Last week, we at IESE Business School celebrated our 2016 Global Alumni Reunion – GAR, as we call it. I had the honor to serve as Academic Director together with my colleague Professor Núria Mas. It was such a pleasure to welcome 2,500 or so of our 45,000 alumni from all over the world! The […]
“Africa Rising” – Under Question?
“Do you really think Africa is going to take off?” This is a question I often get both from Africans and from people in the West. My answer: “It’s not going to happen tomorrow but I’m convinced it will happen.” At any typical introductory talk about the continent chances are that the speaker will show […]
Time Horizons
I hope you started the new year off on the right foot. At this time, we all think a bit about the passing of time, don’t we? Each day offers 24 hours to each one of us. But we live them with very different attitudes. And it’s important to be aware of these as we […]
Indian-African Relations
These days I’m working on a new case for class teaching. It’s about an Indian start-up in the telecom service sector. It’s one of these “born-global” companies that expand to other countries early in their life. Created in 2010, this start-up operates in seven countries other than India. Out of the seven, five are sub-Saharan […]
Into Africa: Routes to Failure and Success!
When I told a Spanish friend about my engagement with Africa, she said: “I’d love to go there and get them organized!” I thought to myself, “Thank God you’re not going!” My friend’s attitude is the same as that of some MNCs and NGOs: it’s an ethnocentric perspective that doesn’t recognize country differences – not to mention the value of […]