Study Finds Successful Entrepreneurs Share a Common History of Getting in Trouble as Teenagers

Independence. Creativity. Money. Those are the benefits associated with successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. But is being an entrepreneur really more lucrative than working for a salary? And who is best cut out to succeed? A new study by Professor Ross Levine of the Haas Economic Analysis and Policy Group answers both of these questions.

Levine and co-author Yona Rubinstein of the London School of Economics and Political Science found that entrepreneurs earn on average 50 percent more than their salaried counterparts who are working in the same industry and have the same education, contrary to a large body of research finding that entrepreneurship does not pay. Levine explains that many previous studies broadly define entrepreneurship, including people who are self-employed such as an accountant or a plumber. In this study, an entrepreneur is defined as a person who undertakes a novel, risk-taking activity. Levine says think Michael Bloomberg or Bill Gates.

Furthermore, they found that successful entrepreneurs possess distinct traits identifiable back when they were teenagers. These traits turn out to be accurate predictors of entrepreneurial success. Some of the not-so-surprising traits include having a high IQ, coming from a stable family, having parents who earn a higher than average income, and having exceptionally high self-esteem and confidence. However, some other common traits are often associated with juvenile delinquency.

“Our data revealed that many successful entrepreneurs exhibited aggressive behavior and got in trouble as teenagers. This is the person who wasn’t afraid to break the rules, take things by force, or even be involved in minor drugs,” says Levine, the Willis H. Booth Chair in Banking and Finance.

The researchers combed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), a representative sample of 12,686 young men and women who were 14 to 22 years old when they were first surveyed in 1979. The interviews have continued ever since.

“What we find is that a particular constellation of traits turns out to be a strong predictor of who is going to become an entrepreneur later in life and whether that person is going to be a high-earner when he or she launches a business,” says Levine.

In terms of earnings, the study found that successful entrepreneurs displaying these traits typically started their careers as top high earning salaried workers, and when they branched out on their own and successfully established their companies, they tended to enjoy a boost in earnings of 70 percent more than they received as salaried workers.

See full paper.

Telecom and Consulting Leaders to Speak at Commencements

Arun Sarin, MBA 78, MS 78 (Material Sci. and Eng.), former CEO of Vodafone, will share his insights from more than 20 years in the telecom industry during the Berkeley MBA commencement at 2 p.m., Friday, May 24.

Marc Singer, BS 86, director of McKinsey & Co.'s Marketing and Sales Practice for the Americas, will talk on his experiences, including guiding top companies through dizzying technological advances, in his speech at undergraduate commencement at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 23.

Their speeches carry on a Haas tradition of inviting distinguished alumni to speak at the commencement of the program from which they graduated.

Arun Sarin, MBA 78, MS 78

Sarin's career began in 1984 at Pacific Telesis Group, where he pioneered the expansion of the mobile communications industry. He went on to become president and COO of wireless spinoff AirTouch Communications in 1997.

Sarin became CEO of Vodafone’s US/Asia Pacific region after the 1999 merger of AirTouch and Vodafone, which became the world's second-largest mobile phone company. He served as CEO of Vodafone from 2003 to 2008, overseeing the firm's expansion into emerging markets including India, Ghana, Romania, and Qatar.

Sarin was named the Haas School's Business Leader of the Year in 2002 for his outstanding contributions to the telecommunications industry and the school. Sarin is a member of the Haas School's advisory board and a

San Francisco Bay Area-based senior adviser to asset management firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. He sits on the boards of directors of Cisco Systems and Safeway. He previously served on the boards of such companies as Gap and Charles Schwab and as a non-executive director of the Court of the Bank of England. In 2010 Sarin named an Honorary Knight of the British Empire, receiving one of the highest achievements for an individual in the UK.

Marc Singer, BS 86

Singer worked his way through Berkeley at a bike shop in his native Walnut Creek. He spent four years as a staff accountant and manager at Deloitte and earned an MBA from Stanford before joining McKinsey. He celebrated 20 years with the consulting firm in August.

