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Less than a week after Spain’s credit rating downgrade, the participants of the ESADE-Georgetown Global Executive MBA arrived in Madrid this afternoon to undertake the next phase of the round-the-world programme set to give them firsthand experience of the economic crisis and recovery as well as an MBA.

In this, the fifth module on the GEMBA programme, entitled Entrepreneurship and Advanced Economies, the twenty-nine participants of this unique programme will attend classes, CEO forums and company visits in Madrid and Moscow. The classes, taught by professors from Georgetown and ESADE, will give them a deeper insight into the world economy, help them to be more entre/intraprenerial, develop their cross-cultural leadership skills, in addition to introducing them to a comparative institutional analysis of the politics of international finance.

Aside from time in the classroom, during their time in Madrid, the participants, who live and work all over the world, will be received by T.R.H. the Crown Prince and Princess of Spain, enjoy a lunch with former EU High Representative, Javier Solana and talks by the sub-governor of the Bank of Spain and CEO’s form Santander, Union Fenosa and Telefonica. The module will then continue next week in Moscow where they will visit Russian companies such as Zhostovo, SIA International and Zvezda.

Yesterday, however the module got off to a relaxed start with an evening tour of the old city of Madrid and a welcome meal at a traditional restaurant, one of the several cultural activities interwoven with a week-and-a-half’s hard study. Nevertheless, with an average age of 45 and as business leaders in many different sectors, participants are used to making the most of opportunities.

About the GEMBA Programme

Launched in 2008, the ESADE – Georgetown Global Executive MBA programme is a joint programme run by three schools: Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, their Walsh School of Foreign Service and ESADE Business School. This 16 month modular based MBA takes participants to Bangalore, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Sao Paulo and Washington DC. The group of 29 participants represents some 13 different nationalities. For more information see http://www.globalexecmba.com

Addressing some 500 participants from the ESADE MBA classes of 2010 and 2011, of 46 nationalities, ESADE Professor Javier Solana, asked them to not only to concentrate on their careers, but focus also on the globalised world in which we live. “Geopolitics will be very important for your future life” he stated.

In his first address as professor of ESADE, Javier Solana touched upon some of the issues that are changing the geopolitical landscape. Firstly he highlighted the transfers of power between countries and within countries post financial crisis, pointing out the changing roles of non-state actors, as well as the shift caused by population growth and the transfer of GDP, from West to East. Also on population changes, he highlighted, “By 2020, half of the population of Africa will be under the age of 18 years of age. This has massive implications for all of us. We all need to be aware of it.”

“The world of today is a multipolar world without sufficient multilateralism—and this is very difficult to handle” Prof. Solana said. He went on to explain that Europe has a long history of multipolarity dealt with by war, rather than multilateralism. He continued that the creation of the EU was a positive consequence of this, but that now we must build a structure of governance that will protect peace throughout the world.

Prof. Solana called for global solutions to global problems, a profound change in mindset and the involvement of all new countries in world governance. “The G7 and G8 are obsolete, it is important to change the structure of governance to better reflect reality.” He noted that the institutions created post-war, particularly the IMF, World Bank and the WTO must be transformed. “Brazil, China, India, etc must be incorporated” he said, “it makes no sense, for example, for Belgium to have the same number of votes in the IMF, as China.”

Focusing on the key challenges for the future Prof. Solana first discussed poverty.  “It is true that globalization has produced many benefits for many people.” he stated, “in China, a vast number of people, more than the entire population of the US have risen out of poverty in the past three decades, large parts of the country still lives below the breadline … Do not forget that poverty is not only unacceptable, but will become a source of instability for everyone in the future: we need to solve the issue.” He advised.

The second fundamental problem Prof. Solana highlighted is the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 20% uranium enrichment program will cause difficult consequences for the region and the world” he noted. The other major issue he pointed out was climate change. “This is a real and extreme problem” he began, “we have to organize the world in such a manner that every country is willing to do its part to cut CO_2, it is not enough for a few to try… we must see how we can solve this problem today, not tomorrow. It will only get worse. We mustn’t stifle China’s and India’s development with these measures, but we must cut CO₂ emissions.” He called for “Responsible Sovereignty” noting that states cannot just do what they want in this arena.

