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A lion guards this temple in Beijing's Forbidden City
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Kenan Institute Helps China Prepare For 2008 Olympics
The 2008 Beijing Olympics will attract 200,000 athletes, journalists and officials from more than 200 countries. An estimated 1.2 million pieces of equipment weighing more than 75,000 tons will be needed and will require the use of more than 2,000 transport vehicles. The estimated cost of logistics services is $5 billion.
UNC Kenan-Flagler's Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is helping Chinese officials prepare for these challenges and for the visitors who will descend on the country for the world's biggest sporting event.
The Kenan Institute and Tsinghua University, China's top technology university, will co-host a symposium in Beijing Feb. 25, 2005, to help officials and vendors prepare for the surge of people, products and materials that will
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The Great Wall of China stretches 4,163 miles from east to west
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flow in and out of the city. Representatives from government, business and academia will come together for "Olympic Logistics: Learning from the Past and Planning for the Future." Lessons also will be offered from the 2004 Greek Olympics Committee.
Noel Greis, co-organizer of the symposium and director of the Kenan Institute's Center for Logistics and Digital Strategy, will lead sessions on advanced digital technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) that can provide solutions for China's logistics challenges.
Kenan Institute Director John D. Kasarda will lead discussions on China's plans for a $12 billion airport city to support Olympics logistics and to help Beijing position itself for 21st century global commerce. Kasarda's research is guiding plans for airport-driven economic development in cities worldwide, including Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Frankfurt, Sao Paolo, New York and Detroit. He coined the term "aerotropolis" to describe the aviation-intensive businesses that cluster around airports and stretch up to 15 miles outward along transportation corridors. He also will chair the Creating Airport Cities Conference in Rome in February.
"We will offer best practices for logistics-intensive events and ties to global companies as potential suppliers," Greis said. Federal Express executives, for instance, will present at the symposium.
The size of the event and the speed with which changes must occur make planning for the Olympics particularly challenging, Greis said.
"You have to scale up quickly, and these efforts stress the existing infrastructure," she said. "There's an incredible amount of building going on in Beijing right now. The skyline is full of construction cranes."
China is building four logistics parks, including one at Beijing Capital International Airport. The $12 billion gateway "airport city" will be the world's largest multi-functional development. The airport is expected to attract 80 million passengers in 2015, compared with 20 million in 2004, said Kasarda.
"Beijing's Capital Airport City will allow business and industries to operate in a speedier, more agile manner - both in receiving parts and components and in shipping materials out of the country," Kasarda said.
The Kenan Institute is working to establish a joint research program in logistics with Tsinghua University. The proposed program will focus on logistics and global supply-chain management research that enhances trade between the United States and China, supports economic development and addresses issues such as offshore outsourcing. The partners are planning a fall 2005 conference to respond to issues that arise out of the February 2005 Olympics symposium.
For more information on the Kenan Institute's Center for Air Commerce, visit http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/KI/airCommerce/index.cfm. For information on the Center for Logistics and Digital Strategy, visit http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/KI/logistics/index.cfm.
Having an Impact in Their Community
The executive director of North Carolina Hillel was so impressed with the project that UNC Kenan-Flagler undergraduate students prepared that he wants them to present it to his development committee.
North Carolina Hillel was one of four nonprofit organizations that benefited from the creative brainpower of students in the service learning section of Professor Patricia Harms' management communication course. A team of five students created two PowerPoint presentations (one tailor-made for the executive director's dynamic presentation style) that showcased to donors how students benefit from Hillel.
"It was an absolutely wonderful experience working with these students. I'll be leaving for a two-week development trip, and I'll be taking this with me," Hillel Executive Director Or Mars said at a December celebration where nonprofit organizations were invited to see the students' projects. "The students were self-starters. I felt like I was dealing with consultants. The team was really well-organized, and they took the time to get to know the organization."
Mars' comments were echoed by representatives of the other nonprofits - Pa'Lante, Durham's Partnership for Children, and The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Orange County.
- A second team of students helped the Boys and Girls Club apply for incorporation, develop a set of club bylaws and create a pamphlet that encourages public involvement and financial support.
- Another team developed a slide presentation for the 10th anniversary celebration of Durham's Partnership for Children.
- The final team provided Pa'lante, a nonprofit that helps Hispanic teens integrate into their communities, with a PowerPoint to use in targeting donors. Pa'lante is a slang contraction for "let's roll!"
Harms' writing- and speaking-intensive course emphasizes professional communication. The course is affiliated with UNC's Assisting People in Planning Learning Experiences in Service (APPLES ) program. Harms received a course enhancement grant through APPLES to help fund the printing of the students' projects and a reception for the nonprofit clients.
