foundations on Transnational Issues and Institutional Innovations," organized by David Brown and Sanjeev Khagram.

5.  This week, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG) holds its plenary session in Atlanta, Georgia, where a cross-section of business, environmental, government and academic experts will convene and collaborate, under Bill Hogan's leadership, in exploring timely issues of corporate governance and the fiduciary role of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) in relation to stakeholders, regulators and consumers.

6.  In the middle of the month, CBG will join the Vienna Institute of International Economic Studies, the Weatherhead and Gunzberg Centers, and the Austrian Marshall Fund, in hosting a conference on "Transatlantic Perspectives on the U.S. and European Economies: Convergence, Cooperation or Conflict?"  CBG's Robert Lawrence and Michael Landesmann of the Vienna Institute have partnered to engage thinkers and doers from both sides of the Atlantic on issues ranging from comparative growth performance to corporate culture and governance.

7.  Next month in Beijing, CBG’s Tony Saich and I will be joined by Harvard President Larry Summers, Prof. Dutch Leonard, Howard Husock, and Martin Linsky at the launch of an important new collaboration between CBG and Tsinghua University, and the Development Research Center, a policy research and consulting by Amway, China's Leaders in Development is a new training and capacity building program that will bring to KSG some 300 local officials from across China over the next five years for extensive training and exposure to public management and international development issues.  This important new initiative is also designed to assist our Chinese colleagues in developing their own equivalent of the Kennedy School as Tsinghua launches a School of Public Policy and Management.

8.  Last month, John Ruggie and I kicked off the new Weil Program on Collaborative Governance, based at CBG but designed to tap the intellectual energies of faculty and fellows from across the Kennedy School and throughout the University.  Generously funded by CBG's strongest external supporters and collaborators -- Frank and Denie Weil -- this new effort is not only collaborative; its focus is actually on collaboration, itself.  Perhaps nothing could sum up CBG's commitment any more strongly or affirmatively.  As a Center that was conceived as a place where scholars and practitioners could focus on the intersection of business and government, we were "born collaborative."  In a sense, the Weil Program is returning us to our beginnings and our roots as an interdisciplinary and cross sectoral Center operating at the intersection of business, government and civil society across a wide dimension of policy issues.  As we sharpen our focus on collaborative governance, look to us to practice what we teach and research by acting in a more collaborative manner than ever before.

Teaching excellence. Centers like CBG put a major premium on research, writing and publications.  But many of our faculty are equally committed to teaching.  Joe Nye recently gave out the "Oscars" for teaching (actually, it's not a statue but rather dinner on the Dean).  Recipients aren't voted on by colleagues but a much tougher audience: students.  To qualify, awardees must score at least 4.5 on a 5 point scale in student evaluations.  Believe me (as a habitual non-recipient), this is the equivalent of a triple axle in Olympic skating!  I'm extremely pleased to report that eight CBG faculty received recognition by the judges and will be enjoying a tasty dinner on the Dean: Professors Bill Hogan, Robert Lawrence, Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, Roger Porter, Dani Rodrik, Jack Donahue, Malcolm Sparrow and Dutch Leonard.  Am I ever proud of my colleagues!

Some other news of interest: 

--  The newest member of our CBG family is Madorie Meiyun, born March 5, to Sarah Cao of CBG's China Public Policy Program and her husband Lizhong. 

--  The best finish at the highest altitude of a CBG staffer: Jennifer Shultis, racing to a second place finish up Mt. Greylock in the Moby Dick competition, sporting her flashy CBG hat.

--  CBG’s two newest Senior Fellows:  Professor Aline Wong of the National University of Singapore, who is also a former Minister of Education, Minister of Health and Member of Parliament in Singapore; and Prof. Hideki Ide of Keio University in Japan, where he is a leading authority on the economics of regulation and energy economics.

--  Prof. Rob Stavins and Assistant Prof. Nolan Miller are finalizing the details on a major research grant from EPA to provide an analysis of the efficacy of the Toxic Release Inventory -- an innovative information disclosure program.  Empirical findings will help inform the debate on the potential for such non-regulatory approaches to the business-government relationship and their impact on achieving desirable environmental goals.

--  Tomorrow,  April 2^nd , 9:00 AM in the Allison Dining Room, Taubman, 5th floor, come hear Prof. Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago Law School on "Probability Neglect: Emotions, Worst Cases, and the Law" -- kicking off a month of active faculty presentations (for more: consult our website: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/cbg).

--  Last month, CBG held a lively Forum debate on "Enron: Causes, Effects and Cures" with Cong. Ed Markey, CBG's Bob Pozen (former president of Fidelity) and Mary Schapiro, president of NASD Regulation. Staying topical and timely, we'll be co-hosting another Forum event on April 11 at 6:00 PM that promises to be equally lively and informative, on "Climate Change, the Bush Administration and the Kyoto Protocol" featuring Jim Connaughton, chairman of the President's Council on Environmental Quality, and a faculty panel.

Sorry this can't be said in a shorter way, but it's my way of reminding you that we want your participation, we benefit from your involvement, and we've got plenty cooking here at CBG!

All the best,

 

Ira A. Jackson, Director

Center for Business and Government