It is estimated that  it took 18 years for the bubonic plague to reach the shores of Europe from its origin in China and another 30  months to reach England from Venice. A couple years ago, when SARS hit Asia, it could have reached  Canada in 72 hours. Now, swine flu from Mexico is discovered in New Zealand before anyone knows what’s going on.

Some developed countries have systems to track, identify, and quarantine outbreaks such as this, but many developing countries simply cannot do it. Compounding the problem is the fact that very few national entities talk to one another. The current infrastructure leaves much to be desired.  To manage potential pandemics, we need  global mechanisms in place beforehand to handle situations like this as they arise, not after.

Ghadar is the co-author of “Global Tectonics: Underlying Trends Shaping the Future of Business.” The book identifies the 12 trends in technology, nature, and society that will present the most formidable challenges in the next 30 years.

More from Guay:

Financiers—be they commercial banks, the IMF, or private equity groups—always attach strings, or more accurately “conditions,” to their loans. It should be no different for the U.S. government. If taxpayer money is being loaned to a private company, the government should have every right to attach conditions to it, including changing GM’s management team. 

Wagoner’s almost nine-year tenure as CEO has done little to improve the fortunes of the company, and has arguably made them worse. Unfortunately, this transition comes too late in the game to have much of an effect in creating a successful restructuring plan for the company. 

The Obama administration has learned a lesson from the government initiatives over the past year to support the ailing financial sector. Public opinion simply will not support bailouts without conditions.  In effect, while banks received incentives or “carrots” to change their ways, the government is trying the “stick” approach with the auto industry. What the government may find out is that, regardless of the tactic, it is very difficult to discipline companies as the U.S. political economy is currently structured. 

Columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady outlines the history of the Mexican truck debate in Monday’s Wall Street Journal and argues that allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways improves trade relations, supply chain efficiency, and border security.

Smeal’s Fariborz Ghadar agrees that the trucks should be permitted on U.S. roadways:

If we are going to take NAFTA seriously, Mexican trucks should be allowed to cross the border and continue unimpeded to their U.S. destinations. First, Washington says that they’re not allowed because they are too dirty. Then, once they were cleaned up, the argument became that they’re unsafe. We put up hoop after hoop, and they’ve jumped through all of them.

We finally installed this pilot program, which allowed the trucks on U.S. roads for a year and a half with no safety problems whatsoever, until another election put politics ahead of good policy. The fact that this fight has been going on for so long has everything to do with labor politics and nothing to do with the safety of Mexican trucks. No matter what NAFTA says, if the government continues to put up one obstacle after another in the way of cross-border commerce, they eventually end up blocking free trade.

Project courses address your company’s strategic challenges

• Strategic assessment of the firm: a year-long project in first year critically assesses the sponsoring firm’s strategies, with critiques from faculty and fellow students.
• Team consulting projects in second year address key strategic issues in sponsoring firms and find solutions to problems.
• Classes are structured to give students the opportunity to address problems and challenges your firm faces daily.

Win the talent war

• Retain talent: education and training through an Executive MBA program is one sure way to show your best and brightest that you believe in their abilities to succeed.
• Succession planning: identify and train future leaders of the firm from within and save time and money spent on recruiting, hiring, and training.
• Employees continue working while obtaining their MBA. Skills learned will be immediately applicable on the job, so you get a better employee in real-time.
• Special seminars for sponsoring firms and supervisors will provide information on how to use a better-trained employee to create value quickly.

Curriculum and program focus create a more confident, motivated leader

• Broad based, general managerial competencies addressed.
• Working effectively in teams is a key feature of the entire program.
• Program customized to interests and backgrounds of participants.
• Award winning Communications course enhances oral and written presentation skills
• Skill sets: breadth and depth in communications, managing and leading people, value creation and capture, allocating resources, and business strategy.
• Global Immersion will expose employees to best practices of international companies.

Open windows of opportunity through networking

• Employees attend class with other high-achieving employees and nurture potential business opportunities.
• Executive Seminar series on class weekends brings distinguished executives to speak.
• All classes are taught by Penn State’s Smeal College faculty, nationally ranked and influential thought leaders in their fields.
• The Penn State Alumni Association is the largest in the world.

Free lifetime membership in Smeal Research Centers

• Students and their mentors are enrolled in the Smeal Research Center Network-communities of leading researchers, faculty, and practitioners from around the world and across a broad variety of business practice areas. Our center network includes: The Center for Supply Chain Research, The Penn State eBusiness Research Center, and the Institute for the Study of Business Markets.

Learn more at www.smealemba.com.

The Associated Press, 02/04/2009—Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Business Studies, comments on how the recession is affecting agriculture. “Yes, we have housing problems, but we’re not going to not feed our kids,”Ghadar said. (Economy Unlikely To Affect Many U.S. Farmers). This article has appeared on more than 100 Web sites.

Investor’s Business Daily, 02/04/2009—Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Business Studies, comments on how chip manufacturers are responding to the recession. “What chipmakers are going through is a microcosm of what is happening to many U.S. exporters generally,” Ghadar said. (Chip Manufacturers’ Tactics Differ For Dealing With Global Recession).

Wisconsin Public Radio, 02/04/2009—Timothy Pollock, professor of management, discusses executive compensation in light of President Obama’s plan to limit CEO pay at firms receiving federal bailout funds. (Conversations With Kathleen Dunn). This programs aired on 18 stations in Wisconsin.

