Avoid those all-too-common mistakes we all make when taking decisions. Manage your time better. Update your marketing for the 21st century…

These could be New Year’s resolutions for professional development and personal improvement in 2018. They were also among the most read articles on IESE Insight’s knowledge portal in 2017, based on research by IESE faculty.

Here’s the full top-10 countdown:

#10 SMART CITIES

Boosting Sustainable Growth via the World's Cities

Cities, which form the backbone of the global economy, face increasing inequality, stressed resources and other key challenges. The 2017 book Cities and the Economy, part of IESE’s Cities in Motion series, aims to arm leaders with new ideas for sustainable development at the local level.

#9 THE NEW CONSUMER

A CEO's Manual for Strategic Marketing Today

Marketing is undergoing a metamorphosis. The internet has empowered consumers, creating new channels and tools that open up competition. Julián Villanueva and Juan Manuel de Toro have put together a practical textbook for executives on marketing as we now know it.

#8 MANAGEMENT CONTROL

Perverse Incentives: The Limits of Metric-Based Evaluation

As a manager, how should you evaluate performance? The recent trend is toward ever-more-sophisticated formal models. However, in the wake of several scandals, Natàlia Cugueró-Escofet and Josep M. Rosanas point to the dangers of modelling and rigid metrics.

#7 OPERATIONS

How to Get Your Employees to Provide Solutions, Not Problems

"Ask the right question at the right time, and ask for relevant information." That is the "express" summary of the approach to service operations offered by professor Beatriz Muñoz-Seca in her 2017 book How to Make Things Happen.

#6 ECONOMICS

And the Most Competitive Economy Is...

On the 10th anniversary of the global financial crisis, the World Economic Forum's ranking of global competitiveness has economies large and small battling for top marks. (Hint: the U.S., Switzerland and Singapore are all in the top three.)

#5 INNOVATION

The How-to Guide for Corporate Venturing

What do established firms and start-ups have in common? They can both benefit from corporate venturing, says IESE's Julia Prats and co-authors. A 2017 handbook explains the nuts and bolts of corporate venturing for profitable growth.

#4 SELF-LEADERSHIP

You Are How You Spend Your Time

"Who am I?" It might seem an unusual first line for a book on time management, but Santiago Álvarez de Mon of IESE argues that self-knowledge is key to improving schedules and personal and professional efficiency.

#3 INTUITION AND REASONING

20 Tips for Making Intuitive Decisions

Although we live in the age of big data, most strategic decisions are still guided by intuition. To improve our gut decisions, it's wise to work on the inputs that tacitly inform them. Here are 20 tips to guide the intuition process.

#2 STRATEGY

Europe and U.S. Dominate 2017 Ranking of World's Smartest Cities

New York is the "smartest" city in the world, followed by London and Paris. Ranked by IESE's Cities in Motion Index, select European and North American cities excel; but for many, social cohesion remains an unresolved issue.

#1 DECISION ANALYSIS

10 Mistakes We All Make When Making Decisions

Decision-making is as complex as it is inevitable. And yet no one formally teaches us how to do it. In their latest book, Miguel Angel Ariño and Pablo Maella review the 10 most common errors that lead to bad decisions.

To keep up with the latest research from IESE, visit the IESE Insight Knowledge Portal.

Antoni Subirà, an emeritus professor whose long and fruitful career encompassed academia as well as politics, passed away on January 7 in Barcelona. He was 77.

Prof. Subirà earned a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia before moving to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship, where he received a MSc in Industrial Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 1962, he joined IESE as a research assistant and in 1965 he became a professor of Mathematical Techniques. From 1967 to 1974, he served as director of IESE’s MBA program, which had been launched three years earlier and was fully consolidated under his watch. At the same time, he was a consultant for various companies, including Cepsa, Nestlé, IBM and ACESA.

He was an emeritus professor of Financial Management at the time of his death.

With Spain’s transition to democracy in 1975, Prof. Subirà became involved in politics, and he served in a variety of positions in regional government. Most recently, Subirà served as Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Catalan government until 2002.

Subirà’s approach to industrial policy was based on four axes – internationalization, quality/competitiveness, research and development, and equitization – utilizing the "clusters" methodology developed by Michael Porter. He was Chairman of the Advisory Board of The Competitiveness Institute (TCI) and of the foundation Clusters and Competitiveness, and member of the Advisory Board of Mercapital and Air Products.

As Minister of Industry and Energy, Trade and Tourism, Prof. Subirà was a member of numerous boards, including the Consorci de Promoció Comercial de Catalunya, the Institut Català de Consum, the Institut Català de Tecnologia, Turisme de Catalunya, the Centro Internacional de Métodos Numéricos de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX), and the Fira Internacional de Barcelona.

Average productivity per employee in Spain rose 14% during the country’s last economic crisis, as job losses outpaced the decrease in revenue at many companies.

According to a new report by Prof. Miguel Ángel Ariño, entitled "Evolución del tejido empresarial español de 2006 a 2014" ("Evolution of Spain’s Industrial Fabric from 2006 to 2014"), the number of jobs in Spain fell by 21% – or a net 1.9 million jobs – while the revenue of companies slid 10%.

But the productivity gains varied widely depending on the sector. In agriculture, productivity increased 30% while in industry it jumped 35%. The service sector only saw an increase of 7% in productivity, while in construction it dropped 5%.

The report’s aim was to analyze the situation of Spanish companies in 2006, before the onset of the latest economic crisis, and the year 2014, when the country was on the path to recovery.

In absolute terms, average productivity went from nearly €200,000 in revenue per employee in 2006 to just over €226,000 in 2014.

From 2006 to 2014, the number of companies operating in Spain fell by 12%, or 66,573 companies; especially hard hit was the construction sector, where the number of companies plunged 42%.

The companies analyzed are those included in the SABI data base, and exclude the finance and insurance sectors, along with free-lance workers and public-sector employees.

It’s often difficult for researchers to turn their great ideas into successful commercial start-ups. A new European-wide initiative supported by IESE hopes to help change that.

Launched recently in Brussels with the assistance of a €1 million grant from the European Commission, STARTED will help create the new European Research-to-Startup Center. IESE’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center (EIC) is a partner in the project and coordinator of its Education and Training Committee through 2020.

"Young researchers are in the best position to be the innovators of tomorrow. However, turning lab stuff into a start-up product is a long shot," said Sébastien Bratières, artificial intelligence director of Translated. "This project will teach researchers how to create companies," said John Breslin, senior lecturer, National University of Ireland, Galway.

