Issue 2 ~
Finance Fundamentals for the Bottom Line

With financial markets still in crisis, businesses large and small are struggling to manage resources and investments effectively.

In this second issue of executive@berkeley, we want to give you a flavor of the way business and thought leaders are approaching capital and asset management when "finance" is all but a four-letter word.

Any organization's ultimate goal is long-term viability and profit – even in the face of short-term hardship. To achieve this, comprehensive financial acumen and skills are still crucial on an individual level, as is transparency organization-wide.

We hope you enjoy the articles and offerings.

-- Whitney Hischier, Assistant Dean, Haas School of Business

Back to Basics:
How world class companies will survive and thrive in hard times

In the current crisis economy, with demand contracting and credit constrained, well-run companies are reinstating fundamental financial disciplines to shape their crucial decisions: Who and what should we cut? In what should we invest? How can we do more with less?

In this article, Professor Toshi Shibano discusses five guiding financial principles and provides case study examples of those principles in action.

Prof. Shibano will be teaching in the upcoming Financial Analysis for Non-Financial Executives program (April 6-10, 2009).

Read "Back to Basics: How world class companies will survive and thrive in hard times" (pdf format).

New Product Blockbusters:
The Magic and Science of Prediction Markets

New product innovation is a strategic business activity that involves significant financial resources and managerial attention. Most new product launches fail because existing methods are unable to forecast their commercial successes accurately.

In this article, Professor Teck-Hua Ho describes a market-based method to address this gap.

Prof. Ho will be teaching in the upcoming Family-Run Businesses Program (August 31-September 5, 2009)

Read "New Product Blockbusters: The Magic and Science of Prediction Markets" (pdf format).

San Francisco CFO Executive Summit, April 29

The Center for Executive Education is proud to host the upcoming CFO Executive Summit. This regionally driven, peer-to-peer conference delivers real-time value "by CFOs, for CFOs."

Prof. Kathleen Connell, Faculty Director of the Corporate Directors Enterprise, will be a speaker.

• Visit the CFO Summit website
• Visit the Corporate Directors Enterprise website

Prof. Connell, former Controller for the State of California, is also a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor. Read her article "A year when savings trumps investing" (pdf format).

Special Event March 19:
Surviving and Thriving During the Downturn

The economic downturn has entrepreneurs focused on survival, not just company growth. They are shifting emphasis from new customer acquisition to customer retention, from employee recruiting to employment optimization and from fundraising to capital preservation.

This new setting may involve salary cuts, terminations, outsourcing, and other strategies for "getting the job done."

The upcoming Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum will tackle these topics through a discussion with some of the best entrepreneurs and venture capitalists around the Bay Area.

Visit the Lester Center website for more details.