Thursday, October 9, 2008, 7:30 p.m.

By: Fariborz Ghadar, PhD.
“Distinguished” Senior Scholar at The Center for Strategic and International Studies and Director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State

Synopsis:
This century will bring a decade of accelerated change in the global business environment. At the same time, the global environment is growing more rigorous. How have firms global competitive positioning changed over the years. Historically firms were positioned to be innovative, customer focused, or operationally excellent. The accelerated life cycle and the increasing cost of product development require companies to be successful in all three areas. The successful companies of this century will be streamlined and flexible, with a staff well equipped to anticipate the challenges of the global marketplace.
Worldwide, CEOs and senior managers need to prepare their industries for Global Tectonics–the process by which developing trends in technology, nature, and society slowly revolutionize the business environment of the future. Twelve global trends are identified that will present the most formidable challenges to world business leaders in the next thirty years. Developments in areas such as demography, infectious disease, resource degradation, economic integration, nano and information technologies, international conflict, and governance will determine corporate strategy. Whether these tectonic shifts put industries through minor tremors or major earthquakes will depend on how businesses have prepared for imminent change.
Every business, regardless of its size or industry, must view day-to-day operations in light of these global developments. This presentation facilitate this type of analysis by clearly outlining global trends and their potential impact on international business.

About the Lecturer:
Dr. Fariborz Ghadar is the William A. Schreyer, Merrill Lynch Chair of Global Management, Director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State, and the “Distinguished” Senior Scholar at The Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is a leading authority on future business trends, global economic assessment, international finance and banking, and global corporate strategy and implementation. Earlier in his career he served as an investment banker at the International Finance Corporation (World Bank), as well as research coordinator of the Harvard Multinational Enterprise Project.
He serves as a consultant to a score of major corporations, governments, and government agencies and regularly conducts programs for executives of major multinational corporations here and abroad. His past clients include Aramco, AT&T, BASF, CalPERS, Chevron, Cisco, CEMEX, Dow, Ericsson, Lucent Technologies, UBS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the World Bank among many others.
He is the recipient of the 2004 Weyerhaeuser Educator of the Year Award, CIO Magazine’s Global Leaders Award, and BusinessWeek named him one of the top 10 Star’s of Finance.
Dr. Ghadar is the author of twelve books on global economic topics, and is frequently quoted in such internationally circulated publications as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Christian Science Monitor. He has been a featured speaker and interviewee on the major television networks like CNN, CNBC, and Nightly Business Report.
He received his BA and MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and his MBA and Doctorate from the Harvard Business School.

Location:
Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus)- Humanity Building (HU), Conference Room 009

Get Directions, Bulding Location on Campus

Dues: $15 per person, $5 for students (including dinner)