From Ireland, Italy, Spain and Belgium, the project’s partners met at the European Young Innovators Forum’s offices in Brussels to discuss the implementation of their plan to tackle the challenges faced by researchers in Europe.

"A challenging issue for Europe is to foster entrepreneurship, especially among researchers," said Roma Tre University’s Associate Professor Paolo Merialdo.

According Prof. Julia Prats, academic director of IESE’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, "One of the aims is to support the creation of companies built by researchers."

Unlocking Research Innovation

Research innovations often remain locked within research organizations, never making their way into commercial start-ups or to new business units. So while many European regions have expanded their budgets for research and development, their generated discoveries are not yet improving the number of created start-ups and related jobs. For instance, all six regions selected in this initiative have high research and development levels, yet they also have low employment rates.

The STARTED project, framed within the Erasmus+ European program, will develop entrepreneurial skills in researchers and innovators, to foster interactions between stakeholders and to guide the transfer of innovative research projects to become robust start-up opportunities. The six partners from four countries will deliver an entrepreneurship skills development program.

The project will enable the setting up of a European Research-to-Startup Center supported by a shared web platform which will centralize ad hoc learning, tools and guidelines to foster future entrepreneurs. It will also share success stories and results obtained to emphasize the benefits of training different stakeholders and organizations (researchers, educators, staff and others).

IESE has joined Spotify, becoming the first business school on the music streaming service and giving any member of the IESE community the chance to add to playlists for everyone to enjoy.

For the moment, IESE has four playlists: "Time to (case) study", "Positive leaders", "Run with it!", and "The spirit of IESE". Students, professors, staff and alumni have contributed songs to the lists, creating a channel that’s by everyone and for everyone, and where anyone can "listen" to IESE in a dynamic and different way. Through Spotify, the more than 45,000 current and past students and participants can share their musical tastes for each moment and mood.

The profile of the four IESE playlists are:

• Time to (case) study: Ideal for students looking to boost their concentration by listening to relaxed music by artists such as Ludovico Einaudi and Yann Tiersen, among others.
• Positive leaders: Brings together chart-topping pop-rock tracks from recent years, with bands like U2 and Coldplay.
• Run with it!: A list intended to get you moving, with artists such as Imagine Dragons and Bruno Mars.
• The spirit of IESE: Music that anyone from the IESE community feels best represents us, featuring positive and inspirational songs like "Forever Young", "Heroes" and "I Believe".

Each list now has between 20-30 songs, and more than three hours of music. The channel is available through this link or by searching "IESE Business School" in the Spotify app.

Decades after the work-life balance became part of the conversation on professional success, are we any closer to finding equilibrium? Has technology tipped the scales? And what does success even mean?

The 3^rd annual student-run Women in Business Conference took place in Barcelona recently under the theme The Power of Balance: Defining and Owning Your Own Success. The conference brought together business women working in a range of sectors – from automotive and finance, to energy and technology – and in companies of all sizes. They discussed ways to balance work and personal commitments, and how to find and define success.

Here’s a handful of takeaways from the day:

• It’s not just about motherhood. "The work-life balance is everyone’s issue," said Isabel Abellán Serna, head of institutional sales at Banco Sabadell. While much of the discussion inevitably centers around the demands of motherhood, the conversation must encompass all interests outside of work – whether that’s children or charity or a hobby – regardless of gender.
• Company culture matters. Companies more adverse to work-life balance often have deeply ingrained cultures that prize clocking long hours. Some simple indications that a company is different: employees who generally go home on time, and formal personnel policies that allow for part-time work, work from home, and other flexible arrangements, which technology enables. Another indicator can be the gender mix of employees, though aggregate figures can mislead: It may be true that half of employees are women, but how about management? And are women in the core businesses?
• Bosses matter, too. The right boss – even in the most inflexible companies – may make balance possible. A number of the speakers stressed the need to lose the fear of talking about the work-life balance with management. "Nobody is surprised when you raise these kinds of topics with your boss," said Eliana García Alonso-Lamberti, investment director at CMC Group. "You need to lose the fear of facing these topics."
• Liking your job is key. Competing demands on time become much easier to handle if you truly like what you do and feel that your work has purpose. "You have to stop and think about what you’re doing and what you want," said Mireia Ribot of Gas Natural Fenosa. "A moment arrives when you ask yourself does what I’m doing have real meaning?" said Isabel Buil, director of reputation for Affinity Petcare and head of its foundation.
• Resilience is required. Even in the best of circumstances, the work-life balance can be tough to achieve, especially for women with young children. Having a supportive partner is crucial, as is the knowledge that it normally gets easier over time. Speakers stressed the need to cede control of some things at home and at work. "Don’t think that you have to be perfect," said Marta Ortega, senior relationship manager at Commerzbank.
• Seize opportunities. Concern over demands on their personal lives may make some people – especially women – hesitant to take on additional responsibilities at work or go into certain sectors such as finance and consulting. Laura Ros, general director of Volkswagen Spain, encouraged women to seize opportunities, even if they weren’t 100% sure it was the right time or they had the right profile. "Don’t wait for someone to ask you to do something. Raise your hand. Participate," she said.
• Speak up and stand your ground. For a wide variety of reasons, many times we’re hesitant to stand our ground when it comes time to respecting the work-life balance. But you have to be firm with co-workers, clients and others. This is where technology is tricky, since it allows for flexibility but also for 24/7 connectedness. "In my case it’s learning to say no," said Blanca López, who founded Belles Maisons. "Nothing is urgent. We’ve created this culture of urgency."
• Education is freedom. Continuous education – throughout your career – gives you greater freedom and flexibility to chart your own course. It’s crucial in all industries, but particularly those such as technology that are constantly changing. "You have to be learning all the time," said Raquel Tejedor, account executive at Microsoft. Beyond formal courses, education can take lots of forms – from receiving industry newsletters to listening to TED Talks.
• Define success the way you want. Time and again, the speakers stressed that there is no single definition of success. "For me, absolutely, it’s not about a position. It’s a combination of my personal and professional life," said Anna Mialet Rigau of CaixaBank. And that definition changes over time. "For me success has evolved to this concept of purpose in life," said Priscilla Lavoie, founder and CEO of Bida. "It’s about what I am really going to leave behind."

IESE’s MBA was ranked third in Europe by theFinancial Times 2018 Global MBA Ranking, placing it once again among the world’s very best business programs.

The news follows a series of positive international ranking results over the last year, including being named best in the world for Executive Education by the FT for the third year in a row.

In 2017, the IESE MBA was ranked fifth best in Europe.

