B-School to Sponsor East-West Program

In response to the dramatic events in Eastern Europe, the Business School is sponsoring a two-day conference next week to teach first year students about the changing business relationship between the United States and Warsaw Pact nations.

First-year B-School courses will be pre-empted by the mandatory program, the first time in 20 years that regular MBA classes have been cancelled.

The conference, which starts Tuesday, will feature a keynote address by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor under President Jimmy Carter, and a talk by Heinrich Weiss, the incoming leader of the Federation of German Industries, officials at the school said yesterday.

Business School Dean John H. McArthur informed first-year MBA students of the symposium in a Jan. 3 letter, which said the conference will try to "help narrow the distance between East and West."

The unprecedented movement toward democracy in the Warsaw Pact has decreased East-West tensions and delighted U.S. business leaders, who welcome the increased trade and investment opportunities in Eastern Europe.

The conference will be open only to first-year students, alumni with "a special interest" in Eastern Europe and faculty, since the school is offering it "for educational purposes only," McArthur said in the letter. In addition, students from several Warsaw Pact nations have been invited as guests of the school for the full week, the letter said.

"We hope to foster new friendships that will provide research opportunities for the School and a continuing dialogue and long-term working relationships between future business leaders from a variety of countries and cultures," the letter said.

According to the letter, the conference will include several faculty-led discussions, including two on Wednesday entitled "The Challenges of Economic Reform in Eastern Europe" and "The International Implications of Liberalization in Eastern Europe."

The development of the symposium was coordinated by W. Earl Sasser, the director of the MBA program, and has been in the making for only a few weeks, said Carter Professor of Business Administration Theodore Levitt.

Levitt, who was not involved in the program's formation, said the conference was to the best of his knowledge the first of its kind at a Western business school.

Students and faculty members praised the conference, saying it would help supplement the school's traditional curriculum, which is based on case studies.

"I think the idea of responding to things like this is a good idea, instead of insisting on a regular program at all times," said one professor who asked not to be identified.

"I think very few people have thought about how this will affect the world economy," said first-year MBA student DanD. Chow. He added that the program would be "morecurrent events driven than the cases."

Levitt said that while the recent events inEurope have not been addressed in the classroom,the school is dedicated to "pioneering activity"like the conference to prepare its students forlife after graduation.

"It is in the spirit of the place to deal withthe world as it is," he said.

Sasser declined to comment on the program, andMcArthur could not be reached for comment