It is a site for the business community to submit their questions and view videos that promptly respond to their concerns.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESSS SCHOOL

EGADE Business School in alliance with Coparmex has launched Ask the EGADE Experts, a platform for the business community to raise their main doubts and issues in the current context of uncertainty, and find strategic solutions directly from experts.

With this new open access platform, users can submit their questions and consult videos to find precise answers to their queries.

“We resolve the concerns of entrepreneurs, directors and executives regarding business management opportunities, crises and challenges. Their questions are answered briefly and precisely by our faculty, and academic and business leaders,” explained Jaime Martínez Bowness, Director of EGADE Business School, Mexico City.

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Some of the videos available on the platform are:

• If I need to adjust salaries in my company, what criteria should I follow?
• How should companies reconfigure their physical offices?
• Which actions should be prioritized in my company during and after the contingency?
• How do I start my company’s digital transformation?
• Business loans: How much debt?
• Supply chains: How should they be managed during crises?

Ask the EGADE Experts forms part of the portfolio of EGADE Business School’s Alternative Learning programs and tools, and is one of the actions for economic and social reactivation highlighted by Tec de Monterrey.

Access the new platform here.

Twenty of the 100 participating companies with a social and environmental focus will additionally take a specialized course from EGADE Business School.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Representatives of the 100 social ventures selected for the 2020 edition of BBVA Momentum in Mexico embarked on their training process, with the support of EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey.

The participating companies, characterized by their social and environmental focus consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, will be taking a Tec de Monterrey online course and undergoing an acceleration stage with New Ventures over the next three months.

Subsequently, 20 entrepreneurs will be chosen to continue their training with a specialized course offered by EGADE Business School.

At the start of the activities, the social entrepreneurs were welcomed by Jaime Martínez Bowness, Director of EGADE Business School, Mexico City, as well as Christiane Molina and Luis Islas, Director and Coordinator of Strategic Projects at the school’s Center for Conscious Enterprises for a Sustainable Future.

In addition, they were received by Irma Acosta and Adriana Salazar, Director and Deputy Director of Responsible Business and Sustainability, BBVA México, and Armando Laborde and Keyla Campuzano, Business Strategy Director and Project Manager at New Ventures, respectively.

“At EGADE Business School and Tecnológico de Monterrey, our mission is to prepare transformational leaders for the development of society and human flourishment, and you reflect to perfection the best of the business spirit - creativity, innovation, and problem-solving capabilities - that is so urgently needed on every front,” Martínez Bowness told participants.

This is the eighth edition of BBVA Momentum, a program that seeks to support the growth of companies that have a relevant social impact and are economically sustainable, innovative and scalable.

Once they have completed the training, acceleration and mentoring stages, the participating entrepreneurs can apply to BBVA México for a special loan, for which the institution will have up to 150 million pesos available.

EGADE Business School’s Decalogue for the Economic-Business Refounding of Mexico maintains that country can rethink its regional orientation and leverage its ethnic, cultural and biological diversity as a competitive advantage.

By COMUNICACIÓN INSTITUCIONAL | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Some of the most visible consequences of COVID-19 pandemic are the ones that have affected globalization, world trade and multilateralism, areas where Mexico should rethink its role in the world.

Disruption in global supply chains, failures in the global governance system and the new geopolitical balances place the country in a situation that it can capitalize to renovate Mexico’s relevance in the international arena.  

This is revealed in three of the ten keys of the Decalogue for the Economic-Business Refounding of Mexico, published in July this year by EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey:

Capitalize the opportunities of a new scheme of globalization and trade regionalization

• The coronavirus pandemic has interrupted the major global supply chains, demonstrating their fragility. The new post-COVID-19 reality puts a brake on everything related to globalization, megalopolis growth, and the conservation of global, fragmented supply chains that are geographically distant from the main operations and with little control from productive economies, forcing them to rethink their regional orientation and configure a new map of opportunities that, as a country, we should not miss out on.
   
• Mexico has an enormous opportunity to reindustrialize and diversify its trade, underpinning and growing the export market through new agreements signed with the USA and Canada  (USMCA) and the European Union (FTA EU-MX). In addition, it should identify new value chains based on the installed capacity of the country’s productive system and create a diversified economy with capabilities to compete on the regional and global levels.

Embrace digital transformation and the 4th Industrial Revolution  

• The drastic closure of companies and activities, migration to online education formats, and the shift of millions of jobs to the telework modality, as a strategy to fight the pandemic, has demonstrated the need to accelerate digital transformation, particularly in SMEs and strategic sectors, such as commerce.
   
• COVID-19 has highlighted the urgency of having a national program for the adoption of sales and distribution technologies for proximity commerce that will increase and diversify client bases and revenues and protect jobs, as well as of incorporating better e-commerce tools and logistics support mechanisms. The country should use the 4th Industrial Revolution to leverage its ethnic, cultural and biological diversity as a competitive advantage.

Strengthen global governance and multilateralism

• Facing the challenges of the future requires a meta-leadership that transcends the needs and capacities of a single institution or interest group, that cares about the common interest and incorporates the capacities of diverse groups—affected communities, government institutions, business sectors, civil society, and universities.
   