Technology has played a major role in Singer's work as he has helped leaders in a variety of industries with all aspects of marketing and sales. In 1999, he co-authored the bestselling book Net Worth: Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules, which examined the impact the Internet was already having on business, and marketing in particular. Today, his focus has shifted to advising companies on their social media strategies.

Singer's recent work includes developing an integrated customer experience and loyalty program strategy for a leading multibrand global hotel chain; helping a premium retailer improve conversion rates through better and more frontline uses of shopping and loyalty program data; and working with a top bank to develop an integrated program to improve customer satisfaction while lowering attrition.

Singer is also a member of the Haas School's advisory board.

Alumni Mark Singer and Arun Sarin

In Memoriam: Louis “Pete” Bucklin – marketing professor emeritus

Louis “Pete” Bucklin, a business professor at the University of California, Berkeley, for more than 40 years, passed away on the morning of June 16, 2012, at the age of 83 at Cupertino, CA.

Bucklin joined UC Berkeley’s School of Business Administration in 1960 as an assistant professor of marketing. In 1967, he became associate professor and, three years later, chair of the Marketing and International Business Group. From 1971 to 1984, Bucklin served as director of the school’s Ph.D. program. He became associate dean for the school in 1981, a position he held until 1983.

As a senior faculty member, Bucklin was known to mentor assistant professors. “Pete was a guiding light in the Marketing group when I first arrived at Berkeley, a friend to all junior faculty, and a very pleasant man,” says Professor Andrew Rose, associate dean for academic affairs.  “He leaves a gap in our midst and I will miss him.”

Pete Bucklin’s contributions to the marketing group and the Haas School of Business have been tremendous. Bucklin was a pioneer in marketing distribution and channel theory. Bucklin’s colleagues say his ground-breaking research on the modern perspective of distribution systems in marketing has been highly influential.

“His seminal monograph, A Theory of Distribution Channel Structure, published in 1966, has been a mainstay of the distribution channels literature over the past 40 years,” says Haas Prof. Emeritus John Myers. “He contributed greatly to the reputation and prestige of the Berkeley marketing group and will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues. “

“In many ways, he can be seen as the father of the main ideas for the current research on distribution channels and industrial marketing,” says Professor J. Miguel Villas-Boas, chair of the Haas Marketing Group. 

A Theory of Distribution Channel Structure presented a general framework for the analysis of business networks and distribution systems, adds Villas-Boas. The book highlights the importance of considering the different types of functions carried out in a channel of distribution, and the costs of performing these functions with different patterns of organization in a channel. The overall costs depend on scale economies, interaction effects among activities, and incentives of the different economic agents.

“These ideas, and its implications for business networks as well as distribution channels, became central to the practice and research on distribution channels,” says Villas-Boas. “Pete was also a wonderful colleague, and great mentor, and will be immensely missed by us all.”

During the course of his career, Bucklin received several honors for his work, notably the American Marketing Association’s Paul D. Converse Award in 1986 for his significant and outstanding contribution to the theory and science in marketing. In 1993, the Journal of Marketing awarded Bucklin its Alpha Kappa Psi Award for significant contribution to the advancement of marketing practice made by his article, “Organizing Successful Co-Marketing Alliances, ” co-authored with Sanjit Sengupta. This article investigated why marketing alliances succeed or fail and linked the variation to imbalances in power and management capabilities between the organizations in an alliance.

Bucklin retired from the Haas School of Business in 1993 – the same year his daughter, Rhonda Bucklin, graduated from the school’s full-time MBA program – after more than 30 years of service to the university as a distinguished scholar and popular instructor.

After retiring, Bucklin continued teaching various marketing courses as a professor emeritus until spring 2001. In 1998, students in the full-time MBA program honored Bucklin with the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Bucklin graduated from Dartmouth College in 1950. In 1954, he earned his MBA at Harvard Business School. He studied at Northwestern University’s School of Management where he earned his Ph.D. in 1960. He was also the Sloan Teaching Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1959 through 1960.