The FT ranking draws particular attention to the international diversity of the IESE MBA program, which scored high marks across the board on all related areas:

• 3^rd best in the world for International Course Experience. The IESE MBA was praised for the global opportunities it offers students, such as international modules in New York, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Nairobi and access to an extensive exchange program with more than 27 business schools.
• 3^rd best among the top business schools for International Students (84%), highlighting the geographical diversity of IESE´s MBAs, who hail from 64 different countries.
• 8^th best in the world for International Mobility, which looks at the geographic mobility of students after the program (the countries in which they are working).
• 1^st in the world for International Board, with 90% of the IESE board comprised of international members.
• 4^th worldwide among the top business schools for the international diversity of its faculty (22 nationalities).

A Program with Impact

"The IESE MBA is a program with a high personal impact," said Prof. Julia Prats, associate dean of MBA Programs. "It offers students a boost on their path towards becoming outstanding leaders, whether that´s in the corporate world or with their own entrepreneurial projects."

"The program has a strong international focus, grounded not only in the diversity of its faculty and students, but also in its structure and content. It also develops a deep knowledge of business relationships and management skills, allowing participants to enhance their long-term careers in the world of management," Prof. Prats added.

Indeed, the Financial Times ranking again shows how the IESE MBA is one of the best programs for students looking for professional progress. The school´s MBA places eighth worldwide for Career Progress, which measures students´ career progression, and second place in the world among the top business schools, for the percentage of salary increase after graduation.

The 19-month IESE MBA is a highly innovative course, combining the case method with state-of-the-art learning methodologies based on experiential learning. Among these, the development of real projects (in start-up and in large multinational companies) stand out. The IESE MBA curriculum also offers students a sound foundation in the most innovative aspects related to the new economy and digitalization.

The IESE Alumni Association has elected Alejandro Beltrán de Miguel (MBA ´98) as its new president. He takes over from Jorge Sendagorta (PADE ´90), who had served as president since 2012.

Beltrán is senior partner and chairman of McKinsey & Company Iberia. He is a member of the consultancy’s Global Operating Committee and is also its global chief talent and people officer, responsible for supervising the strategy and operations of McKinsey People at a global level. Since joining McKinsey in 1998, he has worked with many leading national and international companies, particularly in the areas of corporate finance and strategy and in banking and infrastructure.

Beltrán holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management from the University of Navarra and an MBA from IESE.

Dean Franz Heukamp praised outgoing president Sendagorta for his dedication to the group. "I would like to thank Jorge Sendagorta for the work he has done as president of the Alumni Association. He has supported a number of initiatives, of which I would highlight a platform to foster entrepreneurship and the internationalization of the group," Heukamp said.

"I am also happy to welcome Alejandro Beltrán. Alejandro brings his extensive professional experience and his strong commitment to IESE, which, I am sure, will mean a new push for the association," the dean said.

The election took place during the annual meeting of the Alumni Association’s Governing Board, held on the Barcelona and Madrid campuses. The meeting brought together presidents and secretaries from around the world, as well as Alumni Regional Chapter representatives. The Alumni Association is an international community of more than 45,000 alumni, of some 130 nationalities and living in more than 100 countries.

Cyber-attacks, backlash against technology giants and elections in the Americas and beyond; these are some of the events and trends expected to move the needle in global business this year, according to Daniel Franklin, editor of The Economist.

At a standing room-only event at the Madrid campus on Feb. 15, Franklin presented The Economist’s "The World in 2018," the magazine’s annual issue of forecasts across global business, politics, technology, and culture. Prof. Juan José Toribio welcomed Franklin to the campus.

Smart business leaders are already braced for cyber-breaches. But Franklin said cyber-attackers could scale up this year. "Maybe in 2018 a new kind of attack will appear … related to an actual event rather than the theft of a trove of data," he said. Hackers could compromise the physical movement or performance of objects via the Internet of Thing-enabled devices.

Data is already occupying business leaders’ minds this year in the form of the European Union’s tough new data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR goes live in May and affects any organization, European or otherwise, which stores EU citizens’ data. "This is a very big deal," Franklin said. "Data is the new oil and how you regulate it matters," he added.

The Business of Politics

GDPR is part of the global backlash – or "techlash" – against perceived over-reach and tax avoidance by technology firms. The Economist expects the pendulum of power to swing back toward government in 2018, with states buckling down on swashbuckling tech titans.

Staying with politics, the two heavyweights of Latin America – Mexico and Brazil – will hold presidential polls in 2018. The Brazilian leadership battle is tough to call as the main protagonists are mired in legal actions. In Mexico, Franklin expects veteran firebrand Andrés Manuel López Obrador to ride the anti-Trump wave, but predicts PRI will win on the day.

But it’s mid-term elections in the U.S. in November that may provide the political drama of the year "because the Democrats have a chance to take the House," Franklin stated. The Economist predicts the Republicans will lose the House, stymieing GOP-sponsored legislation and giving a shot in the arm to the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential elections.

Back in Europe, the "known unknown" of Brexit is preoccupying business leaders: how can companies prepare for the UK’s EU exit in 2019 with so much in flux? But a framework must be hammered out by the end of 2018. "Negotiations over Brexit are about to get extremely fraught," Franklin said.

"My guess is a ‘softer’ Brexit as this is the only way the government can get a majority," he predicted. There is still a "small but real chance" that the Brexit train gets derailed, though. "I cannot stress how fragile the situation is. The potential for a mess and mini-panic is quite large," Franklin said. But The Economist editor put the odds of a stalled Brexit at just 15%.

The Helicopter View

Looking at the macro-economic outlook, Franklin said "there are animal spirits of optimism in industry," because for the first time since the financial crisis, the six continents are growing at roughly synchronized speed. "No one is holding the global economy back and no-one is racing ahead," he said. This global growth could lead to "effervescence," Franklin noted, "but let’s not spoil the party."

Also for the first time in a while, China is no longer one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, although it’s trotting along at a very respectable 6.0% growth. India is the only big name in The Economist’s Top 10 for 2018, with 7.8% GBP growth predicted for this year. "China’s population is starting to shrink, while India has a more dynamic population outlook," Franklin said.

The One That Got Away

Prof. Toribio congratulated Franklin on The Economist’s solid record on predictions. Reading the runes is a tricky business, though, and Franklin said the imminent fall of the Castro regime in Cuba is the one forecast that its editors have consistently gotten wrong. But with Raúl Castro on the cusp of retirement, 2018 might be the year it comes true.

The Global Executive MBA program recently welcomed its Class of 2019, which has embarked on a 16-month journey that will take participants across a globe of business experiences and into a world of learning.

