The global economy will grow 3.5 percent in 2015. And Economic conditions in the Eurozone will also improve this year thanks to a push from countries on the periphery. In the meantime, Spain, which has overcome the worst of the crisis, is expected to enjoy growth at around 2.5 percent.

These were some of the issues analyzed by IESE economics professors Juan José Toribio, Javier Díaz-Giménez and Rolf Campos in a continuous education session organized by the Alumni Association.

The decrease in oil prices and the fall of the euro against the dollar have been key factors in the world economy in recent months. Brazil, Russia and the U.S. have lost growth momentum, while the countries of the Eurozone have improved forecasts for this year.

The latest IMF World Economic Outlook Update predicts a rebound in the four large euro-based economies: Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Spain will lead this growth, at 2.5 percent.

In spite of this context of cautious optimism, a crucial question remains unanswered: What about Greece?

Greece: To Stay or Not To Stay?

“We should forgive Greece’s debt. We can’t force a democratic country to make reforms against its will,” insisted Díaz-Giménez. “Greece isn’t solely responsible for the desperate situation it finds itself in. Lenders made serious miscalculations when they issued credit,” he explained.

Díaz-Giménez argued that a possible Greek exit from the euro would be bad not only for the Greek economy, but for the entire Eurozone.

“It would call into question the viability of the single currency,” he said, causing a “domino effect.” Díaz-Giménez sees the cost of the bailout for Greece as “intolerable.”

“The bailout has devastated the country and Europe should not allow this to happen. Greece’s debt won't be paid. The debt needs to be either reduced or pooled.”

Arguing from the opposite end of the spectrum was Professor Juan José Toribio, who said that Alexis Tsipras’s government should meet Greece’s commitment to pay back the 260 billion euros that it borrowed.

Greece had reduced its debt by 6% in recent years, he said, thanks to “the wisdom of the troika” and the efforts of the previous regime. Things have changed since Syriza’s win, he added. “Greece has to recognize that for a long time, its public sector spent a lot more money than it generated. Debts have to be paid.”

Rolf Campos pointed out that the root of the Greek drama is the country’s insolvency. “Greece is bankrupt. Europe has turned a solvency problem into a liquidity problem," he said. And this, despite the country’s 175 billion euro default in 2012 – the largest in world history.

Spain’s Projected Recovery

All three experts agreed that the Spanish economy has improved substantially in the last year, although they each expressed some reservations.

Díaz-Giménez noted that Spain owes its growth to external factors, like dropping petroleum prices and interest rates and increasing tourism due to instability in northern Africa. He also cited the most recent Survey of Economically Active People (EPA), which reveals that there are 5,444,600 people still unemployed in Spain. Lamenting Spain’s on-going difficulty in “creating high-quality employment,” he also warned of an “accumulated debt and an enormous public deficit” – already standing at 97.7 percent. “The key is normalizing the Spanish labor market,” he asserted.

Juan José Toribio recognized that Spain doesn’t have “lot of room” for further reforms; reforms, he said, that have either already been made, or which “depend on Europe.”

At the same time, he listed a series of factors that could affect the national economy in the coming months. Among these were monetary distortions, elections, public debt accumulation – and the future of Greece.

In Africa, copy/paste strategies don’t work. This was a message that IESE strategy professor Africa Ariño heard time and again during a recent research sabbatical to sub-Saharan Africa. For companies wishing to expand their operations across the continent, quantitative data and statistical analyses are meaningless unless they go hand-in-hand with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the non-traditional factors that make growing a business there possible.

Writing in the latest issue of IESE Insight, Ariño shares the collective insights of the African business leaders whom she interviewed face to face, shedding light on the do’s and don’ts of internationalizing in Africa.

Mind the Gap

"The business leaders I interviewed understood that many of the challenges they faced boiled down to one thing: distance," says Ariño, explaining that distance must be understood in Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic terms, in line with IESE colleague Pankaj Ghemawat’s CAGE distance framework.

So, rather than starting with the country next door, companies need to realize that the best market opportunities for their business sector may lie in less obvious places. Compatible legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks often count for far more than superficial similarities like speaking the same language.

For Nigeria’s Access Bank, the decision to enter Rwanda, for example, was largely due to the relative ease of obtaining licenses to operate there, even though entering another Anglophone country like Ghana might seem to make more sense than a Francophone one.

The "Toothpick Test"

Such counterintuitive moves only happen when business leaders learn to get away from the spreadsheet. Mitchell Elegbe, founder and CEO of Interswitch, related how he had hired consultants to compile a matrix to inform the company about preferred countries for expansion. But he found such a matrix can only provide a guide, adding that he preferred to go to each country himself to look for alternative indicators of business drivers and affluence that could foretell consumer spending – what he calls the "toothpick test."

Because good meat is relatively scarce in the diets of a certain segment of the population, those who can afford it use several toothpicks after dinner. "People use toothpicks as a way to show off," Elegbe observed. "Toothpick counts" per capita will not show up in any of the usual economic indicators, but it illustrates the need to get a feel of what’s going on in each country apart from official reports.

In Africa, this hands-on approach seems to yield far richer clues to make informed internationalization strategies, writes Ariño.

Focus on Social Impact

Besides developing a fuller appreciation of local factors – such as the strength of the informal economy – Ariño was greatly encouraged by how much the business leaders she interviewed made "social impact" and "social responsibility" core features of their business ethos.

As one African colleague told Ariño, "In the Western world, they say, ‘I am because I think.’ In Asia, they say, ‘I am because I become.’ In Africa, we say, ‘I am because you are.’ "

This focus on something beyond the self and beyond immediate gain translates into business strategies designed to benefit all parties. In addition to profit, success is defined in terms of job creation, community development, giving back to society and sustainability for tomorrow.

"Africa is full of surprises," says Ariño, "if aspiring business leaders would learn to look beyond the obvious and be prepared to grapple with complexity."

Members of the Alumni Association and subscribers to IESE Insight – a quarterly research-based magazine, published in separate English and Spanish editions – can read this and other articles using their membership credentials.

Those who are neither Alumni nor subscribers can access the premium content either by subscribing to the magazine or buying the articles.

Read the article "Strategies That Go the Distance in Africa".

You can access Africa Ariño regularly blogs on African business issues here.

Europe’s first MBA program was founded at IESE in 1964 by a group of visionary professors. To mark its 50th anniversary, IESE held a celebration on the Madrid campus. In the words of IESE dean Jordi Canals, "The launching of the MBA was the beginning of an incredible adventure."

The pillars of the program are the same now as they were half a century ago: to train executives so that they can exercise a positive influence on the world around them and make good decisions in a global environment. "We are building the future of IESE on these pillars, which were put in place 50 years ago," Canals added.

A Legacy of Values

The program has transformed the lives of more than 10,000 alumni, a group of whom shared their experiences during the celebration. They said that the school’s legacy is a set of values that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Antonio González-Adalid (MBA ‘75 and CEO of Cartera Industrial Rea) recognized IESE’s "transformational impact" on him. A naval engineer, González-Adalid arrived at the MBA with little interest in the business world. But that changed after a few months when he realized that "in business, not everything is about making a profit. We’re here because there’s something more: a higher purpose, a desire to serve."

Fuenciscla Clemares (MBA ‘00 and Google executive) and Baldomero Falcones (MBA ‘72 and president of Fomento y Expansión Empresarial SCR) agreed. Both noted that their time at IESE helped them approach problems flexibly, from a variety of perspectives. They said that the MBA experience teaches that there are other possible approaches and solutions that you hadn’t even thought of.

