Archive for February/2008

Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd (ST Aerospace), and IBERIA Maintenance, the technical division of IBERIA Airlines of Spain, have signed a joint venture agreement to set up a landing gear repair and overhaul company in Madrid, Spain. The joint venture company, Madrid Aerospace Services S.L., will be equally owned (50:50) between IBERIA and ST Aerospace, and will be an associated company of ST Aerospace. The initial investment is expected to be around $6m.

This investment is not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.

Managed by ST Aerospace, the company will operate as an independent third party maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service provider with an initial focus on Airbus A320, A330 and A340 landing gears. It will provide maintenance services for IBERIA Airlines and other customers around the world, and will complement ST Aerospace’s Total Aviation Support and IBERIA maintenance offerings for Airbus operators. It is expected to commence operations by the second half of 2008.

IBERIA Airlines is Spain’s leading airline and also leader on routes linking Europe with Latin America. It posted an operating income of about 5.4 billion euros, net earnings of 116.1 million euros and an Ebitdar of 790.5 million euros in 2006. It is also distinguished by its commitment to socially and environmentally responsible conduct. Along with its franchise partner Iberia Regional, Iberia operates some 1,000 flights each day to about 100 different destinations. Last year, Iberia carried a total of 33 million passengers and posted its 12th consecutive year of benefits. It is a member of the oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, JAL, LAN, Malev, Qantas and Royal Jordanian.

A bankerâ??s CV used to automatically include an MBA, but new careers in finance has led to a range of masters degrees.

An MBA has historically been considered a passport to the glamour and riches of a high-finance career, but times are changing, says Professor Pablo Triana, director of the Centre for Advanced Finance at the IE Business School in Madrid.
â??These are interesting times when MBA [graduates] face real competition when it comes to investment banking, private equity and hedge-fund jobs. Before the emergence of the masters in finance the MBA faced no competition. Now a MBA graduate from a top-ranked b-school could find [that] an prestigious masters in finance is hired ahead of them, and that hasnâ??t happened before,â? Professor Triana says.

In the past decade there has been a proliferation of masters in finance (MiF) courses. These need to be distinguished from the growing number of masters in quantitative finance degrees â?? specialised technical courses â?? that prepare graduates for technical finance roles. The main competition for graduates from these quantitative courses is likely to be candidates with PhDs. Professor Triana says too that it is important to compare apples with apples. An MBA from a top business school is always likely to trump a MiF from a lower ranking school.

So, for a role you can bank on, it pays to weigh up your career aspirations against the type of degree and the investment in time and money youâ??re prepared to make. â??The MBA may continue to be the safer bet â?? if you donâ??t get into investment banking you can try other things, such as consulting… but for those that are brave or visionary enough to do a specialist degree then the payout could be superior to an MBA,â? Professor Triana concludes.

IE Business School has designed two new programs which are in perfect line with the above mentioned argument:
Master in Finance for people at the starting point of their financial career.
Master in Advanced Finance for professionals with relevant work experience and who aspire to work in the finance industry as associate

This in an excerpt of an article which was published in The Times on February 14, 2008.

The private banking industry moves 610,000 million Euros per annum, of which only 36% is in the hands of specialised financial service providers, according to a survey conducted by Accenture, IE Business School, and Morgan Stanley: â??Trends and strategies in the private banking sector in Spain II: The clientâ?.
The report was prepared in collaboration with 21 specialised financial services providers that hold 81% of private banking assets in Spain. The Spanish client has a sceptical and adventurous profile, follows markets closely and has global vision. Madrid and Catalonia account for 50% of the total assets managed by the sector.

While clientsâ?? choice of bank is based on prestige and solvency, banks have to systematize the relation with the client, establishing guidelines with regard to contact time and format in order to achieve greater commercial efficiency ratios.

