Archive for November/2010

IE Business School and Casa Asia are organizing this conference to discuss the concerns that Asian companies have in Europe and vice versa, in order to show the full potential, from the business point of view, of relationships with three of the major Asian countries: China, India and Japan.

Every time we have more and more evidence that Asia will be the center of global economic growth over the coming decades, due to the enormous strength of the Asian economies. In Europe, Asia is perceived as a great opportunity for its high growth rates, demographic factors, infrastructure needs and rising middle classes. In Asia, Europe is perceived as a market with high rates of consumption that is valued technological capacity of their firms, the relevance of their brands and the degree of excellence shown in the design of certain products.  Read more…

IE Focus | By John A. Clendenin, Professor at IE Business School

The triumph of Spain in the World Cup can give us some excellent lessons in management, with its focus on talent, team work and a commitment to society.For the first time this year, Spain united its many talented players to win the FIFA World Cup soccer championship. Hundreds of thousands of fans lined Madrid´s streets to celebrate and welcome their heroes home after the team beat the Netherlands 1-0 on a summer Sunday in extra time. Those throngs were cheering after months of political unrest, economic gloom, a debt crisis, 20% unemployment and fighting among nationalist regions for greater autonomy from the central government. 

Spain´s team always had great talent, but bringing it all together had been elusive. What lessons can Spain and the world take away from the World Cup victory? Ultimately, the alignment of institutional, team and individual goals was what brought success. With a mission to play creatively in the World Cup–to pass, to move, to think, to act rather than react–Spain found a winning approach. What can this leadership example of excellence through ultimate teamwork teach us about collaborating for economic gain as the world economy regains momentum?

The heart of the Spanish team lives in a small but famed youth academy in Barcelona called La Masia. There, nine of Spain´s players spent years nurturing individual styles founded on exceptional technique. We should learn from their long-term commitment. The school, started in 1979, has developed athletes who learn supreme artistry that exhausts and demoralizes opponents as they control the ball. Consider, as you ponder leadership and dedication, that Andrés Iniesta, who scored the extra-time winner for Spain in the World Cup final against the Netherlands, joined the academy as a 12-year-old from his Albacete junior club. Do corporations in today´s marketspace devotedly grow their best talent from within? Or is there the false illusion that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence? Do we make a commitment to our people as our best resource?

The best-led institution in sports is Barcelona’s city team, FC Barcelona. The FC Barcelona slogan is “Mes que un club!”–More than a club. The team competes on the field of play, of course, but it also vibrates, every day, to the rhythm of its people´s concerns. It supports their sense of caring and humanitarianism. “Behind our shield, there is a heart beating,” Joan Gamper, FC Barcelona’s founder, has said The club contributes 0.7% of its income to the FC Barcelona Foundation, setting up international cooperation programs for development. It supports the U.N.´s Millennium Development Goals and has made a commitment to Unicef´s humanitarian aid programs with the donation of one and a half million euros. It even pays to wear the Unicef logo on its shirts, where other teams get paid for everything on their uniforms. What a pleasure to know that winning the World Cup, arguably the most prized trophy in sports, can be done with commitment, integrity and a “beating heart.”

In Spain during the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco (1939-1975), Catalans, Basques and others were forbidden to speak or publish books in their non-Spanish languages. The World Cup win has led to the rare sight of people in Barcelona waving the Spanish flag alongside Catalonia´s own red and yellow one. Enthusiasm welled up in unlikely places as Spanish players from Catalonia (Xavi Hernandez, Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique) and the Basque region (Xabi Alonso) all played and won together. How can Spain capitalize on this tenuous patriotism and seize the moment to unite more fully under its single flag? Who will lead a country depressed by nationalist factionalism?

Head coach Vicente Del Bosque led his team to the lowest-scoring World Cup championship in history, with just eight goals. The team was content to defend first and seize infrequent opportunities to score. It structured a seamless relationship between defense and attack, with defenders and strikers equally capable of handling the ball and moving the ball around the field. The low scoring added tension, but Spain was usually in such complete control of the match that that scoring never represented how the team dominated its opponents.

It happened in the IE Bachelor in Architecture, subject: Design Studio II…

Professor Manuel Ocaña, http://www.manuelocana.com/ invited architect and researcher Carlos Ramos to one of his lectures. Carlos’ conference was entitled out Towards Rocking Architecture. – A retrospective insight into space and sound throughout four short stories.- and talked about the influences rock music could have on architecture. As well as speaking about the subject – Carlos  also took out his guitar and played some chords like the well known “Smoke on the water” from Deep Purple in the videoconference.

Not only was Professor Manuel Ocaña amazed by this new learning experience, but students also commented: “This was really a fantastic conference and a very out of the box learning experience.”