Tomás García Madrid (MBA ‘88 and CEO of Grupo Villar Mir) and Alejandro Beltrán (MBA ‘98 and McKinsey executive) highlighted the importance of human values and ethics in the business world. Both stressed the importance of integrity and trust. These attributes, they said, help a person to know him or herself better and to learn to distinguish the essential from the non-essential.

María del Pino Velázquez (MBA ‘91 and CEO of Unisono) learned at IESE that "you should surround yourself with the best and the brightest and listen to them before making a decision."

"IESE teaches its students about dialog. This is the key: establishing a dialog that enables us to develop a vibrant, healthy and critical conscience," said Professor José Antonio Segarra. "Now more than ever, companies need men and women that are both fair and competent."

Professor Canals concluded the event by saying that the MBA was "a program of the highest quality that aspires to have an impact on the lives of people around the world. And this same aspiration was at the base of its foundation 50 years ago."

Is your "inner instructor" holding you back?

This was the question posed by best-selling author and coaching expert, Tim Gallwey, at IESE last week. Gallwey was special guest at a continuous education session for alumni, hosted by Professor Alberto Ribera. The session was focused on how to drive performance and productivity, drawing on ideas from Gallwey’s book, The Inner Game of Work. Published in 2009, the book sets out a number of coaching methods that have been adopted by Apple and IBM, among others, in their development programs.

Who’s in Charge Anyway?

Gallwey posed a series of questions about how we make decisions and take actions.

"Who is the ‘manager’ in your mind? And what is the relationship between your manager and the managed? Who is taking orders from whom?" he asked.

He drew attention to the phenomenon of self-interference: the dialog between our "inner instructor" and our "inner doer." According to Gallwey, when we listen to our critical and judgmental inner instructor we reduce our potential to perform. If we cannot do as this instructor asks, it provokes a downward spiral of self-criticism that creates a negative effect on our performance. He used a tennis analogy about ‘over-thinking’ physical movements to illustrate this point.

In a business environment, Gallwey likened this dialog to the process of a salesperson trying to make a sale without allowing the buyer enough space or time to express his or her needs. This may be the way the salesperson’s inner instructor thinks is best, and the buyer may allow the salesperson to "control" the conversation, he said; but the likelihood of a sale is "very low."

"In this case, your know-it-all inner instructor has interfered with performance."

Culture Versus Strategy

The audience was then asked to think about how a five year-old approaches washing a car. It’s fun – but if the child is paid 50 cents, fun becomes work. The enjoyment is modified by the expectation that the car will be cleaned to a parent’s satisfaction and standards. In other works, culture has taken over what was an enjoyable game.

"No matter how great your company’s strategy is, culture can get in the way of optimum performance," said Gallwey. There are three types of conversation that companies need to negotiate: background (cultural conversations), government (corporate conversations) and immediate (external conversations).

How can companies learn to tune into the right conversation? He recommended his STOP Tool (Step Back, Think, Organize Your Thoughts and Proceed) to regain focus on what is really important.

How Do We Really Learn?

Gallwey shared the example of someone he had coached – an overly aggressive manager called Joe. During their sessions, said Gallwey, he attempted to focus Joe’s attention on process, rather than results. For Joe, part of this meant observing the eye movement of his team members during meetings. Gallwey then got Joe to focus on the intonation of their voices. Without Joe receiving any more specific instructions on how to modify his own behavior, he instinctively began to do so – as a result of observing his team.

The conclusion? We don’t learn through instructions or advice. We learn through observation.

Beating the Monday Morning Blues

According to Gallwey, feeling fulfilled at work stems from the relationship between enjoyment, learning and performance. If enjoyment and learning increase, performance and productivity also increase.

As an example of how to "put a smile on the grim face of Monday morning workers," Gallwey recounted an example from his work with AT&T.

He showed operators there that they could increase the "warmth" of customers’ voices – even in calls lasting just a few seconds – just by modulating their own intonation. Learning and having a positive impact on the customers in turn had a positive impact on the operators’ enjoyment of their job. This led to an increase in performance and productivity.

Keys to a Goldmine

If CEOs can identify the obstacles that are interfering with their objectives, says Gallwey, they can unlock a "goldmine." By freeing themselves and their employees from the fear created by their inner instructors, they can give "freer rein to the potential of their inner doers. And move forward as a company."

How much has customer experience management (CEM) changed over the years?

Not as much as you might think, according to Philip Moscoso. Although there are a number of interesting new trends emerging in the way companies are meeting expectations, and building customer loyalty.

Prof. Moscoso was speaking at an event for alumni and friends hosted by the IESE this week.

"Much of what was important in the past in customer management is still important today," he said.

Customer experience management has been with us in one form or another since the 1940s. From early quality initiatives and relationship management tools to the loyalty programs of the 90s and today’s focus on experience, some concepts remain unchanged.

Though there are seven interesting new trends worth watching, he said.

Seven Trends Shaping CEM

The first trend to watch for is the use of smart customer data such as online tracking tools, said Moscoso. This is being driven by traditionally poor use of information such as recurring advertisements – these generate negative customer experience and feedback, he said.

Data is also being used to make predictions about customer behavior. Moscoso pointed to Netflix, which leverages user assessments of viewed content to provide targeted recommendations to its customers.

A third trend is omni-channeling, which is the deployment of different platforms to sell to customers. Although this comes with challenges in terms of crediting sales and making returns, said Moscoso. "If a customer buys something online but returns it to a physical store when there’s a problem, the transaction has to be fairly processed internally," he said.

We’re also seeing a trending away from contact centers and towards customer relation hubs. Moscoso gave the example of automatically generated text messages – although here he felt that more development is needed to improve the quality of communication.

A fifth trend is the mapping of customer journeys, which trace the various processes that connect the customer with the company and the product. A key piece of this, said Moscoso, is tracking emotions as well as actions.

Co-creation with the customer is another emerging trend to keep on radar, said Moscoso. This is the space where customer service becomes interactive with the customer playing a significant and proactive role in his or her own experience. Moscoso pointed to the example of car sharing, which uses mechanisms – such as punctual car rerturns – to control customer behavior.

Finally there is the trend toward fewer employees but deeper employee engagement with customers. "Here firms need to determine what is considered a good solution and what is not. Mistakes are made along the way and you have to learn from them," added Moscoso.

"All of these trends are interrelated," he said. "They can be viewed individually, but in the end they do impact each other."

The Human Touch

Making customer experience management work in practice depends on putting a solid strategic framework in place, said Moscoso. And this involves having a sound grasp of who, what, how, when and where, he said.

"You have to find out who you want as customers, and who you don’t. And then you have to find out what that target customer wants," he explained. "Beyond that, maintaining a spirit of continuous improvement within your company is also a necessary element for CEM to work."

Moscoso closed the discussion by underscoring a key concept: When CEM is delivered well it can be a powerful tool for building competitive advantage.

We still have some way to go in terms of understanding how the customer thinks, he said. And in spite of the innovations in technology and digital that are shaping advances in CEM, the human touch remains key.

"In the end, employees and their behavior towards the customer remain a very critical aspect. Just the way it’s always been."

A company is not just an economic institution. It is also a long-term project in the pursuit of excellence. And its excellence should, in part, be measured by its social contribution.

This message was shared by IESE Dean, Jordi Canals, 28^th Annual Meeting of IESE Partners in Barcelona.

With more than 130 senior executives from national and international companies in attendance, the meeting was a reflection on the social and economic challenges facing companies in the current macro-economic climate.

According to Canals, today’s complex economic landscape can be defined in terms of unemployment; a recovery that is "still not yet being felt by the majority of the population;" and by technological breakthroughs that can "improve access to education and consequently become the best remedy against unemployment and social exclusion."