• The most effective solutions will be cocreated by integrating the capacities of companies and institutions, and rooted in the capacities, interests, and creativity of communities. A multilateral governance system can be the way to bring these interconnected realities together, recognizing the validity of diverse points of view, and acting in a more coordinated manner to tackle challenges that are global.

The complete document of EGADE Business School’s Decalogue for the Economic-Business Refounding of Mexico can be downloaded here.

Federico Trigos teams up with international researchers on a project that is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd's Register Foundation in the UK

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Federico Trigos, a Professor at EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey is working on an international research project to collect, analyze and disseminate data to contribute to solving the environmental and occupational health problems of dismantling ships and offshore structures.

The initiative recently received funding from the  Engineering X program, promoted by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd's Register Foundation in the UK.

The team of researchers is led by Fraser Sturt, a Professor at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom), and also includes experts from Advisian (United Kingdom), the University of Teramo (Italy) and NGO Shipbreaking Platform (Belgium).

Trigos explained that the project addresses the complex social, environmental and engineering challenges posed by the growing number of ships and offshore platforms that reach the end of their useful lives and must be dismantled.

The International Labour Organization has classified shipbreaking as one of the most dangerous occupations in existence, “with unacceptably high levels of fatalities, injuries and work-related disease.”

"Quantifying the scale and nature of the challenge is far from easy," Trigos stated.

Therefore, the project starts from the premise that for informed decisions to be made, relevant data must be publicly available and people must be aware of it.

Thus, Trigos explained, the team’s main objective is to develop an open access, dynamic and graphical web-dashboard with associated evidential material and reports on a wide range of information, including the number, age and location of offshore structures and ships globally, the materials they contain, their legislative contexts and who has ownership and other responsibilities.

"By offering this space, where the interested public can examine data, discuss approaches and find results, faster and more effective changes are made possible," said the EGADE Business School Professor.

The project is called Establishing a global baseline and raising awareness to help deliver safety improvements and should be finished in 2023. It is one of the six initiatives that received together grants from Engineering X’s of nearly £1 million for Safer decommissioning of ships and offshore structures.

As far as background in the field is concerned, Trigos previously participated in the research project Environmental and social consequences of decommissioning offshore infrastructure, which received funding from the Worldwide Universities Network in 2018.

The challenges and opportunities of international business in the post-COVID-19 era were broached in live sessions and other activities for students from this innovative program.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Master in Business Management students from EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey experienced a virtual International MBM Week, focused on the topic International Business Under the New Normal: Challenges and Opportunities.

Through this intensive online experience, over 50 recent graduates and young professionals, who study the program at the Monterrey and Guadalajara sites, connected from August 9 to 14 with faculty and world-renowned special guests.

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Ignacio de la Vega, Dean of EGADE Business School and the Tec de Monterrey School of Business, and Eduardo Aquiñaga, Master in Business Management National Program Director, were in charge of welcoming participants to the event.

Activities included live videoconference sessions, pre-readings, asynchronous assignments through the virtual classroom platform, and the presentation of projects developed in remote teams.

Master classes were also offered by David Bach, Dean of Innovation and Programs, Institute for Management Development (IMD); Mike Szymanski, Professor, Moscow School of Management Skolkovo; Florence Pinot, Director of the Center of Studies and Research for Europe and Latin America (CERALE); and Sascha Fuerst, Professor, EGADE Business School.

The topics addressed by these experts were globalization, ethics in international business, EU-Latin America cooperation policies and dynamics, and global entrepreneurship in the new normal.

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Special guests included Enrique Cortés, Director of Artificial Intelligence Hub, Tecnológico de Monterrey; Chip Merritt, Senior Vice-President of Investor Relations, Standard & Poor’s Global; Brian Bauer, Circular Economy and Alliances Leader, Algramo; Pedro Álamos, General Manager, Algramo; and María de Lourdes Dieck-Assad, Emeritus Dean, EGADE Business School.

In addition, EGADE Business School faculty broached a variety of topics, such as innovation, digital transformation and international consumer markets, among others.

To close the week, participants enjoyed a networking activity in which they learned business cocktail recipes, with Javier Íñiguez, founder of SaberVino, and Alicia Boy, travel journalist.

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In an article published in Sustainability journal, EGADE professor examines the moderating effect that household income on entrepreneurs' motivations and their growth aspirations.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Policies focused on supporting entrepreneurs motivated by opportunity rather than necessity can favorably pave the way to grow high-impact entrepreneurship in Mexico.

These are the observations of professor Pedro Carreón, EGADE MBA Program Director at the Guadalajara site of EGADE Business School, in an article coauthored with professor José Manuel Saiz and published in the scholarly journal Sustainability.

With data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the researchers examine the moderating effect of household income on the relationship between entrepreneurs’ opportunity motivations and their growth aspirations.

These entrepreneurs are more likely to grow to the level of their high aspirations, since they capitalize on the stimulus offered by their main motivations, to obtain increased revenues and independence, and often turn to household income for support.