On a regional level, 43.1% and 21.6% of the total assets handled by the private banking sector is from Madrid and Catalonia respectively. They are followed by the Basque Country, Andalusia and the Valencia region (7.7%, 6.5% y 6.2%, respectively). These ratios are similar when it comes to amounts of wealth managed for each client in the different regions: the average assets of families handled in Madrid and Catalonia is 1,000,000 Euros, followed by the Navarre region, the Valencia region, Andalusia and the Canary Islands (averaging between 600,000 and 800,000 Euros).

Some recommendations
The private banking business model must be client centric and the bankâ??s revenue will be determined by the capacity to forecast how much advisory service it will be required to give. This basic theory must be born in mind in all four phases of the client life cycle: capture; planning and implementation; follow up; and transmission of assets. The management of individual objectives and a motivational retribution system are key for success, as is retaining talent and motivating managers. To round off, banks have to seek formulae that reduce costs while maintaining levels of personalised attention and a quality advisory service.

If you wish to study more about Finance & Banking, please explore our full-time Masters in Finance programs:

• Master in Finance mif.ie.edu
• Master in Advance Finane miaf.ie.edu

IE Business School offers a wide range of master programs since we are aware of the fact that people have different needs and ideas when it comes to further their professional development. Of course, in the postgraduate management education the MBA has predominance over any other master program. Nonetheless this does not mean that this should be the solution for everybody. IE launched some years ago the Master in Management programs with the aim to provide a more specialized education in certain fields. In comparison to an MBA program, the general management component is reduced from 60-70% (MBA) to 25-30%, meanwhile the specialization weighs 70-75%. Evidently, graduates from these programs gain a much deeper insight into their personal field of interest.
Currently IE offers programs in the fields of Marketing, International Management and Telecom & Digital Business (training professionals of the IT, Media and Technology field to drive the undergoing convergence process in these industries).

Today, Mavila P. Mugesh from India gives us his feedback of the program. Mavila studied Engineering and before here came to Madrid he worked for Reliance and Alcatel Lucent.

Mavila, what was your motivation to do your Master Degree at IE?
The greatest motivation apart from the world rankings was the unique course probably the only one given by any of the top business schools a Masters Degree in Telecom Management dealing with the promising future on convergence. This course works closely to the industry with industry majors like Cisco, Nokia and Accenture being international partners.
The curriculum is closely knit according with the subjects taught iMBA curriculum with exceptional and awesome professors from the academia to assist your learning.

What have been your highlights during your stay in Madrid (academically as well as extra-academically)?
Madrid has one of best night life, great city with no security hassles always pulsating with life. IE Business School is strategically well located in the heart of Madrid, which gives you ample opportunities to pursue your hobbies and life. One statuary warning â?? Knowledge of Spanish language can be an added advantage.

What have been your biggest challenges so far (during the program)?
The biggest challenge, which I feel is more like an opportunity to meet the best brains all at one place; in your classroom. You continuously strive to be better among the best. The class is so diverse that I had students from 30 different countries. To see same things from 30 different cultural perceptions makes it a truly exceptional experience. The exponential learning curve that never saturates is once in a life time opportunity one can get being at IE.

Which recommendation would you give to any Asian student coming to IE?
Be open, donâ??t have any prejudices and most important forget about sleeping. With the fun filled and extremely pressurising environment one cannot expect to sleep much. But think it this way as it prepares you for the corporate world where coping with the high pressure workplace is the mantra to succeed and IE gives you the experience to feel it and live it. Truly magnificent!!!!!!!!!

Thank you very much, Mavila, for these comments and good luck for your ongoing studies!
If you wish to learn more about the Master in Telecom & Digital Business, please visit the corresponding website and a recent post with the program director about the learning experience in Second Life.

IE Business School participates this weekend in the European Higher Education Fair in Manila. This event is open to all students intending to pursue a university degree and master degree in the European Union. For more details, please click on the image above.

IE Business School has a rolling admissions process which had been discussed more in detail in a previous post. Today I would like to explain more in detail WHEN is the right moment to apply to IE programs or better what is the tentatively latest moment to apply given that youâ??re not European citizen and you will need to apply for a student visa.