Changing Dynamics in Social Contribution

Against this backdrop, the rules of the game in social contribution are changing, said Canals. New dynamics are emerging – presenting some interesting paradoxes for business. He highlighted three elements in particular:

• Profits without wealth: This is a new phenomenon in which companies bolster share prices by using profits to buy their own stock, rather than investing in long-term growth. Increased profits do not necessarily result in economic prosperity. "This paradox goes against the laws of the market," said Canals.
  
• Activist investors: The emergence of activist shareholders is also affecting the way companies operate. Activist shareholders try to influence or change the agenda of the board of directors – however their activities can be a "waste of time," said Canals. "They end up doing more harm than good."
  
• The social role of companies: According to Canals, companies need to go above and beyond their role as economic institutions, regardless of their management model.

Doing Good Versus Doing Well?

In a round table moderated by Professor Nuria Chinchilla, the presidents of three IESE partner companies – Salvador Alemany (Abertis), Luis Egido (Logista) and Jordi Mercader Miró (Miquel y Costas & Miquel) – discussed the ways businesses can balance their social mission against long-term sustainability.

Common to all was the belief that boards have a key role in enhancing the social function of organizations.

"You have to separate the concept of ‘making a company’ from the concept of ‘doing business.’ For the board, building your company is the priority," said Alemany. The company you create is built on a vision and on values. "And your company has to be very clear on where it’s going and what resources it has for getting there."

Challenges facing organizations today include increasing hyperregulation and "bureaucratization," he said – which are "molding the ways that companies function."

Meanwhile, there’s a growing tendency for boards to go beyond their supervisory role, and to proactively shape the future of the company. Mercader Miró pointed to three key factors for successful outcomes: "There should be trust among board members, awareness of the risks they are taking, and the knowledge that their work is especially crucial in times of crisis," she said.

Taking the Long View to Navigate Change

Luis Egido believes that longer-term thinking is key to negotiating times of uncertainty.

Companies need to be thinking more in terms of finding a balance between industry and financial partners to weather the storms of change, he said.

"In recent years this balance has been lost and now companies are focused more on the short term. First business and then finance."

The panelists also pointed to shifting expectations from consumers in terms of transparency and values. Citizens are increasingly demanding that companies "define their position on the issues that matter to them," said Jordi Mercader Miró. "It’s essential for companies today to take a stand on the issues that are important to society."

IESE Partners: Welcome to 15 New Sponsoring Companies

This year 15 new companies have joined a growing community of more than 200 partners. The Dean extended his welcome to Advance Medical; Electrosteel Europe; Eurofragance; Fluidra; Garrido Abogados; Germans Boada; Mirabaud; Merck Sharp & Dohme; Mobility Services Network; Ordesa; Otsuka Pharmaceutical; SCM-Schibsted; Seidor; VidaCaixa and Xerox.

Sponsoring companies are vital to IESE’s progress, he said. "Our partners are key to the development of long-term projects such as research and the incorporation of new faculty members. Their support reverberates across the entire academic community at IESE."

“You safeguard your own continuous improvement by cultivating your intellectual curiosity.”

Gonzalo Gortázar, CEO of CaixaBank, drew on his own experience to offer this advice to the 2015 graduating class of the Executive MBA at their graduation ceremony this month.

Gortázar’s advice stems from the lessons he learned during his own MBA experience twenty years ago; an experience he described as “extraordinary,” and one which he keeps alive through “constant inquiry and learning.”

“Your training and education doesn’t end with the MBA conferred on you today. I learn something new every day at the office. Intellectual curiosity is something that must be consciously cultivated.”

Management Training: Learning a New Way of Doing Things

Gortázar has been CEO of Caixabank since 2014 during which time, he says, the bank has emerged from economic uncertainty “stronger then ever.”

“We’ve gained in determination and commitment through hard work, trust and anticipating problems.”

The ability to step up to challenges is a key and valuable outcome of management training, he said.

“The most important thing you learn in your MBA is a new way of doing things; a way of facing obstacles.”

Proactiveness and a Positive Attitude

Before joining CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortázar spent 15 years at Morgan Stanley, where he led the Financial Institutions Group for Europe – an regulatory and solvency advisory unit. His experience has taught him that challenges care best overcome by a combination of “proactive attitudes, team work and the ability to contibute solutions.”

“A good professional should go above and beyond. He or she should show initiave in searching for new solutions. I encourage today’s graduates to approach problems with a proactive, positive attitude that focuses on results.”

It’s better to have a plan, he said, quoting former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner.

Inspiring People

Enthusiasm is key to involving a team in a professional project, said Gortázar. A manager should foster a sense of belonging, and encourage the development of team members’ individual talents.

“You have to inspire your team,” he said. “And this involves sharing information, offering answers, clarifying objectives, encouraging participation, being clear and direct – and recognizing your own mistakes.”

The “most dangerous pitfalls” in business are arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency, he said, citing Warren Buffet.

Arrogance has “no possible justification,” he said. While the the antidote to bureaucracy is a focus on results; and complacency can be overcome by a commitment to continuous improvement.

Speaking for himself, Gortázar has enjoyed “the ride of his career trajectory. It seems long, but it goes fast.”

“Invest in hobbies, family and friends; a good professional needs balance,” he said. And never forget the importance of humor in fostering commitment and dedication. “A little humor at work is a plus.”

Stay Close to “the Essentials”

Perseverance, determination and enthusiasm were also key elements in the address to the graduating Executive MBA class of 2015 made by IESE Dean, Jordi Canals.

“In the long term, success only comes through struggle. That’s why we should focus on essentials.”

These essentials, he said, are part of a common mission; one that he urged the new graduates to hold to: “Yours is renewing and invigorating the fantastic world of business.”

"Business people have a calling not only to do business, but to be exemplary business leaders."

Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, visited IESE’s Barcelona campus this week to present The Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection.

The document, he said, is a practical resource for business people that "expands on the concept of business as a ‘noble vocation’ – as stated by Pope Francis in Davos in 2014 – to meet the needs of the world with goods that are truly good; and services which truly serve."

Cardinal Turkson was speaking at the 4^th International Colloquium on Christian Humanism in Economics and Business, which was moderated by IESE Professor of Business Ethics, Domènec Melé. Joining him were José Maria Simone, president of International Christian Union of Business Executives (UNIAPAC) and Luis H. de Larramendi, president of Acción Social Empresarial (Social Action in Business).

Time to Think, Reflect and Plan

Rather than present a "minimalist or negative set of guidelines," the goal of The Vocation of the Business Leader, is to "help build a model for action," said Larramendi.

"This document is not intended to admonish business people or to stigmatize efficiency. Nor is it a set of formulas to remove each and every doubt. It is a guide to help Christian business people improve themselves and to help make the world a better place."

The financial crisis of recent years has increased the pressure on business leaders to seek profitability, he said. Meanwhile, the increasing speed of information sharing and communication has had a "negative impact" in reducing the time available to think, reflect and plan.

"There is a need to combine the logic of the market with the logic of the gift. The gifts of talent, education and support that business leaders have been given by God should be seen as gifts to be shared, not as private goods," added Cardinal Turkson.

He went on to talk about the "divided self" – a tendency to compartmentalize and separate attitudes and behaviors from values or personal faith.

"Faith is not like spreading marmalade on toast – something to be added or removed to suit your taste," said Cardinal Turkson. "It should be an integral part of life."

"In this way business people overcome cynicism and fear arising from a divided self through faith; aiming to overcome obstacles and bring hope and light."

Redefining "Success"

The Vocation of the Business Leader also seeks to expand the definition of success beyond monetary terms and encompass concepts such as "human dignity and the common good above those of private gain," said José Maria Simone.

