Category: Educations Series

Gabriela Galati: a manager in the art world

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Gabriela Galati: a manager in the art world

As I’m about to finish my MBA journey at MIP soon, I wanted to share an interview focused on the Italian cultural scene, where I would like to continue working after graduating. I would like to introduce Gabriela Galati, a very special friend and colleague who came to Italy from Argentina twelve years ago and is currently Director of the Milanese art gallery aA29 Project Room. We had the opportunity to discuss the role of the curator as a manager, the art market in Milan, as well as the impact of digital technologies on the commercialization of artworks.

What is the job of a curator?

The job of the curator varies, depending on where you work. In a contemporary art gallery, the director is usually the one who curates the shows. This means looking for artists for the gallery, as well as working with the artists who already collaborate with the gallery. Curating a solo show means accompanying the artist in the process, deciding which works will be featured and defining the central topic of the exhibition. For a group show, on the other hand, you pick the artists and the works that are most coherent with your idea. In smaller shows and commercial galleries, the independent or invited curator often acts more as an advisor or PR. Being a curator in a museum is very different, as you have to deal a bit more with bureaucracy. Exhibitions usually have bigger budgets and spaces and, in general, more research is involved. A curator in a museum is probably a scholar, who researches and works on a show for a year or even two, depending on the complexity of the exhibition. When you are bringing works from abroad you also deal with permits and shipping. You also write texts, curate catalogues and liaise with other institutions, as well as the press.

What does Milan mean to you?

Now it’s home for me. I really like living and working here and how things work. It’s a great place for managing a gallery and teaching as well. Even though it is a small city, a great share of the main cultural manifestations in Europe and around the world arrive here and it has evolved a lot in the last couple of years. There are many private institutions and patrons like Fondazione Prada and Hangar Bicocca bringing first class international art shows to Milan. However, the main complaint from the galleries since I’ve been here is the fact that there is no real Contemporary Art Museum in Milan. This means that there is no institutional commissioning for buying works of art from a museum, compared to other European capitals. Hopefully, this will change in the future.

Tell me about your work at aA29 Project Room and the role of this gallery in the Italian art scene?

This gallery is relatively new, having been open for only three years. Its role is to promote young and mid-career artists. This is a very good niche to avoid competing with large established galleries, to present young, emerging and experimental talents. Our roster of artists deals with different media and aesthetics. The central topic of their work is socially relevant issues like the environment, biocentric matters or antispecism, for example, according to which the gallery works. Most of our collectors are from the Italian market and some are quite young, actually. We also have medium-specific clients from the Americas who collect photography. Regarding our exhibitions, we are ending this summer season with an exhibition by the Italian artist, Matilde Sambo. In the fall we will have an exhibition by Kyle Thompson from the USA, in January Liu Yi from China and for spring 2020, Ivan Grubanov from Serbia.

What do you think has been the impact of social media and e-commerce on the art market?

Many small galleries that are struggling economically have decided to go virtual. I don’t think it is a bad model, depending on the price range for the commercialized artworks. Personally, I don´t look for artists on Instagram, but I have heard social media channels are becoming popular, especially for younger artists to promote and sell their work. For high price ranges, however, I don’t think it works, as you don’t buy expensive art online. In the visual art market, for example, what happened with music has never transpired. Platforms like Amazon and Yoox have tried selling art but for limited editions or low-priced works. Selling online has not even turned out well for Artsy, which showcases works of art from very important galleries. Nobody spends a million Euros to buy a work of art online unless they already know the work of an artist who is probably on the other side of the world. No-one who really knows how the contemporary art world works is going to put a tag with a price in the gallery or buy a piece of art with a price tag on Instagram. Most people need to see what they want to buy in real life, as they are making an important investment. Shopping for art in a physical space will still be a unique and relevant experience in the future.

Stay tuned for my next chapter, where I will tell you all about my Project Work experience.

 

About the author
 Roberto Niño Betancourt

Roberto is a student of the International full time MBA. He is a Colombian filmmaker and new media artist based in Milan.
He has collaborated as a post producer for MTV Latin America, as well as many European production companies. He is very passionate about international cross-cultural collaborations, craftsmanship and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.

