Posts Tagged ‘MBA#8217;

The past months have flown and we have now reached the Summer Holidays! International MBA students have completed another chapter of their International MBA program and will now have some time off as part of their Summer break.  During the holiday, students travel to their home countries to recharge batteries and prepare themselves for their Elective Period and IMBA+ (November intake) and Core Period 2 (April intake). Others prefer to travel around the world and visit their colleagues’ countries whom they managed to develop solid relationships throughout the International MBA program.

Throughout the holiday period we will post less frequently but we are still available to meet you personally in case you decide to visit our Campus in Madrid. We wish you a great holiday!

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¡Estos últimos meses han volado y ya estamos en las vacaciones de verano! Los estudiantes del International MBA han completado otro capítulo de su programa y ahora tendrán un tiempo de descanso este verano. Durante las vacaciones, los estudiantes viajan a sus países de origen para recargas las pilas y prepararse para el Periodo Electivo e IMBA+ (convocatoria de Noviembre) y para el 2º Periodo (convocatoria de Abril). Otros prefieren viajar por todo el mundo y visitar los países de sus compañeros, con los que han mantenido una sólida amistad a través del programa International MBA.

Durante todo el periodo de vacaciones postearemos con menos frecuencia pero estaremos a vuestra disposición en caso de que decidáis visitar personalmente nuestro Campus en Madrid.

¡Os deseamos felices vacaciones!

Click below to watch an interview with David Bach, our dean of programs and renowned professor, speaking about the advantages of studying at IE and what kind of applicant fits into IE’s culture.

IE Business School students at the Hult Global Case Challenge

A team from IE Business School has competed in the 2^nd Annual Hult Global Case Challenge – a call to action for the world’s brightest business school minds to tackle the world’s most pressing issues. The competition, in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative and Water.org, an organization co-founded by Gary White and actor Matt Damon, focused on developing solutions to the global water crisis. Hult will make the winning idea, along with a $1 million prize, available to Water.org to accelerate access to clean water and sanitation.

“Hult is thrilled that IE Business School has joined the Challenge,” said Stephen Hodges, President of the Hult International Business School.  “This year, we had thousands of students from around the globe competing to help solve the issue of clean water access which can benefit millions of people.  The diversity of these teams, from the world’s top business schools, consisted of some of the most talented thought leaders of our time, ensuring a spirited competition.  We thank IE Business School for supporting this effort.”

The teams were selected from more than 1000 applications.  Most schools had multiple team applicants with one or two teams from each school being chosen.

Regional competitions took place on March 5 on Hult’s five campuses in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai. IE Business School’s team competed in London and the team members included five IMBA students: Vittorio Lapiana, Alberto Riboni, Riccardo Corti, Federico Marafante and Marco Moncada.

Our team won the first heat of the competition among 8 other teams from top European business schools and we then had the opportunity to present in front of all the jury and participants for the European final, reaching 4^th position out of a total of 32 teams. Even if it was a great result, we missed the opportunity to fly to NY for the worldwide final chaired by Bill Clinton.

It has been an amazing experience and we hope that an IE Business School team can reach first place next year!

Before starting the first core period, students participate in the LAUNCH module, an intensive training period focused on change at a personal level.

“Think_design: Revolutionize your Space” forms part of LAUNCH and focuses on the close link between Business decisions and Design attitudes. Both Design and Business shape, change, twist, invent, create new worlds in form of new ideas, environments, spaces, objects, services, attitudes and products. As Business ideas change the planet, Business students need to behave as designers and design the new design of the world. Design skills, design attitudes and design thinking are compulsory tools for future Managers. By thinking as a designer, businesses can jump further, discover new human geographies, make decisions in uncertain conditions, detect tendencies, create new human needs, design a whole new life or take life as a prototype. Students see that business decisions are design decisions and design decisions have business implications everywhere.

To learn more about LAUNCH and to see the pictures of the International MBA 2011 class, click here.