"We business people have excellent methods to measure the monetary value of work, but we do not yet have ways to fully measure all its benefits. Take the example of a worker who is fulfilled by his job – what is that worth?" he asked.

"One of the jobs of a business leader is to create jobs for others and to give those workers to opportunity to grow," Simone said. "The best way to create added value is to see people not as means but as ends in themselves."

Responding to the question of how business profits should be shared, Simone added: "Profits are vital, but how should they be used? All stakeholders in a business should be beneficiaries: owners, workers, shareholders..."

Cardinal Turkson brought the discussion to a close by urging readers not to view The Vocation of the Business Leader as a finished work but as a "work in progress." He welcomed feedback from the business community: "Businessmen and women reading this book should feel free to share their comments with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace."

Despite the crisis, 31 percent of Spain’s businesses have reported a rise in sales over the past eight years. And only 4.6 percent are still seeing a downward trend.

These were among the key conclusions of the 6^th annual survey of corporate sales networks in Spain 2015, "The Future of Sales Networks: Towards a New Sales Horizon."

The survey findings were presented to 350 companies by professors Cosimo Chiesa and Julián Villanueva at IESE Madrid at the 8^th Sales and Marketing Officers Meeting this month.

And the data coincides with what Spanish companies are reporting: Although uncertainty remains and many sectors are still far from recovery, we seem to be over the worst of the crisis.

While delegates welcomed this news, they nonetheless expressed concern about elements within the business panorama that must be improved. Sales forces in particular were singled out as an area for immediate improvement.

A number of significant trends in sales were identified as areas to keep on the radar.

Future Trends in Sales: The Customer Rules

"We’ve gone from a product-centric to a customer-centric sales strategy," said Sergio Escorial, director of marketing strategy for Deutsche Bank. This trend has gained considerable traction in areas such as the pharmaceutical industry and represents one of the greatest challenges in marketing strategy, he added.

Ernest Quingles, managing director of Epson Ibérica, described the customer as "the focus of our efforts," and insisted on the importance of good business intelligence when interacting with customers.

"It's our first priority, because it helps us optimize resources and facilitates decision making," he said.

Channels, Channels and More Channels

While your direct sales force will continue to be one of the main channels for reaching customers, multichannel selling —internet and social networks, the various media platforms for advertising, including blogs — is set to expand significantly.

In this environment, customers will have new touchpoints for obtaining information. They will require after-sales services and will also be able to buy products and services.

José Manuel Inchausti, CEO of Mapfre Iberia, explained that the insurance carrier links the typology of its different customers to each of the channels available to the company: these include bancassurance, broker channel, banking/insurance channel, life and health, and agriculture, he said.

Even So, the Internet Won’t Replace the Salesman…

Despite the unstoppable rise of digital media, the role of salesperson will not disappear.

The Internet will provide companies with another resource, increase the effectiveness of visits and reduce sales costs, but it will not replace the human touch. "Technology is a medium, a facilitator although they can never replace human empathy," said Javier Pijoan, a senior executive at Heineken International.

That said, the role of the salesperson is set to change radically across a number of sectors, with the support of technology. "The salesperson of the future will have to sell less product and more solutions."

Analytics and Digital Processes

With the digital revolution at full throttle, data and information systems are essential to competing successfully.

According to Sergio Escorial, analysis of customer banking data (e.g., expenses, income, credit card usage, tax payments) offers valuable information for identifying users' needs.

"As a result of this analysis, we've seen a 25 percent increase in the number of customers over the past few years," he said.

Keeping Corporate Reputation

Front of Mind At times of financial crisis there is heightened sensitivity to issues like corruption. And this too has an impact on sales.

Delegates agreed that the global rise of social networks has had unprecedented impact on corporate reputation; a phenomenon that affects companies’ client bases – and their ability to attract and retain top sales talent.

If They Aren’t Motivated, They Won’t Sell

"It is vital for our sales force to be motivated. That is how we achieve a business model and a sustainable and successful organization for the long haul," said Sergio Duque, CEO of Ibérica Luxottica.

"Motivation is something that can be created naturally in the company's everyday processes."

Senior executive at Sage Spain, Susana Hidalgo, agreed: "There are many tools for motivation that do not require any investment yet have a very high yield. The key is for the steering committee to be convinced of what it does, and generate enough dialogue to be able to carry out the processes of change."

Arturo Molinero, HR director of Carrefour Spain, cited stats that indicate that absenteeism is directly tied to motivation. He shared the example of motivation methods used in his department (cultural and sporting activities, competitions, etc., which largely take place outside the workspace) that have reduced the company's absenteeism rate to three percent.

The bottom line is that without motivation, it’s impossible to sell anything.

"To motivate your sales team you need to foster a sense of belonging to the company," said José Manuel Inchausti. And this sense of belonging, he said, is built on proactivity and values: good policies on compensation, engaging incentives, training plans and transparency in communication."

The U.S., China and Germany continue to hold the top three spots on the attractive index included in the Vademecum on Food and Beverage Markets 2015, by IESE and Deloitte.

Five of the top 10 countries are European: Germany (third), U.K. (fifth), France (seventh), Netherlands (eighth) and Italy (ninth).

These results mean that Europe is one of the most “appetizing” continents for exports.

Report Findings

The report, led by Professor Jaume Llopis and researcher Júlia Gifra, analyzes 82 countries across data on six key indicators: ease of doing business, legal safeguards, per capita GDP, per capita spending on food and beverages, size of overall population and number of middle-class homes.

The only change in the top 10 this year is in the last two spots: Italy and Canada move up and Russia drops out due to a decrease in GDP, the size of its middle class, consumption and imports.

Top 10 Countries for the Food and Beverage Industry

News by Country

• Nigeria climbed the most spots: 13 in just one year. This rise is due to the growth of the middle class and to the increase in the volume of food and beverage imports.
• The second biggest mover was the Czech Republic—up 12 spots to 36th. The Czech Republic saw gains in its legal framework as well as in imports.
• In Asia, South Korea stands out. Although ranked 20th overall, it is fifth in terms of its legal framework and the ease of doing business. The country’s economy, spending and middle class are all on the rise.
• Finally, Mexico is once again Latin America’s leading food and drink market, with an improving legal framework and increased import volume. Mexico was ranked 16th overall and third within the Americas.

News by Category

• In 2014, the United States was the top importer of every category of beverage included in the study. This year, the U.K. replaces the U.S. as number one in wine imports.
• Germany is the number-one importer of eggs and dairy products, while China leads in fats and oils, and Japan leads in meat. The U.S. dominates in the remaining categories, making it the number-one importer overall.
• The U.S.’s fish imports have increased by 8 percent, while Japan’s have decreased by 15 percent.
• The U.S. also has an enormous appetite for bakery and cereal, with a 16 percent increase, while Japan dropped 2 percent in this category.

The Case of Spain

Spain moved up three spots (from 16 to 13) in its attractiveness due to an increase in imports and exports and improvements in its legal framework, per capita GDP and food and beverage spending, which increased 3 percent from 2013 to 2014. Spain finds itself in the top 10 exporters of wine and fruit (third), fats and oils (fifth) and meat and fish (sixth). Exports of Spanish beer have increased 24 percent since 2012.

Vademecum

This attractiveness index is part of the third edition of the Vademecum on Food and Beverage Markets 2015, a thorough study that serves as a guide to companies from the industry that want to open up to new markets.

The Vademecum contains specific data like import and export volumes for various product categories, demographic distribution and population projections up to 2025, average prices on certain products, as well as the main distributors and brands in each market.