Orlando Sentinel, 01/18/2009—Wayne DeSarbo, executive director of the Center for Sports Business & Research, comments on the effect of the economy on the sports industry. “It’s hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen, but one thing is clear: Those types of activities involving monetary outlay will most likely decrease as consumers tighten their belts,” DeSarbo said. (Sports Are Not Recession-Proof—And The Worst May Be Yet To Come).

The Associated Press, 01/16/2009—Austin Jaffe, chair of the Department of Insurance and Real Estate, comments on the real estate market outlook for 2009. “I think in 2009 we’re still going to see more foreclosures, certainly,” Jaffe said. “There’s more resets coming from ARMs that are still out there, and as the economy gets weaker that’s likely to increase the number of foreclosures and increase the supply of houses on the market.” (Home Repossessions Nearly Doubled In Pa. Last Year). This article appeared in several newspapers around Pennsylvania, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

BusinessWest (Massachusetts), 01/05/2009—Gary Lilien, Distinguished Research Professor of Management Science, comments on marketing during a recession. “Companies that have been looking at marketing as an investment, and not an expense, and have been running their business through customer knowledge are the ones that are going to come out of this [recession] really, really well,” Lilien says. (A Time To Thrive?).

Approximately 25% of the students enrolled in the Smeal EMBA either live or work in New York City.

Highlights of the Feb. 6 trip include tours of Berkshire subsidiary companies, a two-hour meeting with Buffett, and lunch with the world’s richest man at one of his favorite Omaha steakhouses. During the meeting at Berkshire headquarters, Buffett will take questions from the students on issues ranging from his experiences in business to the state of the global economy.

The Smeal trip is part of a regular routine for Buffett, who occasionally hosts groups of MBA students from the country’s leading business schools. But for the Smeal students and those from five other universities who will be joining them, this is a unique chance to pick the brain of one of the brightest business minds ever.

Smeal, the 2nd largest business school in the country as well as one the top ranked business schools in the country will be one of the five scools chosen to have to participate.

The tuition-and-fees deduction for part-time and full time MBA students is relatively new (2006). It allows taxpayers to deduct higher-education expenses as an adjustment to gross income instead of claiming the Hope or Lifetime Learning credit.

This means you can claim this deduction even if you do not itemize deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040).  This deduction might be beneficial to you if you cannot take either the Hope or Lifetime Learning credit because your income is too high. The tuition-and-fee-deduction limitation is separate and apart from the work-related education deduction. However, obviously you cannot deduct the same expenses twice.

You can deduct the costs of qualifying work-related education as business expenses. An example is education that maintains or improves skills needed in your present work.

However, it is not work-related education if it:

1.    Is needed to meet the minimum educational requirements of your present trade or business, or

2.    Is part of a program of study that will qualify you for a new trade or business.

You can deduct the costs of qualifying work-related education as a business expense even if the education could lead to a degree. The IRS provides the following example of qualifying for a new trade in contrast to leading to a degree: You are an accountant. Your employer requires you to get a law degree at your own expense. You register at a law school for the regular curriculum that leads to a law degree. Even if you do not intend to become a lawyer, the education is not qualifying because the law degree will qualify you for a new trade or business. While an MBA will make you more marketable, it in itself does not lead to a new trade provided you already have a business background.

An MBA does not necessarily lead to a new trade but rather tends to improve your current skills. Even if getting an MBA will lead to a new position within the company, so long as it is in the same general area of your current duties, this is not considered a new trade.

For an employee, work-related education expenses are miscellaneous itemized deductions on Schedule A. Unlike your wife’s deduction, yours is not limited to only tuition and fees. The following education expenses can be deducted.

1.    Tuition, books, supplies, lab fees and similar items.

2.    Certain transportation and travel costs.

3.    Other education expenses, such as costs of research and typing when writing a paper as part of an educational program.

Your deduction should be reduced by employer reimbursements.  As I mentioned before – I am not an accountant, and before you do anything please consult an expert in this area!

Mead will participate in an interactive on-stage conversation with Smeal Dean James B. Thomas, during which he will discuss his role at Verizon, offer some insights on leadership and business trends, and answer questions from the audience.  The conversation will be transmitted live to Smeal EMBA students and alum’s in the Phialdelphia area.

While on campus, Mead will also network with faculty and meet in small groups with interested students.

As president of Verizon Services Corp., Mead is responsible for overseeing all of the finance operations, real estate, and supply chain services for all Verizon companies. He is also responsible for Verizon’s 24 percent ownership of Vodafone Italia, a Vodafone-Verizon wireless joint venture in Italy, and sits on the Vodafone Italia Board of Directors.

Mead has a lead strategy role with an emphasis on transforming Verizon’s operating structure. He also co-chairs Verizon’s Corporate Responsibility and Workplace Culture Council, through which he is leading a variety of “green” initiatives that aim to reduce Verizon’s impact on the environment.

Mead was appointed to lead Verizon Services in October 2005, when the unit was created. He was one of the founding senior executives responsible for launching Verizon Wireless (VZW) in July 2000. From March 2001 to October 2005, he was president of VZW’s Midwest Area, a 15-state region with a population of 61 million that stretches from Pennsylvania to the Dakotas and from Minnesota to Kentucky. He has held various other leadership roles in telecommunications functions during his 29 years with Verizon and its predecessor companies.

Mead holds a bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Business Analysis and Finance and an M.B.A. from Smeal.