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Asian Business Conference To Highlight Innovation - March 22, 2010

 

“Leading Through Innovation in Asia” is the theme of the second annual conference being organized by the Haas School’s Asia Business Center, to be held at the Shanghai Peninsula Hotel on March 22, 2011. Among the confirmed keynote speakers are 2009 Nobel Laureate and Haas Professor Emeritus Oliver Williamson and Haas alumnus Joe Jimenez, MBA 84, CEO of Novartis.

 

Williamson will talk on the theory related to innovation within an organization, drawing from his path-breaking work on the boundaries of a firm. Williamson pioneered a new way of analyzing business enterprises, through the lens of transaction cost economics. Williamson’s framework has been applied to a firm’s “make-or-buy” decision—whether to outsource or produce something in-house—as well as many other situations and enterprises beyond the firm.

 

Jimenez, the first American to lead Swiss giant Novartis in its 14-year history, will talk about innovation in practice within an organization. As CEO of Novartis, Jimenez oversees a company with $44 billion in annual sales and nearly 100,000 workers in 140 countries. Before being promoted to CEO in January, Jimenez led Novartis’ Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health Divisions and previously worked at Clorox, ConAgra, and H.J. Heinz in both the U.S. and Europe.

 

Additional speakers will include Xiaoguang Huang, China country head of Bank of America, and Wei Sun Christianson, president of Morgan Stanley China. The conference lineup from Haas will feature Dean Rich Lyons; Professor Teck-Hua Ho, director of the Asia Business Center; and Professor Michael Katz, director of the Haas School’s Institute for Business Innovation. Haas faculty will moderate two panels, which also will take questions from the audience.

 

For more information or sponsorship opportunities, contact Jeanne HuangLi at jeanne_huangli@haas.berkeley.edu or visit asiabusiness.haas.berkeley.edu.