If you are interested in visiting our Madrid campus and meeting current students we have a Campus Tour every Friday at 2PM. A representative of the Admission’s Team will give you a tour of the Campus located in the financial heart of Madrid and guide you through our facilities. Campus Tours not only give you an idea of how classrooms and workgroup rooms look like but also you get a sense of the International environment that is present daily in the school. Furthermore you also have the opportunity to network with other people that want to study at IE.

To register for upcoming Campus Tours please click here.

IE Business School has recently been considered one of the best schools in the World for Entrepreneurship by BusinessBecause.com. 

Venture Lab, at IE Business School, is highlighted as a great opportunity to turn disruptive and innovative ideas real by creating very strong feasible business plans. In Venture Day business plans are presented to Venture Capitalists in order to create relationships that can result in successful funding. On another note BusinessBecause.com also places emphasis on the the 25% of graduates that are actively involved in entrepreneurial activities 5 years after having completed the International MBA program.

Some recent entrepreneurial successes include companies such as Zinkia, RenewEn, BioOncoTech and CityDeal recently acquired by Groupon.

For the complete article please click here.

Bettina Suanno, International MBA Candidate 2011, writes about her experience during the Short Exchange in Singapore.

As part of my MBA electives I took a class that simply changed the way I think about South East Asia. The course was named “Doing business in South East Asia”, but it was really a lot more than that.

The whole experience was incredible, beginning with the fact that it took place in Singapore, along with other 27 students who traveled to that amazing place and stayed there for one week. The first day we did a city tour and visited different locations including the Marina Barrage, an impressive dam constructed to provide water to the city and to control floods. We also went to the Flyer and the Asian Civilisations Museum who was really fascinating.   

After the touristic view of the city we received remarkable lectures in the astonishing Nanyang Technological University of Singapore during the week. We had excellent professors from Nanyang giving us all the information about the historical and political overview of South East Asia, religion & culture of the region, Asian business environment, leadership, management and working styles in Asia. We had a final lecture about Asian Business communication and Negotiation styles.

In order to have a better scope of the business environment, we also visited companies located in Singapore such as DHL, Cysco System and the Jay Gee Melwani Group (retail sector). I have to admit that DHL was my favorite; it was simply amazing to see one of the hubs of this company operating.

I am from Latin America; I really wanted to visit and get to know Asia because of its emerging giant economies. I had the opportunity not only to see it in a business perspective, but also to live it and understand it through incredible lectures and experiences as part of my MBA program. I have a passion for traveling, but this experience was beyond traveling; it was about really understanding how and why South East Asia is leading the world.

Check out the more pictures by clicking here!

Sergey Gorbatov, International MBA Candidate 2011, writes about his experience during the Short Exchange in South Africa. 

Africa has always attracted the world by its untamed natural beauty, majestic wild animals and abundance of local indigenous cultures. We, however, went to that continent with quite a distinct mission: learn how to do business in Africa. A group of 20 MBA students went for one-week exchange program with Wits Business School in Johannesburg on February 28th – March 3rd. It was the first academic exchange between the schools, so expectations were high but we were wondering what was in store for us there once we arrive to South Africa.

The week surpassed all expectations. The intensive program put together by the MBA team at Wits combined both academic and cultural elements. We got a chance to learn more about the urban, social and political setup of South Africa, as well as gain valuable insights into marketing, financial, strategic and organizational aspects of businesses in various countries on the African continent. Two company visits, to Vodafone and Standard Bank, gave us an opportunity to engage directly with senior managers of two large international businesses, who shared with us the challenges that their companies are facing, as well as some personal stories about living in South Africa.

Thanks to some flexibility in the program, we were also able to explore more of the country: many students went to Cape Town to enjoy the beaches, wineries and vibrant night life; safari did not leave anyone indifferent; and the Apartheid Museum left a lasting impression in the hearts of many of my fellow MBAs.

IE Consulting Club in association with Accenture and Cemex are hosting the “IE Management Consulting Forum 2011″. The forum will be held this afternoon at 4pm and Saturday 9th of April. The event will include presentations, case workshops and discussion panels involving senior business leaders sharing their opinions on different topics in businss.

