Category: Educations Series

Four companies + one simulation: a glimpse into the MBA Sales Strategy Bootcamp

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Four companies + one simulation: a glimpse into the MBA Sales Strategy Bootcamp

The bootcamps are the most intense of the MBA program’s activities. These workshops usually last for a week and contain different lectures given by MIP and visiting professors, company visits and a group assignment. Professor Alberto Cellini, director of the Master in Marketing Management at MIP, has prepared a very exciting agenda for the 2019 version of the Sales Strategy Bootcamp.

We had some inspiring presentations from different companies that set out their sales activities in the Italian market. The team from Lyreco and the Ariston Thermo group presented their KAM activities and CRM application respectively. But the biggest surprise came from the Bayerland representative, who presented the selling strategies of this company that markets German mozzarella in Italy!

The highlight of the week, however, was the business case brought by the Hilti team. It was a contest where 6 different teams had to investigate, through a simulation, how the company approaches its customers and analyzes them. The winning team would be the one who maximized the share of wallet, by increasing the engagement of an existing customer and producing the highest sales figures.

On this occasion, my colleague Clara Diniz Piani, an engineer from Brazil, shared with me her point of view relating to this experience and the story of her success when she approached Hilti for a professional opportunity after finishing the MBA program:

“This simulation was the perfect illustration for grasping the methodology of what Hilti does in terms of sales. It is important to try opening your mind and to think outside of the box when thinking about sales. Understanding the customer’s needs and anticipating solutions is key for building long-lasting business relationships. In the case of b2b sales, it is relevant to analyze the different benefits for each department, so as to better understand what would be a successful action plan for both parties involved.

I met Hilti at their first presentation when they visited our MBA class a couple of months ago. I was impressed by their energy, the work culture and the way they invest in their team like a company. It really inspired me to apply to work with them.

The bootcamp was my second contact and I decided to apply to all the positions they had available through their partnership with MIP. They are a very international company. During the first interviews we had some very honest and transparent conversations. They gave me a lot of feedback and also asked for my opinion throughout the whole process. In the end, they offered me a business development position to attract new clients and build a relationship with them. It’s a new role in Italy but it already exists in some of their international markets. I’m very excited about this new beginning and I think the lessons learnt during the Sales Strategy bootcamp will come in very handy in my new position.”

Stay tuned for my next chapter, when I will give you a list of movies that encompass the spirit of the International MBA program at MIP.

 

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.

 

 

The in-company visit, a great opportunity for comparison

Posted on | by albe@mip.polimi.it | Leave a Comment on The in-company visit, a great opportunity for comparison

Among the many different activities that MIP is building up in order to let its students acknowledge more and more the complexity of a business reality, some of the most interesting experiences so far have been for sure the in-company visits.

These visits consist in a full day of lessons related to the MBA topic of that moment, physically in the offices of a big multinational company partnering with MIP.

Up until today, I have had the opportunity to join two of these “alternative” sessions in the offices of Sandoz and Microsoft and during both of them I enjoyed lots of different aspects.

First of all, these are opportunities to meet top managers directly in the field, sharing their carrier path and personal experience. These moments are really valuable for sharing ideas and comparing yourself with different people and environments, opening up your mind in terms of your job routine.

Also, these meeting sessions are chances to become aware of what companies are doing, where they are focusing their growth and which resources they are willing to obtain in the short/medium term to reach their goals. I really appreciate the transparency used in sharing these details and the effort made in helping us to understand company strategies.

Furthermore, during these lessons you can concretely perceive how strategic a company’s culture and philosophy can be, and how the management is working every day with this focus in mind.

Visiting Microsoft was the perfect example of this; starting from a classic Silicon Valley company idea, they entirely rebuilt the company, and not only in a figurative way – they really built headquarters which are people oriented and open to everyone!

Personally I really appreciated this possibility, because for me it was the occasion to compare my daily activities and environment with another reality. It has made me more aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the place I’m working in right now.