"IESE and its graduates share a passion for turning management and leadership into drivers of positive change in society. You are now part of this mission."

Dean Jordi Canals gave an address to congratulate MBAs at their graduation ceremony on May 15 in Barcelona. The new graduates form the Class of 2015 – a landmark cohort for the IESE MBA, which was launched 50 years ago in 1964; the first two year MBA in Europe.

Acknowledging that they face a "complex and uncertain world," Canals urged the graduates to draw inspiration from the example of the Berlin Wall.

"As former Polish president Lech Walesa said here at IESE a few months ago: If the Berlin Wall can come down, men and women of character and goodwill can help bring down any major obstacle that blocks people’s development in business or society. The Berlin Wall offers us a relevant lesson: Business leaders need to foster values and aspirations that go much deeper than just achieving personal goals."

Welcoming the new graduates into IESE’s 43,000-strong alumni community, Canals added: "Never forget that IESE is your home. A place you can always come back to, and where you will always be welcomed with affection."

A Support System Beyond Friendship

This was a sentiment shared by MBA Class President, Talar Sarkissian, who paid homage to her fellow graduates: "No longer just classmates, nor just friends, we became our own support systems and teammates, as we collectively embarked on this journey of self discovery and development."

Sarkissian’s address touched on the extent of the hard work undertaken across the program’s two years; as well as a feeling of profound accomplishment shared by the cohort.

"Not only did we have to study completely new subjects – from capital markets to operations strategy - but we had to prepare three cases a day; have team meetings; submit assignments; take Spanish classes; apply for jobs; prepare for interviews; participate in case competitions; exercise; attend club activities; be social; eat; speak to our loved ones; have fun and somehow find some time to … sleep!"

A life-altering experience, said Sarkissian, that is now set to bear more fruit. She cited the 90 percent of IESE graduates who find full-time employment within three months of graduating – and the fact that 72 percent of her cohort had already accepted a job offer.

"We’ve been given the business tools and a sense of humility to drive continuous learning, perseverance through difficult times and to empathize with others – all the skills necessary to be the authentic and trustworthy leaders we want to be. Now is our time to take action, put our skills into practice and leave our mark," she concluded.

One of the World’s Best – and Most Demanding – MBA Programs

Director of the MBA program, Franz Heukamp, was emphatic in his congratulations – not least because the cohort had successfully completed "one of the world’s best and most demanding MBA programs."

He called on the class of 2015 to "shine through responsible, humble and effective leadership; a leadership that so many graduates of this program have shown throughout the past 50 years."

"Go out and make the communities of people, organizations and countries you will work in a truly better place, starting with yourself," he said.

Setting Goals for Leadership

The ceremony was brought to a close by Distinguished President of the University of Navarra, Professor Alfonso Sánchez-Tabernero.

He recalled the advice given to him as a student by one of his own professors. It is important, he said, to set the right goals. "My professor told me that ‘mediocre’ people settle for easy goals. Leaders keep looking for the big goals in life."

Sánchez-Tabernero closed the ceremony by urging the graduates to thank their families for the support given over the two years at IESE.

"And may the fruit of your work be a great service to humanity," he said.

IESE Business School takes the top spot in this year’s overall Financial Times Executive Education ranking, published today. IESE also ranks 1st in the world for its Custom programs, moving up two spots from last year mainly due to the school’s leading international clients, and 3rd in the world for its Open programs.

In this year’s survey, IESE received top marks for the diversity of its faculty and the international scope of its programs – both in terms of participants and faculty make-up, and geography.

Custom programs also earned top praise from clients for the highly interactive and collaborative approach of the school, enabling it to prepare sessions that are as aligned with clients´ needs as possible, as well as the flexible program design. IESE’s recent Custom program clients include Oracle, The European Network of Transmission System Operators, Airbus, L’Oreal, Santander, BBVA, Telefonica and Danone, among others.

The school’s Open programs were rated highly due to the international locations of it programs, taught from IESE´s five campuses in Barcelona, Madrid, New York, Munich and Sao Paulo; the quality of IESE’s alliances with partner schools such as CEIBS, Harvard and Wharton, and the long-term knowledge acquired on the programs.

According to Mireia Rius, Associate Dean of Executive Education,"These results reflect IESE’s global scope, not only among our faculty, participants and clients, but also geographically, as IESE have programmes and strategic alliances with other business schools all over the world. This internationality gives us a cross-cultural vision of the environment in which executives work today."

The Financial Times ranking is based on a mix of customer feedback and data provided by business schools on open and custom programs. It takes into consideration a variety of criteria including program preparation, course design, international participants and location, faculty, follow-up, and aims achieved among numerous others.

The other schools rounding out the top three are HEC Paris in 2nd and IMD in 3rd position.

Executive Education Programs in Four Continents

Since its founding, in 1958, IESE Business School has been offering an array of executive education programs for managers, at a time when the concept of executive education was scarcely known outside of the United States. The establishment of these programs, aimed mainly at experienced business leaders, constituted a landmark in the history of executive education in Europe. The school has also become a leading player in offering very personalized Custom programs.

IESE offers Open Executive Education and Custom programs at key locations around the world, including Barcelona, New York City, Munich, Sao Paulo, Miami, Shanghai and Warsaw. Among its offerings are the Advanced Management Program (AMP), with international editions in Poland, the US (Senior Executive Program New York-Miami, SEP), Spain, Germany and Brazil; Program for Leadership Development (PLD), also with editions in the US, Spain, Brazil and Germany, which are aimed at entrepreneurs and senior business leaders of global firms and the innovative Global CEO with modules in China, Brazil and the US run in conjunction with Wharton and CEIBS.

"The responsibilities of a board member are very different these days compared with ten years ago. They are expected to make an impact on the management of the company," says Aurora Catà (MBA ‘89 and PADE ‘03), who sits on the board of directors at Antena3-Grupo Atresmedia and Banco Sabadell and has been a member of the board of various companies over the past 15 years.

Catà says a board member now has a more strategic role. "This strategic role was rather blurred in the past but there’s more emphasis on it now." "Board members spend more time on strategy and risk analysis," says Francisco Gasset (MBA ‘75), senior partner at Spencer Stuart in Spain, who adds that "more time is spent on discussion and less on pure information."

But much remains to be done. "We should improve the strategic content of the board’s agenda," says Prof. Josep Tàpies. He encourages these governing bodies to draw up the main strategy in order to later discuss and corroborate the proposals put forward by the management team, led by the CEO. (…)

These are some of the thoughts and experiences from the cover story of the latest issue of the IESE Alumni Magazine.

Read the full article or access the IESE Alumni Magazine online

With IESE’s MBA program now entering its fifth decade, long-time friend of the school and WPP CEO, Sir Martin Sorrell, joined IESE alumni and guests at London’s Royal Institute of British Architects to celebrate.

But this was no retrospective. The future was very much on the agenda. And the first question on the table was: "What keeps you up at night?"

Despite the myriad of issues facing the CEO of a multi-billion dollar business, his answer was relatively straightforward. The insomnia-inducing issue for him was "bottom line". Or, as Sorrell put it, "the remorseless focus on cost."

As his choice of phrase suggests, Sorrell isn’t keen on what he considers to be the "slavish focus on cost reduction" that has gripped the business community since the demise of Lehman Brothers some six years ago.

His logic is simple. While many of today’s global brands are hitting their bottom line targets, their top lines remain somewhat elusive. "You can’t cut your way to growth," he said.

And Sorrell should know. Having set out 30 years ago to build a multi-national business in his lifetime, his communications group WPP now has a presence in over 110 countries, more than 3000 offices and 180,000 employees. In 2014 the Group reported billings of £46.2 billion, and had a market capitalisation (as of April 2015) of £20.5 billion.

