UCLA Anderson School of Management Blog

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank Reminds UCLA Anderson Students That Change Is Inevitable, Asks "Are You in Front of the Change You Have to Accept?"

By Paul Feinberg

One of the few things that could get you fired at Under Armour, company founder and CEO Kevin Plank told a UCLA Anderson audience this week, is this statement, which betrays a recalcitrant mindset:  “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Companies like his must anticipate and adapt to the accelerating shifts of the marketplace, Plank said during his on-stage conversation with Dean Judy Olian in the latest edition of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Other recent speakers have included Nestle Executive Vice President Chris Johnson (’88) and United Therapeutics Chairman Martine Rothblatt (JD/MBA ’81).

“Business is a journey…(with) so many different chapters,” Plank told an enthusiastic crowd in Korn Hall. For example, he said, in its first five years, Under Armour’s revenues soared from $17,000 to $5 million. “We crossed a billion in 2010 and last year, $5 billion. Each chapter is incredibly different….(but) change is inevitable.

“Are you in front of the change you have to accept?” he asked.

Plank’s appearance was his second before an Anderson crowd in seven months.

In October, the Under Armour executive was honored as the 2017 recipient of the John Wooden Global Leadership Award in a ceremony in Pauley Pavilion. Plank and his company also have a close relationship with the broader UCLA campus:  Last July, Under Armour and UCLA announced a 15-year, $280 million shoe and apparel sponsorship, the largest such deal in collegiate athletics.

The Purpose Economy

UCLA Anderson students and staff collaborated to produce Impact Week. Back row, left to right: [email protected] program manager Kelly Chung, Karthik Patange (’18), Qingqing Wu (’18), Katie Donovan (’18), [email protected] director Bhavna Sivanand (’14); front row, left to right: Janna Stucky (’19), Elizabeth Heredia (’19), Jessica Lin (’18), Molly Tarrant (’19)

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By Carolyn Gray Anderson

[email protected] and the award-winning UCLA Anderson Net Impact chapter presented Anderson’s 2018 Impact Week in April. Under the theme Purpose + Profit, invited thought leaders and company founders shared stories about mission-driven careers, businesses and projects that fulfill unmet needs in sectors from entertainment to real estate.

Impact Week attracted members of the greater UCLA and Los Angeles communities to engage with Anderson students, alumni, faculty and staff in interactive panels and workshops tackling topics that included impact investing, affordable housing, blockchain technology and finding purpose in traditional workplaces.

The week kicked off with a keynote address by Cara Chacon, VP of social and environmental responsibility at outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia. The privately held company is on its way to a 100 percent climate-neutral goal by nurturing a squeaky-clean supply chain that accounts for everything from healthy soil for regenerative organic agriculture to fair wages for a healthy community (and therapeutic surfing breaks for Ventura-based staff). “A responsible business model works,” said Chacon. The proof? Patagonia recently reached $1 billion in revenue.

A UCLA Anderson Field Study Team Finds the “Lynk” for Kenyan Workers and Communities

Ryan Dumlao, Melody Akbari and Varun Chalupadi at the Lynk booth at Mum’s Village, a convention in Nairobi

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UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research (AMR) projects in lieu of a thesis. The nation’s first business school field study program, AMR partners students with top organizations to solve a key strategic problem. The Center for Global Management sponsored UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 teams to collaborate with established NGOs seeking sustainable solutions for global economies, health delivery systems and environmentally sensitive parts of the world. UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 AMR students made their final presentations on March 9.

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By Melody Nazaneen Akbari, Varun Chalupadi, Adrienne Chang, Ryan Christopher Dumlao, Blake Matthew Rauba (Class of 2018)

Jambo! We would love to take you on a journey with us to Nairobi, Kenya, to tell you more about our team’s field study experience.

At the end of our first year at UCLA Anderson, we were matched with the Kenyan startup Lynk, a technology platform that connects customers with trusted domestic workers, called fundis, and skilled blue collar professionals. Around 80 percent of Kenya’s labor force comprises informal workers or contractors. Lynk was built in order to create a smarter way for households and businesses to get service throughout Nairobi. Lynk’s goal is to transform the informal worker industry by employing as many fundis as possible ― to date helping to direct $600,000 to workers.

Lynk, founded in 2015 by former Google product manager Adam Grunewald, currently has three product offerings: Requests, Projects and Discover. Our AMR project focused on Lynk Requests, a full-service solution whereby customers specify a job and Lynk matches them with a qualified worker. Lynk Requests has 1,300 vetted workers on the platform, with more than 6,000 jobs completed over 70 service categories that include plumbing, roofing, housekeeping, cooking, childcare and more.