The Class of 2019 is one of the most diverse in background and digital in experience yet. Participants are of 26 different nationalities, hailing from countries including the U.S., Brazil and China, along with a dozen European countries. A total of 85% of participants are from outside of Spain.

The class reflects the growing presence of women in IESE’s programs: a total of 35% of participants are women, one of the highest levels of recent years. The average age of the Class of 2019 is 40 years old.

The Class of 2019 brings to the GEMBA a wealth of experience gained through work in 20 different sectors – from finance to health and pharmaceuticals to industry – and a number are successful entrepreneurs. Some participants have spent their entire career in different aspects of the digital economy.

Participants in the GEMBA choose either the European track or the Americas track. Both tracks begin and end in Barcelona, and they converge in New York, Shanghai and Silicon Valley over the course of the program. In between, participants in the Americas track gather for modules in New York, while the European track returns to Barcelona. Participants also choose two immersive electives to complete their global learning experience.

The program features an innovative blended format, combining on-campus experiences with online learning.

The GEMBA program also has a revamped website that is more user-friendly and contains extensive information on everything this unique program entails.

How can business contribute to the global sustainability agenda?

IESE’s annual Doing Good Doing Well conference, organized by MBA students. was held on the Barcelona campus recently. This year’s conference centered around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a sweeping set of 17 targets to improve the lives of people around the globe. Most of the goals, which took effect in 2016, are meant to be met by 2030.

The conference, which featured international panels as well as keynote speakers, looked at fulfilling the UN goals and promoting sustainability from a multitude of angles, from social impact investing to using design for social impact to building sustainable cities to empowering social entrepreneurs.

Here are some of the takeaways from the conference:

The big agenda matters. One of the virtues of the UN’s goals is that they establish a comprehensive global agenda on sustainability that 193 member states have signed on to. While progress so far may have been uneven, at least the end goals have been identified. That’s a big step. "For the first time the governments of the world have agreed to become accountable," said Marcos Neto, director of the UNDP’s Istanbul International Center for Private Sector. "The SDGs provide us with a common language."

But so do smaller ones. Whether it’s forgoing buying a car, or choosing a sustainably developed product, or investing in a social impact fund, the speakers stressed that we can all make sustainability a priority – and an increasing number of people are. Iker Marcaide of Zubi Labs began an ambitious sustainable development project in Valencia after looking for a school for his children – and ultimately deciding to found one. That led to buying land around the site of the new school and building a community around that.

The public and private sectors must work together. UN estimates put the cost of meeting the SDGs at $5-7 trillion every year over 15 years. Governments will be unable to handle all the costs of that single-handedly, so the private sector must play a role. Sonal Shah, founding executive director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University, stressed how public and private organizations must learn to speak each other’s language, since solving the world’s problems requires both sides working together.

Sustainability makes business sense. The UN’s Neto estimated that there is $12 trillion a year in business value to be created by 2030. Working towards the SDGs helps generate new revenue – though it may not produce the sort of short-term profits sometimes demanded by stock markets.

For a company like global brewer AB InBev, which has pledged to use 100% renewable electricity by 2025, the imperative is clear. "Water is our biggest ingredient. It’s incredibly important. We need to do our part," said Tony Miliken, global chief procurement and sustainability officer. That means looking at ways to change its operations, its supply chain and its consumers’ habits. The company has a range of projects, from working with farmers in the developing world to lower water usage, to developing windfarms in Mexico, to switching to hydrogen-fueled electric trucks.

Social impact investing is still developing. Investment funds that focus on sustainability are a growing asset class, but there is still much to be done. Many estimates currently put the funds available for investing at more than the projects that would qualify. Metrics is also an issue. While there are many methodologies for measuring financial returns on traditional investments, "In impact measurement, it really is quite a challenge," said Amelia Martinez of lender Prodigy Finance.

Are we making progress on the path to gender equality, in terms of lowering barriers to opportunities and ensuring just treatment? Yes, says recent research by IESE faculty, which tackles the gender pay gap, women in leadership, and work-family conciliation.

But there is still much work to be done. To mark International Women's Day on March 8, here’s a round-up of recent research that analyzes problems to get at solutions. Three of the biggest research themes of the year are (1) the gender pay gap, (2) the underrepresentation of women in the highest rungs of leadership, and (3) work-family conciliation.

1. The Gender Pay Gap

Currently, global estimates peg the pay gap between men and women at 23%. New research is homing in on some specific causes of that gap and, thus, remedies to narrow it.

Risky Business: Female Executives and the Pay Gap

"Even in the rarified air of corporate boardrooms, women are still earning less than men for the same work," Mireia Giné, professor of financial management, explains.

Focusing on executive pay, Giné and two co-authors found that women receive significantly lower salaries and total compensation compared to men. Salary and compensation gaps were about 7 and 15%, respectively, even after controlling for tenure, job responsibilities and other factors.

C-suite executives don't just receive a salary; their compensation package typically includes equity incentives. These incentives carry potentially greater rewards, but also greater risk. Female executives were found to hold significantly lower equity incentive levels than their male counterparts, suggesting that they show, on average, a greater aversion to risk.

When the study turned its sights to the board of directors, results showed that more female representation resulted in smaller pay gaps. "For a firm with sample average proportion of female board members (9%), the gender pay gap in total compensation is approximately 5% lower than the 21% gap for firms with no females on the board," the authors assert.

In sum, even a single female board member could help level the playing field in terms of pay, the study indicates. Read more

The Inside Scoop on Reducing the Gender Gap

Working in parallel on this topic, using different research tools, Marta Elvira, professor in the both the strategic management and managing people in organizations departments of IESE, and a co-author reach some similar conclusions.

Analyzing data from 167 high-technology manufacturing firms over time, the co-authors found that the presence of female executives in top management positions helps reduce the gender pay gap.

They also found, contrary to some conventional wisdom, female executives are paid better when they are promoted from within, controlling for other variables. When there's more information on female executives' work histories, the gender pay gap is reduced.

It's also noteworthy that this research also found no significant relationship between company profitability and gender, adding to the mounting evidence inconsistent with the so-called "theory of the glass cliff," from which women are metaphorically pushed off in struggling companies in crisis. Read more

2. Underrepresentation of Women on the Highest Rungs of Leadership

So, what’s happening in Spain now? Several studies offer a picture of steady, if slow, progress.

Slow Progress for Women on Spanish Boards

Women's representation on the boards of Spain's 133 listed companies climbed by 15% during 2017. That increase brought the total to 258 female directors, who now occupy just over 19% of 1,347 board seats, says a 2018 study.

