Beyond Math

As one of the first hires at California State University, Channel Islands, William Cordeiro was tasked with starting the business school from scratch. Among his duties as the head of the business and economics school was helping to establish a broad curriculum that includes disciplines outside of business. That curriculum was shaped by a philosophy that Cordeiro picked up from the late Peter Drucker, an author and management consultant: Business school students should know how to do more than just crunch numbers. They should know how to effectively communicate, be a leader and practice sound ethics. After all, Cordeiro said, taking a few extra courses in finance will not automatically guarantee a high-level executive position. The California Institute for Social Business is the newest program at the business school. Its goal is to promote the concept of using business methods to solve poverty, hunger, and other social ills. Andrea Grove, a political science professor, is the institute’s faculty director. The institute teaches students the “nuts and bolts” of starting and operating a social business with the analysis of when such ventures work and don’t work, Grove said. “It is a mix of the academic with the more hands-on,” learning, Grove said. The business and economic school and its lecture hall were named for Martin V. Smith, a Ventura County businessman who donated $5 million to the school before it opened in 2002. The Smith Foundation made an additional $3 million contribution in 2005. Question: You are wrapping up another school year this month, how has the business school progressed? Cordeiro: CSU has 23 campuses, and the business school is the largest unit of those universities and it is the same here. We have 650 students; 50 in economics and 600 in business. The formal name is the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics, so we have an endowment. That takes off some of the pressure from the state budget. Another thing that helps is a thriving MBA program, and that is run through what is called ‘extended university’ so there are separate fees for that; it is non-state money. Our size means we have a larger allocation of state money, and our endowment and the MBA help get us through. Title: Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Director of Smith School of Business & Economics AGE: 66 EDUCATION: MBA from University of Southern California and PhD in Executive Management from Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University Most Admired Person: Peter Drucker Career Turning Point: Selected as one of 13 Founding Faculty members of CSU Channel Islands in 2001 Personal: Single, one son Q: Is the business school where you’d like it to be by now? Cordeiro: We’d like it to have been larger. We got about 16 percent of the total university (student population). The university is only at 3,500 students right now and it should be at 6,000. That is a direct result of the state budget problem. Q: Has the school been able to use the recession as a learning experience for the students? Cordeiro: Well, certainly. All of our classes involve what is going on outside the campus. I never use the word ‘real world’ because I think we are real world, too. In the economic courses, we involve banking and what is going on with the Fed. In management courses, it can be about how you manage downsizing and how to take advantage of other opportunities of other revenue sources. That also includes the Institute for Social Business. Q: Can you describe what the institute is? It’s still in the early stages isn’t it? Grove: Yes, but we have made a lot of progress this year. We were officially launched when (Nobel Prize winner) Muhammad Yunus came last year in February and gave a speech in Thousand Oaks. Since August when we got out first big two-year funding from the Hilton Foundation we have been able to find a part-time faculty director, which is myself. I work with other faculty on a minor and a certificate in social business, which involves three main courses. The first of those courses will be taught in the fall. The enrollment is now at 23, and we are excited that it is nearly filled up. Q: Can you explain what social business is? Grove: The idea is a business is formed to address a social problem. That can be health care or environmental challenges or other challenges of poverty. The main principle is that any profits the business makes go back into the business. Investors can get back their initial investment but they don’t get any more profits. The idea is that the social good the business does is the profit and a way to recycle the original investment. Q: What role can local businesses have in the Institute for Social Business? Grove: I think what we hope to do in the longer term is to work with our community partners that are nonprofits and have them think of what ways can social business be relevant to them. For some of them it might make sense to create a wing of their organization to make their donations more sustainable. As for business involvement, I would think it might be in terms of if they are interested in investment, or if they are interested in solving social problems that we have. Q: In the business school how do area businesses participate or have a role? Cordeiro: In general, we have what is typical of most business schools. We have a Business Advisory Council (BAC) that is made up of about 30 businesses and some government workers. They are very supportive and very active through the BAC. We have a mentorship program and internship program. We are starting to get some traction to get the right people on the council that are interested. Q: There’s also the business and technology partnership. Can you explain what that is? Cordeiro: That actually started before the business school started. (University President) Dr. (Richard) Rush started that from day one. It is broader based, contrasted to the BAC. The Business Advisory Council is a concentrated group appointed by the president, whereas the Business and Technology Partnership is broader and happens to housed at the business school. It involves faculty across the university and not just the business side. Anybody can be a member. It has 100 or so members. They have a big scholarship dinner and then a big mixer during the holiday time. The BAC is totally integrated part of the business school while the BTP is the broader community. Title: Associate Professor of Political Science; Faculty Director, California Institute for Social Business; Faculty Director, Center for Community Engagement AGE: 41 EDUCATION: Ph.D., The Ohio State University; MA, Lancaster University (UK); BA, University of Georgia Most Admired Person: John Hume, a Northern Irish politician Career Turning Point: Accepting position at CSU Channel Islands Personal: Married, with two children Q: What are the strengths of the business school? Cordeiro: The faculty and the curriculum. The faculty has a broad-based orientation and we have a lot of doctorates. We are trying to build a culture where we are all on the same page and have a family feeling here. The curriculum we started from scratch. We could put into practice the Drucker philosophy. It’s not for everybody. Some people come here thinking they’ll major in accounting. I’ll say, ‘No, CSUN has a great program for that.’ We aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. Q: What are areas for improvement? Cordeiro: We could use more faculty. That is true of everywhere. The faculty we are talking about is tenure track faculty where you have to have a PhD and go through a review process. I do not have tenure track faculty in accounting. But that is in all areas. If you picked any area in the university and you asked the chair what they need, they’ll say tenured track faculty. But that is the trend in education nationally and internationally. Q: One of your instructors is Sung Won Sohn. Is that a boost to the university having someone who is so well known? Cordeiro: He gets us a tremendous amount of publicity for the university. He is quoted all the time. About a month ago, when Sohn was quoted, I counted 46 citations. He is also the one who started the Institute of Global Economic Research. We got some funding for that. His official title is the endowed professor of economics. Q: Where do you see the social business institute going in the next three to five years? Grove: We’ll be graduating number of minors and the development of a class where students will travel abroad to study social businesses that are out there. Also local ones but most of them are overseas. We are continuing to find funding for that. Another thing we hope to do in the next few years is hire an executive director to really focus on the continued development.