This week’s Campus Chronicles will highlight Harvard Business School, exploring some of the recent and upcoming campus events through a review of its student newspaper, The Harbus.
Professor Arthur Segel recently offered HBS students a chance to participate in a real estate purchase/sale negotiation simulation in his Real Property class, with the aim of educating them on business practices that may have indirectly contributed to the current financial crisis. Students were dived into three teams of buyers, sellers, and lenders, each of which had to negotiate the purchase, sale, or financing of real estate assets, respectively. Students discovered that although they were initially thrifty, the pressure to “win” transactions caused them to override competitive bidders to gain property, thus ensuring that they had winning results from all their work to present to their “boss” (i.e. Professor Segel, who was grading the simulation). To win these transactions, students changed their offers such that the evaluation of the assets and leverage amounts increased, while interest rates and lending fees decreased. Ultimately this shift caused the elimination of buyers’ equity investment and limited the value of lenders’ investments, transforming the “winners” into losers in this simulated real estate market. After the exercise, students drew parallels of their simulation to real-life investors working in transactions such as mortgage originations and mortgage-backed security investments who may have responded to the pressure of “winning” investments. Students in this class stated that their first-hand awareness of this trend would benefit them when they leave HBS and re-enter the working world.
HBS students will have the chance to contribute to a new book focusing on issues related to leadership, commerce, and the global business world as US business leaders work to recover from the financial crisis of 2008. The book, titled “Reimagining Leadership: How a New Breed of MBAs is Rebuilding Capitalism from Within,” is slated to come out in May 2011, soon after HBS celebrates its 100th anniversary. Led by Daniel Gulati, Oliver Segovia, and John Coleman, this book is slated to be a collection of stories from thirty HBS students and young business leaders, illustrating their response to the economy’s collapse, actions towards rebuilding, and lessons on business and leadership in difficult times. The book’s leaders are currently accepting submissions solely from HBS students and alumni, and interested students had the chance to attend an information session about becoming contributors to the book on December 8th.
HBS students recently had the chance to attend the first Global Exposure Project, a new annual fundraiser hosted by the HBS Art Society. The event featured photography taken by HBS students and faculty and covering a range of subjects, including portraits and landscapes from around the world. HBS Art Society members selected the 63 photographs on display from out of 200 submissions. Attendees of the event had the chance to buy framed prints of the display photographs as well as books containing all 63 photographs. Proceeds from these sales went to Share Our Strength, a non-profit aimed at reducing childhood hunger in the U.S. Ultimately, both the prints and photo books were all sold out and the Global Exposure Project was able to donate $4,000 to Share Our Strength.
