Richard Locke’s mission at the helm of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies is to guide and shape its expansion from a research center and think tank to become a more powerful force in helping to address the global challenges of the 21st century.
Building on Brown’s interdisciplinary approach at all levels, Locke’s vision is to engage the university’s schools and experts, from political science to medicine and technology, to create one of the nation’s top institutes for international and public affairs.
PBN: What were the factors that made you decide to leave the Sloan School of Management at MIT and take this position at Brown?
LOCKE: There were two factors. I was on the faculty at MIT for 24 years and loved it. I hadn’t been thinking of leaving. I was approached by Brown and the first thing that was very attractive was the opportunity to build something [special] at a great university like Brown. The second thing was the leadership at the university – the president, Christina Paxson, and the provost, Marc Schlissel. The two of them have a great vision of what Brown can be.
PBN: What do you envision for the Watson Institute?
LOCKE: What I’m trying to do is position the Watson Institute, eventually, as a school or program of international and public affairs that would resemble in many ways, and hopefully someday compete with, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton or the Kennedy School at Harvard or the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia.
PBN: The global political and cultural landscape changes by the day, but we are currently in what seems to be a particularly volatile time, with massacres and chemical weapons in Syria, the Middle East as tense as ever, the resurgence of civil and religious conflict in Iraq and the issue of nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea. Then there’s the shutdown of the U.S. government. How do these issues impact how you will lead the Watson Institute?
PBN: One of your areas of expertise is improving labor and environmental conditions in the global supply chain. Do you expect that to continue to be a major focus of your research?
LOCKE: It’s one of my areas of research. The research I do is working with large global companies, accessing data on their supply chains and analyzing it. I do field research in countries [such as] China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam and Brazil. Through this combination of qualitative and quantitative research I try to demonstrate that one can run a competitive business in a way that respects labor and environmental standards.
LOCKE: I’ve found that what does work is when you give the managers of these supply-chain factories the technical know-how and the managerial capabilities to actually run more efficient and effective operations. When they do that, they’re making more money, there’s less waste, there are increased profits and it leads to better human resource management, more respect for the environment, better personnel planning and increased wages.
PBN: Do you have ongoing projects in this research?
LOCKE: I have a project with Nike. I’m starting a project with Apple. And I have a project with a big trading company in Hong Kong, Li & Fung, which is one of Wal-Mart’s biggest suppliers.
PBN: Do you see that some of your research might be considered in relation to the economic climate in Rhode Island?
LOCKE: Yes, as I get to know this state better, especially because another stream of my research focuses on entrepreneurship, especially in emerging markets. I’m a great believer that what’s going to turn things around is the creation of new firms that will create real wealth and real jobs. If we have enough of those new firms, we’ll generate the kinds of skills people need, we’ll create markets and we can make Rhode Island more attractive for business. •
INTERVIEW
Richard M. Locke
POSITION: Director of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and professor of political science
BACKGROUND: After college, Locke taught middle and high school in Chicago. In 1988, he joined the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he rose to deputy dean and was also chair of MIT’s political science department. In his research, he has worked with international firms, including Nike, Coca Cola and Hewlett-Packard. He is the author of four books.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in the College of Letters program with a focus on the history of literature and philosophy from Wesleyan University, 1981; master’s degree in education from University of Chicago, 1990, completed after his Ph.D.; Ph.D. in political science from MIT, 1989
FIRST JOB: Paper route delivering The Boston Globe in fifth and sixth grades
RESIDENCE: Providence
AGE: 54