“I have a doctorate degree in Pharmacy (Pharm.D) and I am a current IMBA student with over 6 years of experience within the healthcare and media industries in the Middle East as a medical consultant, project manager and executive producer for health media projects. I am also a current member of the Wharton Global Consulting Practicum here at IE.

In general, the WGCP is a consulting project in which 10 MBA students (5 IMBA students from IE and 5 executive MBA students from Wharton, USA) work together on a real life problem – the market entry strategy for a Spanish client into the US market, keeping in mind that companies and sectors change every year.

This year’s project is about the biotechnology sector and involves 2 Spanish biotech companies that already have different products in Spanish and European markets;  the goal as stated previously is to help them develop a strategy to enter the US market.

From my experience at this point, the WGCP creates a very challenging and competitive environment in which all team members have to dedicate a big chunk of their time to work on deliverables, market research, interviews with KOL’s among others in addition to the heavy workload of the IMBA here at IE.

However, it is an excellent experience based on its “hands on” nature which gives all participants the chance to work with a real client and apply all the lessons learned during their MBA.

In addition, working with 4 other male members which are each from a different country and a different background in my particular case, has been a great learning experience personally and professionally. Working under stress, during holidays, and for long hours made us not only stronger in facing challenges and difficulties but also taught us how to manage stress and learn from each other efficiently. The WGCP experience made us great friends; which might also be due to the fact that I mostly end up cooking for everybody. In any way, I feel very lucky to be able to work with excellent and highly experienced people, students, faculties and staff of both schools that are driven by visions that will pave the way towards the future.

In sum, the WGCP is a prestigious and great networking opportunity that allows participants to connect with people from different sectors and different positions, to travel and experience new places, to learn about a totally new area and industry and, most importantly, to see the big picture of any project or situation. Simply put, it’s an experience that opens the mind and expands ideas!”

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07:45am: Alarm rings; I wake up and get into the shower. Like always, I quickly check my email for updates; last night some team members stayed up late to make the latest changes to our marketing project.

08:40am: After a quick breakfast, I’m off to school with my Indian flatmate, Syd. He tells me about what is going on in his section. But he’s in a hurry for his marketing class, as the professor “lets” people that come in late sing a song.

09:00am: After trying to catch up on some sleep 5 min before class, the first class starts: Strategy by Manuel Becerra. Today, we see a case of Pepsi; how they successfully reorganized their company to focus less on their competitors and ‘hero culture’ and more on formal processes and their customers.

10:20am: Break to take my coffee with classmates on campus – the sun is out. We chat about the Atlético game, as they won the Europe League. We watched the match with some friends in a bar in Malasaña – the more recreational area of Madrid, where things loosen up more (especially at night).

11:00am: 1 hour of group work. As usual, we discuss the paper and presentation for marketing which are due tomorrow, and plan our approaches for the other papers that are due in the coming week. Planning ahead is key looking at such a busy schedule.

12:00am: Financial Management Class. On the basis of another case, we talk about investment decisions and how to evaluate those through cash flow analysis.

13:30pm: Last class of the day: Cost Accounting. Not the most sexy one, for some people, but today it’s an important, as we talk about different costing systems and their effects on managerial decisions. For example, when using an absorption costing system, managers are incentivized to increase production even without market demand, just to increase revenues and consequently their bonuses; interesting to know. Starting to get hungry!

14:50pm: Lunch and another group meeting. As 3 of us finalize marketing, the others start already with planning phase for 2 other projects: a paper and presentation for Operations Management, in which we will analyze a real life case of waiting times at a hotel reception desk in Dubai, and a paper for Creative Management Thinking, in which we analyze the effects of the rise in the price of oil on the global economy, assuming that this would have a net positive impact. I also send out the invitations for the Start-up Day we are organizing with the Entrepreneurship Club on Thursday. Of course, we would all like to participate equally in all projects but sometimes delegating tasks keeping in mind the strengths of each and every team member is the way to go to be most efficient.

21:00pm: Still at the library. I had time to prepare for tomorrow’s class of Cost Accounting (read the case and theory) and worked on the paper for Creative Management Thinking, which I ended up doing by myself to free up time and hands for other projects.

22:00pm: Dinner at home. Usually I like to go out to eat as Madrid offers great cuisines, but sometimes there is no time; and as I like to keep a healthy diet there is no other option than to cook.

22:45pm: I make some last adjustments to the group marketing report and presentation and agree to meet with the group tomorrow morning before class to practice their presentation. This time, I’m not presenting; but we all do many times to get the chance to improve our public speaking and presentation abilities.

23:30pm: Chatting with my flatmates Syd and Albert, who’s from California. He is in the Spanish track and has the additional challenge to study in Spanish. By now (5 months into the program) however, he is truly fluent.

Before going to bed: I usually prefer to spend the last moments of the day watching a movie – to relax; but not today. Tomorrow for sure, I will go for a run. Let’s master these hectic times!

About.me is a free service that allows the creation of very aesthetic one-page website about persons and their interests. Users are able to upload a photo, write a short bio and add their favourite social networks to show the world the picture of them.

These dynamic launch pages direct visitors to their content from around the web. It also details how many people see their profile, where they’re coming from, and their interactions with the page.

As the professor David Gracia mentions:
“The web is becoming more and more social and the content is created primarily by the very users. In this context brands cannot choose whether to be or not to be in social networks, they will be there anyway. If you think about yourself as a brand the same principle applies. The question is not IF you want to be in the Internet but HOW you want to be there. In this course, students can learn how to manage both their personal and professional identity in social networks in order to build a digital identity that is aligned with the image they want to convey about themselves.”

