Archive for May/2009

Last week, IE hosted a conference about social networks and it’s impact on brand management. Among the participants were representatives from Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Tuenti. Enrique Dans, professor of IT Management, interviewed them.

Jacques de Larosière, former governor of the Bank of France, former director of the IMF, adviser to BNP Paribas and president of the Strategy Committee of the French Treasury Department, gave the keynote address in the latest edition of the IE Business School Leadership Forum. Larosière is currently President of the Larosière Group , comprised of eight experts in economy brought together to analyze the causes of the financial crisis and advise on the future European system of regulation and supervision.

In his address to the CEOS and directors of leading Spanish and multinational companies who participated in the Leadership Forum, Jacques de Larosière analyzed the current financial situation and the future European system of regulation and supervision. The main conclusions of the report issued by the Group presided by Larosiêre include the creation of a European Financial Supervision System with microprudential functions aimed at supervising financial entities, and a European Committee of Systemic Risk with macroprudential functions designed to manage the current crisis and propose prevention measures.

Larosière talked of creating a European banking supervision system to enable the prevention of future crises. He commented that he had found some solutions to the current situation but not the solution. Larosière recommended a more integrated supervision system for Europe, but without going as far as having a sole supervisor.

As a former director of the IMF, Jacques de Larosière is aware that the banking business model has changed and that the current rules of the game require banks to be more client-focused. Hence Larosière advocates the collection and analysis of all available information on the financial system to pinpoint potential risk and provide assessment on correctional measures before another crisis occurs, all this on a long-term basis. With regard to those responsible for the current crisis, Larosière talked about global responsibility shared by a range of players, from politicians to regulators, supervisors and central banks, adding that the system has to be cleaned up in order to normalize the market to establish a commitment to quality assets.

CFA Institute, the global association for investment professionals that awards the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation, is pleased to announce a CFA Program Partnership with IE Business School in Spain.

In 2009, the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings ranked IE Business School 3rd in Europe and 6th in the world. IE Business School has a 400-strong faculty and a student body from more than 80 countries in its master, doctorate, and executive education programs.

The partnership aligns IE’s Master in Finance programme with the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge® syllabus, allowing candidates to complete a Master in Finance and prepare for the CFA Program® at the same time. This combination places successful students in an advantageous position when seeking to enter the finance industry or enhance their careers.

Dennis McLeavey, CFA, Head of Education, CFA Institute (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) said, “IE is an ideal CFA Program Partner due to its status as one of the top 10 business schools in the world. By incorporating the CFA Program curriculum, our Code of Ethics, and our Standards of Practice Handbook, IE Business School is preparing its students to earn the ‘global passport’ to a career in the investment industry. ”

Ignacio de la Torre, Academic Director and Associate Professor at IE, said, “It is an honour to become the first CFA Program Partner in Spain. Here at IE Business School we strive to offer our students the best opportunities for their future, and, through our partnership with CFA Institute, we can now offer them even more. ”

CFA Spain, a member society of CFA Institute, has over 400 members and organises educational activities for charterholders, members, and candidates. Commenting on the new CFA Program Partnership, Borja Duran, president of CFA Spain, said, “As a society serving charterholders, we at CFA Spain welcome this inaugural Spanish CFA Program Partnership as a demonstration of the importance placed on the country’s future investment professionals. We look forward to servicing their needs as and when they become charterholders. ”

There are currently 88 CFA Program Partners in the world, of which IE is the first in Spain. The first Program Partnership was signed with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, in 2006.

IE University and Bancaja have signed a collaboration agreement to create the Bancaja Chair in Young Entrepreneurs, aimed at promoting the entrepreneurial mindset among IE University students. The Chair will be headed by Dr. Cristina Cruz, professor of entrepreneurial management and family business at IE and will be officially launched on June 3, 2009 in Segovia.

The management education calendar for the first phase includes workshops on entrepreneurship at the IE University campus. IE University students will have the opportunity to draft a business plan supervised by professors from IE, which enjoys world renown for its innovative and entrepreneurial approach to management education. The Bancaja Chair will organize dissemination events, including the sponsorship of the Second European Social Entrepreneurship and Education Consortium (SEEC) at IE University, which serves as a platform for entrepreneurs and researchers to present social entrepreneurship initiatives run by international universities. Chair heads will also be coordinating projects and research in the field of entrepreneurship, addressing issues like the impact of the economic crisis on entrepreneurial activity in Spain, based on the experience of Spanish entrepreneurs.

Cristina Cruz, director of the Chair at IE, said that the project was a source of great satisfaction for IE Business School. “We are delighted that banks like Bancaja are helping promote the entrepreneurial spirit, a field on which we have placed a special focus for over 35 years now, based on our conviction that entrepreneurship is an engine for the creation of employment, wealth, and social well-being.”

We are pleased to invite you to our next Virtual Sessions on Financial Aid where you will be able to get to know more about the IE University as well as a very detailed over view on how you can finance your studies.