Taking the Longer View

It’s safe to say that Sorrell has achieved what he set out to do. And the secret of that success, he insists, has not been the aforementioned fascination with cost reduction. He’s succeeded, he says, because he’s taken risks, worked hard and believed in taking the "long view."

This was a strategic theme that event host, Professor Jordi Canals, Dean of IESE Business School, also touched on in his introductory remarks.

According to Canals, one of the greatest challenges facing the business world today is the "short-termism" of many shareholders. The desire for the "quick return" is, he believes, at odds with the responsibilities that firms hold - not only to shareholders and employees, but to society at large. This is why IESE is so driven to develop leaders, he said, with a strong sense of collective responsibility, integrity and service.

What the Future Holds: 10 Trends That Will Define Business Practices

What then did Sorrell think were the big issues facing the business world today?

He highlighted 10 key trends to keep on the radar.

First off, Sorrell cited the very real shift in economic power from New York. Power – economic, political and social – is migrating South, East and South-East; to the so-called BRIC countries and beyond to Africa, the Middle East and to Central and Eastern Europe.

The second key trend is the continued dominance of production over demand. That is, except where it really counts in the higher echelons of companies: in talent. This shrinking talent pool will become, according to Sorrell, of even greater significance over the next 10-15 years as demographic changes put yet greater pressure on its supply.

Of course, it’s not just a falling birth rate that concerns Sorrell. The growing dominance of web giants like Google, Amazon and increasingly Alibaba is having a tremendous impact on the supply chain – removing chunks of it in order to engage more directly (and at a lower cost) with the consumer. This phenomenon of disintermediation will have far-reaching implications, he said.

Similarly, the importance of the developing relationship between manufacturer and end-user is important – and number four on Sorrell’s list. As market dynamics change, the once all-powerful retailers like Walmart, Tesco and others will begin to lose their advantage. e-Commerce now offers manufacturers a much more direct route to the customer, while the increasing number of city-dwelling consumers is the catalyst for greater proximity marketing efforts and the growth in smaller, local, convenience-led outlets. But Sorrell was clear that the window of opportunity is closing fast. If manufacturers and other interested brands don’t act soon the web giants could very well become "tomorrow’s Walmart or Tesco."

Internal communication made fifth place on Sorrell’s list. This is something, he said, that is particularly vital in this time of change when the ability to articulate company strategy, direction and perhaps even culture, becomes harder as firms expand across the world.

And on that topic, Globalisation was next. But with a difference. Sorrell floated the idea that the center of the organization cannot possibly know everything that’s happening across the office network. He pointed to a growing dissemination of responsibility and accountability to the local level, contrasting it with the disappearance of the middle men and woman at the regional level who, he felt, acted as a buffer to the flow of information between the core and the edge.

The discussion then came back to the disconnect between top and bottom lines. "Do the number-crunchers have too much clout?" he asked. For firms to grow and succeed, cutting costs will only get you so far. At some point, said Sorrell, you need to look to investment-driven top-line growth – which has the potential to be infinite.

More than 50 per cent of the world’s GDP is generated by the public sector. The importance, therefore, of governments as regulators, investors and clients is vast, he said.

Sorrell closed his session with two final points: Paying "lip service" to sustainability and social responsibility is no longer acceptable (and will become less so in years to come), while continuous consolidation will become a fact of life.

He was quick to point out however that big isn’t necessarily beautiful. And that some businesses, particularly the creative ones, fall foul of dis-economies of scale as they grow.

Are the worlds of academia and business out of touch?

What can be done to bring them closer?

How can we leverage work being done in fields like human psychology or even biology to develop better business models?

These were some of the questions asked by many of the world’s leading thinkers in business strategy at a conference hosted by IESE New York this month.

Organized by IESE Professor Pankaj Ghemawat and Daniel A. Levinthal, Reginald H. Jones Professor of Corporate Strategy at Wharton, the "Business Strategy Interfaces and Frontiers" conference heard from leading scholars from the likes of Princeton, Stern, Harvard and LSE – all keen to address what Ghemawat describes as the "unsatisfactory interchange between academia and the field since the 1990s."

Some of the world’s finest thinkers in business research, strategy, psychology, ecology and evolutionary biology gave talks on topics that ranged from "mental models, reasoning and decision-making" to "evolutionary perspectives on strategy."

The Psychology of Decision-Making

First speaker, Philip Johnson-Laird, Stuart Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, opened the conference with a panel session on the psychological processes that underpin how we make decisions – and how fallible these processes can be.

Business strategies are rooted in executive decisions. So understanding how executives – and consumers – think, how they reason, and how they make choices is essential in terms of developing efficient business models, he said.

And this, in turn, is rooted in psychology.

According to Johnson-Laird, the mind is not a particularly logical or ‘probabilistic’ apparatus. Instead of reaching logical conclusions based on what we actually know, we tend to create ‘mental simulations’ in order to make decisions. These in turn stem from pre-existing models of possibilities.

Suffering From Tunnel Vision?

All well and good, says Johnson-Laird, however we tend to suffer from a sort of tunnel vision that limits our ability to recognize all the models of possibilities. Worse still, when we make a decision, we have a tendency to fixate on one single possibility at the expense of others.

"When there are lots of alternative possibilities, life gets very difficult. Our intuitions depend upon a single model of possibility, and alternatives soon defeat us. We also tend to focus on what we know to be true about different scenarios or premises – while we ignore what is false."

This kind of tunnel vision also extends to our capacity to imagine other people’s perspectives or decisions, says Johnson-Laird.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

The good news is that, despite this, we are generally fairly adept at "thinking about thinking." Which means that when we come across an open-ended problem that confounds our original assumptions, most of us produce what Johnson-Laird calls "creative simulations."

These allow us to construct combinations of possible events, which can then be examined and explained by "causal links" – the relation between two things where one thing is caused by the other.

"It is almost impossible," he says, "to give people a scenario that they are not, given enough time, fully able to explain."

Useful Analogies

People form causal links in different ways. One way is by using analogies to make hard-to-grasp concepts feel real.

This strategy is particularly relevant for business strategists, said Jan Rivkin, Senior Associate Dean for Research at Harvard Business School, who took the role of discussant in the opening panel. He agreed that analogies can help executives "bring cognitively distant ideas closer. This is one way in which reasoning can be used to tackle strategic problems."

Business is built on decision-making and choice, he said. So understanding human reasoning is essential.

"The most valuable thing to do is to take a very strong stance about what we do well and what we do poorly when we reason."

IESE New York: A Hub for Research

The "Business Strategy Interfaces and Frontiers" conference was held between May 14 and 15 at IESE’s New York campus.

Among the panelists were Lawrence J. White, Robert Kavesh Professor of Economics, NYU Stern School; Roger Martin, Director, Martin Prosperity Institute, Rotman School, University of Toronto; David Collis, Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Adjunct Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; John Sutton, Sir John Hicks Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics; and Simon Levin, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Center at Princeton University.

IESE Professor of Economics, José Manuel González-Páramo, has been inducted into Spain’s Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. Gonzalez-Páramo, who is also Executive Board Director of BBVA, joined the faculty of IESE in 2012. He will be the bearer of the Academy’s medal 22, which was previously held by Dr. José Barea.

An expert in public finance and fiscal systems, González-Páramo holds an MA, an MPhil and a PhD in Economics from Columbia University, as well a doctorate in economics from the Universidad Complutense.

The new academician has worked as an economic adviser in a range of public and private institutions, including the European Commission, the IMF and the World Bank. In addition, he has served as a member of the Governing Council and the Executive Committee of the Bank of Spain.