 

 

European Commission appoints top innovation leaders to guide the European Innovation Council

Posted on | by albe@mip.polimi.it | Leave a Comment on European Commission appoints top innovation leaders to guide the European Innovation Council

Europe needs to capitalise on its science and start-ups to compete in global markets increasingly defined by new technologies. That is why the European Commission is introducing a European Innovation Council (EIC) to turn science into new business and accelerate the scale-up of innovative companies. Currently in its pilot phase, the European Innovation Council will become a full-fledged reality from 2021 under the next EU research and innovation programme Horizon Europe with a proposed € 10 billion budget.

Today, the Commission has appointed 22 exceptional innovators from the worlds of entrepreneurship, venture capital, science and technology to the European Innovation Council Advisory Board, which will provide strategic leadership to the EIC. The Board will oversee the roll out of the current pilot and lead the strategy and design of the EIC under Horizon Europe. See the full list here. 

Among them, there is also Roberto Verganti, Professor of Leadership and Innovation at the Politecnico di Milano School of Management.
“In the last 20 years, the dynamics of innovation have changed radically. Today, innovation is fast, entrepreneurial. Models that used to support innovation in the past are not working anymore. 
EIC represents a sharp change in the way innovation is supported in Europe and around the world. EIC focuses on people: that’s the most promising aspect. Innovation makers are those that make the difference, beyond financial and structural resources”, explains Verganti.

The Commission also published today a vacancy notice to recruit the first EIC programme managers. Inspired by the renowned US agency DARPA, the EIC programme managers will be experts in their fields, able to work closely with fast moving technology projects and  open doors to the wider ecosystem. Applications can be sent until the 31 July 2019 at 12.00 CET.

Carlos Moedas, the EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation said: “With the EIC, we are filling a critical funding gap in the innovation ecosystem and putting Europe at the forefront of market creating innovation. I am delighted that the EIC will be advised by some of Europe’s most accomplished innovators and investors, and that we will be bringing in talented programme managers to get the work off the ground.”  

Also today, the Commission announced €149 million for the latest round of 83 SMEs and startups to be awarded EIC Accelerator Pilot grants (previously known as the SME Instrument Phase 2). The SMEs and startups are all developing potential game changing innovations, such as: next generation of safe and environmentally-friendly light aircrafts; anti-bacterial textile for hospitals; 3D audio software; motion planning technology for autonomous driving; and a superbot for audio calls. A list of the companies from 17 countries across the EU and from countries associated to Horizon 2020 is available here.

In addition, the Commission announced €164m to 53 new EIC Pathfinder pilot grants for bottom-up high-risk, high-impact research ideas (previously known as FET Open). Projects include;  metal-free MRI contrast agents; treatment to replace antibiotics in lung infection diseases; custom-crafted graphene nanostructures; precise measuring and monitoring of highly penetrating particles in deep space; artificial proteins for biological light-emitting diodes; and many other ideas. The full list can be found here.

Members of EIC Advisory Board*

  • Mark Ferguson, Entrepreneur, Science Foundation Ireland (Chair)
  • Herman Hauser, Co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners (Vice-chair)
  • Kerstin Bock, CEO of Openers
  • Jo Bury, Managing Director of Flanders Institute of Biotechnology
  • Dermot Diamond, Principal Investigator: INSIGHT Centre for Data Analytics, Dublin City University
  • Laura González Estéfani, Founder and CEO at TheVentureCity
  • Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chair Siemens AG, Chair A P Moller Maersk A/S
  • Ingmar Hoerr, Co-founder and CEO of CureVac
  • Fredrik Horstedt, Vice president of utilisation Chalmers University of Technology
  • Heidi Kakko, Partner of BaltCap Growth Fund
  • Bindi Karia, European Innovation Expert + Advisor, Connector of People and Businesses
  • Anita Krohn Traaseth, Former CEO Innovation Norway
  • Jerzy M. Langer, Physicist, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
  • Ana Maiques, Chief Executive Officer, Neuroelectrics
  • Marja Makarow, Biochemistry/molecular biology, director of Biocenter Finland
  • Valeria Nicolosi, Chair of Nanomaterials and Advanced Microscopy
  • Carlos Oliveira, Serial Entrepreneur, Innovator, Executive President of José Neves Foundation (Farfetch founder)
  • Bruno Sportisse, Chair and CEO at INRIA
  • Kinga Stanislawka, Managing Partner and Founder of Experior Venture Fund
  • Roberto Verganti, Innovation academic, former RISE group
  • Martin Villig, Co-founder of Bolt (formerly Taxify)
  • Yousef Yousef, CEO of LG Sonic

