The Dean participated in the Family Business module through a conference and panel with entrepreneurs from Progreso, Grupo Fogel and Corporación Castillo Hermanos.
By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL
Horacio Arredondo, dean of EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey participated in the XVIII Industrial Congress “Industrialization: the path to development ” organized by the Guatemala Chamber of Industry (CIG).
During the event, held on September 22 at the Westin Camino Real in Guatemala City, more than 1,200 people, representing the country’s different business sectors, participated in 10 thematic modules, including Energy, Human Talent, Environment, Investment, Industrialization, and Infrastructure and Logistics.
As part of the Family Business module, Arredondo delivered the outstanding conference “Innovation in the family business: navigating between tradition and disruption,” and moderated the panel “Business challenges: Innovation as an enabler of continuity.”
In his talk, Arredondo explained that in the face of technological disruption and digital transformation, discarding the old and focusing on the new is the usual recommendation, but tradition can be valuable for innovation, by providing a solid base of knowledge, resources, values and culture.
“For tradition and innovation to be reinforced and not represent a conflict, the family business must define how its innovation strategy will be leveraged on tradition,” he explained.
To achieve this, the Dean advised Guatemalan family businesses to have a clear innovation strategy, design their innovation strategy with a transversal approach and use family resources strategically.
After his conference, Arredondo moderated the panel with participants Stephanie Melville, vice president of Progreso; Juan Carlos Tefel, general manager of Grupo Fogel; and Juan Monge, vice president of the Commercial and International Chains area of Corporación Castillo Hermanos.
This was the third time that Arredondo has participated as a speaker at the CIG Industrial Congress, and this year EGADE Business School was also present in the Exhibitors' hall at the event.
The day before this participation, Arredondo offered the conference “Organizational Transformation. How to do business in the new era,” at the Real Intercontinental Guatemala hotel, to high-potential professionals from the country.