CASI Sponsors Student-led Winter Quarter Dinner Discussions

CASI sponsored seven small group dinners (SGD) over the winter quarter that were attended by GSB students with the aim to deepen discussions on issues that are often overlooked or receive minimal attention in the classroom. The informal atmosphere and selected topics also helped to introduce students to CASI’s events and special programs. 

On January 30, Jeff Pontell (MBA ’23) served as moderator to talk about “the role of and opportunities for business in frontier and emerging markets.” Among the themes the group discussed:

• current trends in emerging markets such as deindustrialization 
• currency risk, including a flight to cryptocurrency 
• the role of government in emerging markets and how it varies by sector. 

Ainee Athar (MBA ’24) moderated a dinner on January 31 to talk about “corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, social, and governance investing (ESG) and greenwashing.” For many of the students attending the dinner, it was the first time they examined how ESG is defined and evaluated. They also discussed:

• what ESG means in terms of ‘greenwashing’; when companies claim their products or services are environmentally friendly for marketing purposes rather than creating real impact.
• the lack of real incentives to do the right thing until many of these disclosures and evaluations take the form of a compliance market.

The dinner was held a week before CASI’s scheduled event with former BlackRock Chief Investment Officer for Sustainable Investing, Tariq Fancy. Dinner participants devoted time to exploring his point of view. (for more on Fancy’s discussion, see CASI’s event summary.)

Two small group dinners were held on the evening of February 9. Sarah Anderson (MBA ’23) moderated one on “measuring impact”. The discussion centered on whether measuring impact is always beneficial. Among the takeaways:

• some measurement approaches are used incorrectly and may overvalue projects in developed countries.
• measurement approaches should be reweighted to target where the need is greatest.
• how impact measurement delivers a high ROI by providing valuable information for program evaluation; and the transparency it offers to investors and advisors. 

The second dinner was moderated by Cassandra Duchan Saucedo (MBA ’24) on “uplifting workers' rights” and covered how to effectively work with unions, co-ops and other groups. The discussion concluded with the following:

• a consensus that at the GSB, students are generally taught to automatically combat unions instead of working collaboratively with them. The group felt this presents a challenge in finding a space for these conversations. 
• The difficulty of finding the line between working with unions and being a good boss. 
• evaluating perceptions of work and how western, protestant ideals of work should be updated to better adapt to modern contexts. 

Last Fall, CASI held a panel discussion on the labor unions in America, and this Spring, Faiz Shakir, Executive Director of the nonprofit More Perfect Union, is scheduled for a CASI-led conversation on how business leaders can more thoughtfully engage with labor unions.

On February 16, Joby Bernstein (MBA ’24) moderated a small group dinner around the theme of “living sustainably.” The central question for the discussion:  Do Stanford students do enough to cut their own emissions and the emissions of the organizations they work in? As Bernstein relayed, the students were deeply interested in learning more about the topic. Together they explored potential solutions such as:

• a system for students to offset flights 

• improved pricing at Arbuckle dining pavilion to encourage more vegetarian eating and less takeout box use 

The group discussed if and when individuals should bear some responsibility for their own actions and not just blame corporations. There was also talk around a carbon tax and how helpful that could be. 

Two separate dinners were held on March 2 to talk about issues around “building healthy cities.” Nancy Liao (MBA ’24) moderated one dinner where each member of the group shared their interest in livable city trends.  Among the ideas they discussed:

• socioeconomic mixing in Paris housing developments (e.g., separating ground lease from real estate rights to make housing affordable to middle-income families) 
• how to move from car-centric to 15-minute cities, and feasibility of undoing urban sprawl - future of air mobility (air taxis and regional flights) and best suited markets 
• the feasibility of rail expansion in the US/Australia vs Europe/Asia 

Brooke Istvan and Julia Jacobson (MBA ’24) co-moderated the second dinner. According to Istvan, the group “talked a lot about whether cities will live or die in post-COVID world and what the vision and role of a city will continue to look like.” Other issues included:

• the role of zoning and property tax implications 
• the connection between property taxes and funding education
• city population demographics and access to healthcare
• public transit usage after the pandemic

During and after the dinner, the group shared links and other resources to enhance their understanding of the issues.