*official membership is subject to finalisation of internal procedures

Background

In June 2018, the Commission proposed the most ambitious Research and Innovation programme yet, Horizon Europe, with a proposed budget of €100 billion for 2021-2027. In March 2019 the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on Horizon Europe. A key novelty of Horizon Europe is the establishment of a European Innovation Council with a proposed budget of €10 billion. An agreement of the European Parliament and Council on the EIC was reached as part of the Common Understanding on Horizon Europe.

 

A first pilot phase of the EIC was launched in October 2017, followed by a reinforced pilot in March 2019, with an overall budget of €3 billion, and the objective of funding Europe’s most exciting innovations of our most talented innovators. The new Advisory Board is part of the reinforced pilot. Members were selected following an open call for expressions of interest, which resulted in over 600 applications.

The European Innovation Council is part of a wider ecosystem that the EU is putting in place to give Europe’s many entrepreneurs every opportunity to become world leading companies. Other initiatives include a Pan-European Venture Capital Funds-of-Funds programme (VentureEU), the Investment Plan for Europe (EFSI), the work of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, the Capital Markets Union Action Plan to improve access to finance or the proposal for a Directive on business insolvency.

 

Silicon Valley Experience

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Silicon Valley Experience

Technology entered my life the day I built my first AM radio together with my father, to look after my baby brother. That was just the beginning and from there on, my interest just grew exponentially. Vacuum tube music amplifiers, machines or any other devices to design, repair or program became my playground, leading to the point at which my passion was converted into discovering and learning new technologies, so into my profession. So you can easily imagine that the opportunity to go where it all started was something I would not let pass by.

I want to start by saying that going on either vacation or even business to the Bay Area will not be assimilated in any way with what The Silicon Valley Experience means. I have been to Silicon Valley repeatedly on business and for holidays, managed relationships with suppliers and customers in this area and even worked with teams in my company which were located in the Bay Area, but what this program provides is nothing comparable.

Let’s begin with the environment. The University of Santa Clara takes you on a journey which, if you have never studied previously in the States, you will find overwhelming. The campus creates the perfect ecosystem for setting your motivation at the highest level. But without any doubt, the best is to come.

As a customer, partner or supplier, I have often asked myself about the mechanisms that drive Silicon Valley. You can read articles, watch videos or spend a reasonable amount of time interacting with Bay Area firms and not figure it out. Here is a case where meeting a selective group of key players in this environment will change your perception forever.

First, you can get the inside story from major Venture Capital investors and hear what makes companies successful, how many who start with such a process carry it through, how each financing round will have its own challenges and will be crucial for achieving the overall goal and, even more importantly, what is the mindset at both ends of the table, entrepreneurs and investors.
Second, reviewing the financial and marketing strategies applied in this unique ecosystem is instructive. This inside information will come from key members of academia and industry, plus there are invaluable contributions such as that by Prof. Hersh Shefrin.

The last part of this journey was completed by visiting some of the most successful companies in Silicon Valley and sharing time with some of their renowned executives. At these visits, I realized another unique factor surrounding the valley, and this is how top executives will spend their valuable time discussing with a group of MBA students rather than focusing on other aspects of their lives ̶ giving back part of their success to society, transferring knowledge to others. During these sessions, they shared their life’s achievements and failures, the process that brought them to this point and the unique socioeconomic factors that allow Silicon Valley to be what it is.

So the message I learned during this journey is clear, as much as you might learn about finance, social economics and investment anywhere else, nothing would be comparable to an experience such as the one provided by the MIP Silicon Valley Experience. As already mentioned, it is extremely hard to find those things that will take you to a higher level, and without any doubt, this program is one of them.

I hope you have enjoyed this article. In the next one, I will focus on how my perception of the day-to-day in a public company changed drastically during my MBA program and will discuss how to increase your value and engagement using all the tools provided during the MBA journey.

