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Professor creates global strategic management CD-ROM By Bill Campbell
Dr. Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Business Studies in Penn State’s Smeal College of Business Administration, has created a CD-ROM titled Global Strategic Management in the New Millennium for the college’s Executive Education programs. Dave Shelly—Penn State Image Resource Center	Executive education and corporate communications are moving to an exciting new level in the digital world — complete with state-of-the-art graphics and digitized sound — through a CD-ROM developed by the Center for Global Business Studies in The Mary Jean and Frank P. Smeal College of Business Administration.   “There is nothing similar to this in the marketplace,” said Dr. Fariborz Ghadar, William A. Schreyer Professor of Global Management, Policies and Planning and director of the Center for Global Business Studies. “It has the potential to revolutionize executive education. We plan to give it to each participant in our Executive Education programs, which are internationally ranked and are designed for managers who have been in business 10 to 15 years and need to be refreshed in terms of what is happening now.”   “It is not just a repeat of what was presented in the classroom, but offers thoughts on the topic in an entertaining fashion from top CEOs in the country,” Ghadar said. “It can be put on a company’s Web site and any employee can access it. We are using it this way at Penn State. Several companies, asking how it can be customized in terms of how globalization applies to specific industries, have also approached us. We see it as a very robust, powerful tool.”   The CD-ROM, titled Global Strategic Management in the New Millennium, opens with a colorful map of the world distorted to reflect the impact of the global economy. With a background of up-tempo music, it features five phases or chapters, each introduced by Ghadar, with links to related articles and a videotaped presentation by a chief executive officer (CEO) of a major corporation.   Chapter Five, for example, is presented against a chessboard background and explores how global strategy is evolving. CEOs featured include William A. Schreyer, chairman emeritus of Merrill Lynch & Co.; Robert E. Svensk, president of Exports Insurance Co. Ltd.; John K. Leonard, former president of Cigna Group Insurance; Earnest W. Davenport Jr., chairman of the board and CEO, Eastman Chemical Co.; and Linda S. Strumpf, chief investment officer of the Ford Foundation.   Interspersed throughout the learning module are vignettes on global strategies in the insurance, hospitality and manufacturing industries. In one vignette on Sony cellular phone marketing, the user can connect to the Sony Web site, view the product and see how Sony is marketing it. At the conclusion, a panel of four CEOs provides advice on dealing with globalization in the future.   Ghadar, who has more than 20 years experience working with corporations around the world, said the CD-ROM has been distributed to members of the Center for Global Business Studies’ Advisory Board and to a group of human resources and executive education managers in a number of large corporations.   “The reaction is that it’s terrific and can be a valuable communications tool in a company,” he said. “It is more effective, more interesting and a lot more fun. I believe we need to make learning exciting and entertaining. It is the reality of the game in education. You need to get interest and attention before you can communicate effectively. We can do so much more with the new technology. If we don’t use it, we are doing a disservice to our students and our Executive Education programs.”   The Center for Global Business Studies produced the Global Strategic Management CD-ROM. Center faculty and staff wrote the accompanying articles, identified the participating CEOs and made the videotapes. An outside firm provided the technology.   While the CD-ROM is designed for use in Executive Education programs, Ghadar said the tool lends itself to playing a major role in corporate communications.   “In some companies, 25 managers from around the world get together for a weeklong conference, where they sit in a classroom and listen to a presenter,” he noted. “It is difficult for managers located throughout the world to come to one location. Using this technique, they could view one presenter complemented by six experts without having to travel to company headquarters.   “It also would be an important method of communicating within a company on any issue, such as corporate values, brand management or matrix management. It provides an effective means of articulating the pros and cons of any major change to all employees,” Ghadar said.   The Center for Global Business Studies specializes in researching emerging multifunctional business issues that shape the global environment. Its mission is to construct a coherent global perspective in business management, research and education.   “We are designed to look at cross-business, cross-functional and cross-regional issues in global corporations,” Ghadar said. “Distance education and executive education are important at Penn State. The center is deeply concerned about global executive development and distance education and its impact on large corporations.   “Our Advisory Board, which is made up of senior managers from large multinational firms, has identified a set of issues important to multinational corporations,” Ghadar said. “We are planning to develop additional CDs addressing those issues, including The Impact of New Technology on Global Firms and Mega Mergers and the Dubious Logic of Mega Mergers. That is the direction the center currently is taking.”