Santiago Iniguez - Dean IE Business School

Setting some things straight

My previous post on the competitiveness of European management education has raised different criticisms and comments, both in this blog and via e-mail. Basically, I affirmed that top European b-schools may be considered as the global benchmark of competitiveness because the percentage of foreign students in their MBA programmes more than double than that of their American counterparts. This is not just a recent fact caused by visa restrictions in the US. In fact, American top b-schools have been historically more dependent from their domestic market than the leading b-schools in Europe.

Tags(clickable): Education, MBA, Business School, EU, EIT, Nafta, Mercosur

The Creation of EIT and European competitiveness in Management Education

The European Commission, last Wednesday, confirmed its plans to create the European Institute of Technology (EIT) a project that was first announced by EU Commission President Barroso last year. According to the EU Commision, the new entity aims at becoming the flagship institution in Europe for achieving excellence in higher education, research and innovation. I have commented on this initiative before and what I said is still applicable.

Tags(clickable): Education, MBA, Business School, EU, EIT, Economics

Why should deans blog?

Zach Owens, a frequent commentator asked if we found blogging useful and motivating. Without hesitation, my answer is yes.

BizDeansTalk has been running for a few months and has become an open and respected platform for the discussion of management education issues. Many of my colleagues praised this blog at the recent EFMD and AACSB Deans meetings, which I attended at Rotterdam and San Diego, and expressed their interest in participating. I reiterate that BizDeansTalk is open to all of them. With a history of around 20,000 unique visits, and well over 40,000 pages viewed, the blog has become an amplifier of ideas and has the potential to be the neutral worldwide online network of the major stakeholders of management education.

Tags(clickable): Education, MBA, Business School, Weblog

Audio - Professor mixing business with education

On the occasion of a conference, Martin Varsavsky, a renowned entrepreneur and associate-professor of entrepreneurship at IE Business School, responds to questions posed by Santiago Iñiguez (dean of IE Business School). He speaks of how Fon, his latest company, collaborates with educational establishments, how he hopes to bring wifi to Harlem and has advice to students regarding the creation of blogs. 4.3 MB / 5.5 mins

One-year or Two-year MBA? My opinion

There is a Spanish proverb, attributed to Baltasar Gracian, that says "what is good, if brief, is two times as good" ("lo bueno si breve, dos veces bueno"). It is a proverb applicable to many different situations like presentations; and I can only think of only very few exceptions to the rule that I will omit here. Concision is a good virtue to cultivate and has been attributed to good writers, orators, musicians and the like.

Tags(clickable): EQUAL, Education, MBA, Business School

Two Competing Conceptions of Management Culture

A recent piece of US news is a vivid example of the strong shareholder-oriented culture that prevails in its management, as compared to the more stakeholder emphasis that exists among European managers.

General Motors’ (GM) announcement to cut in half its dividend concomitant to the management’s decision to downsize its labour force and reduce both the CEO’s pay (down a 50%) and those of the three Vice-Chairpersons (down a 30% -incidentally, Bob Lutz, one of GM’s Vice-Chairpersons, has his own blog). The rationale behind those cuts in salaries is clear and exemplary: management aims at maximising the return on their shareholders investment and if dividends cannot be sustained or increased, the pain should be distributed right across the company and not just suffered by its shareholders.

Tags(clickable): General Motors, Education, MBA, Business School, CEO, Bob Lutz, GM

"Let the Dream Remain"

I am writing this post on the Amtrak train called "Surfliner" that goes from San Diego to Los Angeles, probably the best way to travel between the two cities instead of flying or driving. The "Surfliner" renders honour to its own name, at least for most of its service, since it runs parallel to the coast until San Juan Capistrano, over eighty miles north of san Diego. Today is a sunny day and I am deeply enjoying my trip. This seems an ideal occasion for reflecting over recent experiences and thoughts.

Tags(clickable): California, Education, MBA, Business School, San Diego

AACSB Deans Conference

Today starts in San Diego the Annual Deans Conference of AACSB International . The conference will gather hundreds of b-schools' deans from all continents. The roster of speakers at the conference includes an impressive group of deans and acclaimed scholars such as Warren Bennis and Clayton M. Christensen. It also includes two of the contributors to this blog, Howard Thomas and Yash Gupta.

I will have the opportunity to share a panel again with my friend and partner Ted Snyder, dean at the Chicago Graduate School of Business. We will be discussing the implications of globalisation for management education. I enclose some lines from the prospectus of this conference that are interesting and provoking: "Today’s modern business climate is upbeat. Hiring is up and opportunities are bright for MBA grads. But critics say business schools are too academic to be relevant to business― that research is overemphasized, too specialized, and esoteric. Indeed, some believe current business problems are the result of b-school structural changes from 40 years ago".

Tags(clickable): AACSB, Education, Clayton Christensen, Warren Bennis, Business School

Measuring Corporate Ethical Performance

Is it possible to measure the ethical performance of an organisation? The classical approach derived from Roman Law, for example, denied the possibility of condemning a company and stated very clearly that "societas delinquere non potest" (a company cannot commit crime). The basis for this principle was that companies do not have a soul or a physical body and consequently could not be accused, nor incarcerated. Furthermore, incriminating a company would hide the actual responsibilities of the real decision makers who were to blame for some certain crime. The principle was very reasonable and intuitive and, indeed, still very applicable in the current circumstances of the Enron’s trial.

Tags(clickable): CSR, Education, MBA, Business School, Enron

Training

There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to angelship.

Mark Twain.

Tags(clickable): Quotes, twain