"Academic service learning gives students an opportunity to learn through active participation in thoughtfully organized situations," Harms said. "The service learning model also gives them an opportunity to reflect on their experiences."
"It's a very real-world opportunity. In each instance, the students faced a situation they weren't expecting, and they collaboratively crafted a solution. It's experiential learning at its best because it benefits the wider community."
Student Ryan Simons, who worked on the Boys and Girls Club project, said he learned how difficult it can be to start a nonprofit organization.
"It's very complicated, and it takes a lot of effort from a lot of people," he said. "I never realized that Chapel Hill didn't have a Boys and Girls Club. We definitely need a club like this."
Student Michelle Dias, who was a member of the Durham Partnership for Children team, said the experience made her want to get more involved in volunteering.
"We saw everything that our organization has done, and aside from its programs, we learned how a nonprofit operates and how it gets its funding," she said.
APPLES currently works with around 250 community agencies in the Triangle Area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). Service learning involves a true partnership among faculty members, the students and the organizations, said assistant director Leslie Parkins.
"UNC business students have a great reputation in the community. Each time they are involved in this course, they far exceed the organizations' expectations," Parkins said.
MBA Entrepreneur Helps Companies Such as Earthlink, About.com to Grow
When George A. Parker (MBA '76) enrolled at UNC Kenan-Flagler, his goal was to become a principal and senior executive of a financial company.
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| George Parker |
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Yet the Norfolk, Va. native might never have envisioned the role he would play three decades later in helping some of the country's best known entrepreneurial companies grow.
Parker is cofounder and executive vice president of Leasing Technologies International Inc. (LTI), based in Wilton, Conn. LTI has become a leader in the equipment-financing segment - specializing in leasing computers, security devices, communications and other technology equipment to emerging companies.
Over the years, LTI has financed more than $300 million in equipment for more than 500 companies.
From its inception in 1984 until the early 1990s, LTI primarily served Fortune 500 and large corporations before shifting its focus to emerging growth companies and startups. Since then, LTI has financed, via equipment leasing or equipment loans, several market leaders, including:
- InVision Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of explosives detection systems for aviation security that was recently acquired by GE Infrastructure;
- Transmeta Corp., a microprocessor designer and seller;
- WebMD Corp., Earthlink Corp. and About.com.
"The companies that we finance are on the cutting edge of inventing things that work both for the benefit of our country and the larger world," Parker says. "I get really excited about meeting new companies and structuring transactions that will help them. Not all of them will be successful, but of the ones that are successful, they probably contribute several billion dollars in revenue annually to our GDP and employ hundreds of thousands of people."
Over the years, Parker has watched InVision grow from development into an important explosives detection company. When LTI began funding About.com and Earthlink, they "were infants and almost no one knew their names," he says.
Prior to co-founding LTI, Parker served as vice president and treasurer of DPF Computer Leasing Corp. in Hartsdale, N.Y., and in several positions leading to second vice president of corporate lending at Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co. of Chicago.
Parker used skills learned at UNC Kenan-Flagler to crystallize and set a timetable for achieving his goal of becoming a principal and senior executive of a financial company. His mission was to achieve the task within seven years and to use commercial banking as a springboard.
"It took me six years to become a senior manager at a computer leasing firm that had previously been a customer of mine at Continental Illinois Bank," Parker recalls. Two years later, he co-founded and became a senior executive at LTI.
Parker, who lives in New Rochelle, N.Y., holds a BS in mathematics from Wake Forest University. He is on the board of directors of the Eastern Association of Equipment Lessors, a member of various committees of the Equipment Leasing Association and a panelist at numerous national conferences. He also is active in children's charities.
He is a Big Brother with Big Brothers of Westchester Inc. in White Plains, N.Y; sponsors children in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda; and is a former member of the board of directors of the St. Bernard's Center for Learning, a Head-Start program for homeless children in White Plains.
Reflecting on his education, Parker says he has drawn on skills learned at UNC Kenan-Flagler throughout his career. His education allowed him to develop and practice leadership and management skills. The School's emphasis on teamwork and small groups has helped him thrive in management team environments, while he learned to develop analytical skills that have helped him tackle business problems across a number of disciplines.
"Attending UNC Kenan-Flagler helped me to build confidence in my abilities as it relates to business," Parker says. "Since attending, I have had numerous business challenges. Confidence gained while attending UNC Kenan-Flagler helped me to tackle these challenges, always believing that I would be successful."
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