Haas NewsWire


Haas NewsWire, February 19, 2002


CONTENTS
FTC Hearings on Intellectual Property Law, Policy to be Held at the Haas School
"Biz Park" at Asia Business Conference to Feature Newest Technology
MBA Students Advance to Finals VC Investment Competition
Deputy Dean Shubert Assumes A New Role
Haas in the News
Happening at Haas

Haas NewsWire Archive
Contact Haas NewsWire


HAAS HEADLINES


FTC HEARINGS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW, POLICY TO BE HELD AT THE HAAS SCHOOL

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice antitrust division will hold joint hearings at the Haas School February 25 to 28 to develop a better understanding of how to manage issues that arise at the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law and policy.

Part of a national series of hearings on "Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy," the UC Berkeley events are organized by the Competition Policy Center and the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology around the theme, "Economic Perspectives and Real-World Experience with Patents."

The event is open to the public and starts on Monday, Feb. 25, at 1:00 pm. All sessions will be held in the Wells Fargo Room at the Haas School.

For four days, national leaders in academia and industry will present their experiences and findings to the commission. Thirteen UC Berkeley professors will be presenting at the hearings. Daily sessions will focus on business and other testimony regarding the "real world" experience with patents and competition and explore economic and business perspectives on intellectual property, competition, and innovation.

UC Berkeley faculty hosts to the conference are:


Both Farrell and Shapiro have previously served as deputy assistant attorney general for economic analysis at the Department of Justice's antitrust division.

Individual sessions are tentatively scheduled on the following topics:


More information on the Berkeley sessions and the presenters, directions, and parking information is available at http://haas.berkeley.edu/groups/cpc/Events/Events.html.

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"BIZ PARK" AT ASIA BUSINESS CONFERENCE TO FEATURE NEWEST TECHNOLOGY

With the Haas Asia Business Conference (HABC) drawing every closer, the time to buy tickets is now. Last year, the conference sold out in advance of the event. The conference takes place on Saturday, March 2, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For details on the conference, go to
www.haas-abc.org.

This year the HABC has two high-level keynote speakers, Masaki Yoshikawa, president of Pacific Division for NTT DoCoMo USA, and Dr. F.C. Tseng, deputy CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The conference also features a full day of panel discussions, an expanded technology fair (called Biz Park), and the brand new Clausen Business Leader Exchange.

This year's "Biz Park" will be open throughout the conference for all attendees to explore some of the most cutting-edge high-tech products from Asia. Companies in attendance include Honda, Entertainment Robot America (a division of Sony Electronic, Inc.), Viz Communications, InterSquare, and NEC Electronics. Some of the highlights include:


The day's panels cover a wide range of topics and bring some leading thinkers in their fields to Haas for the discussions.


Tickets are available online at www.haas-abc.org. The price for tickets is $50 (general admission and $25 for students.

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MBA STUDENTS ADVANCE TO FINALS OF VC INVESTMENT COMPETITION

The Haas School's MBA student team won second place in the Western regional competition of the 2002 Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) and qualified to compete in the national finals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on April 4.

In February team members "BK" Balakrishnan, MBA 02; Matt Campbell, MBA 02; Yili Liu, MBA 02; Aaron Mendelson, Evening MBA 03; and Pal Wibe, MBA 02, competed in the qualifying round against teams from business schools including UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Texas, University of Arizona, and University of Colorado. The Haas team came in second and won a $2,000 prize.

"It was grueling, but a tremendous learning experience," said Wibe of the western competition. "We got first-hand insight into the venture capitalist thinking process."

At the competitions the student teams receive business plans from five startup companies and are given 36 hours to analyze each company by reviewing the business plans and listening to the companies' presentations. Following the company presentations, each student team is allowed a private question-and-answer session with each company's management. The student teams then evaluate investment proposals, conduct research about the companies, and prepare term sheets for the investments that they would seek out. Each student team presents its evaluations to a panel of judges consisting of venture capitalists, which evaluates the teams' assessment and then selects the top teams. The Haas team was given a fund profile size of $200 million comprising 67% active and 33% passive investments.

The top two winners from this year's Western competition -- Haas and Michigan -- are set to compete against the winners of the northeastern, southeastern, and central regional competitions. The top two winners from each regional competition are invited to the VCIC National Finals at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina. This year's final competition participants include students from: Duke University, Harvard, University of Wisconsin, University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Yale, Dartmouth, University of Virginia, and UC Berkeley.

The VCIC is sponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Venturing (CETV), National Venture Capital Association, and the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The Haas team is sponsored by the school's Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. All Haas team members are enrolled in the "Venture Capital and Private Equity" class taught by Jerry Engel, executive director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

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DEPUTY DEAN SHUBERT ASSUMES A NEW ROLE

Citing personal reasons, Marybeth Schubert, who served as the Haas School's deputy dean and chief of staff during Laura Tyson's deanship, has decided to step down from these positions effective immediately.