Bucklin adored his family and friends.  He also had an enormous appreciation for the outdoors, exploring the world, and photography.  He could be heard saying, “I am blessed to have such an exceptional family,” alongside of “The trip was marvelous.” 

Bucklin was born on September 20, 1928 in New York, NY. In 1956 he married Weylene Edwards and together they raised two children, Rhonda Bucklin of Menlo Park and Randolph E. Bucklin of Los Angeles who is Professor of Marketing and the Peter W. Mullin Chair in Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Mrs. Bucklin passed away in 2007. Bucklin is survived by his two children and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, July 9, at 2:30 p.m. at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, Community Hall, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Lafayette, CA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to either the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation or Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific.

Prof. Robert Helsley Appointed Dean of UBC Sauder

Haas School Prof. Robert Helsley will be dean of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business effective July 1. Helsley joined Haas in 2008 and served as chair in Real Estate Development, Haas Real Estate group, and co-chair of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics.

Helsley studies urban economies and agglomeration. He currently serves as co-editor, Journal of Urban Economics. While at Haas, he published research on topics such as “sprawl and blight” and a game-theoretic analysis of skyscrapers. His paper, “Entrepreneurs and Cities: Complexity, Thickness and Balance,” published in the Nov. 2011 issue of Regional Science and Urban Economics, looked at entrepreneurial clustering and how the characteristics of a local economy facilitate entrepreneurial activity.

"I am excited to be opening a new chapter as Dean of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia,” says Helsley. “I look forward to returning to the Sauder School, renewing my relationships and building on the remarkable growth the school has experienced in the past several years. It will be a great pleasure to lead Sauder as it continues to build its international reputation for research and teaching excellence.”

“At the same time, I am sad to be leaving Berkeley,” he adds.  “I am grateful to have had an opportunity to be a member of the Haas faculty, and I am going to miss the school and my colleagues very much."

Helsley began his teaching career at Sauder and was the school’s Associate Dean, Faculty and Research from 2002-2008. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.

Upgrades to Courtyard, Cheit Classrooms

This summer kicks off the first phase of “Transforming the Haas Campus,” one of the three main pillars of the school’s strategic plan, with significant improvements to the Haas courtyard and the installation of air conditioning in Cheit Hall classrooms.

Funded through the Haas School's ongoing Campaign for Haas capital campaign, these projects are the result of input from students, faculty, and staff over the course of several years to inform how to proceed in transforming the Haas campus.

The courtyard renovation area spans from the Fisher Gate to the north end of the courtyard, excluding the sculpture, gazebo, and stairs at the southeast end. The concrete planter boxes and walkways will be removed and replaced by paving stones to create one smooth, continuous surface. Using two colors of pavers laid out in geometric sections, plus black pavers surrounding a dozen new maple trees, the design will create a checkerboard effect across the courtyard.

The choice of furniture and landscaping will allow more flexible arrangements for events and activities. Everyday seating will include tables and chairs that can be easily rearranged or removed to facilitate large events. The goal of the renovation is to establish an epicenter where students, faculty, staff, and visitors from across campus can mingle, socialize, and share ideas.

“Imagine the buzz and feel of Café Strada and now picture that energy and interaction in the Haas courtyard,” says Dean Rich Lyons. “That is the sort of environment we want to create, a kind of ‘town square’ for our community.”

Construction crews also will be on campus this summer installing air conditioning ducts in Cheit Hall.

Much of the necessary infrastructure was already incorporated in the original building, so the most time-consuming work involves the chillers located behind the Baker building. Upgrading the existing HVAC controls will bring them up to the new campus standard and result in measurable energy savings.