 

About the author
 Pedro López Estepa
I am Pedro López Estepa, an International Part-Time MBA student at MIP Politecnico di Milano. I received a Master in Telecommunication Engineering from Granada University in 2010, spending the last year, including the Master Thesis, at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

My career has been focused on high-tech corporations, initially as part of their R&D departments and during the last few years, the focus has been on developing long-term strategic partnerships in different sectors, including IoT, Automotive, Robotics and Medical.

Being part of u-blox strategy team allows me to working with international cross-functional teams inside and outside the organization, key partners, investors and at the same time that contributing to worldwide projects as business opportunities arise.

 

 

MSc Marketing Programs Get a Digital Reboot

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on MSc Marketing Programs Get a Digital Reboot
Neuroscience, artificial intelligence and data analytics are reshaping the work of marketeers (and marketing degrees)

Creativity and innovation have always been at the core of marketing. The function used to depend on one’s talent to dazzle the audience, like Mad Men’s Don Draper. Creativity and innovation are still very important, but are being enhanced by data and technology. Marketing is one of the fastest-changing professions of the 21st century, with neuroscience, artificial intelligence and data analytics reshaping the work.
“Marketers are increasingly expected to make evidence-based and accountable decisions leveraging on vast data generated in the inter-connected world,” says Shan Chen, Director of the International Master in Marketing Management, Omnichannel and Consumer Analytics course at MIP in Milan. The program is one of many that are being given a digital reboot as technology transforms every facet of marketing.
“We continuously innovate and update the program with technological progress,” says Chen. For example, the applications of neuroscience in consumer research have been recently introduced — essentially using brain science to appeal to customers on an emotional level. […]

Career prospects for MSc Marketing grads

Those who have this magic mixture of technological prowess, creativity and ability to innovate, are in high demand among a wide array of employers.[…] MIP’s graduates find career opportunities in three main areas. The first is the in-house marketing department, usually in larger corporations, with responsibilities such as product management, communication and promotion, PR, marketing intelligence, CRM or strategy.

The second is consultancy, which helps clients to analyze the marketing condition, to define strategy, to develop marketing tools, and to make project execution plans. The third is various specialized marketing agencies, such as advertising, digital marketing, design and content production. They execute the respective marketing activities on a daily basis for their clients.

The wide array of career opportunities is reflected in the diversity of the cohorts. At MIP, candidates can come from any discipline, provided they have a proven passion for all aspects of marketing. Cass says participants learn from students from chemistry, physics, fashion design, architecture, engineering, sociology, philosophy and other backgrounds.
Given such impressive career opportunities, it may be competitive to secure a place on a top marketing master’s program. Entry requirements at MIP include a motivation letter, reference letters, university transcripts and a motivational interview, which is all done in English. […]

Smart parking as an efficient customer value proposition for smart drivers

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Smart parking as an efficient customer value proposition for smart drivers

Time goes by so fast! I can’t believe it was 2 years ago when I decided to start this distance learning program at MIP Politecnico di Milano, and today we are nearing the end. Behind the difficulties and challenges faced when working and studying simultaneously, needless to say, I will miss this great experience when it’s over. As Henry Ford said in one of his statements, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. The greatest thing in life is to keep the mind young.”

Now it’s time to connect the dots. The ultimate goal of this study program is to inspire and empower students to think big, even when facing minor customer needs. The final project work is organized as teamwork, requiring us to prepare a genuine business plan for a new business concept or start-up. We were asked to create individual project ideas to be presented at a sales pitch event, in front of all our classmates, with the scope to “sell” the most attractive ideas and thereafter to form working groups, based on individual preferences and backgrounds suitable for each project proposal. I was in doubt as to whether to choose a topic in banking and finance, which is my area of expertise or to get out of my comfort zone. I decided on the second option. I had this opportunity to enlarge my knowledge about the ‘smart city’. Despite being a buzzword, the topic has attracted me a lot recently, because of the wide variety of new opportunities it represents for individuals and businesses.

Increasingly, cities are acting on smart digital information and communication technologies to meet many urban challenges such as the environment, good governance, mobility, prosperity and growing population, by several means of collaborating, innovating, saving, integrating, participating and simplifying. Within this huge field of study, I chose to focus my project work on the smart parking platform, part of the city’s smart mobility. Two other classmates volunteered to join the project and together we are still working on the technicalities to define the most appropriate customer value proposition.

