Conference Agenda

Every year, IBOC provides thought-leading speakers to share insights on timely issues in the international business space, at the same time allowing all IBOC participants to interact with current Olin MBA students when they present their findings on live, international projects to senior executives from this year's sponsoring companies: General Electric, Monsanto, and the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

We are also honored to have William T. Gavin, Vice President and Economist in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, as our keynote speaker this year. During our morning session, Bill will discuss the outlook for the U.S. economy with an emphasis on recent actions by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and to extend credit through the acceptance of mortgage backed securities as collateral in both open market operations and discount window lending.

Speaker Bio: William T. Gavin is Vice President and Economist in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He received his doctorate in economics from Ohio State and began his career with the Federal Reserve System as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in 1980. He managed the Cleveland Research Department's macroeconomics section from 1988 through April 1994, when he left to join the St. Louis Fed. There, he conducts research on a variety of macroeconomic issues.

In recent years, he has conducted research about how Fed behavior affects statistical patterns in U.S. macroeconomic data, on the differences between the gold standard, money supply rules and interest rates rules, into the accuracy of macroeconomic forecasts of the FOMC, using cross-country data to estimate macroeconomic models, on how the interaction between the capital gains tax and inflation affects the business cycle, into why inflation targeting seems to work so well, and using commodity futures prices to understand the monetary transmission mechanism.

He is a member of the National Association of Business Economists, the Society for Economic Dynamics, and the American Economic Association where he served on the Education Committee from 1994 through 1997. He has served as an adjunct professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, and Washington University at Saint Louis. He also edits the Review, the Banks bimonthly economic research journal.

Speaker Bio: General Electric (GE) is made up of six businesses delivering $160 billion in revenues and $20 billion in earnings with over 300,000 employees operating in over 100 countries. Practicum concept: Perform a market analysis for GE's newly launch Monogram ultra high-end appliance line in potential targeted markets. Identify channels that GE could source or partner with to introduce products to the market under the GE brand. Primary focus should be on market analysis in competition, existing channels, size, and growth rates. Secondary focus could be on how to increase penetration. Target markets GE is considering for this project are the United Kingdom or the United Arab Emirates.

Speaker Bio: Monsanto through innovations and technology helps farmers around the world produce healthier foods, better animal feeds and more fiber, while reducing agriculture's impact on the environment. Practicum Objective: Given Brazil and South America's increasing demand for sugarcane as an input for the growing ethanol production industry, assess the market potential for Colombia and the Cancar Region to enter and expand as a major producer and exporter of sugarcane. Deliver a concrete proposal of how Monsanto should participate in this market, including possible implications, needed infrastructure, supply chain constraints, and impact to other crops within the Colombian agricultural sector.

Speaker Bio: Washington University has partnered with the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) to enrich MBG's Community Conservation Program. We are integrating conservation goals with self-directed economic growth. The class will consist of 12-15 students who will be supported by up to three faculty members. The primary objectives (and foundation of team projects) comprised of: (1) continue assessment of environmental, social, economic, and political tradeoffs in Madagascar agricultural subsistence economies with endangered, rare forests, (2) assessment of NGO or other technologies that would increase villager productivity, particularly in the area of agricultural yields, (3) in-depth review of how formal and informal educational institutions can be used to share knowledge about conservation, economic growth, and technology introduction, (4) development of a model for the Mahabo commune that allows comparison of outcomes for forest preservation, economic growth, social programs, public goods, and technology introduction, and (5) cost estimation of conservation enforcement and other public goods (hospital, education, law enforcement, etc) within a context of affordability and relatively nascent public funding support.