LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The United States is inching back up in world competitiveness, sharing first place with Hong Kong in the IMD business school’s 2011 World Competitiveness Yearbook, easing past Singapore, which in 2010 held first place. The US famously slipped to third place in 2010, losing the top slot it had held for several years.
The Lausanne school published its new report late Tuesday 17 May.
US “rescued” by business world efficiency
IMD included, for the first time, “Government Efficiency Gap” results, noting that US competitiveness overall was “rescued” by its business efficiency: the new measure compares a country’s government and business efficiency to determine whether countries have “the government they deserve.” The gap between US government and business efficiency has been declining since the early 2000s, the report notes.
Switzerland ranks fifth in the report, down from fourth place, with a score of 92.4 compared to the US and Hong Kong, each with 100 points. It was eased out by Sweden in fourth place, which IMD attributes to “the competitiveness of the Nordic model”. Germany gained six places to land in 10th, “thanks to increased exports and a more flexible labor marke”. Qatar, Korea and Turkey continue to become increasingly competitive, says the report.
Switzerland remains strongly competitive, but it slipped in business efficiency with labour availability, social responsibility on the part of business leaders and entrepreneurship seen as weaker than they should be.
Keynote speaker: Liv Arnesen, first woman to cross Antartica. You will hear perspectives from WIN’s founder Kristin Engvig as well as IMD faculty, including Professor Martha Maznevski and Professor Ginka Toegel.
Location: Lausanne, IMD
Link out: http://www.imd.org/calendar/businessforums/Wome…
Date: 10 Mar 2011
Environmental research becomes more visible thanks to new database
Business and environmental education, non-voting “votes” for foreigners, teacher training in int’l education part of the action
Business and the environment: no longer unnatural bedfellows in Switzerland
Geneva and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Researchers worldwide will now be able to connect more easily with Swiss researchers in environmental studies thanks to a new database hosted by the Federal Office for the Environment. The database, officially online as of Monday 8 November, regroups more than 1,000 projects at 10 universities, the two EPFs (polytechnic institutes in Lausanne and Zurich), 7 specialized graduate schools and 30 private and public institutions involved in the field. The publicly available information can be searched by institution, canton or research area (or by key words) in English, French, German and Italian.
Geneva’s Graduate Institute opens new international environmental centre
One of the newcomers to the group is the Graduate Institute’s Centre for International Environmental Studies (CIES) in Geneva, launched 3 November with a packed house at the opening day lecture.
IMD campus in Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – IMD, Switzerland’s premier executive education institution, has launched an online contest challenging people to be open, collaborative and pioneering. The winner will receive a place in IMD’s most popular programme, Orchestrating Winning Performance.
The contest, Go Beyond What You Think Possible, opened 4 October and ends 4 February 2011 and is open to everyone over the age of 18.
Based around IMD’s core values, the contest is designed to build brand awareness. “At IMD we are constantly striving to innovate, to move ahead, and to go beyond what we think is possible in order to maintain our world-class standing,” says IMD President Dominique Turpin.
Source: Economist, September 2010
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The global economic crisis has had some surprising victims. The latest appears to be fulltime European MBA programmes, which have slipped in business school rankings by the Economist, with schools in the US rising significantly.
IMD in Lausanne fell from second to sixth place and IESE at the University of Navarra in Spain from first to fifth place as US business schools elbowed them out of the top slots.
Another way of looking at this, according to the UK-based news weekly, is that “the clear winners in this year’s ranking have been North American schools. It is not just that they occupy seven of the top ten places, including the top four slots: Chicago (Booth), Dartmouth (Tuck), California at Berkeley (Haas) and Harvard. It can be found further down our table, where middle-ranking American schools have leapfrogged their European counterparts.”
Janet Shaner, MBA Program design and delivery director at IMD puts the changes, which the Economist describes as the “wildest swings” in the nine-year history of the rankings, into perspective.
“The IMD MBA programme remains number two in Europe and is in the top six worldwide,” she notes. IMD is in the top 10 worldwide in several categories measured by the Economist:
2 Student assessment of career services
5 Post MBA Salary
5 Number in jobs 3 months after graduation
10 Opening new career opportunities
10 Student assessment of alumni network.”
The Economist‘s attributes the shakeup to “the difficult job market.
Usain Bolt in Lausanne, at IMD
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The crowd is packing out the Pontaise stadium in Lausanne on a warm and sunny Thursday evening, 8 July, with the temperature just over 30C. The athletes are warming up for the third Diamond League athletics event of the 2010 season. There are plenty of big name athletes here, but one of them, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, dwarfs the rest, just as the man himself is a physical giant in most crowds.
