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 Chair & President's Letter
 Sponsors
 Plenary Remarks
 Topics, Faculty & Hosts
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 Summary Report (PDF)
 
 
 University for a Night 2003 
 The Synergos Institute

Globalization is the free movement of information, ideas, capital and goods within a competitive world marketplace. It's not just a free movement of physical goods, but also the movement of information and capital that creates economic growth which raises living standards and leads to better education, better health care, and improved social services. We have seen this in many places around the world and I'm going to cite just a couple of examples that J.P. Morgan Chase has been involved in.

William B. Harrison, Jr. is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., a leading global financial services firm with relationships with over 99% of the Fortune 1,000 companies, 30 million consumer customers and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients. The firm is a leader in investment banking, asset management, private banking, private equity, custody and transaction services, retail and middle market financial services, and e-finance.

One such place is China, now the world's fastest growing economy. We have invested there in various facilities. More importantly, however, we play a major role in directing the flow of capital to China and in providing advice and financial services to many companies doing business there.

In India, we are investing in creating centers of technological expertise to support our global banking operations. The sub-continent provides us with access to a huge pool of highly educated and highly motivated workers on a very cost-competitive basis. So we are creating a growing number of high-paying, high-level jobs that strengthen the Indian economy and provide opportunities for individual growth and development.

Those are some of the positive effects of globalization. They come about not because corporations and banks decide to act as charitable institutions; rather it's because of the disciplined yet not unenlightened pursuit of profit. Large financial institutions like J.P. Morgan Chase have a special role to play in global economic development. We act as financial engineers that mobilize and direct the flow of capital because we have a clear stake in the communities we serve and do business in around the world.

Certainly that was the case after the terrible earthquake that hit Japan in 1923. J.P. Morgan staff in Japan performed heroic service in helping to reestablish basic governmental functions. The firm put together a jumbo bond issue, amounting to one-fifth of the government's total budget, that rebuilt the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama.

Was that community service? Or was that good business? Clearly it was both. Japan at that time, despite the appalling loss of life and physical damage, met all of the necessary preconditions for substantial inward investments by a cross-border firm like ours and by other investors -- it had governmental stability and high standards of accountability and transparency within the business sector.

Large financial institutions like J.P. Morgan Chase have a special role to play in global economic development. We act as financial engineers that mobilize and direct the flow of capital because we have a clear stake in the communities we serve and do business in around the world.

In many parts of the world today these conditions don't exist; they're wracked by strife and crime. Because of that we, as one of the world's leading financial institution, are severely limited in our actions. We can neither invest our own money nor help to mobilize the flow of capital -- other people's money -- if there is little or no prospect for a good return on investment owing to political and social turmoil. But are we prepared to invest patiently and proactively in developing countries, in developing economies that do not suffer from such extreme adverse conditions? The answer is, absolutely, yes, we are.

To take one example, for the past decade we have been working to help non-whites acquire the managerial skills to play a leadership role in our South African operations. We are excited about the future of the country and we want to be part of that future. To do that, we know that we have to develop the best people from within to help us in our mission in South Africa. J.P. Morgan Chase operates in more than fifty countries and we maintain relationships with most of the world's largest companies. I regard good corporate citizenship as the beginning and not the end of the firm social responsibilities in every place where we have a substantial presence.

But civic leadership goes beyond good citizenship. To lead, in the original sense of the word, is to show the way. And that is what we try to do in places where we have large numbers of employees and customers.

The New York City metropolitan area is home to thirty-five thousand out of our roughly one hundred thousand employees. So this is where we have our largest presence and this is where we have been most active in the civic arena. For example, ten years ago in partnership with the City of New York, Chase Manhattan led the way in the revitalization of a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn. We built a state-of-the-art banking complex in the neighborhood and moved nearly six thousand new jobs to the facility. This brought economic vitality to the area; it benefited local merchants, real estate development and nearby educational institutions.

Our thinking was, and is: what is good for the community is good for us. Over the past couple of years our firm has spent about $4.5 million in putting a new computer with internet access into the home of every one of thirteen hundred students in one public school there. And we have done the same for every one of the three hundred teachers in staff. Beyond the financial investments, hundreds of our employees have provided thousands of hours of training showing students, parents and teachers how to operate the computers and how to navigate the Internet. It's an integrated technology project. From personal observation, I can tell you that just about every one at this school -- students, parents, teachers and staff -- loves being connected to a world that they weren't connected to before. J.P. Morgan Chase benefits from helping to build a stronger community, and we get our reward in having a deeper talent base of potential employees along with helping to make the community a better place to live and work. What's good for the community is good for us.

While I am proud of our firm's tradition of community service, I am not too proud. First of all, I know that we people can never do enough when it comes to serving the community. There is always more to do, much more. And second, I know that if we are truly energetic and committed, we will always get at least as much back as is put into something like this. There are great dividends that flow from civic leadership. And they are dividends that I want every one in my firm to share in. Among those dividends there is a return that comes from increased knowledge and awareness of people. There is a return that comes from increased appreciation of the power of diversity. And there is the return that comes from developing leadership skills in the act of helping other people. Those are important returns.

I believe that it's natural for people to want to reach out and help each other. That is something that all good leaders try to encourage within an organization. And it's something that we can all encourage wherever we do business. Thank you
 

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