Archive for April/2010

30
Apr

IE Business School  is glad to invite you and the members of your network to join the third of a series of  videoconferences Sports Management Today, on Tuesday, May 4th at 18:00 (Madrid local time).

Banco Santander and Formula 1 Sponsorship

Speaker:
Pablo de Villota – Santander’s Formula 1 Sponsorship Manager

Content:

Santander’s Formula 1 sponsorship manager, Pablo de Villota, will outline how brand recognition has evolved and the role Formula 1 has played. Pablo will explain why Banco Santander decided to become a sponsor in the sports industry, why it became involved in Formula 1 and why it chose Ferrari. He will also discuss what sponsors and partners look for in a profitable relationship and how, in the case of Formula 1, drivers can get the most from their relationship with a sponsor. 

Bio:

Since 2009, Pablo de Villota has been Santander’s Formula 1 Sponsorship Manager. He holds a degree in law and is an IE Business School graduate of the Executive MBA 2004 class. Not only was Pablo a racing driver himself during his youth, but he also managed his own communication agency company ‘Fórmula América’, specializing in marketing strategies in the automobile and motor sports industry. Furthermore, Pablo has working on strategic projects for companies like Audi, Ferrari, DIAGEO (Johnnie Walker) and Bombardier, and  as a Formula 1 specialist he has collaborated with several mass media – like Digital+, RNE, F1 MobileTV and Car and Driver magazine – as a journalist specialized in Formula 1. 

Please confirm your attendance by sending an e-mail to msmconferences@ie.edu. Upon confirmation we will send you the link to the open videoconference. If you are unable to join this conference but wish to be kept informed of future open conferences, please let us know.

Best regards,

Master in Sports Management Team

29
Apr

IE at the Shanghai World Expo

Written on April 29, 2010 by Dirk Hopfl in Explore IE

IE is set to take part in the Shanghai World Expo, which is expected to receive 70 million visitors between May 1 and October 31. IE will be present at the beginning and close of the Expo in Spain´s Pavilion and the Madrid Pavilion, with activities that include the presentation of the Caso España case study.

IE is one of the many key Spanish institutions that will play a part in promoting Spanish culture in the Pavilions of Spain and Madrid. In order to achieve this objective, IE will be organizing two activities in Spain´s Pavilion on May 11 and 14, and a further event on October 26. The first of these has been organized jointly between IE and ESADE, bringing together the deans of both schools with the deans of leading Chinese business schools and universities, including  CEIBS, Fudan and Beijing University. The meeting will serve as a platform for an in-depth discussion about the global challenges facing business schools.

Another of the activities focuses on social networking, and will be led by Professor Enrique Dans on May 14 in Spain´s Pavilion. In the same Pavilion, but at the later date of October 26, Professor Gonzalo Garland will present Caso España, an interactive case study which shows the landmarks of Spain´s political and economic landscape from 1973 to the present day, using macroeconomic data and an analysis of the main decisions made by the different governments that have presided over Spain during that time.

IE will also run two further academic activities in the Madrid Pavilion. The first will be held on June 4 as part of IE´s international Executive Education program: China an inside view.  The activity will comprise academic sessions led by Professor Eduardo Morcillo and European students participating in the program. Moreover, the Dean and Vice Dean of Architecture at IE University will be participating in the Madrid Pavilion´s ´Madrid Urban Forum 2010,  where they will be exchanging knowledge and experiences with other international experts in areas like sustainability and the environment, infrastructures, transport, energy and social equilibrium.

Finally, on August 17 the Dean of IE University´s School of Architecture, Javier Quintana, will present the results of the summer workshop on sustainability and urban density held in Madrid, organized by IE School of Architecture and the Architectural Association of London.

IE in China

IE runs a range of international programs through its international office in Shanghai (asiapacific.blogs.ie.edu). One such program is the residential period of IE´s International Executive MBA online, held at Fudan School of Management, taking place in June and November. Said residential period features lectures by Chinese professors from Fudan School of Management on subjects related to Chinese culture, history and business practices, coupled with visits to companies that bring students into direct contact with Chinese corporate realities. 

IE´s International Executive MBA Biweekly also includes a week in Shanghai together with students of IE´s Global MBA. This program is also run at Fudan School of Management, and comprises talks by senior managers of foreign firms operating in China – with a special focus on Spanish or European firms – who share their experiences of working in Asia.

In the executive education field IE has forged alliances in China with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business with whom it partners for two programs. The first isEurope: an Inside View, designed for Chinese directors who want insights into corporate realities in the Western world, and which has been run at IE´s Madrid Campus for the last four years. The other program is the abovementioned China: an Inside View,which is the reciprocal program for western managers who want to learn more about Chinese corporate practices. It has been held in Beijing or Shanghai for the last four years. Both programs include not only class sessions but also visits to firms to round off the experience.

Shanghai World Expo 2010, which commences on May 1 and runs until October 31, is focused on the quality of life in cities. Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, will host the largest Expo in history. Spain has pinned all its hopes on the belief that the Expo will serve to showcase Spain in China, and has invested 55 million Euros in the project. This budget has enabled Spain to have the second largest Pavilion, with more than 7,000 m2, the largest being that of the host country, with a surface area of 100,000m2.