Bolt stands out for another reason in the hours and minutes before the race begins: the charismatic Olympic champion prefers to warm up by relaxing, joking, “messin’ around.” His success has encouraged other athletes to believe it makes sense to relax more and to take time to talk to each other. His agent, Norman Pearts, says that eight years ago, the athletes were all in their corners, wound tightly, with no one speaking. Today, he says in amazement, you sometimes see small groups of them doing relaxation moves to shake out the nerves. Thank you, Mr Bolt, for helping that come about.
Bolt charmed a crowd of nearly 400 business and sports fans Tuesday evening , when he fielded questions from a professor at IMD business school, a sports psychologist and after 45 minutes, from the crowd. The theme was how to sustain success, a topic some might say the athlete, who turns 24 in September, isn’t yet old enough to know much about. But he won the crowd over with his clear views on running, winning, and life in general. It’s clear that two world records and an Olympics title don’t unnerve him or worry him.
Sports psychologist Mattia Piffaretti asked Bolt why, when other athletes try to isolate themselves before a race as part of their relaxation strategy, he does the opposite.
“If you think, I got to get this right or that right, you start over-thinking,” says Bolt. In the call room during the 20 minutes or so before a race, a space where even coaches and agents are not allowed to go and the tension is palpable, he prefers to joke and sing songs.
“Eleven months of training just goes if you’re not mentally fit,” he says. “One of my strengths is that I’m always focused. When I go out there I just try to relax and I don’t worry too much. I already know in my mind what I got to do.” It’s like a test at school, “where you already learned it.”
Taking a relaxed approach and relying on his training to come through at the right time lets him enjoy the crowd, and Bolt says that’s one of the reasons he races. “I like the energy of the crowd. For me, I look at it as a performance, not just a competition.” He loves the tracks in Lausanne and Zurich, he says, with their gentler corners that are easier on his long back. But he also loves the Swiss cities’ crowds.
His agent, Norman Peart, says we shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this means Bolt isn’t competitive, far from it. “He’s just naturally really competitive. Any game we play, he just has to win. He can’t be a spectator.” Bolt laughs and agrees. “I watch my friends racing and I think, I want to be out there. I want to be running.”
He’s been forced to be a spectator in recent weeks, taking time off due to an Achilles tendon injury. The Lausanne race is his first time back on the track.
He comes back to the importance of training, saying that “It’s really hard, but if you want to be the best, you have to do it. Maybe you’re watching TV, it’s late, and you don’t want to do 50 pushups! But you do it.”
He doesn’t believe he’s unbeatable, but he says training helps him to know he’s good, and then he reminds himself that he can be beaten, so the fear of losing doesn’t cripple him.
John Weeks, professor at IMD who was part of the team asking questions, noted after the event that Bolt offers all of us an important lesson on “identifying your strengths and building them, not your weaknesses.”
“I want to be a legend,” Bolt says matter-of-factly.
What comes across is not so much ego as a sense that the world needs legends, that kids and adults alike need someone to inspire them to do their best. Little kids are always telling him they want to be like him, “and I say hey, you don’t have to be like me!” Be you, he encourages them, but your best possible you.
“You always have to listen to everybody, even little kids, because maybe there’s something you can learn from them. You got to tell yourself you can be beaten.”
And when it’s time to run, “Then you just do it.”
Life off the track
Bolt also talked about the importance of his family, saying he learned discipline and respect from his parents, and the importance of always giving back. He answered questions about his diet with a hearty laugh, saying he eats what he wants. His coach tried to get him to follow a diet but that lasted about three weeks and now, if he wants a Burger King, he gets one. Religion? It’s there, a little more so after a car crash in 2009 made him reflect on why he was lucky enough to escape unscathed.
Usain Bolt’s charity run in Nyon
Sponsor Hublot donated $100,000 to Usain Bolt’s recently created foundation to help educate children, when 10 children each outran Bolt during a mini-race at the Hublot head office in Nyon Tuesday 6 July.
Links to other sites:
Athletissima, IMD video interview with Usain Bolt (YouTube), IAAF on Bolt’s Lausanne race
IMD in Lausanne hosts Bolt Tuesday evening to talk about principles of sustained success
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - Usain Bolt will run the 100 metre race Thursday 8 July at Athletissima, rather than the 200m, the event organizer has announced. Bolt, three-time holder of the world record and Olympic champion in the 200, is still recovering from an inflammation of his left Achilles tendon. The 100m takes place at 20:48.
Bolt is already in town and will be the centre of attention at an event with a couple hundred people Tuesday night at IMD, the Lausanne business school where he will talk about the principles of sustained success. Bolt and his manager Norman Peart will be interviewed by Marc Maury, Mattia Piffaretti, and John Weeks from IMD’s faculty, with questions from the audience.
