Joel Kurtzman
Encyclopedia
Joel Kurtzman is a Senior Fellow at the Milken Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank. His research focuses on globalization and its risks and has been published widely. He is also Executive Director of the Milken Institute’s SAVE Project which focuses on energy security, climate change and alternative energy.
Kurtzman is a Trustee of Sierra Nevada College, and a member of the Editorial Board of MIT Sloan Management Review
. He is an advisor to the Wharton
School’s SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management and to the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California
, Davis.
Kurtzman was the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review
and a member of the editorial board of Harvard Business School Publishing. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of Strategy + Business magazine, where he first coined the term "Thought Leader".
Kurtzman was also a business editor and columnist at The New York Times
.
Best known for his work on the intersection between economics and business, Kurtzman has authored, co-authored or edited 20 books and hundreds of general and scholarly articles. His widely-cited book, The Death Of Money
, was made into television documentaries in the U.S., (PBS) and in Japan (NHK).
Before forming the Kurtzman Group, Kurtzman was Global Lead Partner for Thought Leadership and Innovation at PricewaterhouseCoopers
, the world’s largest professional services firm, where he was responsible for developing new ideas in areas such as strategy, financial reporting, technology, the capital markets and business policy. He was also responsible for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Menlo Park Technology Centre, its technology forecasts, its innovative R&D programs and its global publishing activities.
Earlier in his career, Kurtzman was an international economist at the United Nations
where he was deputy director of the U.N.’s Project on the Future. Kurtzman’s economic modeling teams were among the first to warn of the impending Latin America debt crisis, in the 1990’s. His research teams produced a library of 17 volumes of books on the global economy (The NIEO Library, Pergamon Press, Elsmford, New York).
Kurtzman has testified before the U.S. Congress on economic matters and has provided testimony to the Italian Parliament and the Parliament of Spain regarding their economic development activities.
While at the UN, Kurtzman was involved as a negotiator between India and the Union Carbide Corporation over the Bhopal disaster. In 2001, he was awarded India’s Indira Gandhi
Prize for these efforts.
During his tenure as Global Thought Leader
at PricewaterhouseCoopers
, Joel Kurtzman created The Opacity Index, which is now the subject of a full-length book, The Global Edge, published by Harvard Business School Press. Using established data bases and 70 different metrics, the Opacity Index measures the risk-based cost of doing business around the world by looking at 5 "CLEAR" factors: Conflict/Corruption levels, Legal practices, Economic factors, Accounting, and Regulatory practices (spelling the acronym C-L-E-A-R). The resulting index rank orders some 53 countries by their scores. A study of the Opacity Index will provide companies who have global imperatives a dashboard for assessing the risk associated with their expansion. The Opacity Index is published regularly by the Kurtzman Group, with research support from the Milken Institute.
Kurtzman is a Trustee of Sierra Nevada College, and a member of the Editorial Board of MIT Sloan Management Review
MIT Sloan Management Review
MIT Sloan Management Review is a web site and magazine focused on the management of innovation. Published at the MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan Management Review’s mission is to lead the conversation among thinkers, professors, and managers about the coming sea changes in management...
. He is an advisor to the Wharton
Wharton
-Academic institutions:*Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania*Wharton Center for Performing Arts, at Michigan State University-Places:*Wharton, Cheshire, England*Wharton, Cumbria, England*Wharton, New Jersey*Wharton, Ohio*Wharton, Texas...
School’s SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management and to the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, Davis.
Kurtzman was the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...
and a member of the editorial board of Harvard Business School Publishing. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of Strategy + Business magazine, where he first coined the term "Thought Leader".
Kurtzman was also a business editor and columnist at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Best known for his work on the intersection between economics and business, Kurtzman has authored, co-authored or edited 20 books and hundreds of general and scholarly articles. His widely-cited book, The Death Of Money
The Death of Money
The Death of Money is a 1993 book by Joel Kurtzman, a former editor of Harvard Business Review. Kurtzman uses the "death of money" to refer to a change in the economic nature of money in the United States following Richard Nixon's removal of US dollar from the gold standard , informally referred...
, was made into television documentaries in the U.S., (PBS) and in Japan (NHK).
Before forming the Kurtzman Group, Kurtzman was Global Lead Partner for Thought Leadership and Innovation at PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
, the world’s largest professional services firm, where he was responsible for developing new ideas in areas such as strategy, financial reporting, technology, the capital markets and business policy. He was also responsible for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Menlo Park Technology Centre, its technology forecasts, its innovative R&D programs and its global publishing activities.
Earlier in his career, Kurtzman was an international economist at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
where he was deputy director of the U.N.’s Project on the Future. Kurtzman’s economic modeling teams were among the first to warn of the impending Latin America debt crisis, in the 1990’s. His research teams produced a library of 17 volumes of books on the global economy (The NIEO Library, Pergamon Press, Elsmford, New York).
Kurtzman has testified before the U.S. Congress on economic matters and has provided testimony to the Italian Parliament and the Parliament of Spain regarding their economic development activities.
While at the UN, Kurtzman was involved as a negotiator between India and the Union Carbide Corporation over the Bhopal disaster. In 2001, he was awarded India’s Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
Prize for these efforts.
During his tenure as Global Thought Leader
Thought leader
Thought leader is business jargon for an entity that is recognized for having innovative ideas.The term was coined in 1994 by Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of the Booz Allen Hamilton magazine, Strategy & Business. "Thought leader" was used to designate interview subjects for that magazine who had...
at PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
, Joel Kurtzman created The Opacity Index, which is now the subject of a full-length book, The Global Edge, published by Harvard Business School Press. Using established data bases and 70 different metrics, the Opacity Index measures the risk-based cost of doing business around the world by looking at 5 "CLEAR" factors: Conflict/Corruption levels, Legal practices, Economic factors, Accounting, and Regulatory practices (spelling the acronym C-L-E-A-R). The resulting index rank orders some 53 countries by their scores. A study of the Opacity Index will provide companies who have global imperatives a dashboard for assessing the risk associated with their expansion. The Opacity Index is published regularly by the Kurtzman Group, with research support from the Milken Institute.