By José Ángel de la Paz       

As a response to a world that is undergoing constant changes, in which leaders require upskilling or reskilling tools that fit their environment and meet their short-term goals, EGADE Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey has launched a new platform called Alternative Learning.

This innovative initiative offers exceptional learning experiences adapted to the 21st-century digital environment through a portfolio of dynamic, flexible, and agile programs aimed at life-long professional development:

• EGADE Capsules are videos, presented by the EGADE Business School faculty, that provide users with the opportunity to solve their doubts and questions about the business world through concise and open-access content on subjects such as business management, entrepreneurship, finance, and marketing.
   
• MicroMasters are massive online programs, delivered in collaboration with edX and open to the public. Each MicroMaster consists of six MOOCs, through which participants accelerate their professional growth by gaining access to exclusive content. Later on, the MicroMasters certificate can be part of the participants' first steps towards earning a full master's degree. Currently, there are two available courses in this category, both offered in Spanish:
  • Habilidades profesionales: negociación y liderazgo.
  • Emprendimiento e innovación.
     
• Live Online is a real-time digital learning platform, with specialized courses focused on strengthening skills within contemporary business topics such as service management, digital marketing, circular economy, data analysis, digital finance, and digital transformation.
   
• BootCamps are immersive, intensive, hands-on training programs that focus on exploring core innovation areas. These Bootcamps can be taken either in an onsite or a fully online format on innovative platforms.

Laura Zapata, an academic associate dean at EGADE Business School, noted that Alternative Learning helps business leaders, executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs take a proactive approach to their development and maintain a strategic advantage in the face of global trends.

“Through this platform, with accessible courses for everyone and at an affordable cost, participants will be able to learn using the cutting-edge techniques that distinguish EGADE Business School and to get in touch with our community of leaders,” added Julien Depauw, head of Educational Innovation at EGADE Business School.

Click here to explore Alternative Learning’s portfolio.

By José Ángel de la Paz

An MBA graduate from EGADE Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey, is manufacturing protective masks with 3D-printing technology in Guadalajara and distributing them at production cost to help the medical staff that treats COVID-19 patients in Mexico.

This product was named Hope's Mask 00, in order to convey optimism and hope for overcoming the coronavirus crisis. It is a mask made from polylactic acid (PLA), which consists of three pieces, including six interchangeable N95 filters, and can be reused after proper cleaning.

“We have delivered more than 1,000 masks and are already developing Hope's Mask 01, with many improvements, including a far more comfortable fit for shifts that last more than eight hours, frontal lighting, eye protection, and more economical filters with better filtration levels than the N95,” said Yoku Sashida Mendez.

The EXATEC-EGADE member manufactures these masks at Soluciones Kenko, a company focused on the development of new technologies for the health sector, where he serves as CEO and co-founded with his CTO, Daniel Aragón Han, also a Tec graduate.

In response to the COVID-19 contingency, Sashida Mendez said that they transformed their production setup to achieve 100% operational capacity for the production of Hope's Masks.

“Our mission is to innovate so that we can improve and save lives. Regardless of what happens, we are always looking to fulfill our purpose as a company. We saw a problem that was so big that, from the beginning, our approach was simply to act with our assets. The goal was very simple: to equip, as much as possible, our health professionals to take care of those who care for us,” he said.

Sashida Mendez and Aragon Han were featured in “The Top 30 Business Promises 2020”, a list published by Forbes Mexico in its latest February issue, for the creation of their gadget: ECGlove.

By José Ángel de la Paz

A lesson that the current COVID-19 crisis has passed on to companies is that they need to be proactive rather than reactive, according to Ernesto Amorós, national director of doctoral programs at EGADE Business School.

“We are aware that no one expected this, it was not anticipated, and many of the things we are doing as an organization is reacting to the situation. Now, we need to be far more proactive and, above all, to systematically plan our innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives,” he said.

Amorós participated with other experts in the webinar “ Seizing opportunities and solving challenges through corporate entrepreneurship”, from the series “Rising to the challenge: Leadership in the face of COVID-19”.

Fernando Moya, head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at EGADE Business School, noted that the maxim of “innovate or die” will be indisputable in a post-pandemic world.

“We have to approach innovation and entrepreneurship as a process that is every bit as important as finance, marketing, IT or human resources within the organization, so we can find new ways to deliver value to customers,” he said.

In addition, José Enrique Alba Escamilla, head of Tec de Monterrey's Innovative Entrepreneurship Area in Mexico City, presented the Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship Portfolio (PIEC for its acronym in Spanish), which brings together the programs and platforms offered by the institution to support and develop the competitiveness of large organizations through closed and open innovation, as well as entrepreneurship and intra-entrepreneurship.

“Now, more than ever, corporate entrepreneurship is a vital vehicle for triggering innovation and driving competitiveness in organizations,” he said.

WATCH THE FULL WEBINAR HERE

By José Ángel de la Paz

Supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs, as well as governance models that promote reflecting on the purpose of business, is what Salvador Alva, president of Tec de Monterrey, and Ignacio de la Vega, dean of EGADE Business School and the Undergraduate Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey, suggested as part of the National Conference for Economic Recovery organized by the Business Coordinating Council (CCE for its initials in Spanish).