In order to unleash the best from this experience, I want to give a little advice to those of you who decide to spend two minutes of your life in reading my articles…be brave and do not be shy! These visits are mainly intended also to be opportunities to increase your network and share your CV, but no one will do it for you! MIP is giving us the privilege of meeting key managers and HR teams working in great companies but at the end of the day, it is up to you to use it as best you can.

Lastly a personal update: the second ½ of my kids has just arrived and of course, it’s another boy! Will keep you posted on:

  • Parents’ lost sleeping hours
  •  My first kid’s war of jealousy against his new worst enemy, his brother!

 

About the author
 Pietro Cavallo

My name is Pietro and I grew up in Milan, where I am currently living. I work in Switzerland, in the Supply Chain division of a clothing multinational. I am the husband of an incredible wife and father of 2 crazy kids.

 

A stroll in the city of the future  

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Sustainable, connected, shared. In a word, smart. This is the future to which a city like Milan, among the most cutting-edge cities in Europe, is looking. And this is the horizon that all urban centres, big or small, must look towards in coming years. The idea of a smart city, a city that thanks to technologies and innovation becomes more efficient, more ecological and even more democratic, is becoming increasingly tangible.

«When I think of a smart city, I think of a group of communities that co-exist and participate in the life of the city thanks to different forms of sharing», explains Davide Chiaroni, Director Corporate Relations at MIP Politecnico di Milano.  «We’ll witness a paradigm change that will impact all services and, as a result, will also change our mentality a little bit: we’ll get used to greater sharing and participation. Smart cities, in essence, will be the cities of Millennials and digital natives».

These cities will also be able to provide an adequate architectural response to changed work contexts. «Many buildings were designed based on needs that have now changed and that will change even more in the future: the growing digitalization of services, which will give an even greater impetus to smart working, will for example make many large offices obsolete. The smart city, instead, is based on the idea of so-called “circular” buildings, buildings designed considering that the end use can change in a short time. In other words, it will be a flexible city for flexible work», says Chiaroni.

Flexibility also involves the issue of mobility, which must address the double challenge of environmental sustainability and the extensiveneness of the service: «Milan is focusing a lot on setting up an electric fleet for public transport. And autonomous driving will revolutionize the conception we have of the automobile: no longer a private good but a public and shared service», explains Chiaroni. From this perspective, some experiments have proven to be quite useful for gathering data and better planning traffic flows: «The gates of Area B (Milan’s limited traffic area closed to the most polluting vehicles) will be invaluable for measuring traffic volumes and understanding in what areas to intervene and how to do it».

In short, the smart city revolution is at hand. However, some pieces are still missing, starting with energy: «Cities aren’t yet able to rely solely on clean and renewable energies. There are limits to storage, which must be overcome, but that’s the right direction», explains Chiaroni. It shouldn’t be concealed that the development of a smart city also comes with some problems. «Numerous studies concur that the smart city has positive economic repercussions. But not all actors involved in this process come out ahead». And it’s here that politics comes into play:  «The smart city will change the nature of work.  It’s inevitable to think that older people in society will be hit by this. Politics will play a role in compensating for these gaps, in the face of a balance that is nonetheless positive».

The School of Management of Politecnico di Milano aims to train people for the most suitable professions to manage these processes: «I have in mind a sort of control room that deals with the design of services, that is able to develop a road map, that’s not made up of technicians, but of managers that know which technologies should be exploited. Our school offers future managers dual know-how: management and technological. We’re convinced that one can’t do without the other. Planning isn’t enough: you also need to think of the practical effects», concludes Chiaroni.

This Business School Is Looking For Technology-Savvy MBA Students Just Like You

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Anna Bacigalupi is head of MBA admissions at tech-focused MIP Politecnico di Milano. She says incoming students need to be passionate about technology and innovation

17% of business school alumni work in technology. Big-name tech firms—like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—are ramping up their hiring of MBA graduates from business schools with a central focus on tech innovation.