The Universal Expos have always had a tourist and leisure slant. The fact that this year the Expo is being held by China, the country with the greatest economic potential in the world, means that it is a unique opportunity for foreign countries, including Spain, to promote themselves.

26
Apr

The future of the Chinese economy

Written on April 26, 2010 by Dirk Hopfl in Academics

IE Focus | By Rafael Pampillón, Professor at IE Business School

One of the major landmarks of the 20th century has been China’s spectacular awakening, but the country now faces a series of challenges that will require deep change to maintain rates of growth.The economic boom in China is one of the most important events of the 21st century. The boom has come on the back of China’s great demographic potential (with a population of 1,350 million), its high internal rate of saving and the way it has opened up to the rest of the world, turning it into the biggest exporter on the planet. 

Since 1978 the economy has been gradually freed up and prices have been progressively deregulated. There has been encouragement for foreign investments and the private ownership of businesses has been made legal. In 2001, foreign trade was deregulated when it joined the World Trade Organisation. Since then, China´s trade relations with the rest of the world have grown spectacularly.

As pointed out in a recent article by Enrique Fanjul, former trade director of the Spanish Embassy in Peking, China´s economy still has an unquestionably high level of state intervention and state businesses continue to play a key role. However, it cannot be considered as a socialist economy: most of the production takes place under private-sector conditions and products are marketed at free prices. There is a tendency towards a growing importance of private players in the economic system Read more…

23
Apr

Apple and Google in the headlines

Written on April 23, 2010 by Dirk Hopfl in Academics

IE Focus | By Ricardo Perez, Professor at IE Business School

Apple and Google go head to head in the race for mobile dominance. Apple is pushing for pay-per-click services while Google defends flat rates.Apple and Google have been making the headlines with revolutionary product launches these last weeks. American news programs once again held Steve Jobs up as as a champion of innovation, design, envy, advanced technology and anything else you might like to name.

Meanwhile, the boys at Google haven’t been idle. They have launched their own telephone to compete with the iPhone and Nokia and RIM (Blackberry) intelligent phones. What started out as a close collaboration and agreement between companies trying to “reinvent the game” in their respective markets is now morphing into direct competition. Their view of the growing convergence of communication networks, technologies and social behavior leads to collisions in key markets like content consumption, mobile technologies and entertainment. Let’s analyze their collision courses. Read more…

22
Apr

The PwC/IE Public Center presented ‘Towards a sustainable economy’, a report focused on the role of innovation in promoting a sustainable economy, environment and social well-being.

The report was authored by IE Business School professors Javier Carrillo and Totti Könnölä, and Pablo del Río of CSIC, an included a prologue by Jordi Sevilla, senior advisor for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The report defends the claim that innovation serves as a transversal vector in the three key dimensions of sustainability. It explores how, on an economic level, innovation acts as a catalyst by improving productivity and the creation of new sectors, and how innovation also helps the environment by reducing the impact of production processes and consumption on the planet. Finally, the report examines how innovation provides valuable support for integration and social cohesion. Hence the authors conclude that the sustainable development challenge “demands a transition toward radically different systems and fundamental changes in technological and institutional systems”.

Carrillo and Könnölä believe that technological and institutional innovation play a crucial role in society’s transition toward sustainability. “Sustainable development not only explains current realities, it also provides a basis for defining public policy measures, and a framework based on opportunity and a respect for human values. Innovation means using change to better meet societal needs and values, given the strong link between the two.”

21
Apr

Students of IE Law School’s LLM in International Legal Practice took part in the annual Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court held in Vienna, Austria, during Easter week. The object of the Vis Arbitral Moot is to foster study in the areas of international commercial and arbitration laws and encourage the resolution of business disputes by arbitration. The problem for the moot is always based on an international sales transaction subjected to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, 1980 (also referred to as the United Nations or the Vienna Sales Convention, or CISG) and also involves procedural issues of arbitration. The moot consists of submitting written memoranda prior to the moot on designated dates for both sides of the dispute (Claimant and Respondent in legal terminology). The oral arguments phase of the moot is held in Vienna. 

The IE Students Alphis Tay (Singapore), Demian Magalhaes (Brazil), Taren Spearman (US), and Jose Antonio Herrera (Venezuela) represented IE Law School in one of the largest and most prestigious moot court competitions in the world.  The students competed against 253 teams from 62 countries, including the New York Law School, National Law School of India, University of Milan, and University of Essex.

9
Apr

IE one of runners-up in Cerebration 2010

Written on April 9, 2010 by Dirk Hopfl in Live IE

Having beaten almost 500 teams to make it to the last 6 of Cerebration 2010, one of the world’s largest business plan competitions, the IE team had to settle for a position as runner-up having been beaten by Rottman of Toronto who were also presenting a strategy plan for Vestas. The students, Mark Peinhopf, Matteo Perondi, Joseph Berlino, and Mario Del Duca had been working diligently on the various phases of their business plan to bring Vestas into the small-scale wind turbine market since early December and the final presentation was well-received with particular praise from the judges for the team’s innovative plan and the desire to balance Vestas’ commercial goals with its corporate social responsibility. This was the third appearance of an IE team in the finals since 2005 and we hope to make it to the Singapore finals again in 2011. Congratulations to Rottman and well done to the IE time for putting up a good fight.