Written by Guy Pfeffermann
Monday, 22 February 2010 15:59
“The Checklist Manifesto” is both a meditation on the growing
complexity of the world and a how-to book on coping with that
complexity. Atul Gawande argues that humanity is in danger of sinking
under the weight of knowledge, as scientists accumulate ever more
information and the professions splinter into minute varying
specialities.The Checklist Manifesto is a slim volume but it is packed with vivid writing, heart-stopping anecdotes and statistical surprises.
 Read the Economist article
Read the Financial Times Article
Written by Guy Pfeffermann
Monday, 22 February 2010 15:46
The Financial Times article flags the increasing number of emerging markets business
schools that are being set up or enhanced in collaboration with
top-rated schools. So for example, IESE, before setting up shop in New
York, as noted in the article, helped about a dozen business schools
raise their standards in emerging markets, especially in Latin America
and Sub-Saharan Africa. IESE is unique, however, in the breadth and
scope of such capacity-building. What constrains top business schools
from engaging in even more foreign ventures is above all their own
capacity limitations, above all extreme scarcity of top faculty time.
The Global Business School Network of 41 of the world's best management
schools is able to leverage the limited staff capacity of individual
top business schools by pooling talent from different schools in order
to spawn business schools in emerging markets. This approach has been
very successful. For example, GBSN helped Lagos Business School develop
a state-of-the-arts entrepreneurship center, which is being replicated
in other countries; it helped to strengthen capacity in 16 African
countries. GBSN also helped in the establishment of the Association of
African Business Schools, which plays an important role in further
enhancing business education in that underserved region. Bilateral
school-to-school and multilateral approaches complement one another in
fostering the development of business schools in emerging markets.
Read the original article
Foreign offices
By Della Bradshaw
January 25 2010
Written by William Woodthorpe
Monday, 22 February 2010 11:28
Jan 28th 2010 | DELHI | From The Economist
print edition
Each year India produces about twice as many engineering and
computing experts as the United States (counting those with bachelor’s degrees
or a Master’s in Computer Applications), but there is growing concern that
India’s tech workers are not as good as the country hopes. In a recent study, Aspiring Minds, a testing company that
seeks to gauge students’ and recent graduates’ performance capabilities,
demonstrated that only 4.2% of India’s engineers are fit to work in a software
product firm. Furthermore, just 17.8% are employable by an IT services company,
even with up to six months’ training. These figures are even more alarming when
one considers the 25% figure for employability that has been bandied about since
2005, when McKinsey released the results
of a survey of international companies. Himanshu and Varun Aggarwal, the founders of Aspiring Minds,
are attempting to combat this growing issue. Their new test, the AMCAT, is an
affordable substitute to traditional standardized tests such as the Graduate
Record Examination (GRE) required by American universities. It provides
qualified applicants a method to catch employers’ attention, while allowing the
country’s IT firms a means to successfully recruit new employees. Even so, India
will need to overhaul many of its colleges if it is to make more of their
graduates employable.
Read the Economist article
Written by William Woodthorpe
Monday, 22 February 2010 10:46
In a recent article in the Global Health Magazine, Joseph Dwyer and Sara Wilhelmsen highlight
the necessity of strong leadership and management in the field of health care
in developing countries.
Often, they say, the foremost issue plaguing a weak health
system is not a lack of knowledge or a shortage of funds, but rather a dearth
of experienced health care managers. Building the management and leadership
capacity of health care managers and practitioners is a crucial step in improving
service delivery. When leadership and management are strengthened, the pair
argue, the rewards for the health system are high.
Read the entire
article at the Global Health Magazine’s website
Joseph Dwyer is the director of the Leadership, Management & Sustainability
Program at Management Sciences for Health
(MSH) and a GBSN health advisor. He has over 30 years of experience developing,
managing, implementing, and advising health programs.
Written by Scott Marchese
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 14:04
 Two articles in the Stanford Business Magazine highlight Professor Stefanos Zanios' ongoing work in health care delivery and medical device innovation. Zanios leads a course in 'Biodesign Innovation' where engineers work with medical and business school students to identify a medical need and create a corresponding new device or technology. The teams then generate business plans regarding these innovations and present them to venture capitalists as investment opportunities.
Situated as it is at the intersection of three distinct fields, this type of 'device entrepreneurship' remains a relatively undeveloped area of health care. As such, Prof. Zanios has distilled the knowledge and experience of his design courses into a new textbook, appropriately titled 'Biodesign' (which itself represents the implementation of a savvy business plan). Intended as a guide for both graduate-level cirriculum and for the entrepreneurial medical device innovator, Zanios hopes that the book becomes a standard text for its field.
This type of synthesis amongst business, science, and complex human systems (ie, health care) looks peachy for MBAs, medical device companies, and business school professors. So what about the people most needing improved health care: the poor, uninsured, and underinsured? Zanios has dedicated part of his research to expanding HIV testing in poor and underserved areas by helping create pooled blood tests, allowing far more screenings with a given set of resources. He thinks that operations research in this vein has much to offer heath care, especially when delivery systems are beleagured by inefficiencies and lack of access. Yet technology is also essential to quality health care, and as costs mushroom, many medical technology innovations automatically price themselves out of the reach of those without first-rate insurance plans. Zanios contends that these innovations can make a difference for these underserved groups, but only if the incentive system guiding doctors undergoes a systematic change: doctors should be paid for patients' health results. Sounds pretty reasonable and intuitive, but it may take many more Zanioses to implement that innovation in the American health care system.
» Biodesign course article
» Health Care Access article
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