KSG Chooses Business And Government Fellows

The Center for Business and Government at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) announced its nine spring fellows yesterday.

The fellows—who were selected from academia, the corporate world and the public sector—will spend this semester conducting research in programs focusing on the overlap of business and government.

After graduating from the KSG two years ago, Fiona Paua has returned to Harvard to work on creating a system which will rank countries’ friendliness to corporations.

She will also compile the Africa Competitiveness Report, which is intended to direct international investment attention to an area where information on the region’s economy is scarce. Although Paua will stay only through spring, she expects her ties to Harvard to endure.

“My stint here by no means defines my interaction with the school. I had the advantage of knowing the resources it has to offer,” she said. “It’s steeped in academia, but also in policy and actually making things happen. I look forward to tapping into the resources here.”

Michael Hilb, a project manager at Holcim—a multinational cement corporation—will focus on corporate citizenship, and the relations international businesses build on both local and corporate levels.

Hilb, who arrived at Harvard in January, said he has been impressed by the variety of perspectives at the University.

“There have been so many interesting insights, so many interesting things going on, so many interesting dialogues happening,” he said. “It is very fruitful in the end.”

Lawyer and financial services consultant Michael L. Michael is working on the problem of business ethics and securities regulation.

“I’m trying to focus on successfully regulating ethical behavior,” he said. “It’s a very, very regulated sector, so the absence of rules is not the issue. That means that there are too many rules, too few rules, or the wrong rules.”

Michael will consult with professors at the Business School, the Law School and the KSG in addition to conducting field work.

Three of the fellows hail from China, including two from Tsinghua University, which has a growing exchange program with the Center for Business and Government.

Wenhao Cheng is an assistant professor at Tsinghua.

While at the KSG, he will continue his scholarship on China’s state-owned enterprises and their relationship to government.

Cheng’s colleague, Qingguo Meng, will work with Daewoo Professor of International Affairs Anthony Saich on technology policy.

Peking University Professor Feng Lu will continue his work for China’s Center for Economic Research while in residence.

Ian MacInnes, an assistant professor at Syracuse University, will spend his time at the KSG researching security issues on peer-to-peer networks and electronic marketplaces.

Andrew Wong, fresh from the business world, will transition into academia through research on industrial and technological change in global business sectors.