Amid U.S.-China Trade Imbalances, Compromises Seem Likely

By Paul Feinberg

With daily headlines regarding U.S.-Sino trade relations as a backdrop, UCLA Anderson Forecast economist William Yu remains skeptical that the two nations will engage in a full-blown trade war, despite the public posturing of U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Global trade imbalances cause trade tensions,” Yu said. “President Trump has been complaining about trade deficits for decades. President Xi has talked about China’s willingness to deal and that’s very good news.” His remarks kicked off the day’s first panel at Anderson’s 2018 Wilbur K. Woo Greater China Business Conference. Yu’s panel included moderator Seamus Jiang, managing director and co-leader for China-U.S. cross-border deals at PwC, and Feng An, founder and executive director of the Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation at U.S.-China Cleantech Center.

Sustaining Effective NCD Screening in a South Africa Community Requires an Ecosystem of Strategic Partners

HSRC staff in Sweetwaters, South Africa, with Angela Tseng and Erin Kelm (far right and third from right, respectively)

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UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research (AMR) projects in lieu of a thesis. The nation’s first business school field study program, AMR partners students with top organizations to solve a key strategic problem. The Center for Global Management sponsored UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 teams to collaborate with established NGOs seeking sustainable solutions for global economies, health delivery systems and environmentally sensitive parts of the world. UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 AMR students made their final presentations on March 9.

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By Angela Tseng, Bahman Mirzaee, Colin Meade, Erin Kelm, Qingqing Wu (Class of 2018)

Our team collaborated with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa to identify sustainable business models for noncommunicable disease (NCD) screening in the peri-urban community of Sweetwaters. HSRC works to improve health outcomes and employment in the community. Our goal was to assess strategic partners across various industries who could aid in sustaining the NCD screening program in the long term.

We carried on the work of previous UCLA Anderson Global Access Program and AMR teams who developed the structure of the screening program. We selected this project in order to broaden our understanding of challenges faced in the global health and social impact realms, as well as capitalize on the opportunity to learn about a community and culture that is very different from our own. Our five members are deeply involved in the health care community on campus through the Healthcare Business Association and are passionate about making an impact on the global community beyond Anderson.

L.A.’s Best Resource for Mobility Management Could Be Its Recent MBA Graduates

During Impact Week (April 9–13, 2018), whose theme is Purpose + Profit, UCLA Anderson is highlighting stories of mission-driven careers, companies and projects that fulfill unmet needs in sectors from entertainment to real estate. On April 16, Anderson presents the annual Energy Innovation Conference, which focuses on companies striving for energy resiliency through new technologies, robust policy and inventive business models.

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By Carolyn Gray Anderson

UCLA Anderson Inspirational 100 alumnus Gil Penalosa (’84) believes in government’s ability and authority to build and maintain urban infrastructures that can enhance a city’s livability. But he also believes that, in most cities, the efforts and policies are mismanaged. Take public transportation and traffic congestion mitigation. “No private-sector company is going to solve the mobility problem,” Penalosa says. “Not one city in the world solves the problem through the private sector — public transit has to be run by governments. But the public sector should do more steering and less rowing. You can outsource the rowing.”

Founder and chair of the board of the Toronto-based nonprofit 8 80 Cities and chair of the board of World Urban Parks, Penalosa works internationally as a consultant and strategic advisor to both public and private institutions looking to create vibrant urban systems. Penalosa has one catch phrase he considers the real key to making cities livable: healthy mobility. When people can safely navigate their communities on foot, bicycle or wheelchair, he says, a chain reaction of mental and physical health benefits follows. This raises the quality of life for every citizen, including the most vulnerable — the very young, the very old and the very poor.

A Panama Community Trained This Peace Corps Volunteer to Have an Open, Unhurried Mind in the Workplace and Beyond

During Impact Week (April 9–13, 2018), whose theme is Purpose + Profit, UCLA Anderson is highlighting stories of mission-driven careers, companies and projects that fulfill unmet needs in sectors from entertainment to real estate. On April 16, Anderson presents the annual Energy Innovation Conference, which focuses on companies striving for energy resiliency through new technologies, robust policy and inventive business models.

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By Elizabeth Heredia (’19)

Bright-eyed and optimistic, college degree in hand, I was called by “the toughest job I’d ever love”: an environmental conservation assignment with the Peace Corps in a rural village in the mountains of Panama.

When I first arrived in Ojo de Agua, my job was to do nothing but pasear, which is to “walk around unhurried, stopping and chatting with townspeople.” I would often strike up a conversation right on neighbors’ porches, or perhaps at a grocery kiosk or even in the middle of the street. Niceties were exchanged, and town gossip, too.

