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ESADE Moves up 3 places in the Economist MBA Ranking

Consolidating its place in the top 20, ESADE’s MBA has been ranked 17^th in the world and 5^th in Europe by the Economist today. Based on information given by the school and on alumni surveys, the ranking analyses different aspects of the MBA programme such as career progression, educational experience (faculty, diversity, peer group, etc), potential to network and salary increase. ESADE was ranked in the top ten for jobs found through the careers service, student diversity and increase in salary.

The school starts working on MBA students’ career development paths from their very first day on campus, with much of the MBA induction week involving giving students the tools to decide where they want to be post MBA and help them get there. Twice a year ESADE holds on-campus career fairs, such as the MBA Career Forum to be held later this month where companies a diverse array of sectors come searching for ESADE’s top MBA talent.

ESADE has also been looking at new ways to get the best career opportunities for students, working closely with them, not just on an individual basis, but with the student clubs and other initiatives. One such initiative is the student-organised Innovation Summit, where companies will challenge MBA’s to brainstorm and ideate solutions for their real-life business issues, as well as presenting some of the biggest issues around innovation in their sectors.

ESADE’s flexible 12, 15 or 18-month full-time MBA draws participants from 56 different countries, 81% of whom are from outside of Spain, who together speak 20 different languages and have an average of 5.6 years of work experience. The school has seen an increase in applications since the launch of the new format two years ago, in part due to the attractiveness of flexible format in uncertain times.

Gloria Batllori, Executive Director of the ESADE MBA said, “We are delighted to have moved up the Economist ranking again this year, it reflects some of the hard work of the team in meeting the needs of participants and recruiters, in addition to our highly proactive approach to career services.”

You can find the full ranking information here: http://www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking

The school is rated as 7^th in Europe, 20^th worldwide

The Economist’s 9th MBA ranking, published today, analyses different aspects of the MBA programme such as career progression, educational experience (faculty, diversity, peer group, etc), potential to network and salary increase. With this latest ranking ESADE is now rated as a worldwide top twenty business school in all the intentional ranking published on the sector. In the Economist ranking the school was particularly recognized for its excellent work in career services over recent years.

In terms of opening new career opportunities, ESADE was rated the number two school in Europe thanks to its highly proactive approach. The school starts working on MBA students’ career development paths from their very first day on campus, with much of the MBA induction week involving giving students the tools to decide where they want to be post MBA and help them get there.

“ESADE graduates tend to work in a wide variety of sectors post-MBA, this diversified recruiter base has meant that we haven’t seen the huge drop in graduates placed three months after graduation that some more  finance-focused schools have experienced” said Dee Clarke, Director of MBA Career Services. “At ESADE we have also been looking at new ways to get the best career opportunities for students, part of this working more closely with them, not just on an individual basis, but with the student clubs and other initiatives. Our careers office is not a stand-alone service, but part of the network of opportunities within the MBA.”

ESADE’s flexible 12, 15 or 18-month full-time MBA draws participants from 45 different countries, 81% of whom are from outside of Spain, who together speak 20 different languages and have an average of 5.6 years of work experience. The school has seen an increase in applications since the launch of the new format last September, in part due to the attractiveness of flexible format in uncertain times. This year’s students, who started at ESADE this month, will not have to decide on the length of their programme until March 2011.

Dee notes, “MBAs are designed to invite participants to see situations from different perspectives and at ESADE we encourage this transformation process. It makes sense then for the structure of the programme to support this and allow students to take time out to think about where they really want to be and then decide whether it is best for them to do an internship, go on international exchange or get back to the workplace as soon as they can.”

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.”

ESADE MBA’s hold expert panel on the future of mobile technology

The increasingly complex world of mobile technology has been steadily moving away from a way to simply make a phone call when you’re way from home towards a web 2.0 platform with an infinite number of applications and functions. This convergence has lead business of many different types becoming key players in the sector, making it one of the most difficult to get to grips with.

ESADE MBA students keen to take advantage of telecoms experts visiting Barcelona for the Mobile World conference took the initiative to organize a panel on the future of mobile technology with four experts in different fields of mobile technology. Gordon Rawling, Senior Director Regional Marketing at Oracle, an infrastructure provider to the mobile industry; Branden Claisse, Director of Business Development and Media Sales at Mojiva, Inc. a mobile media network for advertisers and publishers; Hassan Kabbani, CEO at Mobinil, an Egyptian mobile operator; and Hamilton Sekino, Partner at Nauta Capital, an investor in wireless space entrepreneurs, made up the panel. With each of the guests representing a different area of mobile technology and a different country, it made for an interesting overview of the sector.

Moderated by ESADE professor Jonathan Wareham, the informal panel got straight on to grappling with the somewhat illusive future of mobile technology. Each of the panelists agreed that there is a great need to develop new business models, particularly so that as Rawling put it “money goes to actual service providers, not over-the-top providers.” Kabbani further developed this advocating a need to “protect the ecosystem and get money to all those contributing to the value chain, making investment in infrastructure worthwhile for the operators, thus ensuring the service is available for all.”

