IESE Insight

Star Signs: Transfer Trends of World-Class Soccer Players

Why is it that when the soccer season finishes, sports newspaper sales figures don`t drop off? One reason is the player transfer market, a constant source of excitement among fans, who anxiously follow the movements of their most coveted players. In fact, no other company seems to receive as much media attention for their management negotiations as elite soccer teams do. IESE professors Ignacio Urrutia del Hoyo and �ngel Barajas, along with Fernando Mart�n, analyze the world market for top-level players. Focusing on the players, their teams and the leagues that acquire them, the authors chart how the transfer of major stars has changed over the years, and they note the considerable level of professionalism required in decision making.

Family-owned Business, A Role Model of Values

Companies capable of balancing financial and organizational targets with social responsibilities are fast becoming business role models. Family-owned businesses are clear examples of companies that have achieved this status, as highlighted in the book Family Values and Value Creation: The Fostering of Enduring Values Within Family-Owned Businesses, co-edited by Josep T�pies (IESE) and John L. Ward (Kellogg). The book`s 11 chapters, each penned by various authors of worldwide acclaim in the field of family-owned business, analyze the values and culture that lead to long-term success.

Fourth International Family-Owned Business Conference

The values and cultures that distinguish family businesses from other companies are, in fact, the main driving force behind their success, determining their strategy, entrepreneurial culture, long-term objectives and sustainability, according to Josep T�pies, the Chair of Family-Owned Business at IESE.

That was one of the conclusions of the Fourth International Family-Owned Business Conference, which gathered 19 leading authorities in the field of family business research to discuss and share their latest findings. Their research has been compiled into a new book - Family Values and Value Creation: The Fostering of Enduring Values Within Family-Owned Businesses, co-edited by T�pies with Prof. John Ward of the Kellogg School of Management in the United States - which was launched at the conference of the same name.

Do They Stay Or Do They Go? Entrepreneurial Moves of Top Analysts

Companies sometimes worry that canny competition or honey-tongued headhunters will poach their top talent. Yet perhaps the greater concern ought to be that corporate hotshots leave of their own accord, maybe because companies had inadequate retention strategies in place. And it may not just be the highfliers who decide to spread their wings and soar solo as entrepreneurs, but those lesser mortals not given any star treatment. Boris Groysberg and Ashish Nanda of Harvard Business School and Julia Prats of IESE tracked a list of U.S. analysts deemed destined for greatness to answer the question, "Does Individual Performance Affect Entrepreneurial Mobility?" within the investment banking sector.

Knowledge and Competitive Advantage: What CEOs Say and What Firms Do

CEOs do believe that knowledge can indeed heighten competitive advantage - particularly if that knowledge is of a certain kind. Preliminary findings from a study of Spanish firms, by IESE`s Rafael Andreu along with Joan Baiget and Agust� Canals, confirm this. Yet at the same time, the authors discover a paradox: the majority of the so-called "knowledge management initiatives" deployed by firms do not seem especially well-geared toward actually harnessing firm-specific knowledge. Knowing is one thing, doing is another.

Generation Y: Attracting and Managing the Millennials

"You`ll have an important job title with a lot of responsibility. You`ll be paid well, but of course that may mean putting in long hours. We offer an excellent career track, with stock options and a good pension plan for when you retire..." If you`ve ever used words like these to recruit a member of Generation Y, you`ve chosen the wrong strategy. What young Gen Y-ers want most is job flexibility and work/life balance. In "Pol�ticas para dirigir a los nuevos profesionales. Motivaciones y valores de la Generaci�n Y" ("Policies for Managing the New Professionals: Motivations and Values of Generation Y"), researcher Pilar Garc�a Lombard�a and IESE professors Guido Stein and Jos� Ram�n Pin suggest ways of attracting these employees and, most importantly, how to integrate them with staff whose ages span more than 40 years.

Can`t Compete with Costs? Use Culture Instead

The terms culture and competitiveness do not normally go hand in hand. Nonetheless, cultural activity has a potential impact on a country`s competitiveness. Culture is a differentiating factor that can boost creativity, drive innovation, contribute to the creation of infrastructures and ultimately prove decisive in attracting qualified human capital. How can a country compete with China or India in the textile or consumer-electronics markets? Since it is impossible to compete with labor costs, the only option is to do so in product innovation. For that to happen, there must be an active policy for infrastructure and the creation of a sufficient critical mass. In other words, what`s needed is an active cultural policy, as suggested in the article "Cultura y competitividad" ("Culture and Competitiveness") by IESE Prof. Xavier Vives.

Two Speeds for Adopting ICT in Spanish Companies

The adoption of technology by Spanish companies is progressing at a steady rate, although large companies are moving ahead faster than small- and medium-sized firms. For the second edition of the BIT (Business Information Technologies) study, IESE professors Sandra Sieber and Josep Valor surveyed CIOs and department heads in charge of information systems. If the forecasts of survey respondents turn out to be accurate, this imbalance will be gradually reduced up until 2010 as SMEs adopt more sophisticated technologies. (Audio included)

Being a Good Public Speaker Takes Practice

"A man of extraordinary strength and intelligence may never be more than a failure in society if he doesn`t know how to speak in public," noted the writer William Channing in the 19th century. Two centuries later, knowing how to speak in public is a skill increasingly valued in the workplace. The ability to change public perception through a persuasive presentation is considered one of the keys to success in any job. Still, when faced with having to speak in public, many managers panic. You may not be a born public speaker, but as IESE`s Brian O`Connor Leggett and Ricardo Velilla assure us in their new book, public speaking is, in fact, something one can learn, and they suggest some tips for successful presentations.

How to Govern an Information Systems Department

The specific management models and profiles of the information systems department in relation to other functional units of a company, and an awareness of the differences that exist between them, are vital to business success. To explore the issues involved in governing an information and communication technology (ICT) department, Sandra Sieber and Josep Valor, professors of information systems at IESE, along with economist Valent�n Porta, offer a practical guide for turning ICT into a source of value for companies.