The next session will take place today at 13.00 Madrid time (GMT+2) which is 18.00 Thai / Vietnam time, 19.00 Singapore, Malay, Philippines time and 21.00 East Australia time. Just register on this link and you will get shortly instructions on how to link to the online presentation.

In addition to our virtual sessions, we encourage you to check out our financial aid blog and web page where you will be able to find all the information related to the application process and the different financing options. Click on www.ie.edu/financialaid and http://financialaid.blogs.ie.edu to read more.

Between the second and third core periods of the International MBA curriculum, students explore – through a series of presentations from outside experts, online simulation, interactive workshops, group work and on-site company visits – the challenges and opportunities of discontinuous change. Topics will vary each year to include climate change, demographic change, nanotechnology, or the rise of user-generated media.

Exercises will strengthen participants’ ability to gauge the impact of change and to identify new opportunities offered by change. The topic for the November 2008 intake  is the Future Beyond Oil: Thinking Outside of the Barrel to Ensure Sustainability, as explored through the triple prism of economic change, climate change and geopolitical change. Wildly fluctuating oil prices, finite fossil fuel deposits, an overheating planet and global security concerns have everyone talking about energy (in)dependence. Yet trend lines clearly indicate that the West is becoming more energy dependent, not less so. Compared with just 10 years ago, for example, Americans are driving larger and less efficient cars and buying bigger homes and more appliances. As a result, U.S. oil use has increased over the decade by nearly 2.7 million barrels a day, 56% of which are imported. In total, the average American consumes five times more energy than the average global citizen, 10 times more than the average Chinese, and nearly 20 times more than the average Indian.
Yet energy consumption is rising fastest in the developing world, where petroleum use alone has quadrupled since 1970. The two countries with the highest rate of growth in oil use are China and India, whose combined populations account for a third of humanity. In the next two decades, China’s oil consumption is expected to grow at a rate of 7.5% per year and India’s 5.5%. By 2030, China will import as much oil as the U.S. does now, an eightfold increase over its current import levels, according to the International Energy Agency.

Oil dependency has several dimensions. On the one hand lies a clearly environmental dimension: burning of fossil fuel injects millions of cubic tons of harmful CO2 in the atmosphere, a direct contributor to global warming. Another
dimension is economic security because dependency on foreign oil can lead to price distortions and economic crises. Last is global security. Several undemocratic regimes are large oil and gas producing countries. Some of these  countries are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which holds 80% of proven global reserves. The oil wealth of OPEC countries allows them to play a strategic role in world politics and the global economy. But their record on human rights, political stability and rule of law is often poor.

This week-long series of seminars, panels, workshops, case studies and debates will analyze the world politics and global business of the world’s oil dependency. Are we truly running out of oil? Do we really want to kick the oil habit? And if so what are all stakeholders from traditional Big Oil to up and coming renewable energy players doing to address this momentous change that will have significant economic, environmental and geopolitical consequences?

We are pleased to inform you that we shall be hosting sessions on Financial Aid during the months of April, May and June.

We understand that undertaking a Master’s degree can be one of the most important decisions of your professional career. We are therefore very happy to offer financial support to help certain students complete their respective programs. Attend one of the upcoming Financial Aid virtual information sessions from the comfort of your own computer. The next session will take place:

Date: May 14, 2009

Time: 10am Madrid local time (GMT+2) - afternoon in Asia, please check your local time zone

Registration: just register here

In case you have no time to join this event, please visit our Event Page for the next sessions on Financial Aid or visit the FA websites: www.ie.edu/financialaid or financialaid.blogs.ie.edu.

IE Business School holds the no. 10 position worldwide in executive education programs in the 2009 Financial Times ranking.  The FT report, which analyzes the quality of executive education programs around the world, ranked IE no. 4 in open programs.

These results further consolidate IE Business School as an international reference in the field of executive education programs, given that the School has risen several positions since last year’s ranking. In customized programs IE has climbed 13 places to become no. 28 in the world. In the open programs category, the School has risen to the no. 4 position worldwide. The joint result of these rises is that IE is now no. 10 worldwide, up from no. 16 in the 2008 ranking.

Open programs at IE Business School include the Advanced Management Program (AMP), the Senior Management Program (SMP) and the Global Senior Management Program (GSMP), run jointly in Madrid and London with University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The FT Executive Education ranking uses different parameters to analyze the quality of executive education programs. Criteria include the degree of satisfaction of participants with regard to the preparation and design of the courses, the quality of faculty, student profiles, development of management skills, and fulfilment of expectations. The authors of the ranking contrasted the opinion of participants and client firms for both open and customized programs.

The conclusions of the FT ranking follow on the success achieved by IE in international rankings over the last year. The Economist placed the School’s MBA program fifth in Europe and tenth worldwide, leading Latin American journal América Economía ranked IE fourth worldwide in MBA programs, and BusinessWeek placed IE first in Europe and fifteenth worldwide.