At the roundtable entitled "Recovery in the medium and long term", coordinated by Coparmex, Alva pointed out that entrepreneurship creates jobs, wealth, and, therefore, social and economic welfare.

"In Mexico, we don't have an entrepreneur-friendly environment. We must digitize the processes faced by an entrepreneur," he said.

El emprendimiento genera empleos, riqueza, y por ende, bienestar social y económico. En México no tenemos un entorno amigable para emprender. Debemos digitalizar los procesos a los que se enfrenta un emprendedor: Salvador Alva Gómez (@Salvador) #AvanzandoJuntosYEnPaz pic.twitter.com/4vLpLItPrr

— Coparmex Nacional (@Coparmex) April 29, 2020

Meanwhile, De la Vega agreed on the need to promote digitalization and competitiveness programs to support entrepreneurs, in order to contribute to diversity, job creation, collective wealth, and innovation in the country.

"The public and private sectors must push forward an urgent reindustrialization plan; an agile plan with high impact, aimed at designing opportunities for Mexico in a post-COVID-19 scenario and at securing the country in the economic, commercial and financial spheres," he added.

The dean discussed the creation of a "recovery trust", made up of contributions from the banking system and the pension system in the form of stock certificates, to channel financing to SMEs with better financial conditions, in order to preserve their viability and jobs.

"It is estimated that at least half of the 4 million SMEs in Mexico will be in danger of bankruptcy by early fall," he noted.

In addition, he called for a national pact to reduce income tax by 50% during the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years, capped at 10 million pesos, as fiscal measure to support medium-sized companies that meet their tax payments.

Sin diálogo, sin colaboración, entre todos, no existe un México con potencia de futuro. Debemos salvaguardar a México para que haya una recuperación firme y prolongada que no profundice los males que ya hoy nos aquejan: @Ignaveg #AvanzandoJuntosYEnPaz pic.twitter.com/tkybmRSSFp

— Coparmex Nacional (@Coparmex) April 29, 2020

Alva and De la Vega participated in a round table moderated by Gustavo de Hoyos, national president of Coparmex, which also included interventions by legislators, officials, academics and business people, such as Josefina Vázquez Mota, Margarita Zavala, Enrique de la Madrid, Jorge Castañeda, Rocío Abreu González, Claudio X. González, Javier Corral, Vanessa Rubio, and Luis Carlos Ugalde, among others.

The National Conference for Economic Recovery was organized by the CCE with the aim of building, through a total of 11 roundtables, a national agreement between the federal government and the private sector to address the COVID-19 crisis in Mexico.

By José Ángel de la Paz

Once the COVID-19 contingency is over, our country will see the emergence of a new generation of business leaders who are more socially aware, according to Carlos Salazar Lomelín, president of Mexico's Business Coordination Council (also known as CCE).

Salazar Lomelín, who is also Chairman of the Board of the Undergraduate Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey, said that Mexico must prioritize economic growth in order to recover from the crisis caused by the pandemic.

Salazar Lomelín presented the webinar “The company's perspective and the leader: challenges and opportunities of COVID-19” as part of the series “Rising to the challenge: Leadership in the face of COVID-19”, along with Ignacio de la Vega, dean of EGADE Business School and the Undergraduate Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

The head of the CCE stressed that to accelerate the country's recovery process it is essential to foster private investment in large infrastructure projects, as this will result in a high rate of employment and improved value chains.

“The economic crisis that is already wreaking havoc, is different from those experienced in previous years because it is the first time in history that a society has purposefully triggered an economic crisis, to get out of a health crisis. Thus, the main advantages we have now is that we are not in an inflationary situation and there are adequate fiscal policies to get out of it,” he said.  

Meanwhile, De la Vega said that in the face of this challenging scenario, entrepreneurs must choose to adjust their style of leadership, in which, more than simply pursuing greater profits, they must take into account that companies are made up of people and that each action they take will have a collateral effect on them, hence the importance of implementing Conscious Leadership.

Both speakers concluded that this crisis is an opportunity to grow as a society, reinvent the country's economy and transform business leadership by placing the greater good at its core.

WATCH THIS WEBINAR HERE

By José Ángel de la Paz

Now, at a time of global contingency due to COVID-19, working from home is not optional, but it is also not for everyone.

This was explained by Joselo Arizaleta, work performance consultant, in the webinar "10 Home Office principles", organized by the EXATEC-EGADE Association, Mexico City Chapter, as part of the EXATEC-EGADE Virtual Talks series.

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach for working from home; it depends on each situation. What works for one person may not work for the other. What might be a successful strategy for a company may not be ideal for another,” he said.

