Interview Archives

10 Feb 16

Prof. Pedro Gardete: The benefits of information sharing in business

During our conversation with Prof. Pedro Gardete of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, we discussed the benefits of information sharing among competitors in the business world especially within the manufacturing industry. Professor Gardete specializes in marketing strategies in contexts of high uncertainty. In his current work he studies the DRAM manufacturing…

18 Sep 15

Prof. Katherine Casey: Involvement of Government in Manufacturing

Katherine Casey is an Assistant Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She teaches a Strategy Beyond Markets course for first year MBAs that is tailored to the particular opportunities and challenges facing firms investing in developing economies. Katherine holds a PhD in Economics from Brown University…

07 Aug 15

Jason Mayden: Africa is Design

So we caught up with Jason Mayden and we had a conversation about product design and talked about the history of design and how it relates to the African continent. We also talked about some of the inspiration that goes on behind the process of designing a new product. A…

12 Jul 15

Prof. James Patell: Manufacturing in Africa can unleash untapped potential

James Patell is the Herbert Hoover Professor of Public and Private Management at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He is is a Business School Professor with an Engineer’s training. He and his three brothers worked in their father’s tool and die shop as teenagers, and then he went to MIT,…

01 Jul 15

Prof. Hau Lee (Part 3): How innovation can be fostered to create unique products

The last part of the three-part conversation with Prof. Hau Lee of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Listen to first and second part of the conversation. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/212889858″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] Read Transcript below: [kpakpakpa.com] Similar to the Shanzhai, you can find innovation on a small scale…

01 Jul 15

Prof. Hau Lee (Part 2): Challenges and competitive advantage for African manufacturers

Continuing our conversation with Hau Lee. This is second part of our three-part interview with the Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Click here for the first part of the conversation [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/212888590″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] Read the transcript below:…

01 Jul 15

Prof. Hau Lee (Part 1): The importance of manufacturing to development in Africa

Hau L. Lee is the Thoma Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His areas of specialization include global value chain innovations, supply chain management, global logistics, inventory modeling, and environmental and social responsibility. He is also the faculty director of the Stanford Institute…