Following Prof. Solana’s address, Dean of ESADE Business School, Alfons Sauquet opened the floor to questions. An MBA participant from Nigeria got the ball rolling by asking about Prof. Solana’s views on terrorism. “It is an important challenge we must all be aware of” Prof. Solana responded, “Terrorism is never acceptable. We must combat terrorism and also look into the reasons that make someone becomes a terrorist.”

Other questions focused on Chavez, the current situation in Israel and Palestine, the future of developmental aid, the role of the IMF, the accession of Turkey to the EU and the role of China in the coming decades, among others.

Concluding Prof. Solana said “Carry these ideas close to your minds and hearts. It is people like you and institutions like ESADE who can make a difference, we are global citizens, we must engage and commit to the problems of the world at large. There are many, but there are also many solutions. I hope you will be part of these solutions.”

For the second year running, prestigious Latin American business magazine, Ámerica Economía has ranked ESADE Business School number ten in the world for Executive Education in Latin America. ESADE is one of only three schools founded outside of the region to make the top ten.

ESADE has shown a firm commitment to the region, with the opening of their campus in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2004 and the setting up of a Global Center in São Paulo, Brazil earlier this year. ESADE Buenos Aires offers a range of executive education programmes, encompassing both open and in-company.

In this latest evaluation ESADE is ranked number one in terms of clients. This criteria particularly considers the size and importance of schools’ Latin American clients and the loyalty of these clients. At a time when competition in executive education is fierce, this result highlights the quality of ESADE’s programmes.

Corporate Universities also form an important part of ESADE’s presence in Latin America. The school, whose clients include Telefónica, Santander and Repsol YPF works closely with these companies to design programmes which are perfectly integrated into their strategy and are taught around the world, particularly in Latin America. ESADE hosts an annual conference on Corporate Universities and is one of the few business schools to have fully embraced this change in direction in executive education.

“In open and custom programmes we work hard to meet clients’ expectations, designing courses that fit their needs and are flexible enough to adapt to new realities as they emerge.” Comments Alejandro Bernhardt, Director of ESADE’s Buenos Aires campus. ESADE’s new range of month-long programmes, “Executive Education for Times of Crisis” is an example of this. Participants choose whether to focus on Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources or Creativity and Innovation.

Other programmes offered by ESADE in Latin America include ESADE’s well reputed Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) program, run in conjunction with Georgetown University, which holds one of its six two-week modules in Argentina and Brazil and ESADE’s Advanced Management Programme offered in Buenos Aires, Campinas, Curitiba and Montevideo. ESADE also boasts an impressive international network and has alumni chapters in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela.

For more information on the new ranking see www.americaeconomia.com

In an initiative that adapts the idea of Speed Dating to a business school environment, an event held at ESADE Business School today is bringing students from ESADE’s popular MBA programme in direct contact with scientists and their innovative ideas.

Similar to traditional Speed Dating, both parties will have a short period of time in which to get to know each other and consider the possibility of a future relationship. Both the MBA students and the scientists stand to benefit: Many ESADE MBA’s are looking for innovative ideas to form the basis of entrepreneurial activities, while the scientists and inventors are looking for dynamic business people to help them commercialise their ideas.

Prior to the event, the students were supplied with information on each of the scientists’ projects through the ESADE MBA net, giving them a chance to consider who they are most keen on making contact with. Once the contacts have been made through the Innovation Speed Dating event, it will be up to the students and the scientists to decide whether they want to take their relationship to the next stage.

For the MBA’s taking the entrepreneurship elective, which includes the design of a business plan, the event will be invaluable, particularly since a new requirement introduced this year means that all the business plans must be focused on an innovative idea.

Innovation is one of ESADE’s key areas of expertise and the school has been working on a number of initiatives to ensure that new ways of thinking and working are woven through their courses. This year the ESADE MBA introduced three new elective courses on innovation (Applying Creative Thinking to Generate Novel Solutions, Managing Innovation and Strategic Innovation) and ESADE students are increasingly encouraged to take part in initiatives in this area.

Beyond the MBA programme, next week ESADE will inaugurate their Open and Cross Innovation centre, ESADECreapolis, (see here for more information) housing the innovation cells of over 50 companies in a state-of-the art, Googlesque building on the school’s new campus in the Barcelona suburb of San Cugat. Also last June, in partnership with The Art Center, College of Design in Pasadena, California, the school offered an executive education programme on Design Thinking, “Beyond Pretty” and the two schools continue to work together to integrate innovation into other programmes.