MIP Politecnico di Milano in Italy is one such school. Anna Bacigalupi, head of admissions at MIP for the International MBA, says that focus on technology and innovation starts at admissions stage. When selecting new students, she says she evaluates the ability of the student to operate in a digital context versus a traditional one.

“The more dynamic and tech-savvy a candidate is, the more weight they will get in the overall admissions ranking,” she asserts.

Anna explains that this is indicative of the job market they will enter after their MBA, whatever the industry. “It prepares applicants to face the recruitment process with companies which are becoming more and more tech-based in candidate selection.”

How does the application process work?

Digital is threaded throughout the MBA admissions process at MIP. In fact, the entire experience—application, interview, presentation—is managed online in many cases.

Because many candidates apply from around the world—there are 22 nationalities represented in this year’s MBA class—interviews are frequently carried out on Skype, and an English-language test can also be done online.

Anna describes the application process for the MBA as the most demanding out of all the programs that MIP Politecnico di Milano offers.

“Even before students decide to apply, we always want to assess their profiles,” she says. “It’s fundamental to us that the students fit our program but also that the program meets the candidate’s expectations.”

 

How does the MIP MBA focus on technology?

Company connections and experiential learning are imperative to the MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano. The school works with around 400 companies including Vodafone, L’Oréal, Gucci and Amazon to name but a few. Tech giants Microsoft and IBM also have strong relationships with the school.

Businesses are brought onto campus through management boot camps, where students are mentored by industry professionals throughout different projects. Each student will complete at least eight boot camps during their MBA, including examples like Big Data & Analytics, and The Silicon Valley Experience, which sees students tour San Francisco’s global tech hub.

MBAs further deepen their understanding of tech entrepreneurship, visiting startups and startup accelerators such as Plug & Play Tech Center, as well as Stanford Center for Professional Development, to learn how to take a product to market

Students also have the chance to gain a dual degree at MIT in the US. Studying at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics in Boston after their MBA, students can achieve an MBA plus a Master in Supply Chain Management from MIT.

 

What else can you do to stand out?

Anna says she looks for prospective students with at least three years of professional experience who are motivated to combine both practical experiences and theoretical knowledge to advance their careers.

Ambition to excel in their chosen career is also a must, as is a candidate’s desire to develop an analytical mindset. “Candidates should be ready to stretch their limits,” Anna enthuses.

Crucially, students on the MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano are passionate about innovation, technology, and digital transformation. And Anna wants students who are ready to bring their unique background and perspective to the program.

 

Originally published on 

A glimpse into Microsoft’s MBA Tech Talk and the future of the tech industry

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Juan Algorta wouldn’t have imagined a couple of years ago while working as an accountant for Ernst & Young in his native Uruguay, that he would be the MIP MBA ambassador for Microsoft’s MBA Tech Talk event in the United Kingdom in November 2018. I have already mentioned in my previous articles the diversity of the MIP alumni. Now I would like to introduce another classmate from the 39th edition of the International Full-time MBA, sharing his experience at Microsoft’s UK Headquarters.

 

What was it like to attend the MBA Tech Talk in England?

Juan – I was very excited, because it was my first journey to Britain. Microsoft (an official partner of MIP) had invited MBA candidates from the best European universities to showcase the latest advances regarding Quantum Computer Technologies. This was a very important opportunity for networking with people from all over the world and a chance to get a better idea of the working culture inside Microsoft. It is worth mentioning that, like me, many of the attendees didn’t have professional experience in the tech industry. Nevertheless, we were all very curious to know more about the development and possible impact of technological innovations in the not-so-distant future. There were three engaging talks, which gave me relevant insight that I hope to apply during my MBA journey and in my future career opportunities.

 

Which were the main topics discussed during these talks?