González-Páramo was a member of the Executive Board and the Governing Council of the European Central Bank from 2004 to 2012. He has served as a member of the Committee on the Global Financial System of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He has participated in working groups at the BIS and the OECD.

Currently, he is Executive Board Director of BBVA and Chair of its International Advisory Board. He is also Chairman of European DataWarehouse GmbH, the first European private-sector initiative to respond to the need for high transparency standards in securitization markets.

González-Páramo has written and spoken extensively on financial markets, monetary policy and the economy. He has received numerous awards, including the Charles the Fifth Medal of the German-Spanish Chamber of Commerce (“contribution for a more unified Europe”); Premio Círculo de Empresarios; Honorary member of the Association of Economic News Journalists; and Doctor Honoris Causa (University of Malaga). 

On May 22 the graduation ceremony was held for the IESE Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) class of 2015, a year that also marks the milestone 50th anniversary of the IESE MBA.

The ceremony was the culmination of 19 months that took participants on a journey around the world, from Barcelona to Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, New York and back.

This "truly global" dimension of the GEMBA was stressed by a number of speakers, including Vice President of BASF Group Europe South, Dr. Erwin Rauhe; IESE Dean, Professor Jordi Canals; Professor Sandra Sieber, academic director of the GEMBA program and Matthew Larkin, president of the graduating class of 2015.

"You have experienced over and over again the sensation that the world is definitely not flat, but an extremely rugged landscape. We have learned to move around in a world with so many different ways of perceiving business, work and society," Sieber told the graduates. "All these experiences have shown us that we should not forget to look at the world from many different angles, and not believe in just a single center of gravity."

What Does Responsible Leadership Look Like?

Rauhe also stressed that thinking about business globally means thinking about business holistically – and this implies a "basic approach of focusing on people as the primary driver of positive change and impact on business and society." This, he said, is a key element of the GEMBA program.

"The economic growth of an enterprise should not be an end in itself," said Rauhe. "It should favor the improvement of the quality of life of its employees and their families, local communities and society as a whole. By acting in such a way and respecting and developing its human capital, the enterprise acquires another major advantage: It gains the loyalty of those who work for it and thus avoids the risk of losing its identity and know-how."

Responsible leadership, he said, is about "making business decisions that not only take the shareholders’ interests into account, but also those of all the other stakeholders." These, he added, include the community at large, and future generations.

We are Defined by Values and Aspirations

GEMBA class president, Matthew Larkin, echoed this view: "IESE constantly challenged us to think differently," he said. "In tough business moments, we will remember to think about the person and not just our bottom line."

Dean Jordi Canals brought the graduation ceremony to a close, stressing the importance of upholding values – and above all the "principle of human dignity." He cited the examples former Czech president Václav Havel and former Polish president Lech Walesa, a recent guest at IESE (read news), who had "drawn sustenance in their fight for democracy from their commitment to human dignity."

Getting things done is important, said Canals. But not as important as "how you get things done."

"Throughout your 19 months you have learned complex management functions and business strategy; but more fundamentally, you have learned that the only way to be a good leader lies in respecting others," he told the graduates.

"In the end, we are defined by the values that we have and the aspirations that we foster."

One Cohort, Two Tracks: Four Continents

The IESE Global Executive MBA gives participants the option to begin their program in Europe or the Americas: on campus in Barcelona or in New York. This means that participants can take a specific focus on their selected region. As the GEMBA progresses, the two tracks merge to become one cohort – bringing together their collective experiences and insights to share.

The class of 2015 is the first graduating class to complete the course in its new format of two initial regional tracks that combine into one group as the course progresses.

The European track takes participants from Barcelona to New York, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo and back to Barcelona for the final module and graduation. The Americas track kicks off in New York before heading to Barcelona, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo and it too culminates in Barcelona.

"We are the proud representatives of the first GEMBA graduating class that includes both European and American tracks," said Matthew Larkin. "Only a couple years ago, IESE started in a small office in New York across the street from today’s campus we have come to know so well. Today, the former dance theater is home to a world-class campus."

On May 23, the MBA Alumni Reunion took place at IESE’s Barcelona campus in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the school's MBA program.

Leading names from the first, as well as more recent, graduating classes looked back on how the program has shaped their careers.

IESE Professor Franz Heukamp, the associate dean for MBA programs, recalled how since its inception and over the past 50 years the program's mission has been to forge leaders and provide them with new and enriching skills.

Today the program remains steadfast in this vocation, but has gradually integrated new objectives to adapt to a changing world. Among other things, "we are working to prepare professionals who will influence the new digital world" as well as make "the MBA a great place to forge an increasing number of women leaders."

Unforgettable Experiences

The event included a panel discussion with students from the MBA's first graduating class as well as more recent graduates. They all agreed that the program contributed more to their personal and professional growth than they had initially anticipated.

"I enrolled, because I was told that it would get me a job. Once I started studying, however, I realized that I wasn't interested in passing or failing, but really wanted to be in class with this professor, because for the very first time, I was learning something useful," explained Kim Faura (MBA '78 and General Manager of Telefónica España in Catalonia).

Leslie Rubio (MBA '90 and managing director of Corporate and Investment Banking at CITI) remembered her time in IESE’s MBA program as "a personally and professionally enriching experience without peer. I felt like a different person when I graduated, which is the reason I always recommend it."

The Importance of Values

Something that is appreciated by former students was the opportunity to develop values intrinsic to a manager's role, because working life involves interacting and communicating with people.

"Our education prepared us for a profession in which we work with and for people rather than amass wealth. This is the most important thing I learned at IESE," stated Gerardo Salvador (MBA '66 and president of the Fundación María Francisc Rovirats).

Eusebio Díaz-Morera (MBA '69 and president of EDM Holding) agreed, and urged others to "think more about the work than the money, because the latter is merely a consequence."

The speakers pointed out that the two-year MBA program provides the time and space for personal reflection, as well as contemplating professional opportunities. "Most business schools equate success with having a good salary and a good job. IESE allows you to look inside and develop your own definition of success," said Christopher Daniels (MBA '00 and head of communications at Hybrid Air Vehicles).

Career Impact

The speakers also considered IESE's MBA to be a driving force in transforming their professional lives, providing not only career development opportunities, but also giving them unique skills.

"After completing my two-year MBA, I went back to work with a much greater capacity for critical thinking and the ability to offer perspectives that exceeded the expectations of the company," recalled Enikö Matanov (MBA '10 and director of Revenue Optimization & Business Insights at American Express Global Business Travel).

Leslie Rubio summed up the overall feeling in the room with the following words: "Once you've been to IESE, there is no going back. Something stays in our DNA that is transmitted and lives on forever in our work."

What will the food industry be like 10 years from now?

Will we be eating the same produce? How will products be distributed? And what about consumers? Who will they be and how will they shop?

These were a few of the questions raised at the 19th Food and Beverage Industry Meeting this month at IESE’s Barcelona campus. Hosted by IESE and Deloitte, the meeting attracted sector leaders, experts, scholars and stakeholders who also received a copy of the IESE-Deloitte Vademecum on Food and Beverage Markets 2015.

Under the banner, "The Road to 2025 and Beyond," the meeting sought to identify a number of scenarios that are likely to define the industry over the course of the next decade.

The Shape of Food to Come: 10 Key Trends

Daphne Kasriel-Alexander, a Consumption Trends consultant at Euromonitor, identified the ten global consumption trends that will set the tone for the next few years:

1. Convenience shopping. Formats and products that deliver convenience, flexibility, and saving in time and energy savings will predominate: omnichannel solutions for people with little free time, same-day delivery, 24/7 culture... In the case of food, the "top-up" shopping trend has been consolidated. The traditional weekly or monthly shop is increasingly complemented by purchases in convenience shops or neighbourhood corner shops.

