Zaffar Hassanally's Schools

• UCLA / Pepperdine University , Class of 1979 MBA in Business Administration and Engineering

Zaffar Hassanally's Publications

• University of California, Los Angeles & Pepperdine University November, 2010 by Zaffar Hassanally Prior to launching my career in the real estate industry, I attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Pepperdine University to earn my Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Master of Business Administration respectively. Each of these renowned institutions offers top-notch educational programs that prepared me well for my professional enterprises. The second-oldest university in the University of California system, UCLA began as an extension of California State Normal School (now San Jose State University) to provide teachers in Southern California with adequate training and prepare them for the growing populations in the lower half of the state. In 1919, the institution was incorporated into the University of California system and since that time built a reputation as one of the top public universities in the United States. UCLA’s extensive academic programs offer upward of 26,000 undergraduate and 11,000 graduate students more than 300 degree options. Pepperdine University, founded in 1937 by George Pepperdine, mainly served as an undergraduate college until 1970, when graduate and professional schools made it eligible for university status. A private institution located in Malibu, California, Pepperdine University is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The Peace Corps of America recently named Pepperdine University One of the Top Producing Colleges and Universities, and its business school resides within the top 100 in the nation. I remained in the Southern California area after completing my undergraduate and graduate degrees at these premier institutions, and the education I received laid the groundwork for my decades-long career in real estate.

• Zaffar Hassanally on Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat January, 2011 by Zaffar Hassanally In his 2005 book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, author Thomas Friedman promotes his flat world theory, in which he discusses how economic globalization and multiple events and advances have “flattened” the world by creating a level economic playing field. Friedman astutely observes that the world’s core economy has changed, led by several events that he calls “flatteners.” According to Friedman, the flattening began in the last century with the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall, which allowed people on the “other side” of the Wall to join the nascent global economy. Friedman calls out other flatteners, as well, including: 1. Advances in browsers such as Netscape made the Internet available to “normal” people without a great deal of tech savvy. 2. Improving technologies cleared a path for globalization on a major scale, with inventions such as HTML, the World Wide Web, and e-mail. This made worldwide collaboration not only possible, but most likely inevitable. 3. Outsourcing and moving manufacturing processes offshore provided cost-effective labor that gave economically disadvantaged countries more spending power on the world stage. 4. Online projects such as Wikipedia, blogs, and open source software led to collaborations around the globe. As a result, multiple online communities sprang up around common interests and pursuits. 5. Information became widely available through search engines, allowing people to leverage the knowledge of many in order to discover virtually anything they wanted to know. 6. Mobile technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), cell phones, and similar advances mean that anyone can do business anywhere at any time without the need for third party intervention. With these and more emerging flatteners, money, goods, services, and information can move around the globe at unprecedented speeds. Friedman argues that this presents a wake up call to American workers, who need to adapt by growing new skills that fit within the world economy. Given the current global economy, Friedman’s predictions seem remarkably prescient. Anyone seeking to adapt to the leveling of the economic playing field on a grand scale will do well to read The World Is Flat. Read more about Zaffar Hassanally on BusinessCard2

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