Juan – The first seminar was Learn about the current and future IT trends by Lee Stott. It focused on trends related to artificial intelligence, a predominant force for the future of technology. Scott explained how machine learning will be the key to recording human interactions for the creation of 3D holograms, for analyzing the reality surrounding us. Afterwards, Anita Ramanan gave her talk entitled Quantum Computing – Don’t Panic. She explained the new generations of computers currently being developed by different technology giants. Traditionally, binary codes were used for programming computer systems. With Quantum, each code can be a complex combination of 1 and 0, enabling systems to enlarge storage capacity as well as processing velocity. This technology will also be a relevant force for the development of both machine learning and artificial intelligence. The last intervention was by Heidi Jenkin, who focused on how an MBA student can be successful in the tech industry, by initiating startups and even becoming an entrepreneur. She also stressed the importance of networking during an MBA as the prime action for shifting your career, even if you don’t have a background in technology.

 

Which was the highlight of that day?

Juan – The final part of the conference was a meet-and-greet session with seven Microsoft employees, who introduced themselves as former MBA students that came from different backgrounds. I spoke with Alonso from Spain who came from the finance industry, like me. His story was very inspiring and changed my perspective for applying to a position in a company like Microsoft, which I had not thought about before attending this MBA Tech Talk.

 

What is your takeaway from this experience?

Juan – Being exposed to so much new information, I feel more curious than ever to continue researching. Technology is very important for the future of business. I used to be an auditor in Uruguay, focusing on productive processes. I believe these processes are continuously evolving with the digital technologies, so it is important to keep learning about innovations so as not to be left behind in the global trends for business development. I have also become more confident about my future outlook and would like to remain in the financial sector, but with an updated and global mindset.

 

 

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.

 

 

How My MBA Degree Helped Me Become An Entrepreneur

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After developing her skills during an MBA hackathon, Divya Singh is getting ready to launch her own luxury startup

The fashion world is changing as we move further into the 21st century. Right now, ‘uncertain’ is the industry’s buzzword for the state of play.

According a report by McKinsey & Company—The State of Fashion 2019—2018 was the year that saw fashion executives think less about survival and more about their brand’s strategic agenda and business model.

That those in the creative industries need to be business savvy is old news, and the knowledge accrued on an MBA program is just as important for those in fashion as it is for any other industry.

Divya Singh knows this all too well. With a background in fashion design, she enrolled on the International Part-Time MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano to gain a holistic understanding of the business side of fashion.

How my MBA degree helped me become an entrepreneur

Divya—who is a current MBA student—says that MIP appealed to her because of the variation of case studies on offer, which allow students to focus on the industry they’re most interested in. MBAs can also enhance their education by taking elective weeks in modules on the Executive MBA.

It was the MBA competitions, though, that turned Divya into an entrepreneur, and put in her in the position to launch her own luxury startup.

She recently completed two competitions. The Mark Challenge hosted by the University of Monaco, and Shaping a Sustainable Digital Future, patroned by The Prada Group.

In Monaco, Divya and her teammate, Fabio Masoero Regis, developed a luxury service business plan, winning the competition with their startup idea UBIQUE: a digitized luxury concierge service.

They didn’t stop there though. As finalists from Italy for the Prada Competition, the pair flew to New York late last year, adapting UBIQUE to the sustainability ideals the challenge championed.

An intense two-day hackathon saw them team up with three non-MBA students from Yale University and present their idea to a board of Yale and MIP Politecnico di Milano professors, as well as executives from the Prada Group.

Divya thinks that it’s these experiences which distil the learning of an MBA, preparing her best for the turbulent future of the fashion industry.

“Working with students who weren’t MBAs, with people with backgrounds in architecture for example, meant we could perfectly merge business know-how with creativity,” she explains, “the competition allowed me to apply my MBA learning in a real and rewarding way.”

She adds that managing team dynamics was integral to their group’s success, as they worked in a high-pressure environment with demanding time constraints.

Divya says that she developed speedy decision making, patience when dealing with language barriers, and alternative ways of doing business with people from cultures different than her own.