Shubert was willing, however, to remain with the school to complete work on a number of important ongoing projects. In this capacity she will be serving as assistant dean for special projects, will report to Dean Benjamin Hermalin, and will continue to serve on the Dean's Council.

"Marybeth has played a key role in just about every successful initiative launched by the school during the past four years," said Hermalin, reacting to Schubert's decision. Hermalin has decided that he will fill neither the deputy dean nor the chief of staff positions in the near term. "Given their nature, who should fill these positions, or even whether they should continue to exist, are decisions that should be left to whomever the chancellor appoints as dean", said Hermalin. The chief of staff duties will be divided among various staff in the Dean's Suite, with the dean's executive assistant, Meredith LaCorte, assuming all the dean's scheduling duties.

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HAAS IN THE NEWS

Terrance Odean, assistant professor in the Finance Group, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on February 19 in an article titled, "Those Who Survived the Stock-Slump Road Can Still Crash."

NPR's Marketplace aired in a February 18 story that buying a car online is also an easy way to avoid price discrimination based on race or gender. The story was based on the research of Florian Zettelmeyer, assistant professor of marketing. Listen to the story at http://www.marketplace.org/shows/2002/02/rafiles/18_mpp.ram.

Odean was also quoted in Money Magazine's March issue in an article titled "How To Invest With Confidence: A Seven-step Plan to Help You Make the Most of Today's Volatile Market." Odean commented that investors must temper their confidence and not attribute success to their own ability rather than luck.

Odean was also featured on "Sound Money" a nationally syndicated show produced by Minnesota Public Radio on February 16. The topic of the show was investment clubs.

Brett Trueman, the Donald and Ruth Seiler Professor of Public Accounting and chair of the Haas Accounting Group, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on February 15 in an article titled "Edison Schools Sees Golden Opportunity in Philadelphia." Trueman commented on Edison's accounting practices.

Kenneth Rosen, the California State Professor of Real Estate and Urban Economics and chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, was mentioned in the Oakland Tribune on February 15 in the article "Open Space: Freefall in Office Rents to Last Through '02."

Terrance Odean was also quoted in the Dow Jones Newswires in an article titled "Once Hot, Technical Analysts See Ranks Thin on Wall St."

Hal Varian, dean of the School of Information Management & Systems and professor at Haas, wrote an article for The New York Times on February 14 titled, "Investor Behavior Clouds the Wisdom of Offering Wider Choice in 401(k)s." Varian also mentioned research conduct by Terrance Odean.

Reuven Lehavy, an assistant professor in the Accounting Group, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on February 14 in the article "Edison Schools' Quarterly Loss Widened, Stock Falls Amid Accounting Questions."

Rodrigo Rato, a Haas alumnus and finance minister of Spain, was quoted in The New York Times on February 13 in an article titled "Europeans Decide Against Warning Germany on Budget Deficit." Rato said that because the German government had made commitments to put its budget in order, the council considered the matter effectively closed.

Richard Kurovsky, executive director of Marketing and Communications at Haas, was quoted in the Daily Cal on February 12 in the article "Students Forgo Workplace, Choose Graduate Schools Instead." He stated that Haas has observed an approximate 80 to 90 percent increase in competition for available spaces and that the incentives for going to school are becoming more attractive.

Odean was quoted in Newsweek on February 11 in an article titled "My Own Private Enron." Odean commented on investors' emotional attachment to stock and the difficulties they have selling it at a loss.

Trueman was also quoted in USA Today on February 11 in an article titled "Flap Exposes Tricks of Accounting Trade." He commented on accounting loopholes.

Severin Borenstein was interviewed by NPR's Weekend Edition on February 9 regarding Enron's effect on the California electricity market.

Chris Barton, a Haas alumnus, was mentioned in the MBA Jungle in an article titled "Trading Places: Spending a Semester Abroad." Barton spent the first semester of his second year in London and is now starting a London-based company.

The Haas School was featured in the MBA Jungle in the article, "University Incubators are Hatching Student Startups." The article made reference to Haas' business incubator, which gives students a rent-free space where they can try to "hatch" their business plans.

Severin Borenstein was also interviewd by KPFK Public Radio in Los Angeles on January 30 regarding the energy policy.

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HAPPENING AT HAAS

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ALUMNI EVENTS

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The Haas NewsWire is the electronic news weekly for the Haas community published every Monday by the Marketing and Communications Office at the Haas School. Send your news, feedback, and suggestions to Haasnews@haas.berkeley.edu.

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