If you’re curious about more innovative learning techniques at IE, explore our blog Learning Experiences.

IE Focus | By Enrique Dans, Professor at IE Business School

It’s time to put an end to deliberations. If there is anything that really is changing as a direct result of the popularisation of the net and the so-called social web, it is undoubtedly relations between businesses and their customers.

Open your account on Twitter (Sorry? You’re an executive and you still don´t have Twitter or you don´t know what it is?) And write something about well-known large business organizations with millions of customers, such as Telefonica or Iberia, often criticised for their customer service. In a matter of minutes, if what you have said about the company merits a reply, you will quite possibly find it on Twitter. Have a look at the Twitter accounts of Movistar or Iberia… What can you see? Businesses talking directly with their customers and offering to solve their problems. Businesses that listen to the small fry.

It might be a question about items on a bill, explanations about an incident or about an offer: the question is that, after many years of inflexible single-direction trading and contacting customers only to harass them by throwing new products and services in their faces, many businesses are finally starting to use bidirectional communication channels to maintain real relations with their customers. Such relations are much more genuine and make it worthwhile to manage exceptions or speak with a human voice if a problem can be solved and a customer can be satisfied. Trivial? At the moment, more or less testimonial. But undoubtedly a sign of the times. Times in which technology, far from isolating individuals, makes it possible to humanize relations and bring together those who are on both sides of the screen. How can invest millions in expensive CRM systems if our customers then speak about us in public and we pay them no attention? Read more…

The Bachelor in Architecture from IE University leads the “Hidden Gems in Global architecture Education” category in the recent ranking from Design Intelligence magazine. This US ranking is the most prestigious regarding Architecture and Design Schools. 

In the 11th edition of America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools published at the beginning of November, Design Intelligence decided for the first time to consider foreign schools and to reward the ones that are pushing the boundaries of innovation, creativity and global commitment.  

IE University and its School of Architecture are in good company in this new ranking category, followed by prestigious institutions such as Tongji University (Shanghai), Cambridge University (UK), the University of Cape Town (South Africa), and the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia). 

“To be recognized in this way by such a notable publication is a reward and a source of great motivation for us,” said Javier Quintana, Head of the School of Architecture of IE University, and he adds “it is a step ahead for the internationalization and the global commitment of ours programs.” 

After only three years, IE School of Architecture managed to break into the international scene with its Bachelor and Master Degrees thanks to the global perspective of the institution and its pioneer programs in Spain, such as the Summer School co-organized with the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London.

About the ranking:
DesignIntelligence is the Design Futures Council’s bi-monthly report on the future, delivering original research, insightful commentary, and instructive best practices. Design leaders rely on DesignIntelligence to deliver insight about emerging trends and management practices, allowing them to make their organization a better managed, more financially successful enterprise. 

Every fall since 1999, DesignIntelligence publish rankings of the best architecture schools in the US and this fall 2010 for first time they have included a new section called “influential and under-celebrated” where was features IE University has hidden gem along with other non-US schools.

The IE Social Responsibility Forum is returning in November 2010 for its fifth edition. The Forum is the largest annual event organized by students of IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Every year, the aim of the Forum is to promote a constructive dialogue among the IE community, future graduates from top business schools, and global leaders to advance sustainable business.

Leading to the Next Big Thing. In a time of global economic uncertainty and unrest, the world is receiving positive news: more companies are joining the sustainable revolution, people are making a lasting difference in their local communities, and both are inspiring innovation that improves lives.

This year, the goal of the Forum is to enrich the debate about the new directions and opportunities that are being created by a shift in both business and social mindsets in this ever-changing world. In this sense, the 5^th annual IE Social Responsibility Forum will showcase many of the exciting and innovative developments and opportunities happening around the world, focusing on the impact of social and environmental changes on business paradigms. All changes, great and small, will hopefully lead to the next big thing.

We invite you to attend, contribute and be inspired by our annual IE Social Responsibility Forum. IE Business School look forward to welcoming you on November 12-13th in the beautiful city of Madrid.

More details you can find on the NET IMPACT web.

IE’s Junior Advisory Board serves to provide a worldly and youthful perspective to IE University. The board members are evaluated on their demonstrated academic excellence, intellectual zeal and activity in the community. IE’s Junior Advisory Board is considered as a part of the IE community, and shows a commitment to excellence and innovation. Board members are outstanding members of their community and serve as joint representatives of their communities to IE, and also of IE in their communities.

 The board is made of members who are still in high school so that IE can understand and appreciate the expectations of the rising university student and incorporate their excitement and insight into its dynamic educational programs.

For more information and applications, please go to the Junior Advisory Board website. Good luck!

Join the upcoming presentation. To register just go to events.ie.edu.

See you tomorrow!