The best way to do this is using an example:
Imagine youâ??re applying for the IE International MBA program which starts in November. As you have researched the program, you quickly noticed that there is a complementary 2-month Spanish course before the official program start. So, your targeted program start is in September, or Day 0 in the attached scheme. This is the day when youâ??re in Madrid prepared to start studying.
Before youâ??re able to move to Madrid, you will need to apply for a student visa which takes in general 30-60 days from the moment of the application. Consequently, your student visa application should be in the Spanish Embassy in your country in July or August.
One of the requested documents from the Spanish Embassy will be a proof from IE that youâ??re officially enrolled in our institution. To issue this document and send it to your home address, we will need around 15 days from the moment of your place reservation.
Your place reservation can be done, clear it is, just only once you have been admitted and received from the Admissions Department the instructions for the down-payment of 20% of the tuition fees. As you already have decided for yourself to go to IE, waiting anxiously for the final communication of the Admissions Committee, you have already arranged the amount for the place reservation. Just to look back, from the admission to the visa application 30 days have passed, so that we are in beginning of June or July, or Day 60.90 before the targeted program start.
The Admissions Process itself will last between 30 to 45 days from the moment youâ??re presenting the full application package, independently if you do it one of IEâ??s Representative Offices around the world or directly in Madrid. So, your tentative deadline for the International MBA could be between mid-April and beginning of June.

But and THE FOLLOWING IS VERY IMPORTANT to take into account. For this tentative deadline

• you do not need any scholarships or financial aid – deadlines for financial aid are usually earlier.
• you assume that there are still places available â?? a case which is in the past years not easy to assume since there have been waiting lists and â??late-applicationsâ? could not be considered.
• your nationality quota has not been reached so far â?? for some countries due to a large amount of applications we will need to restrict the access to the program to guarantee overall class diversity
• you easily can quit your company with a very short notice

So, as a final result, you should consider to apply a couple of month earlier in order to have a comfortable timeframe to make your move to Madrid as smooth as possible for you, for your family and your company.

February 2008 | By Rosario Silva, Professor of Strategy at IE Business School.

Homeless, a quality designer brand named after street people, has achieved success using a unique strategy that distinguishes it from the rest of the sector.

This fashion company, created in 1994 under the name of Homeless and rechristened Hoss Intropia a few months ago, targets the medium-high segment of the women´s clothing market. To understand its strategy, we first need to take a brief look at the current situation of the fashion industry. The sector includes companies with very different strategies. On the one hand, you have the large international chains which, with their cheap & chic formula supply well identified consumer segments with a lot of design at low prices and, thanks to investments in outlets, they have created powerful brand names. On the other, you have the companies which also offer a lot of design but have a brand name that is generally associated with a designer. They have also preferred to invest in their own shops with the same idea of strengthening their brand name.

The strategy applied by Homeless is very different from its competitors in many ways. First of all, its position of high-level design and quality has focused on all kinds of women; in other words, they do not appear to segment the market, which is particularly surprising in view of the progressive specialisation of the sector. Secondly, its Homeless brand name has been associated with a social commitment by the company´s founders to helping homeless people, showing their own style and unique identity. Thirdly, its designs have been distributed through its own shops (it owns 14 in Spain) and through multi-brand shops (twelve hundred points of sale in Spain and abroad), which has afforded high growth without having to commit large amounts of financial resources. Finally, unlike its competitors, it focuses mainly on the domestic market (70% of sales).

Undoubtedly, the change of brand name was a good decision since the original brand sounded very harsh and was prone to being misunderstood by its target market. The enormous capacity for design the company has shown throughout these years, together with a new brand name, will be essential for the success of its international expansion, which began in London and is to continue in the direction of Italy and the United States.

This article was published in the monthly IE academic newsletter IE Focus. To see the originally published article please click here.
If you are interested in more international Spanish brands, please visit this previous post.

Look at this video at BusinessWeek with the IE Dean for MBA programs, Prof. Dr. David Bach.