Related link: “Are you achieving your full potential?” by John Weeks, professor at IMD, about Usain Bolt, with a list of 10 tips for sustained success, July 2010
Dominique Turpin, interim president, IMD in Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – IMD, one of the world’s top business schools, announced Friday 2 July that it has a new interim president, Dominique Turpin, effective immediately.
Former President John Wells handed in his resignation last week, after a little over two years at the helm. The decision was reportedly his own, but no reasons have been provided. An “oversight team” from the executive committee, chaired by Peter Wuffli, will work closely with Turpin, IMD says.
Turpin, who is the school’s Dentsu Professor, is an expert on marketing and strategy and he has been a prominent member of IMD’s faculty since 1988, directing some of IMD’s most prestigious programmes, including its MBA and Executive Development programmes.
He led the launch of programmes in Singapore and Brazil and has run several customized programmes around the world, including a number in China and Japan.
Turpin, who is French, received a master’s degree from Essca in France and a doctoral degree in economics from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. He speaks English, French, Spanish and Japanese.
IMD’s press release announcing the change notes that:
To watch or not to watch, that is the question
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One of the summer’s hottest debates could take place in the office: to let or not let the staff watch the World Cup football matches. Two IMD buiness school research fellows in Lausanne offer some pros and cons in IMD’s latest online debate. Karsten Jonsen says yes, great idea, arguing that a sense of “belonging” is important for individuals and companies can help foster this.
“It is important in office environments that people are able to make social connections and “bond” outside their normal work tasks. This helps build trust in a team, which can lead to smoother and more effective collaboration and higher job satisfaction. Social events like the World Cup bring people together and help augment the team spirit within the organization.”
On the other hand, says Willem Smit, “Allowing people to take time out to watch football during working hours is simply too costly, untimely and unfair.” He calculates that lost work time during the tournament will come to at least $10 million and possibly as much as $20m. And why stop at football, he asks. Why not be fair to those who are not big football fans and let them watch Roland Garros tennis or Wimbledon?
Ed. note: IMD’s Great Debate page allows you to comment and join in the debate.
Report adds new “debt stress test”
Stephane Garelli, IMD, who leads the report team
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – IMD’s annual competitiveness report on countries highlights shifts in the past year, with some Asian countries looking stronger, the US slipping, China leading the emerging economies and Germany leading the traditional ones.
Switzerland remained in fourth place, having weather the global economic crisis better than most European countries due to a strong combination of the “labour market, fiscal policy, education and innovation capacity.” The report notes, however, that “business executives believe that its image abroad was tarnished and the risk factor in the financial system was magnified.”
A new feature in 2010 is a “debt stress test” that focuses attention on the government debt crisis that is not likely to disappear soon. IMD notes, in a press release on the report, that “budget deficits are soaring and it is estimated that the average debt of the G20 nations, for example, will climb from 76 percent of their combined GDP in 2007 to 106 percent in 2010. Although the ‘great recession’ is over, the consequences of the crisis will continue to be felt for quite some time.”
The US slipped in the rankings but in fact the first three places were virtually a tie, with Hong Kong and Singapore just nudging ahead. Two other Asian nations that showed strong improvements in 2009, however, were Malaysia and Taiwan.
The top 10 (last year’s ranking in parentheses):
- 100 points – (3) SINGAPORE
- 99.357 – (2) HONG KONG
- 99.091 – (1) USA
- 96.126 – (4) SWITZERLAND
- 92.172 – (7) AUSTRALIA
- 90.893 – (6) SWEDEN
- 90.459 – (8) CANADA
- 90.441 – (23) TAIWAN
- 89.987 – (11) NORWAY
- 87.228 – (18) MALAYSIA
Jim Pulcrano, IMD executive director
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Financial Times has published its latest rankings for European executive education programmes and IMD in Lausanne remains high on its lists: third overall in executive education. which means IMD is ranked first in executive education outside the US and second worldwide in the newspaper’s average rankings from 2008-2010. For 2010 IMD currently ranks fifth for customized progammes (third in Europe) and third for open enrollment (second in Europe).
The news comes as something of a relief, after a difficult period.
Jim Pulcrano, IMD executive director, recalls the past year: “The economic crises of 2009 was every bit as bad as we thought at the beginning of the year, and thank God we took the measures that we did. We were able to turn a small profit thanks to the cost-cutting and reorganization that was started in March 2009, and thanks to a lot of hard work by many unsung heroes at IMD. The business that came in was twice to three times as hard to get, and the demands of participants were higher, but we delivered, and feel good about 2010.”