In time, my community began to trust me and our conversations evolved. They began to share their stories and opinions. The porch visits were my favorite. As we swung back and forth on hammocks, I listened and absorbed, asked question after question, and slowly began to understand locals’ values as well as their aspirations.

For-Purpose Profits: UCLA Anderson Drives Change During Impact Week

[email protected] and the UCLA Anderson Net Impact chapter present Anderson’s annual Impact Week, April 9–13, 2018. Under the theme Purpose + Profit, invited thought leaders and founders of mission-driven companies explain how they are shaping the future of business through the creation of a social, environmental and economic evolution. They share their insights in workshops, panels and a networking mixer open to the campus community and the wider public.

Jessica Lin (’18) and Karthik Patange (’18), both VPs of Impact Week and UCLA Anderson’s Net Impact chapter, which won NI Graduate Chapter of the Year in 2017, are spearheading Impact Week. As purpose-driven MBA candidates, they hope their peers will be inspired to build service and the greater good into their plans for profitable careers.

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Q: As Impact Week comes together, where do you anticipate MBA students and alumni will find particular value?

Karthik Patange: The technology theme will be prominent during Impact Week. We live in a world where tech governs everything, including our future careers. However, it’s hard for some to envision how tech and social purpose come together unless it’s through the traditional CSR “add-on.” This year, Impact Week delves into blockchain, social media and education through computer science. We hope to show MBA students that they can make an impact within their tech roles, and not as a peripheral initiative of their companies.

Jessica Lin: We wanted to highlight a variety of industries in which profitable companies also have meaningful impact. I expect that representatives from the big name companies, such as Patagonia, Google and BuzzFeed, will help expand people’s knowledge of and interest in having impactful careers.

KP: Definitely. I hope students understand that big companies with big business practices can also cater to big purposes, and that this mindset can shape their individual careers.

Q: What is the role of social media in realizing the “purpose + profit” goal?

KP: Social media directly influences social impact. Online social networks are outlets for individuals to be outspoken about their purposeful initiatives and generate awareness. How is the business side supporting this interest, especially in today’s always-online climate? From simple knowledge sharing to how to use data for social good to spreading the word on the human condition in other parts of the world, social media networks can support purpose in a sustainable and profitable way.

Nestlé’s Chris Johnson Explains How Local Tastes Drive Worldwide Consumption

By Paul Feinberg

Food and drink companies have an unusually intimate relationship with the consumer. After all, they’re asking you to put something they make into your body and trust that no harm will result.

“Ultimately, the value of Nestlé, or of other companies, is based on trust,” Nestlé Executive Vice President Chris Johnson (’88) told a UCLA Anderson audience Monday. Johnson, who heads the company’s business excellence division, joined UCLA Anderson Dean Judy Olian in a conversation that was part of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series.

Johnson has spent his entire career with Nestlé, and the past 26 years overseas. During that time, he’s experienced numerous changes and roles at the world’s largest food company. He assumed his current position as head of the new business excellence arm in October 2014 and his job is to help the company better leverage its huge scale and strengths.

On-the-Ground Strategies for Eroded Land in Guatemala’s Coffee-Growing Regions

Left to right: Justin Lee, Ernesto Cruz, Idan Ariav, Sid Parikh and Jose Lanzagorta toured a coffee plantation in rural Guatemala

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UCLA Anderson MBA students conduct Applied Management Research (AMR) projects in lieu of a thesis. The nation’s first business school field study program, AMR partners students with top organizations to solve a key strategic problem. The Center for Global Management sponsored UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 teams to collaborate with established NGOs seeking sustainable solutions for global economies, health delivery systems and environmentally sensitive parts of the world. UCLA Anderson Class of 2018 AMR students made their final presentations on March 9.

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By Idan Ariav (’18), Ernesto Cruz (’18), Jose Lanzagorta (’18), Justin Lee (’18), Sid Parikh (’18)

In January 2018, our Applied Management Research (AMR) team visited Alta Verapaz in the northern highlands of Guatemala with our client Strategies for International Development (SID). SID is a nonprofit organization that develops and promotes methods for helping poor farmers reclaim eroded land, increase income and overcome poverty.

Having successfully launched campaigns in Bolivia and Honduras, SID focuses currently on helping coffee farmers in Guatemala. SID engaged our team to help answer some of the nonprofit’s toughest strategic and marketing questions in order to ultimately drive its fundraising efforts. We traveled with key members of the SID team, including executive director Charles Patterson and Guatemala National Program director Bayron Leon to apply and improve SID’s new strategy on the ground.