February 2008 | By Dr. Javier I. García González, Professor at IE University

The recently signed Lisbon Treaty has brought new lifeblood to the EU after the failed Constitution, and now looks set to play a greater role in international politics.

We probably will not hear it referred to as the failed “European Constitution”, but the Lisbon Treaty aims to form part of our lives over the coming years. On 19 October, 2007, European leaders managed to finish a job they more or less completed in June, thanks to a successful German presidency. The reward for the current Portuguese presidency will be that the new document that will govern the life and workings of the European Union will bear the name of the country´s capital, where it was signed by the heads of government on 13 December, 2007. From that moment, a process for the ratification of the treaty by each member state began which, if all goes according to plan, will lead to the re-written text coming into effect at the beginning of 2009 (except for certain provisions that have been postponed until 2014), replacing the current Nice Treaty.

Hence we see the beginning of the end of a crisis that has not been the first and will not be the last, and one that has set the members of the European Union against each other on matters that are fundamental for defining its very nature, modus operandi and future. The now discarded “Constitutional Treaty” addressed many of these issues by shaping a European Union with a high level of integration, not only in economic terms, but also on a political, social and even symbolic level; however, the idea proved to be too ambitious. The history of European integration shows us that the Union has progressed better in short steps (albeit quickly at times) than in leaps and bounds and the misnamed Constitution was seen by many citizens as a large leap, beginning with its very denomination. In hindsight, the halt in the process for the building of Europe during these two years may even have helped a Europe that is growing in both size and complexity put its feet back on the ground, immersed in a world that is becoming increasingly small and interconnected. Read more…

Since last year IE Business School offers to its International MBA students the possibility to have a work period during their one-year MBA program. The program and its modules are redesigned in a way that gives a select group of participants the flexibility to pursue a working period during summer.

Please read this interview with Aditya Malhotra from India. Aditya started as a merchant marine officer in the energy shipping sector, he moved on to business development and Strategy with a shipping company accumulating work experience of about 7 years prior to the program.(at age 27). Completed his BS from BITS Pilani, a distinguished technical university in India prior to going for the IMBA. As a career switcher, he wanted to further his career in areas of Finance and Strategy with an ultimate entrepreneurial aspiration. After graduation, Aditya joined a financial services company involved in Reinsurance in Switzerland.

Aditya, in which company did you do your internship?
Adara Venture Partners, a Spanish VC firm based in Madrid.

What was your motivation to do an internship in such a short and intensive 1-year program?
As a career switcher, it gave me an opportunity to get my foot in the door for entering the area of financial services and making the most of my time by using the 6 weeks of vacation in a more effective manner. Having said that, it is a challenge to get an internship with the one year programme since people have far less time to put in for applications and interviews since the program starts in Nov and most internship interviews are in Dec- Jan when the workload is very high.

How was the online experience? Did you enjoy learning in this way?
The online learning was an interesting way to learn, something that I wasnâ??t used to. However it did prepare me well for the business world where today I regularly use virtual chat rooms to have discussions with different offices. You tend to learn how to listen and value people viewpoint through virtual sessions and text based discussions. It also gave me the opportunity to interact with people from different sections which otherwise would not have been the case. There were times that we could actually put our day to day business observations into the discussions and see what the professor and others had to say about it.

There were certain times when there are certain limitations to this methodology-based on the subject, or if the class size is too small and in case of presentations. It however does not work for courses with numerical requirements that well. On the whole it was an enjoyable experience.

How was your day-by-day during your internship period combining studying and working?
The workload changes on a daily basis and this is very clearly reflected in the discussion forums. When people are freer there tend to be more active postings on the forum whereas there are days when you are busy in the office and it does eat up on your free time to log in and read all the posts and make comments. There are times when you tend to feel left back and short of comments if you have lagged in the discussion or have not been regular. Thus, it does require a significant commitment on a daily level from each student who is part of this method.

Thank you very much, Aditya, for this interview and good luck in Switzerland.