All programmes were hurt by the economic downturn
“The crises hit both our open and custom programmes,” says Pulcrano. “Custom programmes are big-ticket items, and also high-profile within companies, so as companies tried to ride out the downturn many of these were cancelled.
For open programmes it was a case of individuals often not wanting to be away from their desks during a time of crises.
The school is generally pleased with the rankings, says Pulcrano, saying they solidify IMD’s position as among the best in the world. “But good can always be done better. We ranked first in the world in the international mix of participants, and we were third on faculty diversity, but hopefully everyone would expect that from IMD.
“We still need to make more effort in our post-programme work with participants and companies, so that they get as much learning and impact as possible from their interactions with us on campus. With this, and all of our improvements efforts, I believe our efforts with NPS (Net Promoter Scores) will help us immensely.”
The AISTS is housed on the EPFL campus in Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Lausanne’s role as the world’s sports management capital is about to be strengthened by a new programme that will kick off in 2011: an executive MBA in sports management and technology for established sports industry professionals. The course is offered by the AISTS, the International Academy of Sports Science and Technology, which was set up in 2000 and which in 10 years has become a top education and research centre in sports.
The AISTS already has a master’s programme in sports administration and technology for people starting out in sports management and it has for some time offered continuing education seminars.
Open enrollment programme also open to managers not on the MBA course
The school will also offer an open enrollment executive programme, starting in January 2011, available to people in the new MBA programme as well as to anyone who participates in individual programmes for continuing education purposes. Two-, four- and five-day course offerings cover the following: finance and accounting; supply-chain and management; decision support systems; project management; sports business management and strategy I and II; leadership and human dynamics; inside the Olympic Capital; sports innovation and technology; management of law in sport organizations; the sociology of sport; information, communications, technology; health and sport; sports marketing sponsorship, and communications I and II, anti-doping and genetics, women’s sport management and leadership, and a sport event lifecycle diploma that coves several topics.
The cost will be CHF3,500 to 6,000 for individual courses. Participants who complete more than two courses will receive a certificate in sports administration and technology. People who complete more than six will receive a diploma in sport administration and technology. The executive MBA, diplomas and certificates are signed by the AISTS, the EPFL and additional AISTS founding academic institutions.
The AISTS, an unusual joint creation by top universities, government, sports groups
The AISTS’s credibility comes in part from its unusual background. It was created as a cooperative effort among the top universities in the Lake Geneva region, government and sports bodies: the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the University of Geneva, the University of Lausanne, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP), IMD Business School, the City of Lausanne, and Canton of Vaud.
It’s located on the campus of EPFL in Lausanne and offers a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates management, economics, technology, medicine, biology, law, logistics, sociology, sustainability and ethics into the study of sport.
How the MBA will work
MBA candidates will complete 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits comprised of in-class lectures and workshops, plus a personal project/thesis over a period of two to three years. Some classes and courses will be held during the week, while others will be on evenings and weekends to accommodate work schedules.
Details for the MBA programme:
- the executive MBA will begin in 2011
- the application deadline is October 31, 2010 with the first course commencing in February 2011
- total cost of the 2011 MBA is CHF 31,000. Additional costs associated with transportation to lectures and any necessary accommodation are the responsibility of the participant
- further information regarding application requirements will be available this summer at www.aists.org.
For more information: contact AISTS at info@aists.org or by phone +41 21 693 8593.
Taking a bite out of Swiss bankers' bonuses
Taking a bite out of Swiss bankers' bonuses
Credit Suisse cuts bonuses to pay UK tax, UBS told by Finma to reduce payout
Migros takes in former big bank clients
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s two largest banks will be paying out bonuses, but the amounts are shrinking. Credit Suisse, has told several media 19 January that its overall bonus pool will shrink by 5 percent as it reduces payouts to senior managers to cover the new UK bank tax. The UK has announced it will levy a 50 percent tax on bonuses over £25,000, a one-time charge. Some 400 senior managers in the UK will have their bonuses cut up to 30 percent, Bloomberg reports.
Switzerland: still afloat, not quite plain sailing
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s solid base will stand it in relatively good stead in coming months, helping it resist the global economic crisis.
The country can expect only “soft growth” in the next few years, however, according to the World Competitiveness Report published 20 May by business school IMD in Lausanne (Ed. note: GL story on overall report).