2. Consumption habits and their effect on sustainable development. The choices that consumers make are increasingly being seen and used as a tool to influence company policies – and support the drive to more sustainable development.

3. Influencers like you and me. Opinion leaders are no longer the famous or experts. Increasingly ordinary people – people like us – exert the biggest influence on our habits and choices, through blogs and social media.

4. Millennials. Digital natives are setting the pace and defining new forms of consumption. Understanding this new generation of consumers is key to future success.

5. Community-style shopping centers. Online retail is drastically changing the way we shop. This trend is not, however, set to replace physical outlets – where people try out goods. In the future, shopping centers are projected to be focal points and testing grounds for new experiences.

6. Collaborative economy. Sharing instead of owning is a growing trend that will also make its way to the food industry, with the arrival of formulas similar to those already applied by Uber and AirBnB for transportation and accommodation services. We’re already seeing, for example, home-cooked meals for home delivery to people who are too busy or don’t feel like cooking.

7. Privacy. In a hyperconnected world, information privacy is becoming a serious issue for consumers, and a critical factor for businesses and brands.

8. Shopping around the world. Brands are global and they can sell in any country thanks to online shopping webpages. We are seeing a proliferation of market places where consumers can find the products they want, the manufacturers they want all over the world. A new phenomenon is emerging: shopping tourism.

9. From virtual to real, and back again. Today’s consumer can transition naturally from one channel to another – physically shopping and a few minutes later, or even simultaneously, connected to the virtual world. The future will be definitely omnichannel.

10. Connected and healthy. The "healthy" movement, driven by the proliferation of wearable connected devices and applications designed ad-hoc to monitor and process information about our habits and routines (exercise, weight, calorie consumption, sleep quality, etc.) will shape the industry in years to come.

Millennials: The New Consumers

IESE Professor of Marketing, Íñigo Gallo, working with a group of five MBA students, has identified some key difference in the way young people (millennials) consume, compared to their parents:

• They are less loyal to shops and brands
• They buy fewer items but more frequently
• They do more research to find what they’re looking for
• They put less planning into their shopping
• They eat out more

According to Gallo, millennials share three characteristic traits, which he sums up as the three "Cs": They’re more conscious; they’re more connected among themselves and with the world; and, despite everything, they’re still quite common (in the sense that they are "normal".)

Challenges Facing the Food Industry

It’s hard to know what the opportunities for the industry will be in the next decade. It is likely however that we will need new technologies to improve efficiency along the food value chain, and the shopping and consumption experience. We will also need to develop new industrial solutions to address future challenges.

Food science and technology expert Béatrice Conde-Petit, from the Swiss multinational Bühler, says that alternative animal protein sources will also have to be found to "guarantee the nutritional intake of the entire global population." In the future we will need to consume more vegetables, algae and even insects, she believes.

We will also need to develop protein structuring technology that helps optimize the nutritional value of the food we eat, or even developing new, more efficient varieties of raw feedstock (along the lines of tritordeum, a hybrid cereal derived from the cross between durum wheat and wild barley developed in Spain).

A New Pathway to the Consumer

The biggest challenge for distribution will be to "rethink the pathway towards the consumer," says Sandra Sieber, professor of information systems at IESE.

The propagation of connectivity, digital interactions, information and ultimately, the ensuing increase in so-called digital density, are already leading to new distribution models with alternative value propositions.

We are seeing models such as the "direct to consumer" model, (whether online, via market places like Amazon or Alibaba; or offline, as some brands are already implementing with their own concept stores in key locations); and others which are revolutionising the "last mile" in distribution – offering solutions that go one step further than those we see now. These include Click & Car or Click & Collect, and focusing on same-day delivery by drivers with free time (like Deliv or Instacart).

So what are distribution leaders doing today to get ready for the future?

For Víctor del Pozo, consumer products manager for El Corte Inglés, the strategy involves replicating, as accurately as possible, the shopping experience provided in the department stores in the online channel. This means delivering the same freshness, the same variety and quality in the range – and the same level of service.

The challenge, he says, is to offer a unique, integrated omnichannel shopping experience. The "the point of contact with the consumer has greatly increased" thanks to the connectivity and interaction provided by Smartphones, tablets, social media.

"Big data is providing very useful information, because among other things, it lets us know what our customers aren’t buying from us, and where they are shopping. I can tell that a customer isn’t buying his milk from us because he’s buying it from a competitor. And now I also know who that competitor is."

The board of directors is an essential management structure. If your board is functioning poorly it can spell disaster for your company. If it runs smoothly, it can lead to harmony and stability.

"Being a board member is a complex task. A board member has to be able to convince others to act, rather than taking action directly," says Josep Tàpies, professor of strategic management at IESE.

Tàpies was talking this week at a continuous education session for alumni in Barcelona. He was joined by Professor Luis Manuel Calleja, who also teaches strategic management at IESE. "Getting to the board is a kind of ‘mutation’," said Calleja, "because you become a board member by first being a good executive."

In order to make "ethical decisions," he added, board members have to "delegate technical details. In order to handle the extraordinary, they have to delegate the ordinary. And in order to work toward the future, they have to delegate the present."

The Role of the Board

Unlike the management committee, to be effective, the board has to integrate all areas of the company and deploy a strategy to monitor the pace of its investments and profits.

In Spain, 64 percent of boards of family businesses have a direct relationship with the management committee, outside of board meetings. This degree of interaction is lower than the European average of 78 percent, according to a study carried out by Russell Reynolds Associates and published by the IESE Chair of Family-Owned Business. Entitled "Corporate Governance Practices in the Family-Owned Business in Europe," the study analyzes the cases of Germany, the UK, France and Italy.

But ... Where to Start?

Understanding the business of the company and promoting the diffusion of power are fundamental duties of all boards.

A thorough knowledge of business operations will allow board member to specialize. This facilitates their work within a given company but limits their mobility to a single industry.

For example, a board member of Ryanair cannot easily switch to the board of Gas Natural or Mercadona. The evaluation of a board member should take into account the learning curve. "The work of an executive can be evaluated after a single operation. But the higher up someone is in a company, the longer it takes to evaluate his or her results," said Calleja.

In terms of promoting the diffusion of power, there should be renewal within the board, either through internal races or external elections. It’s also important to remove obstacles to leaving the board, especially economic ones, and to observe terms of office.

The Importance of a Well-planned Agenda

Having a well-designed agenda is key to the smooth functioning of the board. "It is important to address all important issues over the course of the year, such as succession and crisis management," Calleja noted.

Some rules for the proper functioning of the board include:

• Establishing a certain number of meetings per year—at least quarterly, although ideally 10 times a year.
• Structuring meetings with an agenda outlining topics to be handled over the course of the year.
• Evaluating board members.
• Evaluating the board of directors.

Conflict Resolution

According to Professor Calleja, conflict is reduced when board members are a good fit for the company, who have been duly elected and who lead the company effectively.

Ideally, a board should be characterized by "harmony, not dissonance," says Calleja. If there is discord among board members, the board must act independently and professionally. The board’s duty is to identify potential conflicts and inform general management about them quickly and efficiently.

Calleja has this piece of advice for resolving conflict: "Keep it simple so that your solution doesn’t become part of the problem."

IESE offers "Value Creation Through Effective Boards" to board members and senior executives looking to deliver sound governance and value to their organizations. IESE’s Executive Education Programs were recently ranked first in the world by the Financial Times.