The Executive Education Division of IE Business School just launched the High-Potential Leaders Program (HPLP). This is unique international learning experience aims to prepare talented young professionals for their career development emphasizing in vision, skills and management capabilities required to meet the many and diverse global challenges business organizations are facing today and will face…
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February 2008 | By Pablo Triana, Professor and Director of the Centre for Advanced Finance at IE Business School.
Although recent chaos in the markets brings back memories of past investment fads that ended in tears, this time itâ??s different. Hedge funds and derivatives have had some positive effects on finance markets and the economy.
Investors who seek fashionable products have been successfully persuaded over the last few years to invest in hedge funds and credit derivatives. Although the chaos that currently reigns in our markets reminds use of investment fads that went wrong in the past, this time there is a key difference, namely the fact that recently promoted strategies had a positive impact on financial markets and the economy in general.
In recent months, we have been bombarded by headlines like “Disappointing hedge fund returns”, “Hedge funds collapse”, “Problems with CDOs”, “Losses in CDOs”. If you allow me a certain amount of nostalgia, I feel myself transported back to 1989 (when I was a bit of a wild teenager) or 2000 (when I was a postgraduate student who wanted to continue being a bit of a wild teenager). In those days, as today, investments that appeared to be unquestionably “cool” suddenly became a source of misery. The must-have assets (junk bonds and dot-coms) became a death-trap for many of those who blindly obeyed the dictates of fashion. In their desperate attempt to become a member of the cool set, those investors paid a very high price.
Hedge funds and credit derivatives symbolise the trendy investments that were the (partial) disasters of our time. The modern, chic destination for your money. Unavoidable for those who did not want to be pointed out as old-fashioned and off-track. In recent years, the prevailing atmosphere seems to have been one of glorious exaltation of those with sufficient vision for transferring millions to increasingly complex financial structures and funds, together with the unlimited ridicule of those who, inexcusably, failed to jump on the train of new trends. Not very different from the days of junk bonds and dot-coms. In much the same way that a young woman is made to feel uncool if she does not buy her clothes in Zara or Prada, investors have been made to feel desperately off-track if they did not have positions in hedge funds and CDOs.
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Prof. Dr. Ricardo Perez Garrido talks about how IE faculty and students of IEâ??s Master in Telecom & Digital Business, as the pioneers in business schools, explore new ways of teaching and learning in virtual social networking platform Second Life.
Prof. Dr. Perez is the Program Director of this Master which is supported by companies like Accenture, Cisco, Nokia and Telefónica.
Prof. Dr. Perez, what are reasons behind IE’s initiative to use virtual platform as alternative teaching method?
We want to be ahead of the game in terms of understanding the link between technology and society, and given the growing adoption of these type of platforms for leisure and work, we cannot be left out of this trend. In fact, we want to be able to lead this challenging environment as we have done in the past with other collaborative technologies, and help companies, communities and society in general understand its relevance, impact and feasibility as learning and sharing tool.
How does IE promote and facilitate teaching on a virtual platform?
We have created an island and provided professors with the technical help needed to explore this virtual world as just another platform for their teaching. In fact several training sessions of the Master in Telecom & Digital Business have already taken place in this environment with great results, at least in terms of identifying potential and limitations of the platform.
During this process, what are reactions from students and teaching faculties?
This is completely new for all. For now, only a small percentage of students are part of Second Life or other online virtual worlds, and the same case applies for faculty. But in fact, given the identification of this phenomenon as a global trend, both students and faculty are eager and willing to try the new tool and accept the good and bad things that being a pioneer means.
Even though most of the Master programs at IE Business School are taught in English, being based in Madrid, Spain’s vibrant capital, knowing Spanish is a big advantage. Not just only to get even more immersed into the local culture but also because: more than 500 million people speak Spanish around the planet Spanish is…
DetailsThis interview with Prof. Dr. Enrique Dans was published in THE JAPAN TIMES on Monday, January 28, 2008 Although Europe once lagged well behind the U.S. in terms of formal business education, the continent is now home to scores of major schools. People consider the length of the courses, diversity of students and faculty, acquisition…
DetailsThe IE MBA program is No. 1 in Spain and No. 8 in the world, according to the 2008 MBA program ranking published today by Financial Times. In the different academic categories IE was ranked the top school worldwide in organizational behaviour and second in corporate social responsibility. The School was also placed among the…
DetailsOn the unveiling of there new ranking of distance learning programs, the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked IE Business Schools programs No.2 in the world. The ranking has been developed in response to the increasing importance of distance learning programs in the management education sector. The developments in forms of delivery, teaching methodologies and overall…
DetailsThe digital advertising and communication industry is evolving at a fast pace; it is becoming more professionalized and demanding as far as the combination of general management know-how and specialized industry knowledge is concerned.At IE Business School we are aware of this fact and want to share with you the latest findings of our experts…
DetailsIE has decided to launch a one-year, full-time Master in International Relations whose first edition will start in October 2008. It will be entirely taught in English and will take place in IE’s Madrid urban campus. The Master’s has been approved by the Spanish academic authorities and the degree will have official recognition. The program…
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By Olga Slavinka, IMBA 2007, published in FT.com
I now have my MBA diploma in my hands, the diploma for which I have worked so hard. Although the programme took only 13 months to complete, the sheer intensity of these five terms made me feel that I had been at IE Business School in Spain for far longer.
On the one hand, the idea that I no longer have to burn the midnight oil analysing business cases is quite appealing. On the other, I now realise that the unbelievably intensive academic experience was not only one of the smartest investments of time and money I have ever made, but was also amazingly, albeit exhaustingly, enjoyable. It may sound clichéd but I feel very well-equipped to deal with the real world waiting for me, although maybe I should add that Iâ??m acutely aware there is still plenty to learnâ?¦
Returning to where I left off in my last entry, in the summer I travelled for a couple of weeks after the core MBA courses came to an end, returning to Madrid in September with my batteries somewhat recharged for the fifth, and final, elective period. Whereas during the core terms classes ran from 9am till 3 pm, with a permanently heavy workload in the afternoons, the elective period seemed easier to handle. The schedule was not as structured however, with classes sometimes taking place from early morning till 10 pm to allow practitioners to come and teach after their working day was over.
DetailsIE Business School invites you to live the IE experience in real-time with a member of our world-class faculty. Enjoy a case discussion with Prof. Gamaliel Martinez, Professor of Operation Management with more than 20 years of experience in consulting in industries like Shipbuilding, Automative, Agrofood, Pharma. You can actively participate debating about the general…
DetailsIE Business School invites you to live the IE experience in real-time with a member of our world-class faculty. Enjoy a case discussion with Prof. Gamaliel Martinez, Professor of Operation Management with more than 20 years of experience in consulting in industries like Shipbuilding, Automative, Agrofood, Pharma. You can actively participate debating about the general…
DetailsStudents from IE Business School, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Hamline University have won the second edition of JPMorganâ??s Good Venture Competition. The competition focuses on developing philanthropic non-profit organisations. This year 77 socially responsible teams from 48 universities and business schools pitched for $25,000 of direct funding from JPMorgan. Ultimately nine teams were selected…
DetailsOn behalf of IE Business School, the Asia-Pacific Blog team wishes you a merry X-mas and a prosperous and an even more successful 2008.
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