The country held its fourth place slot in the rankings and did relatively well, landing in sixth place in the report’s new “Stress test for competitiveness,” rankings, based on future-oriented analyses. “Compared with many other countries, the fundamental economic, political and financial pillars of Switzerland show a remarkable stability.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The authors of the 2009 World Competitiveness Report are the first to say it: “Recessions do not respect calendar years!” Economies remained strong for the first half of 2008, then began their tailspins. As a result, the US remains number one in the annual survey published by IMD business school in Lausanne, there were few changes in the top 10. Singapore moved from second into third place, swapping positions with Hong Kong, and Switzerland remained in fourth place.
Corey Billington, IMD
John R Wells, IMD
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Companies will need to focus on efficiency and minimizing lost profits while ensuring that they don’t forget their role as global citizens, says John R Wells, president of IMD. “In light of the current economic situation, sustainability is more important than ever,” and companies have to juggle social, environmental and economic considerations with sustainable performance in order to contribute to long-term prosperity.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thomas Vollmann, 72, who taught manufacturing management at busines school IMD in Lausanne, has died, in Lausanne. He became a professor emeritus in 2001 but continued to be active in research and in 2008 co-authored the book The Power of Two with fellow professor Carlos Cordon.
Jim Pulcrano, IMD
The great divide between the corporate and NGO worlds (non-governmental organizations) closed a bit 3 February when Lausanne’s business school, IMD, pulled together executives from the two groups, whose paths don’t often cross. They met for a three-day summit on responsible leadership where they were told by John R Wells, IMD’s new president, “Now is the time to re-double our efforts and put responsible leadership to the front and centre.”
John Well’s speech on responsible leadership
IMD has moved it to the centre of its agenda for executive training, but not just in response to the current economic crisis, Jim Pulcrano, executive director at IMD says. The school is determined “to have a real and positive impact on society through rewarding relationships.”
Photo, IMD on flickr: Responsible leadership summit
The summit was a great success, Pulcrano last week told a group from the American International Club of Geneva. “The mix of people was pretty good – and there was a lot of mixing.”
After the Lausanne summit IMD will set up a series of summits in Asia, the Gulf and the Americas, a move designed to ensure that it listens to stakeholders in different parts of the world.
The summit series is linked to IMD’s continuing growth from a Euro-centric to an international business school, Pulcrano says, a change that gathered speed perhaps 10 years ago and that has been made easier, somewhat ironically, because the school is unfettered by having other campuses or a main sponsor. No one company dominates the student body, with 3% the maximum. “We’re independent. We get no subsidiaries from the government.” Despite its relatively small size, with 56 fulltime professors, IMD was named number one in the world by the Economist for its MBA rankings.
Business schools mean MBA programmes to many minds, Pulcrano notes, but at IMD the MBAs are only 5% of the student population. The rest is a mix of executive education programmes, 40% open enrollment, 40% programmes tailored for partner companies and 15% what IMD calls its corporate learning network. The companies it works with are located around the world.
The school is well placed, therefore, Pulcrano notes, to work with the world’s top executives to focus more on developing responsible leadership.
At the summit, Wells, who stepped into his job 1 April 2008, upon Peter Lorange’s retirement, expanded on the phrase. “Getting results the right way means treating people and institutions fairly, taking the long view. Remember that business is a multi-round game. Fairness builds trust and loyalty which is key to good business. It means being honest: don’t steal from your firm’s long term assets to create the impression of short term profits that are not there.
“It means taking a broader view of the impact of a firm’s choices on local communities, society and the environment. And it means looking for investment opportunities to help solve critical issues such as the poor-rich divide, bringing the power of enlightened self-interest to bear on some of the world’s toughest problems.”
Patsy Allen, president of ESCA, talks to AICG members about the cancer association's work
Ed. note: Jim Pulcrano addressed the American International Club of Geneva 6 February. At the lunch where he spoke AICG’s president, John Silver, announced that the club’s 2009 charity recipient is the English Speaking Cancer Association.
Title: Financial crisis: what now? what next?
Location: Geneva, Hotel Bristol
Link out: Click here
Description: GWIT panel discussion: Anne Hornung Soukup, founding partner, Axia Investments;
panelists:
Yolanta da Cacqueray, VP corporate finance, Firmenich;
Arturo Bris, finance professor, IMD; James Poole, Blackden Financial
Start Time: 18:15
Date: 10 Nov 2008
Geneva, Switzerland
(GenevaLunch) – “Speed is the key dimension,” Peter Lorange, president of Lausanne’s IMD business school told a group of executives in Geneva Thursday. “Size isn’t what it used to be. When you see value destroyed, [lack of] speed is often the culprit.” Lorange was talking Thursday to the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce about how technology has rendered large headquarters a thing of the past. Large companies today often suffer from sluggishness, an inability to move quickly, he noted.
Lorange, who retires in a year from the position he has held