While significant ground was gained, the current situation still falls short of the EU's average of 25% and the 30% representation recommended by the Good Governance Code of Spain's National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) for the year 2020.

Homing in the 35 companies tracked by Spain's benchmark IBEX-35 index, and setting aside the remaining 98 listed companies, more progress is seen. In the elite group of 35, there are 106 female directors out of 448 total – that's almost 24%. In the other listed companies, female representation comes to just about 17%.

This study was created under the academic direction of professor Nuria Chinchilla, holder of the Carmina Roca and Rafael-Pich Aguilera Women and Leadership Chair at IESE. Read more

Family Business Focus

Meanwhile, IESE's Chair of Family-Owned Business offers a comparison of family and non-family businesses in Spain. This 2017 study finds family businesses showed slower progress than non-family businesses in increasing women's representation in boards. In 2004, women's representation on the boards of Spain's family businesses came to nearly 7%, while it was only 2% for non-family businesses. Fast forward to 2015 and women made up 15% of the family-business boards and 17% of the non-family-business boards. Read more

3. Promoting Work-Family Balance

Research finds the underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions is related to workplace policies that allow flexibility for work-family conciliation. Specifically:

Management in Spain: Where Are the Women?

For the book Women in Management Worldwide: Signs of Progress, IESE's Mireia Las Heras and co-author Marc Grau identify the main challenges at work in Spain. Two of them are:

1. The Spanish job market is inflexible: it isn't geared towards workers leaving and re-entering the workforce.

2. There is an organizational culture of "presenteeism," where companies value working long hours over flexibility and real productivity.

They conclude: Spain needs to do more to tap into the leadership potential of its highly educated female workforce. Managers should promote better work-family balance – and enjoy its benefits themselves – for a thriving, fair and diverse work environment for all. Read more

Hanging in the Balance: Technology and the Blurring of Work-Family Boundaries

Advice on how to achieve these goals can be found in chapters of the book The Work-Family Balance in Light of Globalization and Technology, edited by professorsLas Heras, Chinchilla and Grau. Collected papers use a range of analytical approaches, with research across eight nations, to show that technology is fundamentally changing the way we spend time at work and with our families worldwide – from entrepreneurs in Ethiopia to managers in Spain.

Much of this new research shows that balance in our globalized age is less about a traditional separation between work and home, and more about a skillful, flexible negotiation of these overlapping domains. Read more

Managers – male and female – play a key role in making this negotiation work. That is the conclusion of another paper by Las Heras et al., just published in 2018. Specifically, this research finds that family-supportive supervisor behavior – i.e., having managers who take steps to help employees achieve a better work-family balance – has a positive impact on motivation at work and "that this relationship holds across cultures." Read more

One in Four Women Feels Forced to Choose Between Career and Motherhood in Spain

Back to the Spanish context, a survey of nearly 8,500 shines a light on some negative consequences when conciliation isn't possible.

According to this 2017 study prepared by Nuria Chinchilla, Esther Jiménez and Marc Grau, three out of four mothers in Spain feel they are discriminated against in the workplace. In addition, half of respondents said they have had fewer children than they wished and more than a quarter have postponed or renounced having children in favor of their careers.

More than half, 57%, say they had to give up a job that was incompatible with being a mother and 53% say motherhood has limited their career development. Twenty% of respondents say they were not allowed to return to their jobs following maternity leave. Read more

Gender Equality Remains Elusive in Spain

Another hard look at the problem comes from another 2017 report by IESE's International Center for Work and Family which found that 87% of men and 86% of women in Spain claim to work in environments which systematically impede equal opportunities. Among the issues is that stubborn gender pay gap, which the study finds is wider for older working generations and shrinks to under 6% for those under 25. Read more

Shrinking or eliminating the gender pay gap, helping with work-family balance, and increasing women's presence in top leadership positions are clearly interrelated issues. Tune in for next year's research to continue measuring the progress made.

With more women than ever in the global workforce, why are there still so few who sit on boards of directors? And what can be done?

As with so many other questions related to gender equality, there are no easy answers. And many of the policies that have been used to strengthen female representation on boards fail to address the fundamental issue of why women are so scarce in the pipeline of talent that feeds into the boardroom.

"There has been progress in some of the dimensions of discrimination and bias," says Prof. Sebastian Reiche. "But it’s not sufficient."

Discouraging Numbers

The numbers speak for themselves. While women account for about half of the workforce, on a global level just under 15% of board members are women, according to a Credit Suisse report. Europe performs significantly better than the international average: women represent 47% of board members in Norway, and 34% in both France and Sweden. In the U.S., about 17% of boards are women.

New research by Prof. Nuria Chinchilla, holder of the Carmina Roca and Rafael-Pich Aguilera Women and Leadership Chair, showed that women's representation on the boards of listed companies in Spain climbed to 19% of total board seats during 2017. While that’s an improvement, "The presence of women on publicly traded Spanish companies falls far short of parity," the report noted.

That’s not to say that things aren’t changing. They are. A decade ago, most boards had single-digit representation of women; many had none at all.

But still progress has been slow. And even as the aggregate numbers for women on boards has inched up, in many countries the number of executive directors – those who hold top positions within the company – has remained stagnant.

This is at a time when occupying a board seat is more crucial than ever. Whereas as in the past boards were mainly focused on governance, they are increasingly taking part in strategy, talent development and relations with shareholders. Many are now eager to be seen as active participants in the life of a company.

What Different Countries are Doing

So what have countries like Norway done? Particularly in Europe, the policy response has been to set quotas, most of which are non-binding, for women. Norway’s is 40%; Spain’s is 30% by the year 2020; the U.K. recommends 25%.

But quota systems are far from perfect, and carry the risk that lesser qualified women will be named to boards to meet the numbers, or that a reduced number of women will serve on multiple boards. Major economies like the U.S., China and Japan have resisted setting fixed numbers.

And the quotas don’t address the underlying issue that women stumble on the path to top leadership. Says Florentina Totth, segment and strategic clients vice president for European operations of Schneider Electric: "Something happens the first time companies start promoting. We lose women. The question is why?"

For Totth and Prof. Reiche, one of the main causes is unconscious bias – the judgments and perceptions we make about people without even being aware of them. Those tend to favor men when it comes to assigning high-profile projects and core responsibilities, to assessing skillsets and to rewarding attitudes at work.

What Companies and Women Can Do

Unconscious biases must be addressed at every stage: from external recruitment processes that exclude details such as name and age, through to internal promotion processes to the highest levels.

