Archive for category: Press Release

The Economist’s Daniel Franklin shares forecasts for 2018

Madrid, February 16, 2018. – Cyber-attacks, backlash against technology giants and elections in the Americas and beyond; these are some of the events and trends expected to move the needle in global business this year, according to Daniel Franklin, editor of The Economist.

At a standing room-only event at the Madrid campus on Feb. 15, Franklin presented The Economist’s “The World in 2018,” the magazine’s annual issue of forecasts across global business, politics, technology, and culture. Prof. Juan José Toribio welcomed Franklin to the campus.

Smart business leaders are already braced for cyber-breaches. But Franklin said cyber-attackers could scale up this year. “Maybe in 2018 a new kind of attack will appear … related to an actual event rather than the theft of a trove of data,” he said. Hackers could compromise the physical movement or performance of objects via the Internet of Thing-enabled devices.

Data is already occupying business leaders’ minds this year in the form of the European Union’s tough new data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR goes live in May and affects any organization, European or otherwise, which stores EU citizens’ data. “This is a very big deal,” Franklin said. “Data is the new oil and how you regulate it matters,” he added.

The Business of Politics

GDPR is part of the global backlash – or “techlash” – against perceived over-reach and tax avoidance by technology firms. The Economist expects the pendulum of power to swing back toward government in 2018, with states buckling down on swashbuckling tech titans.

Staying with politics, the two heavyweights of Latin America – Mexico and Brazil – will hold presidential polls in 2018. The Brazilian leadership battle is tough to call as the main protagonists are mired in legal actions. In Mexico, Franklin expects veteran firebrand Andrés Manuel López Obrador to ride the anti-Trump wave, but predicts PRI will win on the day.

But it’s mid-term elections in the U.S. in November that may provide the political drama of the year “because the Democrats have a chance to take the House,” Franklin stated. The Economist predicts the Republicans will lose the House, stymieing GOP-sponsored legislation and giving a shot in the arm to the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential elections.

Back in Europe, the “known unknown” of Brexit is preoccupying business leaders: how can companies prepare for the UK’s EU exit in 2019 with so much in flux? But a framework must be hammered out by the end of 2018. “Negotiations over Brexit are about to get extremely fraught,” Franklin said.

“My guess is a ‘softer’ Brexit as this is the only way the government can get a majority,” he predicted. There is still a “small but real chance” that the Brexit train gets derailed, though. “I cannot stress how fragile the situation is. The potential for a mess and mini-panic is quite large,” Franklin said. But The Economist editor put the odds of a stalled Brexit at just 15%.

The Helicopter View

Looking at the macro-economic outlook, Franklin said “there are animal spirits of optimism in industry,” because for the first time since the financial crisis, the six continents are growing at roughly synchronized speed. “No one is holding the global economy back and no-one is racing ahead,” he said. This global growth could lead to “effervescence,” Franklin noted, “but let’s not spoil the party.”

Also for the first time in a while, China is no longer one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, although it’s trotting along at a very respectable 6.0% growth. India is the only big name in The Economist’s Top 10 for 2018, with 7.8% GBP growth predicted for this year. “China’s population is starting to shrink, while India has a more dynamic population outlook,” Franklin said.

The One That Got Away

Prof. Toribio congratulated Franklin on The Economist’s solid record on predictions. Reading the runes is a tricky business, though, and Franklin said the imminent fall of the Castro regime in Cuba is the one forecast that its editors have consistently gotten wrong. But with Raúl Castro on the cusp of retirement, 2018 might be the year it comes true.

New York City, February 02, 2018. – To help enterprising, high-achieving young professionals in the greater New York metropolitan area who aspire to attain senior leadership positions, IESE Business School has developed a blended learning professional development solution.  The Driving Leadership Potential (DLP) program furthers IESE strategy to expand its footprint in the US, and bolsters its commitment to serve executives and leaders in North American markets for years to come. 

The seven-month program, which kicks off in April at IESE’s New York campus, is designed to help the potential leaders of today – those with a minimum six-to-10 years of work experience – hone their professional skills, explore new aspects of their industries, and achieve their objectives for tomorrow.

“This is an important program for the school,” said Franz Heukamp, Dean of IESE. “Personal and professional demands can make it difficult for executives to develop their career. Through its flexible blended learning syllabus, the Driving Leadership Potential program empowers them to reach higher levels of success without putting their career on hold.”

The program is unique in its comprehensive design, stressing the three core competencies at the heart of all IESE programs – Discover, Discuss, Do – and creates a seamless journey of learning with a flexible blended education format, personalized approach and market-relevant focus. Over the span of six online modules and six on-campus modules, students work to achieve six Milestones, each representing a different area of leadership:

• Each Milestone begins with online “discovery,” where the student learns about a specific topic.
• After completing the online learning portion, students then visit the New York campus for two days for live discussion and face-to-face instruction.
• Once the learning portions of the Milestone are complete, students put their knowledge to use in the real world with mentoring, coaching, professional development and practical application opportunities.

According to Idunn Jonsdottir, Managing Director, Executive Education, IESE New York, the Discover, Discuss, Do model imparts an exceptional blend of online and face-to-face content that enlarges long-term outlook, while equipping students with actionable insights that can be immediately applied at work.

