{"id":385383,"date":"2026-07-03T21:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T21:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385383\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T21:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T21:15:13","slug":"11-ideas-from-uc-berkeley-haas-that-changed-american-business-haas-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385383\/","title":{"rendered":"11 ideas from UC Berkeley Haas that changed American business – Haas News"},"content":{"rendered":"

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, we\u2019re celebrating a few of the ideas born at UC Berkeley Haas<\/a> that helped shape how American business actually works.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Daniel Parks<\/a><\/p>\n

UC Berkeley Haas was not built to teach business as usual\u2014it was built to question it. That spirit goes back to our founding: Launched with a gift from Cora Jane Flood in 1898<\/a>, Haas is the only leading business school founded by a woman, the first founded at a public university, and the second in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Cora Jane Flood<\/p>\n

Our founders carried a conviction we still hold today\u2014that business is part of society, not apart from it, and that advanced business education should counter narrow commercialism with a broad, forward-looking, and ethical approach. <\/p>\n

Even our Haas name, given to us by the Haas family<\/a>, who turned Levi\u2019s blue jeans into an iconic global business, is an ode to American innovation.<\/p>\n

\"Levi'sPhoto: Adobe Stock<\/p>\n

From day one, we\u2019ve reimagined what business and business education could be. Here are some of the areas where that\u2019s played out.<\/p>\n

Two Nobel-winning breakthroughs that transformed how economists think.<\/p>\n

Game Theory and Transaction Cost Economics\u2014Developed here. Professor John C. Harsanyi<\/a> (1994) showed how to model strategic decisions when players don\u2019t know each other\u2019s motives, laying the groundwork for modern game theory. Professor Oliver Williamson<\/a> (2009) explained why companies form in the first place\u2014to avoid the costs and risks of constant market transactions. The same rigor still defines how Haas faculty tackle the hardest problems in economics today.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoThe late Professor Oliver Williamson<\/p>\n

Modern financial innovation<\/p>\n

Built here\u2014Professor Mark Rubinstein\u2019s binomial options pricing model<\/a> (1979) remains one of the industry\u2019s most important valuation tools. Building on Professor Nils Hakansson\u2019s 1976 \u201csuperfund\u201d concept,<\/a> Rubinstein, Hayne Leland, and John O\u2019Brien launched the SuperTrust in the early 1990s, the first ETF in the U.S. And in 2001, Haas launched the first Master of Financial Engineering <\/a>program at a business school, ranked first in the nation ever since.<\/p>\n

\"\"The late Professor Mark Rubinstein<\/p>\n

The framework for how big companies stay innovative<\/p>\n

Written here\u2014Professor David Teece\u2019s theory of dynamic capabilities<\/a> changed how organizations think about R&D and competitive advantage. Professor Henry Chesbrough\u2019s \u201cOpen Innovation\u201d <\/a>framework gave companies a new playbook for building breakthroughs with partners, not just in-house. The Institute for Business Innovation<\/a> continues to pioneer innovation research and practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Institute for Business Innovation<\/a>\u2018s Open Innovation Labs, UC Berkeley<\/a> continues to pioneer innovation research and practice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Responsible business, before it was a buzzword<\/p>\n

Rooted here\u2014in 1959, Dean Ewald (E.T.) Grether introduced one of the nation\u2019s first courses on corporate social responsibility, and Dean Earl Cheit built on it. That throughline runs through today\u2019s Institute for Business and Social Impact, Center for Responsible Business<\/a> and our Center for Social Sector Leadership<\/a>, now marking 20 years of training leaders to bring business rigor to society\u2019s toughest challenges.<\/p>\n

\"HistoricalFormer deans E.T. Grether, Richard Holton, and Earl \u201cBud\u201d Cheit<\/p>\n

Modern brand strategy<\/p>\n

Professor Emeritus David Aaker\u2019s research<\/a> on brand equity changed how companies think about earning trust, not just market share. His thinking came full circle at Haas, helping to inspire the school\u2019s own brand strategy in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Professor Emeritus David Aaker <\/p>\n

Women breaking the glass ceiling to lead the nation\u2019s economic direction<\/p>\n

Professor Emeritus Janet Yellen became the first woman <\/a>to chair the Federal Reserve and the first woman to serve as U.S. Treasury Secretary\u2014as well as the only person in history to lead the Treasury, the Fed, and the Council of Economic Advisors. Laura D. Tyson<\/a>, Professor of the Graduate School, also chaired the Council of Economic Advisors before returning to Haas as the first woman to serve as dean.<\/p>\n

\"womanProfessor Emeritus Janet Yellen (Photo: Cameron Davidson)<\/p>\n

Behavioral economics<\/p>\n

The first class combining psychology and economics was created at Berkeley in 1987 and Haas has been a center of the field ever since, from Professor Emeritus Barry Staw\u2019s work on escalation of commitment<\/a> to Professor Ulrike Malmendier\u2019s research on how life experiences shape economic behavior<\/a>. As director of The O\u2019Donnell Center for Behavioral Economics<\/a>, Malmendier is continuing to push the envelope by integrating the life sciences into the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Professor Ulrike Malmendier (Photo Copyright Noah Berger)<\/p>\n

A science for measuring company culture<\/p>\n

Developed here\u2014Professor (and now Dean) Jennifer Chatman<\/a>, created the Organizational Culture Profile in the early 1990s with Charles O\u2019Reilly and David Caldwell, giving leaders a rigorous way to quantify culture \u2014still a standard tool for guiding reorganizations, M&A integration, and hiring today. The Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture & Innovation<\/a> is now a national hub for culture research<\/p>\n

\"\"Dean Jenny Chatman (Photo: Noah Berger)<\/p>\n

Real estate research that shapes policy<\/p>\n

Rooted here\u2014the late Professor Dwight Jaffee<\/a>, with Professor Nancy Wallace and Christopher Downing, were first to document banks\u2019 and Freddie Mac\u2019s practice<\/a> of cherry-picking riskier mortgage pools for securitization ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, pressuring Freddie Mac into greater disclosure. More recently, Adair Morse, and Richard Stanton were the first to merge large-scale lending data<\/a> with borrower race and ethnicity, finding that both online and in-person lenders were charging Black and Latino borrowers higher rates. Rigorous research continues through the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Professor Nancy Wallace<\/p>\n

Crowdfunding as we know it<\/p>\n

Danae Ringelmann and Eric Schell, both MBA 08, launched Indiegogo<\/a> out of a Haas classroom and navigated unchartered regulatory waters to take crowdfunding mainstream, opening startup funding to everyday people. Kickstarter and GoFundMe followed soon after.<\/p>\n

\"\"Eric Schell and Danae Ringelmann<\/p>\n

Business for a changing planet<\/p>\n

Advanced here\u2014our Energy Institute at Haas<\/a> is a leading center for energy economics research, and programs like the Strauch Cleantech to Market Program<\/a> pair students with entrepreneurs to bring climate technology to market. Faculty continue to push sustainability further by building frameworks for low-carbon investing and training the next generation of leaders though programs like the Sustainable and Impact Finance Initiative <\/a>and the dual MBA\/Master of Climate Solutions Program<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo: Adobe Stock<\/p>\n

Two hundred fifty years of American enterprise. We\u2019ve spent 128 of those moving business forward\u2014and we\u2019re just getting started!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As America celebrates its 250th birthday, we\u2019re celebrating a few of the ideas born at UC Berkeley Haas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[98040,1979,143,145,144,5030],"class_list":["post-385383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-entrepreneurship-innovation","tag-latest-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}