Work on both projects is expected to begin the week of July 2. The air conditioning installation will continue through August, taking place at night and on the weekends. The courtyard renovation will continue through September. The first few weeks during the demolition phase will be very noisy throughout the Haas buildings. Undergraduate summer session classes in courtyard-facing classrooms will be relocated during demolition.

Updates and information on these projects will be available on the Haas School Strategic Plan website: https://haas.berkeley.edu/strategicplan/strategicfocus/transform/index.html.

 

New Roles at Center for Executive Education

After nearly a decade leading the Berkeley-Haas Center for Executive Education (CEE), Whitney Hischier is transitioning from her role as assistant dean to faculty director.  

In her new position, Hischier will conduct business development, direct programs, and continue to help guide the center on a path for further growth. She also will retain her role as a coach for the Haas International Business Development program and co-teach an MBA course on entrepreneurship. 

During her tenure leading CEE, Hischier built a team that grew the school’s executive education business a whopping eight-fold over nine years. With revenues of $17 million, CEE has become a significant revenue and income center for the school. Whitney has helped CEE form relationships with clients in industries from energy to technology in countries around the world, from Norway to Mongolia.

"Whitney's done a remarkable job building CEE into a very powerful program for Berkeley-Haas," says Dean Rich Lyons. "I’m thrilled that she and her expertise remain part of the CEE team as a faculty director."

Abby Scott, CEE's director of custom programs and former executive director of the Haas MBA Career Management Group, will assume HIschier's role on an interim basis until a successor is found. Professor John Morgan is chairing the search committee for her successor.

Haas Strengthens Faculty Roster by Hiring Nine New Professors

Nine stellar new professors will join the Haas School’s ladder-track faculty in fall 2012, reports Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Andrew Rose.

“We continue to hire at the very top of the faculty market. It is a part of what’s making us stronger and stronger. Great faculty attracts great students and great staff – a virtuous circle, and we are in it,” says Dean Lyons. “Prof. Rose was instrumental in finding and securing the best faculty talent for Haas.”

This talent includes former Harvard Professor Toby Stuart, who has joined Haas as professor and faculty director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship (more on this role will be available in an upcoming article). He has been a visiting professor at Haas for the past two years, teaching Entrepreneurship and Advanced Comparative Strategy at the MBA level, and Research in Macro-Organizational Behavior at the Ph.D. level.

Haas won out over several competing offers, including from some of its toughest competitors, according to Dean Lyons.

Professor Ross Levine from Brown University says he accepted his Haas offer because he was impressed with the school’s emphasis on excellence – in teaching, in mentoring students to reach their potential, and in conducting relevant, influential research. “I found the environment at Haas energizing and wanted to be a part of this outstanding institution, to contribute to its goals, and to benefit from the people at this marvelous institution.  I feel very fortunate to be here,” says Levine.

New faculty members include :

Professor Ross Levine
Willis H. Booth Chair in Banking and Finance
Economic Analysis and Policy (EAP) group
Former professor at Brown University
Ph.D. (Economics), University of California, Los Angeles
Currently: Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Senior Fellow at the Milken Institute
Research Focus: Financial sector regulations and the operation of financial systems; international finance including the causes and consequences of firms raising money in different countries; international monetary arrangements (such as the Eurozone) and international finance and aid agencies (such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, etc.); entrepreneurship such as the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs

Professor Toby Stuart
Professor and Leo Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (visiting at Haas since 2010)
Faculty Director, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship
Visiting at Haas since 2010
Management of Organizations (MORS) group
Former professor at Harvard Business School
Ph.D. (business administration), Stanford University/Graduate School of Business
Research Focus: Corporate strategy; entrepreneurship; innovation; social networks

Assistant Professor Brett Green
Visiting at Haas since 2011
Finance (FIN)
Former assistant professor at Northwestern University/Kellogg School of Management
Ph.D. (Economic Analysis and Policy), Stanford University/Graduate School of Business
Research Focus: information economics; dynamic games and contracting; mechanism design; sports economics 

Assistant Professor Alexander Nezlobin
Accounting (ACC)
Former assistant professor at New York University/Stern School of Business
Ph.D. (Business Administration), Stanford University/Graduate School of Business
Research Focus: accounting valuation theory; managerial performance measurement; profitability analysis; monopoly regulation

New Assistant Professors:
(Title becomes effective upon formal acceptance of dissertation by the university.)