And top management must take the lead. Diversity and inclusion can’t be considered as a topic for the occasional human resources training session. Rather, the highest of leaders have to show they are dedicated to this.

Women themselves must make advancement a priority. "You have to dedicate time to this," says Prof. Chinchilla, by networking, by finding a sponsor within the company who truly believes in you, and by finding allies in other women.

Only then can companies move beyond diversity into the sort of inclusion that produces parity in the boardroom. "Diversity in itself is not enough," says Schneider Electric’s Totth. "We need to add inclusion. Inclusion makes diversity work."

While the world is expected to enjoy another year of robust economic health during 2018, the U.S. may begin to show signs of weakness during 2019, despite landmark new tax reforms.

That was the prediction of members of IESE’s U.S. Advisory Council who spoke to MBA students on the Barcelona campus, where they are attending their annual meeting. The council is composed of business and public-sector leaders based in the U.S., and advises and supports the school in its activities there.

The consensus was that 2018 will be a generally positive year for the global economy. But things may get trickier in 2019 – especially in the U.S.

"Global growth is strong and robust" at the moment, said Fritz Folts of 3Edge Asset Management. "But I would think it’s possible that at some time during 2019 the U.S. economy will turn."

Fiscal Plan’s Mixed Impact on Companies

That despite December’s historic tax legislation, aimed at energizing the U.S. economy. The speakers said that while the fiscal overhaul may be prompting many large U.S. corporations to repatriate funds, questions remain on how that money will be spent.

One of the biggest questions is whether companies will use the funds for stock buy-backs – a move which is tempting and generally rewarded by the markets – or whether they will make the sort of long-term capital expenditures that don’t produce immediate returns.

Jay Ireland, president and CEO of GE Africa, noted that having greater flexibility to move capital is a plus, but is unlikely to fundamentally alter the company’s long-term investment strategies. GE’s investments in the U.S. tend to focus on next-generation technologies, while its spending on factories and manufacturing tends to be in the developing world. That won’t change, he said.

What would change the company’s outlook is if protectionist rhetoric in the U.S. and other countries escalates into trade barriers or trade wars. "We’re truly a global company and if we had to depend only on the U.S. market, we wouldn’t have the growth," Ireland said.

Focus on Interest Rates, Regulations

Beyond the fiscal situation, the business leaders are looking at factors such as interest rates, inflation and financial sector regulations. The extended economic expansion of recent years may be nearing the end of its cycle, they say.

Claire Huang, an independent board director and former chief marketing officer at JPMorgan Chase, welcomes a rollback in regulations governing the financial sector. "The great thing that’s happening right now is that some of the regulations that were put into place in the Great Recession are being pulled back," she said. "Now that they’re easing up on the regulatory environment, it’s a huge difference."

But many economists forecast an end to the era of quantitative easing of interest rates. That will have a particular impact on debt-burdened individuals and companies in the U.S., contributing to a potential slowdown in growth.

And even before that, capital markets are likely in for greater volatility this year, after posting month-on-month gains every month of 2017. "In terms of the capital markets there’s going to be volatility going forward as some of that liquidity gets extracted," said Folts.

"Without innovation, we would not have better insurance products. But innovation has to be to the benefit of the consumer."

That’s how Katja Wuertz, a top European Union regulator for the insurance and pensions sector, summarized her Authority’s approach to the technological change sweeping the insurance industry, or "insurtech".

Wuertz, who heads the Consumer Protection Department at the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), was a keynote speaker at IESE's 8th Insurance Industry Meeting, held on the Madrid campus recently. The meeting centered around the new risks the industry is facing.

"We have a balanced view of insurtech, appreciating both the opportunities and possible risk it holds," Wuertz said.

On the upside, big data provides insurance companies with a possibility for greater segmentation of risk and risk management tools, with precise consumer profiles allowing them to tailor their products individually. The use of algorithms can speed up the pay-out process for claims. On top of that, digital technology such as telematics (a "black box") that monitors our driving will hopefully result in lower premiums.

On the downside, some consumers could find access to insurance products hindered or even denied based on sensitive economic data or their DNA-related data. And drivers who fit a "black box" in their car are embedded into an insurer's ecosystem: a competitor would struggle to provide a comparable quote as the telematic data is provided to the insurer providing the policy.

Factoring Human Behavior into Rules

With regards to privacy, EU citizens' data will soon be subject to the GDPR, the EU's rigorous data protection law which comes into force in May. EIOPA welcomes the stricter rules, as there are currently issues around how and for what purposes consumers provide their consent to the use of their data.

Moreover, EIOPA makes sure that its regulatory work takes consumer behavior into account. For example, consumers don’t always read many pages of small print before clicking on "accept terms and conditions", instead relying on rules of thumb. As a result, EIOPA subjects certain draft rules to consumer testing groups, making sure that consumers engage with and understand the documents.

To this end, the EU produced technical advice for regulating key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPS) in 2014. This regulation mandates, for example, that an insurance-based investment product provides a pre-sales document of maximum three pages long. This gives the consumer "a relatively swift way of assessing risk, performance and costs and compare products from different providers, allowing for better-informed decisions," Wuertz explained.

Consistent Union-Wide Protection

Another pillar in EIOPA's defense of the consumer is the Insurance Distribution Directive of 2016, which includes the Product Oversight and Governance (POG) act. "POG is nothing less than a cultural change in our industry," Wuertz said. "There needs to be a top-down approach in the insurance sector, where members of the boards need to take responsibility for the implementation of POG, which is the cradle of all consumer protection in many ways," Wuertz stated. That means that during the entire product cycle, consumers’ best interests must be at the center of decisions.

On the question of next regulatory steps, the insurance industry will be relieved to know that, after some intense years, "the regulatory wave will flatten out," Wuertz said. "The bulk of the big regulatory deliverables have been provided," she assured participants and the session moderator, Prof. Jorge Soley.

To innovate today, companies are increasingly reaching out beyond the borders of their own business sector or industry in search of valuable new knowledge. But doing so presents challenges – which is why the latest IESE Insight is designed to make sure your collaborations are fruitful.

Prof. Africa Ariño, holder of the Joaquim Molins Figueras Chair of Strategic Alliances, guest edits the cover dossier. Writing with Prof. Rafael Andreu, she uses the case of a healthcare alliance to help readers home in on the micro-level capabilities, knowledge pieces, routines and coordination schemes that they can adjust in order to create value at the macro level of an inter-organizational collaboration.