Fast emerging technologies such as GPS, IoT, cloud software, wireless sensor networks, radio frequency identification and digital cameras, combined with the wide use of Smartphones, allow for the development of easy wayfinding applications by generating real-time data on the occupancy of parking places. This data can be used by drivers through a mobile application to easily navigate to the nearest available space. On the other hand, this information might be used by the municipality to further optimize the city’s traffic and parking pricing policies. Designing the right value proposition and generating a new business model that fits with the ecosystem are key success factors for entrepreneurs around the world.
When studying the industry and existing technologies, we came across plenty of innovative projects, systems and applications developed to address this topic, but unfortunately, it seems that most of them have not yet been successfully implemented. It seems that very few drivers can really benefit from smart parking around the world. The reason behind this is the fact that each city is different and develops its own smart city vision to meet specific needs and challenges. San Francisco (SFpark) and Los Angeles (LA Express Park) are reported as being two of the most famous successful stories (Lin, Rivano, Le Mouël 2017).

To make a concrete business proposal, we are studying the city of Tirana, the capital of Albania. Although the reported number of vehicles per inhabitant is the lowest in the region, Tirana has the highest population density per square kilometre or five times the average of the country. As there are no or few direct profits linked to the service of smart parking in available parking spaces, our main focus is to reduce capital investments in the choice of smart parking technologies. The main objective of this project work will be to improve and facilitate the driver’s experience when parking in public spaces by using information gathered by users, with the scope to reduce investment cost. Among other technologies, we are assessing some emerging parking information dissemination systems, such as crowdsensing, peer-to-peer communication, multi-agent systems, parking meter networks, etc.

The new term ‘crowdsensing’ has emerged to present those smart parking applications, which are using crowdsourcing as a tool to gather parking information from Smartphone users. The accuracy of the information will rely on the drivers’ participation. Further, some algorithms like fuzzy logic and time series might be used to predict parking occupancy information based on historical or sample data, to improve the accuracy of information provided to participating users. The capital investment, in this case, is very minimal as there is no need for hardware installations or maintenance. But the challenge is how to motivate drivers and persuade them to participate, to update occupancy details of parking spaces every time they park their vehicle, by designing and proposing the most valuable and efficient value proposition to the city’s smart drivers.

 

About the author
 Elivar Golemi

Elivar Golemi is an Albanian candidate at MIP International Flex EMBA. She is working as an Executive Director in the dairy industry, after a long experience in the banking system. Skilled in Financial Analyses, Risk Management and Internal Audit. Nature lover, passionate photographer and mountain climber.

 

 

What makes us different? The importance of working on our Soft Skills

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on What makes us different? The importance of working on our Soft Skills

Around a couple of years ago, on several occasions, I found myself having to justify to friends, family and co-workers the reasons that were leading me to soon start my International Part-Time MBA at MIP. I believe this is something MBA students often face prior to, during and after completing their course. Why are you spending this amount of time, effort and money on an MBA program?

To be honest, at that time the answer was quite simple ̶ I wanted to increase my knowledge and complement my curriculum. As an engineer who had been working in the same industry since the beginning of my career, I felt that I could benefit from gaining certain competencies in fields such as finance, marketing and business law. What I would find out during my MBA journey was that those reasons, even if important, were not the main value that I would acquire during my time at MIP. In this set of articles, I will reveal the way that I would answer that question today, “Which are the greatest tools with which the International Part-Time MBA at MIP provided me for my personal and professional life?”

Learning theory is important, but most likely it will not make you any different from your peers. With this statement, I do not intend to underrate the importance of the main theoretical courses, but in today’s highly competitive ecosystem of work, it has become more important than ever to explore those skills that will take you to a level above pure theoretical knowledge.

Let’s start from the beginning! Since most of the students work full time, the journey of the International Part-Time MBA is a tricky path on which the amount of time that one can dedicate to a certain task varies over the course of the two years that the program lasts. So in a certain way, it is “easy” to fall into an automaton mode. As unpopular as it might sound, it is a defence mechanism to continue with work and lessons in parallel during certain periods of the program. This is unless you cross paths with Prof. Passerini.