The program will address and nurture in its participants six core areas of competency essential for any experienced executive to develop:

• Lead People – Strengthening students’ ability to lead and inspire others to achieve strategic objectives;
• Drive Business Performance – Develop a working knowledge of managerial accounting and how to leverage financial data in strategic decisions;
• Think Strategically – Learn how to think like a senior leader and sharpen critical thinking skills in a variety of competitive contexts;
• Acquire an Entrepreneurial Mindset – Transform your ideas into sustainable business models;
• Build Digital Acumen – Understand the disruptive impact of digitization on business models, revenue streams and customer behavior;
• Communication and Negotiation Skills – Learn how to inspire, persuade and influence others to optimize organizational impact.

“The DLP program is designed for ambitious, forward-thinking professionals who want to develop their leadership abilities and strategic vision while continuing to work full-time,” said Professor John Almandoz, Academic Director of DLP. “This program offers an ideal platform for participants to grow as leaders, broaden their perspectives and build their professional network. I’m supremely excited about this program’s potential as we have a distinguished group of IESE academics who have designed, and will teach, the classes.”

Joining professor Almandoz in administering the DLP classes will be:

• Eric Weber, Associate Dean of IESE Business School and Professor of Accounting and Control
• Pascual Berrone, Associate Professor of Strategic Management at IESE
• Julia Prats, Professor of Entrepreneurship at IESE
• Josep Valor, Professor of Information Systems at IESE
• Kandarp Mehta, Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Negotiation Teaching Unit at IESE

To learn more about the program, visit the Driving Leadership Potential program homepage.

First business school on popular music streaming service

Barcelona, January 18, 2018. – IESE has joined Spotify, becoming the first business school on the music streaming service and giving any member of the IESE community the chance to add to playlists for everyone to enjoy.

For the moment, IESE has four playlists: “Time to (case) study”, “Positive leaders”, “Run with it!”, and “The spirit of IESE”. Students, professors, staff and alumni have contributed songs to the lists, creating a channel that’s by everyone and for everyone, and where anyone can “listen” to IESE in a dynamic and different way. Through Spotify, the more than 45,000 current and past students and participants can share their musical tastes for each moment and mood.

The profile of the four IESE playlists are:

• Time to (case) study: Ideal for students looking to boost their concentration by listening to relaxed music by artists such as Ludovico Einaudi and Yann Tiersen, among others.
• Positive leaders: Brings together chart-topping pop-rock tracks from recent years, with bands like U2 and Coldplay.
• Run with it!: A list intended to get you moving, with artists such as Imagine Dragons and Bruno Mars.
• The spirit of IESE: Music that anyone from the IESE community feels best represents us, featuring positive and inspirational songs like “Forever Young”, “Heroes” and “I Believe”.

Each list now has between 20-30 songs, and more than three hours of music. The channel is available through this link or by searching “IESE Business School” in the Spotify app.

2017 Employment Report shows more graduates drawn to Europe, technology

Barcelona, December 27, 2017. – IESE MBAs finished their degrees well-equipped for a global digital economy, quickly taking up jobs in consulting and finance, in tech companies and consumer giants, throughout Europe and around the world.

The 2017 Employment Report contains the employment patterns of the Class of 2017, 92% of which received at least one offer for full-time work within three months of graduation, proof of the continued high demand for IESE MBAs in the job market.

By sector, the MBAs chose a variety of businesses and industries, some of them traditional choices for graduates and some of them newer activities related to the digital economy. Consulting remained the favorite career choice, with 27% of graduates, many of them making a post-MBA career change, opting to become a consultant.

Another traditional sector for MBAs, financial services, saw a slight decline, to 17%, in the number of graduates working there; of those pursuing careers in finance, the favored area was investment banking, and the most popular single destination was the U.K.

The remaining 56% of MBAs went to work for companies in a range of sectors. Of those, 16% went into tech, e-commerce and internet; consumer goods and retail drew another 14% of graduates.

Salaries Highest in Banking and the Middle East

Mean base salaries were highest in financial services (€88,491 per year), followed by consulting (€83,520) and the corporate sector (€77,056). By region, mean base salaries were highest in the Middle East and Africa (€102,818) and lowest in Spain (€65,094).

While graduates took up jobs everywhere from the U.A.E. to South Korea to Colombia, a substantial majority – 63% – went to work in Europe. And despite the lower average salaries, there was a strong increase in the number of MBAs who decided to stay in Spain (29%), a reflection of the uptick in employment opportunities that has accompanied economic recovery. The second-most popular destination for IESE MBAs was the U.K., with 12% headed to Britain to work.

If the MBA degree meant employment, it also meant change for most graduates. Some 85% of students changed either the location, function or sector in which they worked; 20% changed all three.

Help from Career Services

IESE’s Career Services team, which has grown as the number of IESE MBA students has increased in recent years, played an active role in the job search. Some 66% of all accepted job offers were directly facilitated by Career Services; Career Services also provided support for the 7% of entrepreneurial students who immediately started their own companies after graduation.

Career Services organizes a range of activities throughout the year, from career fairs to career treks to internships, and is in partnership with leading companies to stay abreast of employment trends and facilitate recruitment.

Download IESE’s MBA Employment Report 2017 here.