Courtesy
of IE
Instituto de Empresa,
Madrid. |
The last
20 years have seen dramatic changes in the Spanish
corporate landscape, as deregulation of the domestic
market, privatization, and the effects of globalization
spawned a pressing need for Spanish firms to acquire
new managerial savvy and technical know-how. And
they have been surprisingly successful. Companies
like Telefónica, oil-giant Repsol YPF and
Spanish construction company Ferrovial have become
global leaders in their sector. Not bad for a country
that is hardly 2% of global GDP.
Without
a doubt, Spanish business schools have played a
pivotal role in this rise and rise of Spanish multinationals.
Spain is home to three major international business
schools including Madrid-based IE Business School.
Consistently
ranked one of the top five European business schools
and among the best in the world, IE embodies the
changing face of Spain over the last 30 years. Founded
by entrepreneurs in 1973 and located in the heart
of the city’s financial district, the school
is a powerhouse of innovation, diversity and entrepreneurial
activity.
While Spanish
multinationals were rapidly establishing their presence
worldwide in the early 90’s, Madrid was becoming
an increasingly popular choice among foreign multinationals
as their European headquarters. Today, 15% of Madrid’s
population is foreign. Like the city where it is
based, the school has embraced globalization in
a big way, culminating in one of the most culturally
diverse environments in the field of management
education. IE has over 60 nationalities on campus,
undertaking programs from the school’s portfolio
of MBAs, specialized master’s degrees, corporate
law and tax programs, and executive education courses.
They are joined by international researchers on
the school’s PhD in Management and DBA programs.
48% of IE’s faculty is foreign, and the school
boasts an alumni network that extends over 85 countries.
In keeping
with Spain’s recent explosion of creative energy
that has placed companies like ZARA, Freixenet and
Chupa Chups in streets and homes around the world,
IE is a pioneer in the field of business education.
The school was the first in Europe to launch an
online/on-site Executive MBA and the first in the
world to offer a blended program, the IE Global
MBA, which integrates participants into the school’s
virtual business communities and networks worldwide.
Entrepreneurial
Spirit
Spain’s entrepreneurial vein runs deep at IE
where business creation is an embedded value that
the school sees as an engine for growth, value generation,
employment and social well-being. As part of the
core curriculum of all IE MBA programs, all students
develop business plans. 25 percent of these plans
are developed into successful ventures.
Projects
like ICEVED (International Center for Entrepreneurship
and Ventures Development), a support platform offering
a direct line of communication among business schools,
investors and entrepreneurs is just one of the many
projects that evidence the school’s commitment
to the creation of new businesses. Another example
is the NETI Project a joint venture between IE Business
School and telecommunications group AMENA to promote
the creation of technology-based businesses.
Since its
launch in the year 2000, NETI has received over
800 business projects and over 5 million Euros from
private investors. This year, the project has incorporated
a new Business Angels School, providing training
for private investors in the area of finance for
start-ups and business plan analyses. Moreover,
the recently launched IE Venture Lab (V-lab) with
tracks in Social, Corporate, and Family Venturing
supports students’ business projects with privileged
access to a pool for start-ups, and helps them turn
business ideas into live projects.
Little
wonder that entrepreneurial prowess abounds among
IE students. This year a team of students from the
school’s International MBA program won first
prize in "Cerebration 2006", the international
business plan competition organized by the National
University of Singapore (NUS) and IE students obtained
the first and second prizes in the 2005 and 2006
editions of the "Innovation Challenge"
organized by Thunderbird in Arizona.
Global
Outreach
As Spanish corporations rapidly established themselves
in major global markets, Madrid’s historical
and cultural ties with diverse world regions coupled
with its strategic location have made the city a
gateway to the international business arena.
It was
against this backdrop that IE underwent an intensive
globalization process that has culminated in a truly
international approach to learning.
For many
IE students, the first point of contact is one of
the school’s numerous international offices
in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the US. Participants
in the school’s MBA programs have the opportunity
to go on exchange to one of the 40+ partner schools
worldwide. They can also opt to do a dual degree
at either the Fletcher School at Tufts University
or the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics,
while law students can sign-up for an Executive
LLM offered in collaboration with Northwestern Law
School. Recent alliances have brought the Global
Senior Management Program, in collaboration with
Chicago Business School, an agreement with Babson
College to run joint executive education programs
in the field of entrepreneurship, and the Global
Consultancy Program in collaboration with the Wharton
School. The school was also a driving force behind
the creation in 2001 of the Sumaq Alliance, a joint
executive education project on an unprecedented
geographic scale. The Alliance comprises 8 leading
schools from the Spanish/Portuguese-speaking world
and is designed to meet the increasingly global
needs of multinational firms that require transnational
executive education solutions.
Business
schools like IE are helping put Spain on the map,
serving as catalysts for innovation and entrepreneurship
on both a local and global scale. As 35,000 IE graduates
working in 85 countries take these values to new
levels and places, Spanish firms continue to leave
their mark in major international markets. And it’s
a mark that’s getting bigger all the time.
Contributed
by Maria Eugenia Marin and Gillian Hopkin
|
Spain 