On the other hand, since entrepreneurs driven by necessity, they commented, normally have low motivations and less access to capital, their growth aspirations are limited.

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Given the relationship between motivations and aspiration rates, the academics suggest that entrepreneurship policies which pay attention to enhancing the aspirations of entrepreneurs will be more profitable.

“In Mexico, entrepreneurship policies are shifting their focus from seeking to increase the number of entrepreneurs to improve the quality of entrepreneurship,” they noted.

High-impact entrepreneurs usually have the aforementioned high aspirations for their businesses and, therefore, ultimately make a significant contribution to the country’s employment creation and economic growth, they conclude.

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Their research, titled Opportunity Motivation and Growth Aspirations of Mexican Entrepreneurs: The Moderating Role of the Household Income, can be viewed here.

Saiz formerly served as a professor at EGADE Business School and is currently a researcher at Centro de Estudios Enzo Faletto of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

Both professors also coauthored the article Product Newness, Low Competition, Recent Technology, and Export Orientation as Predictors for Entrepreneurial Growth Aspirations, published in Sustainability and available here.

Sustainability is an international, interdisciplinary open access journal on environmental, cultural, economic and social sustainability, published fortnightly by MDPI.

The EGADE Decalogue states that companies and institutions must implement mechanisms for a fairer, more sustainable future, and trigger inclusive economic growth for all Mexicans.

By INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATION | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Two of the main lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic are the need to build resilient societies and organizations and to invest in development, education and opportunity generation for all, thereby achieving inclusion and equity.

This is set out in the Decalogue for the Economic-Business Refounding of Mexico, recently published by EGADE Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

 “Even though we cannot control the future, companies and governments must invest in the capacities for resilience needed to anticipate and mitigate the consequences of foreseeable, but unexpected, events,” the document explains.

 Two of the ten keys of the EGADE Business School Decalogue propose these needs:

Build resilient societies and organizations

• The shock resulting from the health crisis has exposed the vulnerability of most companies and institutions: of their supply chains, labor policies, financial resources, and the capacity of directors and teams to lead in uncertain contexts.
   
• Implementing forward-thinking mechanisms to monitor emerging trends and establishing guidelines for a fairer, more sustainable future for all Mexicans are urgently required. This involves building resilient and adaptive physical, social and institutional systems to address the short-term effects of catastrophic events, including robust, sustainable health and social protection systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the fragility of the binomial formed by the health and economic systems.

Leave no one behind: invest in development, education and opportunity generation

• As in previous crises, the health and economic effects of this crisis are felt most acutely by the most vulnerable populations. Solidarity can shield against discrimination, exclusion and social inequality, but the best antidote is to trigger inclusive economic growth. In the short term, the most urgent needs are to protect employment and income sources and alleviate the liquidity crisis, especially in micro, small and medium-sized companies, which provide sustenance for the majority of citizens.
   
• Economic reactivation must go hand in hand with the creation of opportunities for vulnerable populations through public-private investment and education and training. Organizations can also benefit from committing to talent diversity and the management of inclusive and multicultural teams, paving the way for social and cultural wealth, the great heritage of Mexico and Latin America.

The complete document of the EGADE Business School Decalogue for the Economic-Business Refounding of Mexico can be downloaded here.

The scholarly journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice includes a work on entrepreneurship by Dr. José Ernesto Amorós in a collection on crises and the pandemic.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

An investigation by the professor José Ernesto Amorós, National Director of Doctoral Programs at EGADE Business School - Tecnológico de Monterrey, was included in a collection of articles published in the prestigious scholarly journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (ETP), and formulated in response to the COVID-19 situation.

The compilation in the world-leading journal on entrepreneurship, which seeks to provide perspectives for overcoming the challenges resulting from the pandemic, is divided into four key topics.

The investigation, signed by Dr. Amorós as the lead author and titled Necessity or Opportunity? The Effects of State Fragility and Economic Development on Entrepreneurial Efforts, heads the section called Entrepreneurs' Persistence in Crisis Situations.

The article was coauthored with Luciano Ciravegna (INCAE Business School), Vesna Mandakovic (UDD School of Business and Economics) and Pekka Stenholm (Turku School of Economics), and published online in 2017.

The researchers study how different types of entrepreneurship develop depending on the characteristic institutional “fragility” of many Latin American countries, using multi-level regression methods that combine contextual variables with individual data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

“This joint work is one of the most influential publications in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, given the themes of crises and COVID-19. Although our article does not address the pandemic, it does deal with relevant topics related to the quality of institutions. ETP is the top journal for entrepreneurship and has the third highest impact in relation to management, according to the latest JCR impact factor,” commented Dr. Amorós.

The professor also serves as the leader of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Strategic Focus Research Group (GIEE) at Tec de Monterrey and was recently appointed director of the Central America and Mexico Chapter of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs.

The complete ETP collection, titled Entrepreneurship and COVID-19: Insights from Research Published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, can be viewed here.

The direct link to Dr. Amorós’s article can be found here.