It took me one minute to understand that the course that I would receive over the following two days would be everything except orthodox. I was arriving directly from a business trip to China, so I must admit that I had not reviewed Prof. Passerini’s profile in detail prior to the “Soft Skills” course. During the first break, most of the class members were on their computers reviewing his outstanding curriculum, which will tell you the impact that he had on the audience.

Prof. Passerini is, in my personal view, all that you could wish an MBA professor to be; first, he has an extensive and successful career record, holding several executive roles in firms such as P&G, including CIO and President of the company’s Global Business Services division. Second and even more important, is his great sense of communication and the care he takes over the different topics which are handled during his course. No questions are avoided, deviations are taken as opportunities to explore new learning scenarios and make an audience eager to go further down the learning path.

When an executive with his record explains to you concepts such as Leadership, Contextual Intelligence, Listening and Communication Skills, you know that this is not contained in any book. All this knowledge comes from a lifetime of experience and the willingness to share it and communicate it with others. Coming back to my initial statement, theory can be learned but the skills that you can acquire on a course like this will be what will make you different.

In a personal dimension, Prof. Passerini has coached me for several public speeches that I have faced over recent months. He provided me with feedback in great detail that positively impacted my performance, which, knowing his position, makes me feel extremely lucky and grateful. These are tools that I will need to exercise and which will help me differentiate myself from others. Without my MBA at MIP, this would not have been possible.

The MBA program includes a deep learning phase but I am convinced that it is the experiences such as the one provided by Prof. Passerini, which are those that will impact your professional and personal future in the greatest way.

Following this path of reasoning, my next article will be focused on how the MIP Silicon Valley Experience provided me with a set of insights that will be extremely helpful in my professional future. This is another topic that you will not learn in any book! Hope you enjoy it!

 

About the author
 Pedro López Estepa

I am Pedro López Estepa, an International Part-Time MBA student at MIP Politecnico di Milano. I received a Master in Telecommunication Engineering from Granada University in 2010, spending the last year, including the Master Thesis, at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

My career has been focused on high-tech corporations, initially as part of their R&D departments and during the last few years, the focus has been on developing long-term strategic partnerships in different sectors, including IoT, Automotive, Robotics and Medical.

Being part of u-blox strategy team allows me to working with international cross-functional teams inside and outside the organization, key partners, investors and at the same time that contributing to worldwide projects as business opportunities arise.

 

 

How studying an MBA abroad can change your career

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on How studying an MBA abroad can change your career

Ernesto Ibarra moved thousands of miles, from Mexico to Milan, to pursue an MBA and he hasn’t looked back since

From international trade to business development, Ernesto Ibarra’s career was thriving in his Northern Mexican hometown of Monterrey.
He worked in Mexico for almost four years, doing market data analysis for brands and promoting his region’s manufacturing industry. His earnings were good. With a business and marketing degree under his belt, he was focused on his country’s development and comfortable with his career growth.
However, he soon realized that he wanted more.
In 2009, after turning down an offer to study an MBA in France, he began a 6,000-mile journey across the Atlantic to Italy and MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management (MIP), the same year it joined the rankings of the Financial Times’ best European Business Schools. It’s now ranked 42nd in Europe.
Ernesto says his MBA experience helped him develop into a global business leader.

Settling into a new lifestyle

The most challenging part of Ernesto’s MBA journey was being so far from his family.
While his peers were able to easily catch a train to Rome or Naples for the Christmas holiday, Ernesto initially found it difficult detaching himself from his life in Mexico—there simply wasn’t a budget available for him to travel back and forth.
However, he recounts how attentive MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management was to the international students struggling to settle in, both socially and professionally.
“They know very well, from their experience, what people have more trouble in,” he says. “They really build a very safe and comfortable path for new students to cope.
“They [also] know the landscape in terms of business, companies and connections, to be able to give project work opportunities to the students in the different areas of expertise, or new areas students were trying to move into.”
During the MIP MBA, students are given the chance to work on a full-time project for three months inside one of the official partner companies of the school. Companies include Amazon, Gucci, Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Ferrero Group, and Vodafone.
Ernesto worked as a business consultant at IT firm EnginSoft on a project that used prediction model software to forecast financial KPIs.
He says he developed soft skills during this experience—networking, interaction, and learning about working cultures—which have helped him in his career since graduating.
“In Mexico, most of the business is done between Mexico and the US,” he explains. “It’s a very different way of doing business, so I think this international exposure helped me a lot to interact and work together with people from all over South America, Asia and Europe.”
International students can also attend courses abroad due to MIP’s International Exchange Program. Partner schools include EMLYON Business School in France, MIT Sloan in Boston, USA, IPADE Business School in Mexico, and Beijing University School of Economics and Management in China.