For more information about the IE Consulting Day click here.

One of IE Business School’s key values is entrepreneurship. The school was founded in 1973 by a group entrepreneurs and we are proud that 10% of our alumni start their own ventures after gradauation. Jeremy Melul, International MBA Class of 2009 graduate,  decided to start his own company Jogabo after finishing the program. We interviewed Jeremy where he shares his experiences with the MBA but also his current situation with his new venture:

Hi Jeremy, could you please introduce yourself?

My name is Jeremy Melul, I am both French and English and I graduated from the 2009 International MBA program. I currently live in London UK but I am a citizen of the world after having lived in London, Paris, Brussels, New York, Boston, Palo Alto, Sydney, Cape Town, Madrid and Pune. I work for my own startup, “jogabo”.

Why did you come to Madrid and IE?

I came to IE because I was looking for a more innovative program and something more geared towards entrepreneurship. I also wanted to diversify my US centric network a bit. After having done my Bachelor at Tufts, and my Master at Stanford, Europe was really my only option and I have to admit that the advantages of being in Madrid and getting to re-learn Spanish in such a wonderful environment really influenced me. Oh and did I mention the weather in Madrid?

Describe your International MBA experience
It was an amazing experience but it sure went by fast. Obviously I got a lot of the knowledge I was seeking coming in as an Engineer looking to get the bigger picture on things. But that is obviously not the only reason I decided to get an MBA.

Tell me about “Jogabo” the company you founded
Jogabo is the social and easy way to play soccer. Our aim is to make amateur soccer “bonito” by connecting soccer enthusiasts, facilitating the organization of games and adding a social layer of fun and competitiveness to the beautiful game. If you look at how people get their games organised or how they go about looking for playing opportunities it is quite astounding and archaic. It is a painful and inefficient process that requires using multiple disconnected tools and usually leads to many people actually not playing, which to me is the biggest concern. At any given time and location, there are many games being organized and many players potentially looking for other players. Unfortunately, they are just not aware of each other’s interest, and are not connected in any way. When you think about all the tools that are out there, be it smartphones, facebook, twitter, location aware devices (you name it), this shouldn’t happen! What we are doing is building a location aware web application for the soccer community that allows users to organize games, share their plans and discover opportunities to play in their area. Organizers can create games, invite players and get simple tools to manage their event. Players can follow games their friends are planning, as well as games that match their location and interests thereby helping them discover playing opportunities they would ordinarily be unaware of.

How did the program help you found your company?
We are a lean startup and are bootstrapping the company for now. This is obviously not what Business School prepares you for. However, the program has helped me prepare for steps we will take in the near future once we start looking for funding and we start hiring people. It is good to know that I am well equipped to tackle the future because it gives me the confidence I need to be able to just concentrate on “now”. And in startups, it is all about what is the most important thing that we need work on RIGHT NOW!

What is the next step for “Jogabo”?
The next step for us is to launch the site in closed beta, which is what we are working on non stop to make our deadline. I am actually in the US right now so that I can work closer to my technical co-founder. You know how the story starts right? “Two guys, in a garage…” so I guess we are trying to improve our odds a little bit that way.

What do you recommend to people starting the IMBA?

I have two main recommendations for new intakes. First of all, get involved in extra curricular activities through the Clubs and take a leadership role if you can. It really enhances yourwhole experience. For me it was the Football Club (obviously) and my MBA experience would not have been the same without it. It was a lot of work in addition to the existingcourse workload: organising the internal league, the 11-a-side team, the teams tournament travels to Paris, Barcelona and Los Angeles and starting the IE GreenLaces Cup. Looking back through, it was a hell of an experience with many opportunities to bond with some of my peers outside of my section. Secondly, take advantage of every minute of your MBA because it goes by fast and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Work hard but don’t forget to play hard.

Students at IE Business School that are interested in Entrepreneurship can also join the Entrepreneurship Club or participate in Venture Lab where students have the possibility to develop a business idea and make it real.