HAPPENINGS
C. K. Prahalad opens Howard Markel dean’s lecture series gives historical perspective on child “How can we make globalization work for health movement the benefit of all?”
asked Dr. C. K. Prahalad, BSc, PhD, the Paul and Ruth U-M Photo Services: Martin Vloet McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the U-M Stephen M. Ross School of Business. He spoke September 25 at the first lecture in this year’s Dean’s Lecture Series at the School.
His answer? “By allowing every person to have access to the benefits of the global economy.” This can happen, he asserted, when every person is a consumer (able to afford world-class products and services) and a producer (having access to global markets and getting a fair price). Prahalad said that the world’s poor collectively have $5 trillion in assets, which they spend not only on food and housing but also on information technology such as cell phones. The emerging markets can become a source of innovation, which Prahalad stressed must be locally responsive and scalable. He provided examples of a new methodology in innovation: locally produced, biomass energy stoves and a milk cooperative in India. “The best-kept secret,” he concluded, is that “the poor have the solution to their own problem. We just have to give them a small helping hand (not subsidies): management, organization, courage, and faith.” Prahalad’s lecture, “Democratizing Commerce,” was aired on the Michigan Channel multiple times in January. Dr. Prahalad recently was ranked no. 1 on Suntop Media’s “Thinkers 50,” a biennial ranking of the top fifty management thought leaders worldwide. His book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, was named the top business book of 2004.
In the early 20th century “it appeared for the briefest of moments that children would be the centerpiece of our U-M Photo Services: Scott Galvin federal domestic policy, with the founding of the Children’s Bureau in 1912 and subsequent children’s well-being and health policies.” What if this vision had been realized? So was the “thought experiment” presented by Howard Markel, MD, PhD, George Edward Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine, at the 2007 Fedele F. and Iris M. Fauri Memorial Lecture on October 24. Some federal funding has been appropriated toward health care for children, yet without “political muscle,” children tend to lose in the bid for federal funds. With all the troubles facing American children today—from the number living in poverty to the “astounding epidemic of childhood obesity”—Markel proposed, following the example of the Homeland Security Department, that federal government agencies dealing with children be reorganized under a new department devoted to the well-being of children. Howard Markel is professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases, professor of history, professor of health management and policy, professor of psychiatry, and director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. The Fauri Lecture was cosponsored by the Department of Pediatrics, U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, Medical School, Department of History, and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
Bill Ford addresses sustainable transportation U-M Photo Services: Martin Vloet
gained an early and enduring interest in the environment. On November 13 he spoke on “The Road to Sustainable Transportation” at the seventh annual Peter M. Wege Lecture, hosted by the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the Center for Sustainable Systems and sponsored by multiple U-M units, including the School of Social Work. Following in the footsteps of his greatgrandfather Henry Ford, Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company,
While Ford Motor Company puts millions of dollars towards research and development on sustainability, Bill Ford
challenged auto, energy, and utility companies—along with NGOs and government agencies—to convene to discuss a cost-effective plan of action in reaching an energy policy. In response to a question by MSW student Amanda Garratt on social implications, Bill Ford said that Ford Motor Company may have been the first auto company to create a code of ethics on human rights, and he mentioned their work toward cellulosic ethanol.
Ongoing Winter/Spring 2008
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