“I wanted to do something that was more drastic”

Ernesto started his MBA during the financial crisis. Finding a post-MBA job was tricky. After his MBA, Ernesto took a bold step, relocating to a city he knew absolutely nothing about: Bangalore, India.
“I wanted to do something that was more drastic,” he recalls. “In that moment, I was very hungry to know more about other places—that was the main motivation.”
Although Ernesto says he now loves India, his year as a marketing and economics lecturer working in Bangalore was the most difficult part of his career journey so far. He recalls having a hard time blending into Indian culture for the first six months, but his experiences at MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management stood him in good stead.
He says his initial move from Mexico to MIP prepared him for working abroad, not only by allowing him to open his mind to professional possibilities he hadn’t previously thought of, but also by teaching him to make assured decisions and remove areas of uncertainty from his life.
“Moving abroad is a huge bet in many ways, especially financially,” he says. “This experience helped me over the years to be more exhaustive in foreseeing anything that can go differently as planned, to have a Plan B and to respond to changes.”
After India, Ernesto moved back to Italy, this time to Rome to work in the mobile entertainment industry. He was then promoted and transferred to Madrid for a few years, before leaving and finally settling in Madrid in 2018 to help launch an influencer marketing agency.
Over the 10 years Ernesto has been away from Monterrey, the main lesson he has taken away is to always have a good understanding of your objectives when studying abroad.
“When you’re best prepared for the outcome, you’re going to have fewer surprises,” he says.

Originally published on

Welcome to our Chinese website!

Posted on | by albe@mip.polimi.it | Leave a Comment on Welcome to our Chinese website!

We are delighted to inform you that from today, the Chinese version of the  School of Management website will be online.

The aim of this website is both to present the School  and to give center stage to the programs especially designed for China.

We think that this represents a further step forward in the international scene for the School of Management, and it improves our visibility in China

Three inspiring films that reflect my MBA journey

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Three inspiring films that reflect my MBA journey

It is time for my listicle article. As I’m a filmmaker, I am going to share with you 3 films that expose different views of the world: just like in the International MBA program at MIP, and also related to some of the courses I have experienced throughout the year. These movies are probably not the best known, but their stories contain valuable business lessons that could come in useful for developing our professional careers.

Margin Call (2011) – Directed by J.C. Chandor – USA
Understanding the implications that led to the 2008 financial crisis can be complex. I discovered this film prior to starting my MBA journey, thanks to my father’s recommendation. The story is set in New York City in 2008. The fictional head of a Wall Street investment bank, John Tuld, is told that the firm is drowning in toxic mortgage-backed securities. Tuld orders his traders to rid the firm’s balance sheet of the junk by dumping it on unsuspecting counterparties and customers in less than 24 hours. Even though he knows his decision will have a negative impact on how his bank will be perceived, he chooses this path to defend his interests and avoid major damage on the firm. Most of the film is about discussing solutions for preventing major damage during an imminent economic crisis at a global scale, due to negligence on behalf of the bank employees at some point in time. Now that the chaos is unfolding, extreme measures are meticulously taken, for the bomb to produce fewer casualties when it explodes. This is a masterclass in human behavior for detecting and preventing risks before it is too late, that is in line with the valuable lessons from the Organizational Behavior and Leadership course.