The competitions have proved so valuable to Divya’s professional development that she is now getting ready to launch UBIQUE as a real-life startup.

That entrepreneurial mindset is an important part of the MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano. The startup mentality is something the school helps to cultivate throughout the curriculum with the dedicated PoliHub incubator—ranked second in Europe and third in the world by UBI Global—which offers support and services to budding entrepreneurs.

Why creatives should study an MBA

It is, in part, because of these competitions that Divya believes MBAs are such important tools for creatives.

Whilst many complete an MBA for the rapid career progression and salary increase after graduating, Divya thinks creatives can tend to view an MBA as more of a tool for self-development.

It can help to position creative professionals well for disruptions in their respective industries, as they understand the nitty-gritty numbers as much as the creative process.

“If you don’t study things like finance operations it’s hard to pick them up on your own,” Divya says, “learning how to read reports, and how to understand your business from all viewpoints, puts you in a better position to genuinely evaluate how you’re doing.”

Divya also believes that her creative background is enhancing the dialogue of her class, as she’s providing an alternative outlook to business problems that many of her peers (from more traditional MBA backgrounds) are not familiar with but are equally excited about and benefiting from.

“Teamwork is the basis of all the competitions,” she concludes, “and it’s the mixture of backgrounds and nationalities that perfectly blend creative, analytical, and business thinking which MBAs can thrive off.”

 

Originally published on 

The MBA journey of an engineer at MIP

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Three years ago, I graduated in Energy Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano University.

I was lucky enough to start working for a multinational electronics company immediately after graduation. In this environment, which was completely new to me, I immediately noticed the difference between my course of study, which had been mainly theoretical and based on notions, and the practicalities of the work.

During my short career, I occasionally found myself involved in meetings with managers and executives. The discourse often shifted to topics beyond my specific knowledge as an engineer, such as human resources management, financial accounting, business planning, decision making and more.
This is how I realized that I needed to complete my training with the missing “real-world skills”. Playing a strictly technical role, I felt the need to be able to participate and make my contribution during meetings as well. In such real work situations, I understood that deeper and also wider knowledge was required to aspire to the position of a team leader or business unit director. I therefore decided to join an MBA program with the expectation of acquiring new skills in different fields; in this way I would accelerate my career and also remove the limits to my professional growth, so that I could aspire to the highest executive roles.

An MBA program offers a big variety of courses and gives access to multiple aspects of business. It does not impose a specific career track – rather, it provides a big-picture understanding of business. Courses typically deliver high quality training not only in hard skills but also soft skills, such as team building and managerial leadership.

Lessons do not focus only on theoretical aspects of business, but also offer experiential learning opportunities where students work on meaningful business projects for actual companies. As a matter of fact, usually an MBA gives you the chance to learn directly from managers and executives of multinational companies. The in-company classes and the international weeks were an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss.

For a person with an engineering background, MIP Business School is the best choice, as it deals with innovative and industry-related topics, such as industry 4.0, biomarketing, artificial intelligence and blockchain. In-company classes are also held in the most advanced companies from an engineering point of view, and offer the opportunity to get in touch with their leaders and to listen to their talks on these topics. For the Data Analysis lesson we were welcomed at Microsoft House in Milan. In that situation, we learned how data analytics and artificial intelligence are transforming organizations, industries and society in general.

The visits to these companies also offer the opportunity to arrange meetings with potential employers. This is why it is important to choose a school with attractive partner companies for your career.

 

 

About the author
 Andrea De Donatis

I am Andrea De Donatis, a student of the international part-time MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano. I Graduated in energy engineering and I am currently working in technical sales for a leading multinational electronics company based in Milan.
I am very passionate about technology, IT and digital marketing. I strongly believe that disruptive innovation is vital to create new value.