Exploratory innovation is, by nature, uncertain, so you often want a more flexible contract to keep your options open. But the less that things are spelled out, the more likely conflicts will arise. This is when steering committees can step into the breach. Prof. Jeffrey J. Reuer (University of Colorado) and Prof. Shivaram V. Devarakonda (Tilburg University, Netherlands) examine the vital role that joint committees can play in the absence of formal boards of directors.

Another risk of loose collaborations is that vital knowledge might leak out. Again, the more knowledge you exchange, the greater the chances of innovation – but you don’t want to just give your intellectual property away and get outperformed by your partner. For this reason, IESE’s Prof. Solon Moreira recommends the inclusion of a "grant-back clause," which stipulates how licensed knowledge can get used.

Leadership Tips

Elsewhere in the magazine, professors Fabrizio Ferraro, José Miguel Argüelles and Massimo Maoret break down the role of the General Manager, laying out a road map for successful strategy execution and showing the various trade-offs along the way. Their article includes reflections from the well-known GM Federico Minoli, who believes the key to navigating the chaos of strategic execution is to stay focused on your people: "You help someone else grow, you grow yourself."

SAP CEO Bill McDermott echoes this sentiment in his interview: "Being in service to other people is the greatest form of leadership." He talks about the experience of losing an eye: "Vision is not only what you see; vision is what you feel and how you make other people feel." More than intellectual curiosity, he says you need "intellectual adventure," so get up, get out and "go for a ride."

Each magazine features a real-life business case in which executives are invited to share what they would do in that situation. The current magazine discusses a case on YouTube by Prof. Marta Elvira and the next Case Forum is already open, where readers can post comments on Amazon. Both cases can be purchased through IESE Publishing.

To Receive the Magazine

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

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

Read the latest IESE Insight magazine here.

The first time Uber began offering its ride-hailing services in Barcelona more than three years ago, strikes by taxi drivers and legal challenges in courts quickly drove it from the market. Uber has just returned – with a slightly different business model and a very different attitude toward regulators.

"I think the biggest challenge we have ahead is how we can effectively coordinate our business model and regulations," said Juan Galiardo, general manager of Uber Spain, at a recent alumni learning session, "Business Models in the Sharing Economy", held on the Barcelona campus. Galiardo said that, in contrast to its more conflictive attitude in the past, Uber is now committed to working with local regulators.

If the use of collaborative platforms has taken off across Europe, so have concerns about complying with regulatory frameworks, meeting tax obligations, respecting workers’ rights and ensuring fair competition. Some of those concerns have forced companies that have flourished in the U.S. to adjust their ways of doing business to the European reality.

In Uber’s case, it returned to Barcelona in mid-March with a service, UberX, that uses only drivers holding special licenses to transport passengers. Previously, it launched its UberPop service that uses peer-to-peer drivers, essentially allowing potentially anyone to offer rides to passengers.

Another standard-bearer of the sharing economy, Airbnb, has also come under fire in Barcelona, caught up in the debate over unchecked tourism and whether apartments for tourists are pushing up rents, driving long-term residents out and ruining neighborhoods.

"I think that the main thing we are focusing on is making sure we can reach agreements (with local regulators) that recognize this different way of traveling," said Carlos Lascorz, head of business market development for Spain and Portugal at Airbnb. Lascorz noted that Airbnb often encounters a lack of regulations governing home sharing, rather than rules that strictly prohibit it.

Threatened with hefty fines, Airbnb last year reached an agreement with Barcelona city officials to remove listings from its site that don’t have required permits. And in the old quarter of Barcelona, it has adopted a "one host, one home" policy to discourage companies from buying up and listing multiple properties.

Putting Technology to Use for Consumers

Despite their sometimes rocky ride in Barcelona, both companies say they are dedicated to putting technology to use to match consumers with different options for travel and transport, and don’t see themselves as enemies of the traditional players in the market.

"The reality is we don’t see taxis as a competitor at all. Quite the contrary," said Galiardo, noting that Uber’s technology can be used by traditional taxis. Instead, it sees private car owners as its main rivals as it seeks to re-think transportation patterns in cities. "When we think about competitors we think about the paradigm of private car ownership."

"We really believe that we cover and uncovered need," Lascorz said. He said that there are many factors at play in rising rents in urban neighborhoods – among them international investors and apartments that sit empty – so it’s unfair to place the blame solely on companies such as Airbnb. "It’s not correct to say that we’re the ones causing the problem. What we need is to have a much deeper analysis."

Continual Innovation Through New Services

Both companies want to continue to expand their stable of services in Barcelona and elsewhere.

Airbnb is working to attract more business travelers, since its client base at present centers around personal travel. It also plans to become more of a full-service trip platform, offering not just accommodations but also services such as airport pick-up, food delivery to apartments, and travel experiences that go beyond the usual bus tours or guided museum visits.

And even among its accommodation offerings, Airbnb is creating new categories and more refined search options, such as Airbnb Plus, which features higher-end listings. It is also cautiously partnering with boutique hotels that are consistent with its travel philosophy, Lascorz said.

For Uber, innovation involves paying close attention to the consumer. Since many people head to the same places, for example, a new service encourages people to walk a short distance to a main street, and get a shared car that is already in transit. Another innovation is moving beyond people transport to areas such as food delivery.

"We need to constantly innovate," said Uber’s Galiardo. "We’re in a very competitive market."

Fernando Pereira, a long-time professor of accounting and former dean who formed part of the academic fabric of IESE from its earliest days, passed away on March 31 in Barcelona. He was 87.

Prof. Pereira worked alongside Antonio Valero, IESE’s first dean, as the school was being set up in the late 1950s, and his involvement with IESE continued for six decades. He was a professor emeritus in the Accounting and Control Department at the time of his death.

Known for combining the professional rigor of an accountant with the ability to explain complex financial concepts in an accessible way, Prof. Pereira taught generations of students who went on to become business leaders in Spain and beyond. His first book, Accounting for Management, was published in 1970 and re-printed 25 times, selling more than 100,000 copies.

Prof. Pereira served as dean of IESE from 1970 to 1978. Under his watch, IESE established a permanent presence in Madrid, a decision that has proven key to the school’s expansion in five campuses across the globe. He nurtured the relationship between IESE and Harvard Business School, and supported business schools in Argentina and Mexico.

As dean, he showed that leading is a process that begins with knowing how to listen. He was convinced that to lead was to serve – the institutional interests of IESE as well as the interests of the people who worked and studied there. Prof. Pereira believed that people – staff, students and alumni, in IESE’s case – are the heart of companies and organizations.