Andreea Gorbatai
Management of Organizations (MORS)
Ph.D. candidate (Organizational Behavior/Sociology), Harvard University
Research Focus: organizational theory; collective production and innovation processes; online platform design and strategy; social networks

Jose A. Guajardo
Operations and Information Technology Management (OITM)
Ph.D. (Operations Management), University of Pennysylvania/Wharton School
Research Focus: service operations; supply chain management; operations/marketing interface; operations strategy; business analytics; applied econometrics; industrial organization

Yuichiro Kamada
Arriving at Haas 2013
Marketing (MKTG)
Currently: Postdoctural Associate, Yale University, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics
Ph.D. (Economics), Harvard University
Research Focus: game theory; political economy; market design; social network; decision theory

Sameer B. Srivastava
Management of Organizations (MORS)
Ph.D. (Sociology and Organizational Behavior/Sociology), Harvard University
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center, two-time recipient
2011 State Farm Doctoral Dissertation Award
Research Focus: dynamics of intra-organizational networks and their consequences for individual and organizational outcomes

Reed Walker
Arriving at Haas 2014
Business and Public Policy (BPP)
Currently: Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research, University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D. (Economics), Columbia University
Research Focus: public and labor economics in the context of environmental and health policy such as social costs of environmental policy; environmental health disparities; policy influences on worker and firm behavior

Prof. Andy Rose

Corporate Responsibility Expert Kellie McElhaney to Speak at Sustainable Investment Conference

Kellie McElhaney, adjunct assistant professor and founding director of the Center for Responsible Business, will speak about investing for profit and social good at "Investing for Purpose and Profit: Sustainable Investment Strategies" on June 27 at O'Melveney & Myers LLP in San Francisco.

McElhaney is the Margo N. Alexander Faculty Fellow in Corporate Responsibility and author of Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand. She will discuss sustainable investment practices, what they mean in today’s marketplace, and how corporations may engage in social responsibility while monetizing their brands. As a consultant to several Global 1000 companies, McElhaney helps develop integrated CSR strategies for organizations as HP, McDonald’s, Target, and Ford Motor Company.

The conference is sponsored by The Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco. For more information, go to: http://www.fwasf.org/event20120627.asp?id=1063

Alameda Nonprofit Honors Haas for MBA Volunteer Work

The Alameda Point Collaborative named Berkeley-Haas its 2012 Educational Partner of the Year last month in recognition of the thousands of volunteer hours MBA students dedicate to the nonprofit each year.

Every year as part of their orientation week, first-year full-time MBA students spend half a day providing community service at Alameda Point Collaborative, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless. In addition, MBA students volunteer at the collaborative throughout the year and hold an auction to raise money for it.

The Alameda Point Collaborative activities are part of the MBA Challenge for Charity, a nonprofit that draws on MBA students from nine West Coast schools to support local charities and to develop business leaders with a lifelong commitment to community involvement and social responsibility.

"Through Challenge for Charity, we have been given nearly $50,000 in financial support and are the fortunate beneficiaries of thousands of hours of volunteer service annually," Doug Briggs, executive director of Alameda Point Collaborative, wrote in a letter of thanks to Dean Rich Lyons.

Amy Hornstein, director of student affairs in the Full-time Berkeley MBA Program, accepted the award on behalf of the Haas School. The collaborative gave Haas a beautiful terrarium as part of the award.

 

 

 

Amy Hornstein of the Full-time MBA Program Office receives a terrarium award from Alameda Point Collaborative Executive Director Doug Biggs.