Some examples of the students could be found here:
http://aboutme2012.wikispaces.com/

In the upcoming seminar series in South East Asia (dates below), we will highlight certain social media and the way you should use them in your job search. We will show you how IE supports its students and alumni in the digital identity building and how to manage it wisely for the next step of your professional development.

Are you ready for the future?

IE Impact Weekend 

Created by IE Business School and IE Venture Lab, along with strategic partners such as the IE Net Impact Club and iWeekend, the Impact Weekend experience will take place in Madrid from 20th to 22nd April 2012.

How does it work?

After an open idea submission period, which will end on April 11^th for IE students, everything will start with a Pitch Your PeersSession on Friday evening. During this session a short list of 10 ideas will be presented in front of an audience of judges and Impact Weekend participants. The 5 ideas that will appear most promising will then be handed over to 5 IE students/alumni who will work on each of them on Saturday and Sunday, using innovative and practical methodologies to build scalable ventures that address real-world issues. Cocktails and tapas will make the evenings even sweeter.

The winning team will be announced on Sunday and be provided with a direct entry into the next IE Venture Lab as well as some valuable media attention. The second- and third-place teams will have an opportunity to pitch their ideas at IE Venture Network events.

Thus, submit your idea, learn how to create social impact through business, gain unique networking opportunities and make “social responsibility” two words that should be on everybody´s agenda!

Hi Prateek, thank you for taking the time to share some insights about your IE experience. Please tell us a little bit about yourself before we get started!

Thanks Prateek! And now a question that might be interesting to prospective students; why did you choose IE as your center of excellence?
First of all, it is not a secret that IE is one of the best schools in the world that offers a master program in international management. Besides, I am a firm believer that in management studies, one learns more from one’s classmates than from the professors, and given that diversity is one of IE’s core values, it made my decision to apply to IE fairly easy. In addition, as I am very interested in technology, IE is one of the only schools to my knowledge that offers a specialization in Digital Business which I am about to start in a few days. And last but not least, I applied to IE because of the Venture Lab and the overall entrepreneurial spirit it instills in the students here.

Perfect! Prateek, but what about your actual IE experience? Now that you have completed two of the three core periods, what are the things that stand out during this time?
The one thing that immediately comes to my mind has to do with how classes are being taught here at IE. The case methodology really makes the classes more interesting and interactive while giving one a great variety of practical as well as theoretical knowledge about different sectors in the market. Another thing that stands out is the competition between classmates. Everybody and when I say everybody I mean everybody, is competitive at IE. However, it is a healthy competition because people really grow together, learn from each other and many times help each other with problems. One more reason to do so may be the high workload here, as you simply cannot complete all the tasks by yourself. And this brings me to my next point. Over the last two periods, I really learned how to manage my time and prioritize the things that I had to do. IE offers you many extracurricular activities, such as speeches, workshops, weekly meetings etc.; thus, you really have to learn how to manage your time well if you want to grab as much as you can on the way. And, I think I don’t have to tell you about the Madrid night life; it’s amazing. But I guess the most important thing is truly the diversity in class, on campus and even in Madrid. You can get so many different view points on a topic that you feel like you grow with every class discussion while your global network keeps increasing day in and day out.Prateek, but what about some difficulties you encountered?
As I said, managing your time is crucial at IE, as not only the workload increases exponentially but also your interests in networking and other curricular activities. So managing your life off and on campus was difficult for me in the beginning. But I quickly adapted by giving up things such as “facebooking” to make time for more important things. In addition, working in groups is not a concrete science. It’s more of an art, I guess. Sometimes it was difficult to truly find a common denominator among all the differences in terms of working styles, personalities, skills and schedules. But again, one grows with one’s tasks. We all had to adapt and in the end pulled together. However, I learned that often one has to put the group in front of oneself to get things done – just a little insight here.

Thank you for that Prateek. I am sure it is appreciated. And last but not least, now you have one term left. What do you hope to get out of it?
Well, I am so excited to go on my field trip to San Francisco in May. I am also looking forward to the Digital Business classes. And in the end, I will just try to make most out of it because time flies here at IE; time really flies.

It’s a word that has the power to change the world and can be found throughout history. This time, everything started with the collapse of the debt crises in the US, which led to financial problems for the rest of the world and a tremendous collapse of the global growth. Will the euro break up? Will the US dollar keep its reserve currency role during the upcoming decade? Why is the Japanese Yen weak after the last Bank of Japan intervention?

These are only a few questions on which we will focus during this Virtual Master Class, as its topic will be the foreign exchange market.

Virtual Master Class: Foreign Exchange Market
Date: April 18, 2012
Time: 3pm Madrid time, 9pm Singapore time
Registration: IE Event Page 

About the speaker

The session will be spearheaded by Carlos Gallo, Associate Professor at IE Business School and Head of Head of Total Return & R&D at Invercaixa Gestión S.G.I.I. Professor Gallo’s areas of interest include the evaluation and analysis of risk return relationships, optimal and efficient portfolios construction, fundamental analysis and valuation of companies and other kind of investable assets. He started his career at the Spanish Market for Futures and Options followed by his incorporation as a derivatives expert at HSBC Investment Bank in Madrid. Some years later he joined Invercaixa Gestión, SGIIC, and the financial management firm in which he handled specialist investments in global equity markets as the Japanese, British, Swiss and the euro zone. At present, he manages the total return funds as the Fund Manager, Asset Allocation Team.