 

 

Politecnico di Milano School of Management’s Approach to Embedding the SDGs

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Politecnico di Milano School of Management in Italy has made a commitment to further engage in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through responsible education initiatives, research projects and internal as well as external collaborations. They are engaging in the SDGs through their Sustainability SoM project, a team of staff involved in exploring sustainability in teaching, research, service to the Community and the Work Environment. Paola Garrone and Hakan Karaosman from the School of Management shared some more insights into the work that there are doing and what’s next.

What is the Sustainability SoM project and how did it come about?

As a large School that operates at the intersection between engineering, management and economics we are well aware of the many problems that affect society and the environment today and have an impact on future generations. At the same time, we can contribute to sustainable development, by setting up interdisciplinary research projects, innovating our programmes, and cooperating with industry and social stakeholders. However, this does not happen by chance.

We need to monitor and communicate our activities in this domain, to support internal and external linkages, and to let the School members experiment sustainability themselves. In 2015 we set up the Sustainable SoM project, a team of faculty members and postdocs serving these tasks though a portfolio of actions (as you can see from our progress report).

Where did the team start?

We started by doing an ‘as is’ analysis that represented the School’s strengths and weaknesses, as for 2016-’17. We asked questions such as How present were sustainability, responsible management, and ethics concepts in our curricula? And in our research projects and products? How was the School doing with civil society involvement? And with resources consumption and waste management? Subsequently, we launched the Sustainable SoM program with the aim of starting to fill the gaps in the four areas, i.e. Teaching, Research, Service to the Community and the Work Environment. Each of these pillars aim at embedding sustainability into our core activities and challenging our current behaviors.

What is the focus area of the SOM team today?

A first, maybe obvious, impact of this analysis was a greater and more diffuse awareness about unexploited research and teaching opportunities among the School members. New joint research proposals related to sustainability challenges have been launched, and a few courses have started covering sustainability problems, theories and tools. A second notable initiative was the SoM for Non Profits program. After a first year of the program, over 200 students worked on managerial challenges raised by 24 non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Today, we are fully committed to maintain and possibly to expand it. Our work is of a practical nature too and we look at campus operations as well. We now have a food waste policy, and water dispensers around the School. Now we are currently coping with the challenge of curbing the use of single use plastics.

What are some of the other initiatives that the Sustainability SoM team and the School at large are involved in?

  1.  Polisocial is a University-wide social responsibility and engagement program. Professors and students from all the departments of Politecnico di Milano can take part in Polisocial initiatives, including the School of Management. Some of the School’s research projects mapped by Sustainable SoM have been awarded the Polisocial grants.
  2. The SoM for SDGs Award: Starting from 2017 the School of Management has decided to award students whose final works may have a sizeable impact on Sustainable Development. The second edition took place in October 2018. The jury examined 12 submissions, and awarded 2 Master of Science dissertations and 2 MBA final works with the “SoM for SDGs” prize (1,000€ per winner).
  3. The Observatories: The Observatories are the way through which the School covers a wide range of interdisciplinary topics in multiple industries through practice-oriented research. Coming to the SDGs, each industry has specific yet challenging business priorities that are requiring special care. Examples of practice-oriented projects are those that concern Sustainability in Luxury and Fashion Supply Chains or Food Sustainability. Given the complexity of the subject and industry dynamics, we involve multiple business and social stakeholders in pre-competitive innovation, and organize engagement events whereby research results are shared, and joint discussions are held. Further collaboration may be established with single players.
  4. MOOCs on sustainable development challenges: In 2015 some members of the School started working on youth entrepreneurship in Egypt and other emerging countries, thanks to a grant from Polisocial. We knew that METID, our University center for digital innovation in learning, could help us develop a training program that reached a large audience. Given the great expertise of UNCTAD’s Entrepreneurship Unit in this area, we invited them to cooperate and design with us a joint MOOC – Massive Open Online Course. Across 4 editions, “Entrepreneurs without borders” reached around 2,000 registered participants, and single online lectures are used and re-used here and there in a few courses. Recently our cooperation with UNCTAD produced a second joint MOOC, i.e. “Designing and Implementing Effective Entrepreneurship Policies”. Another nice example is “Share Food, Cut Waste”, which addresses the food waste challenge and is produced with the Italian Food Bank (FBAO).