This is particularly important when it comes to the issue of guaranteeing that there is sufficient bandwidth to support the increase in users and usage. As Rawling asked, “Why would an operator invest money into infrastructure which other companies will get revenue from?” Nevertheless while the sector mulls over a solution for this, as Sekino noted there are a number of cost-efficient ways operators can make their services more agile: 1) Operators can work to have handsets to automatically offload to Wifi networks where available, 2) they can create a system of prioritization based a) on user value or b) the type of application used. Where these are dynamic and able to adapt to changes in use, they may help operators meet users’ needs for the time being however, investment in infrastructure and innovation will still be needed.

In any event, he panelists highlighted that innovation is essential to move forward in many ways, such as driving down cost, making the most of revenue models and well as developing new uses. Kabbani noted we can no longer talk about a geographical concentration of innovation since interesting technology and ideas are being developed in emerging markets where people are less hindered by expectations and face different realities. As an example of this, Sekino cited M-PESA a mobile payment system launched by Vodafone and Safaricom in Kenya, which changed the lives of many Kenyans who could not afford bank accounts, and has since been rolled out in a number of other countries. Kabbani highlighted that a similar thing has happened in Egypt where despite only 10% of the population holding a bank account, there are already around 60 million credit and credit transfer operations via mobile per month.

The panelists agreed that future volume will come from emerging markets but that for this to work local approaches are required. Clays highlighted that advertising systems like his with global reach but a hyper-local approach will be able to harness the potential of the different markets. While Rawling called for companies to look at what they are trying to sell and where they are trying to sell it, “use the world as a laboratory to find out what people want” he suggested. Services too, need to adapt to the realities of different markets, as Kabbani pointed out, Egyptian customers do not take kindly to discovering their new phone is fully equipped with maps of Europe but offers none of their home country.

In terms of applications and devices, the panel underscored that the proliferation of the I-Phone and Android make it easier for developers to work on aps to meet the many different needs of consumers around the world. As an example of a new use for mobile technology, Sekino discussed the sales force automation technology used by Avon in Brazil to enable their sales girls to place orders, check inventory, etc. via simple mobile devices that each rep can easily afford and in most cases already has. “Mobile technology is really changing people’s lives for the better” he stated. Another example of this is its potential application in healthcare, where technology is being developed enable a Smartphone to read a user’s pulse and blood pressure and send the results straight through to their doctor. Along these lines, Kabbani underscored the need to keep developing services on a local level to keep creating value and make it available to all.

As far as devices themselves are concerned, perhaps unsurprisingly, no-one on the panel wished to speculate on what they might look like in five years time. Rawling noted that we are likely to see a change in the way we interact with devices, they will soon know where we are and be able to offer us value-added services based on this information, he suggested. While Kabbani noted that we are likely to see a proliferation in the different types of devices which connected to mobile networks. He cited the example of a 3G enabled picture frame to which a loving son, for example, could send a picture taken on his phone directly to his mother’s mantle piece.

Organized by ESADE MBA students through the Technology, Entrepreneurship, Media and Marketing clubs, the event is an example of excellent participant initiative to attempt to better understand a sector so changeable that it is hard to get a grasp on from the classroom.  “What could be called a ‘semi formal jam session on mobile computing’ was a great success” said Professor Wareham, “We look forward to supporting similar events on campus in the future.”

ESADE Business School is the best place in Europe to study Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility within the MBA, according to the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking Published this week. The school was ranked number 5 in the world for Marketing, number 7 for corporate Social Responsibility and number 19 worldwide. As a top twenty school, ESADE is positioned among other leading Asian, American and European business schools.

Committed to Corporate Social Responsibility since its foundation over 50 years ago, ESADE boosts an extremely active Social Innovation Institute that organises some twenty focused events throughout the year and involves a large number of the school’s professors. CSR themes are woven through many of the core MBA courses and students can choose to broach them further through elective courses. In Marketing, MBA students follow two core courses and have 11 electives related to marketing to choose from. ESADE has a large Marketing Management Department as well as a Brand Centre which aside from producing research, organises the annual Brand Centre Awards for new innovative brands in Spain.

The ranking also places the ESADE MBA in second place overall in Career Progress, which measures participants’ evolution in professional status other the 3 years following graduation. “Our training in soft skills is key reason our graduates do so well in this part of the ranking” states Gloria Batllori, Director of ESADE’s MBA, “We focus on ensuring our MBA’s know how to manage complexity and are able to rise to the challenge of a changing environment. They are used to working in international teams, discovering the strength of each person and coming up with strategies to make the most of them. Recruiters often remark on the fact that ESADE MBA’s are used to a collegiate environment, not ‘every man for himself’ approach adopted by other schools. This means that our graduates often progress quicker up the ranks of the companies they join, since they act in the best interests of the company.”

With 87% of this year’s ESADE MBA class is from outside of Spain a fact reflected in the school’s rank in terms of international mobility post MBA (7^th worldwide). Hailing from some 47 countries and having fulfilled the school’s “Global Mindset” admission requirement (generally implying that they have had significant exposure to cultures other than their own) participants arrive in Barcelona with a pretty good idea of what life outside their own country is like. “In the one or two years they are with us at ESADE these ideas are contrasted, honed and applied to business through contact with their international cohort and professors as well as exchanges, study trips and summer internships” explains Batllori, “by the time they graduate most are keen to put their international management skills to the best practice, even if this means moving to a new country.”

If you would like to see the full ranking click here

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.