As an effort to help those who must now work from home and want to do so as best as they can, the author of the book De pantuflas a la oficina: Lo bueno, lo malo y lo feo del Home Office (From Slippers to the Office: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Home Office) shared 10 principles that should be taken into account, which are broken down into three sections: 

• Home Office is not for everyone
  1. Attitude is not the same as aptitude
  2. Change your paradigm on what an office means
  3. Avoid social isolation
• Focus on goals, not schedules
  4. Have specific, measurable goals with clear deadlines
  5. Learn to prioritize your time
  6. Seize the best moment of your day to work
• Establish strict and clear productivity metrics
  7. Be assertive
  8. Avoid overworking yourself
  9. Don't use your “sitting time”  to measure your performance
  10. Don't disappear from the world

Watch the webinar to learn about the specific details of Arizaleta’s principles.

By José Ángel de la Paz

Resilience is a family businesses' key and distinctive strength for overcoming scenarios of crisis and uncertainty, such as the current COVID-19 contingency.

“This pandemic is a test for all of us. The health of the world seems to be getting out of control and, consequently, all our systems are being rethought on a social, political and, of course, economic level. It is time to unlearn and imagine new realities that will lead us to build better environments for all,” said Maria Fonseca.

Therefore, according to the head of the Institute of Family Businesses for Mexico and Latin America at Tecnológico de Monterrey, family businesses play a major role in this reassessment.

“Given the challenges we are facing today, we would like to highlight the resilience and agility that family businesses are developing quite well. Their long-term vision and their desire to transcend generations through legacy are also relevant features associated with this type of organization,” said the expert and member of a family business in the agro-industrial sector.

These observations took place during the webinar “A conversation with inspirational leaders to help address the pandemic”, from EGADE Business School’s webinar series “Rising to the challenge: Leadership in the face of COVID-19“, in which prominent figures from the Family Business sector in Mexico and Latin America participated.

Ivan Lansberg, co-founder and senior partner of Lansberg, Gersick & Associates (LGA), explained that family businesses, as a global community, have a great ability to be resilient in the face of the current and future challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consultant spoke about Amara's law, which states that, in most cases, humans tend to overestimate the effects of new technologies in the short term, while underestimating its long-term effect.

Translating this idea into the impact of COVID-19, Lansberg estimated that family businesses will be able to overcome uncertainty and adapt adequately to the challenges ahead.

“We have found that Family Businesses have a very long investment horizon and that they can overcome these crises by tapping into their institutional memory,” said Lansberg, as a man who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs in Venezuela and who was the first editor of the specialized magazine, Family Business Review.

Meanwhile, Susana Coppel, president of the Coppel Community Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors at Grupo Coppel, noted that her organization has been observing a transformation in the retail sector for several years, but never anticipated a crisis like that of COVID-19.

“We would have never imagined that, even in the worst-case scenario, we would have to close our doors. Now we are all working very hard, rethinking, and creating our contingency committees,” shared the Tec graduate and third-generation member of one of the largest and most successful family businesses in Mexico.

Faced with the contingency, this retail chain found itself ready to serve its customers effectively through its e-commerce channel, said Coppel.

WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

By José Ángel de la Paz

Family Businesses have managed to get through the COVID-19 crisis by demonstrating flexibility towards changing or expanding their purpose, stated Cristina Alvarado Álvarez, a senior consultant and specialist in family businesses.

“[Family businesses] have built that flexibility on another cornerstone: agile and effective decision-making, which they have had to take overnight, or within a few weeks. Furthermore, they have shown a willingness to connect, communicate, and cooperate,” said the professor from the University of Barcelona.

The family business expert spoke with Francisco Malagón, head of strategic projects at the Institute of Family Businesses for Mexico and Latin America at Tecnológico de Monterrey, as part of the webinar “Growth opportunities for family businesses in response to COVID-19.”, in EGADE Business School’s webinar series “Rising to the challenge: Leadership in the face of COVID-19”.

Alvarado Álvarez pointed out that during this contingency he has seen interesting cases of family businesses who manufacture jewelry and have used their 3D printers to make pieces for intensive care units; others, in the perfume industry, who have changed their production lines to make hydro-alcoholic gel; and some others, in the textile sector, who have gone on to manufacture materials that prevent COVID-19 infection.

“These are companies that operate in completely different sectors but have been able to expand their activities with great flexibility,” he acknowledged.

WATCH THIS WEBINAR HERE

The upcoming scheduled webinars of this series are:

Wednesday, April 22: A conversation with inspirational leaders to help address the pandemic. With:

• Ivan Lansberg, Co-Founder and Senior Partner of Lansberg, Gersick and Associates (LGA).
• Susana Coppel, President of the Coppel Community Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of Grupo Coppel.
• María Fonseca (moderator), Head of the Institute of Family Businesses for Mexico and Latin America at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Friday, April 24: Guidance on how to find solutions using the Family-Business system. With:

• Susanne Grimm, Board Member at Estafeta Mexicana.
• Oscar Howell, Author and Founding Partner of LFE Windward.
• Fernando Sandoval Arzaga (moderator), Associate Director of the Institute of Family Businesses for Mexico and Latin America at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

All of these webinars will take place at 1:00 p.m. (GMT-6).

You can catch the previous webinars here.