How do you measure impact?

We generally measure the reach of our initiatives. Nonetheless, we do not systematically report outcomes nor we adopt codified methods to measure the impact (in spite of the fact that some of us do research exactly in this area!). So no doubts this is an area where we have to make progress.

What advice would you have for other schools thinking of putting something similar into place?

Collaboration, communication and commitment are antecedents to sustainability. And each School should pinpoint the unique contributions it can give, given its specialization, context and organization. Having said that, we must jointly stand up for what we stand for. We believe that the efforts made by other Italian schools and us to set up an Italian chapter for PRME can foster the achievement of this goal.

What’s next?

We are committed to prepare our students to accelerate sustainability transformation. To this end, as a School, our next steps involve developing illustrative and enriching projects by which they can develop the necessary skills and capabilities. As a School’s infrastructure, Sustainable SoM will go on monitoring the initiatives put in place by the School’s members, and facilitating internal and external linkages and exchanges.

That’s amore!

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Coming back to my own country required a lot of time. I beat around the bush for almost a year, then realized I was just making the right choice.

After my graduation here in Italy I had several jobs in my hometown, Modena, one of the strongest areas in the country in terms of driving economic growth. At that time, I was a fresh-out-of-college student, eager to learn and ready to put myself in a challenging environment so as to grow into and improve on my abilities.

However, all of a sudden, I ran into the opportunity to move to a foreign country, Romania, where I spent almost three years of my life.

At first, I was excited about leaving to discover a new working and cultural environment in which I thought I could learn better but now, in hindsight, I can say that this experience abroad was, for me, just good training before the match.

When I left, I had the professional experience of a twenty-five-year-old. There, I had the chance to work non-stop for years, I was focused and, when needed, stuck to my guns but one objective was driving me forward: that of coming back to my home country.

After these three years abroad, I realize how much I’ve missed Italy and, even though we are known most for our heritage and traditions, we are all investing in our country’s future.

My days back home started in Milan, when I decided to join MIP for one of its MBA programs. Despite all the clichés about Italy’s recent economic scenario, a new cosmopolitan scene is growing up; this surprised me and helped me to excel in my studies, in an international environment full of stimulus and opportunities.

I believe there’s something deep and intimate in the relationship we all have with our homeland, with the emotional and cultural humus of where we grew up, which gave us everything, and to which we’d like to give everything back.

For me, this relationship is more akin to happiness than the amount of money I earn or the speed at which my career develops  ̶  it’s more about the challenge that everybody experiences day by day in Italy as they try to reach the top of their field on a journey which can have many challenges along the way. But  ̶  maybe  ̶  all these difficulties make the conquest better and sweeter.

This journey has been made better and sweeter also thanks to the fantastic path that MIP is allowing me to follow with its International Part-Time program… an international experience in a great, challenging environment, based in one of the most innovative cities of the world, Milan.

That’s Italy,

That’s the MIP experience!

Never blow out the flame

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”.

 

 

CEO MAGAZINE 2019 GLOBAL MBA RANKINGS: MIP MBAs among the best programmes worldwide  

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Once again, MIP MBA programmes have been ranked in the CEO Magazine’s Global MBA Rankings.
This year, MIP MBAs are included in the Top Tier Global and its Executive MBAs are among the best 57 programmes worldwide. Flex EMBA is listed among the top 47 Global online MBAs, while the International Flex EMBA is at the 7th place in the same ranking.

CEO Magazine has been showcasing top business schools from around the globe since it first launched in 2008.

This year CEO Magazine reached out to business schools across North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the BRICS, and received data from 144 schools, offering 292 different programmes in 25 countries (71 online, 91 EMBA and 130 full-time and part time MBA programmes).

The ranking system is weighted towards fact-based criteria, like – among the others – the Quality of Faculty, International Diversity and the Professional Development.