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) – Directed by Hayao Miyazaki – Japan
This one is for all the family. The mastermind of Japanese anime films takes us to the magical universe of Kiki, a 13-year-old apprentice witch who starts her own business. This film highlights the innovation of flying as a means of improving a service, as well as the creation of a lean-startup venture. Even though Kiki has magical powers, she struggles to find her true calling to be useful to society and differentiate herself from other witches. Her willingness to help others is her secret weapon and she eventually discovers she can cause disruption, by creating a swift delivery service for a bakery, cruising on her broomstick across the skies. Business seems to be going great until Kiki’s magical powers start to fade and she is unable to fly. She will be forced to find the way to restore her powers using her wit and social charm, to save her witch status and her delivery business. During the process, Kiki learns how to price her services and be patient and resourceful when weather conditions disturb her operations. The film is also a metaphor for the continuous transformation of the world as technologies evolve and how we should be prepared to adapt to these changes.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) – Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor – UK/Malawi
This is a Netflix hit, closely related to the Innovation and Sustainability courses. It is based on the true story of William Kamkwamba, a curious teenager from Malawi who is expelled from school because his parents cannot afford to pay the tuition fees. He is forced to work with his father in the fields preparing the crops but a storm floods the country, causing a drought and social unrest. William is fascinated by science and sneaks into his school’s library to read books and try to come up with a solution to end the famine. By using old batteries and materials from the junkyard, he tests his ideas for producing electricity by building a windmill. When he finally completes a working prototype, the adults in his village help him build the first windmill to generate electricity and pump water from the ground. The main take from this film: a lack of economic resources is no excuse for not creating solutions that could positively impact a whole nation or even the world. Creative reasoning and perseverance are the keys for success and sustainable energy resources should be our primal concern for securing the future of our planet.

Stay tuned for my next chapter, where I will interview a manager in the art world.

 

About the author
 Roberto Niño Betancourt

Roberto is a student of the International full time MBA. He is a Colombian filmmaker and new media artist based in Milan.
He has collaborated as a post producer for MTV Latin America, as well as many European production companies. He is very passionate about international cross-cultural collaborations, craftsmanship and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.

 

 

Develop your soft skills to capitalise on your hard skills

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Develop your soft skills to capitalise on your hard skills

MIP offers the possibility of choosing from among several elective courses and exchange paths.
During my International MBA course, I had the opportunity to follow not only a series of indispensable modules which furthered my quantifiable knowledge but also to explore the means of developing my interpersonal, or soft skills, which are fundamental in today’s business world.

What impressed me the most was the lesson learned from Prof. Passerini.
Filippo Passerini is known for creating new, progressive business models and driving innovation. He currently serves as global operating executive, consultant, and educator – with affiliations at The Carlyle Group, McKinsey, Columbia University and the University of Alabama, and is a personal advisor to a number of global companies.

His lecture was mainly focused on the importance of soft skills, like contextual and emotional intelligence, developing core strengths and active listening.
This part of the Master was crucial since in the latest business environment soft skills are becoming more and more required. Soft skills training, such as communication and problem solving, boosts productivity and retention. As companies increasingly need to become more dynamic, interconnected and flexible, soft skills are key and also executives now consider these skills important for fostering employee retention, improving leadership, building a meaningful culture and the drive to succeed.

In a sense, customers are also demanding soft skills. The modern market offers consumers an unlimited number of choices through technology. For these consumers, convenience is easy to come by, so customer service is often what influences the choice. The ability to communicate efficiently and effectively with customers is, therefore, a vital factor in an organisation’s success.

Problem-solving, controlling emotions, being goal oriented, time and stress management are among the most important skills, which are also extremely useful in the internal business environment. Managers should be able to listen to employees, have good speaking skills, and be able to think creatively in order to drive their team. A lean and agile approach to change is also key, considering the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the business scenarios in which we are living and operating.

Finally, we should figure out what we are good at and develop it even further in order to build our core skills and a personal brand. Hard skills are, of course, the bedrock to any successful career but understanding and developing our soft skills is what differentiates us from others, improves us and thus, our working environment.

All careers require at least some soft skills to make hard skills even more valuable.

That’s what MIP enables us to learn, through its challenging courses and activities, its international network and its top representatives willing to teach, such as Prof. Passerini.
That’s the MIP Experience!

Never blow out the flame
Salvatore

 

About the author
 Salvatore Interdonato

Salvatore is one of the students of the 2017 edition of International Part-Time MBA. Answering to the question “what’s your purpose in this world?” he will answer “I’m here to solve problems with more efficiency and productivity.
Problem-solving gives me energy and satisfaction as well as the proof that we can always face new challenges within our companies offering new valuable solutions”.