On receiving in 2016 a special commemoration for years of service, Pereira said, "One of the things that I have most enjoyed over the years is listening to and talking with the people who make up the IESE community (academics, non-academics, and program participants). This has been a source of satisfaction to me, independent of the opinions and convictions that each person may hold. Without hesitation, I describe the relationships I have established over these years as friendly and enriching."

Known for Sense of Humor and Intellectual Curiosity

By his own admission, Prof. Pereira had not expected to go into teaching as he worked toward his PhD in Civil Engineering at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. But he was drawn into the novel project of creating a business school such as IESE, with its unique views toward work and business and its Catholic foundations.

For those close to him, Prof. Pereira was a source of constant good humor and endless intellectual curiosity. He was an inveterate reader, with a particular fondness for early 20^th-century British writers.

"Fernando Pereira was convinced of the value and importance of friendship, based on his knowledge of the classics and on his personal experiences," said Carlos Cavallé, also a former dean. "He knew that true friendship guaranteed Christian virtues such as sincerity, loyalty, solidarity and freedom. For that reason, there are so many people who consider him one of their best friends."

Jordi Canals, former dean and professor, added: "For friends and colleagues, he was a great source of counsel. He knew how to listen, putting himself in the place of the speaker, always understanding each individual. Additionally, Fernando, an extraordinarily kind and good person, knew how to find the right words, with affection and thoroughness, so that the speaker would accept their own responsibility. Many alumni have noted how Fernando helped them at a given moment, in difficult circumstances, dedicating his time, listening and helping them focus better."

Said Dean Franz Heukamp: "I could highlight many of Fernando’s virtues, but I will center on three. In the first place, it has been a privilege for IESE to have a professor and dean with such an enormous intellectual capacity, always at the service of others. In particular, as a professor of accounting and later as dean, he knew how to simplify problems to their essence, making the complex seem easy.

"In second place, Fernando has been a person of exemplary humility, always caring about others, with little regard for himself. Lastly, Fernando has had, and this is possibly his greatest legacy, an extraordinary capacity for connecting with others, exemplified in his approachability. It is amazing to see how many people have anecdotes involving him, which show his proximity. Because of all this, Fernando will accompany us always."

Four Chinese business leaders received the International Friendship Award in recognition of their outstanding contribution to economic and social progress in China and internationally. Spain’s Queen Letizia presented the awards at IESE’s Madrid campus.

The award winners, chosen by a jury of prominent global academic and business figures, are:

• Eric X. Li, founder and managing director of Chengwei Capital
• Lin Liangqi, president of Akzo Nobel China
• Sun Yafang, chairwoman of Huawei
• Celina Chew, president of Bayer Group Greater China

"Without doubt the world should be grateful to the business leaders from China who have led the country’s internationalization though its companies, and today’s prizes are in recognition and acknowledgement of this important work," said Professor Pedro Nueno during the ceremony in Madrid. Nueno was inspired to create the prizes after receiving China’s Friendship Award, the Chinese government’s highest award for foreigners.

The 14-member jury was composed of academic and business leaders, including: Alfredo Pastor, emeritus professor at IESE; Antonio Argandoña, emeritus professor at IESE; Annette Nijs, executive director global initiative at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS); Peter Lorange, honorary president of the Zurich Institute of Business Education; Jerry Wind of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School; and Jan Borgonjon, co-founder of CEIBS; among others.

Spain’s Secretary of State for Education, Professional Training and Universities, Marcial Marín Hellín, also attended the ceremony on the Madrid campus.

Winners Leading Lights in Finance and Industry

The winners have long professional histories in finance and industry in China and abroad.

Eric X. Li is the founder and managing director of Chengwei Capital. He is a member of the council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and a member of the board of Dulwich College International and CEIBS.

Lin Liangqi, president of Akzo Nobel China since 2011, has worked outside of China for more than 25 years, and played an active role in promoting trade relations with Europe.

Sun Yafang joined Huawei in 1989 and has been its president since 1999. Under her leadership, Huawei has become one of the world’s biggest information and communications technology companies.

Celina Chew, president of Bayer Group Greater China, joined Bayer in 1997 and has overseen its expansion in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

IESE has had a presence in China for nearly four decades, and influential business leaders from the region sit on IESE’s International Advisory Board. It participated in the founding of CEIBS in Shanghai, and the alliance between the two helped produce the Global CEO Program for China. There are learning modules and exchange programs in China across the MBA programs, giving students a unique perspective on the fast-changing country.

In addition, a growing number of IESE students and participants are from Asia. Some 25% of MBA students come from Asia, with the biggest intakes from India, China and Japan. Some 34% of PhD candidates are from the region, making it the largest international group in the doctoral program.

In another sign of its growing presence in Asia, IESE has signed an agreement with the newly established Shizenkan University in Tokyo to jointly develop executive education programs in the region.

The agreement was signed by Franz Heukamp, dean of IESE, and Tomo Noda of Shizenkan University at a ceremony in Tokyo.

"I am delighted to announce this special partnership. With the rise of disruptive technologies such as AI, combined with an uncertain global context, innovative ways to develop the next generation of business leaders who can thrive in such a context is a must," Dean Heukamp said.

In line with both schools´ philosophies, programs will be developed with an emphasis on the humanistic aspects of business leadership. The move further establishes IESE´s commitment to Asia, and, in particular, its deepening relations in Japan, where it opened a permanent office in 2013.

Universities Share Holistic Approach to Leadership

Shizenkan University, based in Tokyo´s Nihonbashi district, will open its doors in August 2018. Like IESE, Shizenkan emphasizes the importance of developing leaders who look at more than just the bottom line. The university´s emphasis on whole-person leadership means its programs will combine traditional aspects of management education with training centered around the values, traditions, philosophies and practices of Japan as well as other Asian countries.

"Shizenkan University´s holistic leadership philosophy dovetails nicely with the approach of IESE. At IESE, we have always stressed the importance of business leaders factoring in to the decision-making process what impact a particular action will have on people both inside and outside the company," Dean Heukamp said. "Together we aim to help promote a sustainable, positive relationship between business and the world at large."

Leading executives in Japan – such as Yasuchika Hasegawa, corporate counselor of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company; Seiji Yasubuchi, Visa Japan’s country manager; and Carolina García Gómez, Deputy CEO/Country Manager IKEA Japan – also attended the Tokyo signing.

In addition to supporting the development of executive talent in Japan, through this partnership IESE and Shizenkan aim to build a worldwide platform for dialogue on the future of business education, and how best to shape its future direction.

The two institutions will organize a series of joint conferences and events that bring together leading players within the education world. The first event will take place in June in Barcelona and will re-examine role of business schools in society.