Archive for the ‘Master Classes’ Category

The Academic Director of Master in Finance programs, Prof. Ignacio de la Torre, met with the finance professionals in Istanbul during a Master Class. Prof. de la Torre shared his research and analysis regarding the financial mistakes in history.

The economic crisis started in USA in 2008, is now affecting the Euro Zone; and European Union financial system is facing very difficult times. Prof. de la Torre gave examples of previous economic crisis in history including the Great Depression and World War II and discussed with the audience the reasons why this current economic crisis is perceived by the economists as deep as those times. Prof. de la Torre criticized how the economists made wrong forecasts by using the previous trends in economy. He stated that, Economists forecasted Soviet Union to be the biggest economy in 60’s; then Japan in 70’s, followed by Asian Tigers in 90’s by taking the previous growth rates as the main indicator. Now, the same mistake is done with China. Prof. de la Torre said that we should look for how the business people in the real business world perceive the economy and what their forecasts and investment decisions are. And also, we should consider the geographic, political, and sociological indicators in these areas. Therefore, he believed that PMI in Europe and ISM in USA are better indicators for forecasting the economies. Prof. de la Torre also added that the current financial crisis cannot be explained only with logic; human psychology also has a lot of contribution in the current situation; where behavioral finance should be also taken into account when we analyze the financial crisis.

Turkish Finance professionals shared their ideas and a good level of discussion took place. Media was also interested in the event and had interviews with Prof. de la Torre.

By Sevtap Bas

Ignacio de la Torre

IE Professor Ignacio de la Torre will be holding a Master Class titled “Financial History: what can we learn from our mistakes?” on Saturday, June 9th.

The Master Class: Did you know that the “originate and distribute” model was widely used in the US in the 80s with catastrophic consequences? Why are financial mistakes repeated over history? Only through a careful analysis of what financial stupidities are committed over time regularly can we spot the true natures behind financial follies… after this analysis we can extract common lessons to prevent future financial crisis and to forecast the future of finance.

The Professor: With fourteen years experience in diverse fields of investment banking (corporate finance, equity research, specialist sales of media stocks, generalist sales of European equities and derivative sales at UBS and Deutsche Bank), de la Torre has been a Professor for IE for the last six years, teaching creative accounting, macroeconomics, finance & valuation courses. Professor De la Torre has also founded a business, the Internet retailer www.tododvd.com where he acts as a board member.

How to build a meaningful, differentiated brand and how to fully deliver a brand experience capable of driving revenue and profit growth?  Meet IE for a Master Class Building Successful Brands with Professor Martin Boehm in Geneva (25.04) & Zurich (26.04)!

IE MASTER CLASS: Building Successful Brands

On November 8th, 2011, approximately 60 young professionals, including 25 Zurich-based alumni members and 35 candidates participated in a lively IE Master Class Session at the Marriott Hotel in Zurich. The class was led by David Bach, Professor of Strategy and Economic Environment and Dean of MBA Programs at IE.

David Bach, IE professor of strategy and economic environment

This particular session titled: “Creating Competitive Advantage Beyond the Market” addressed and analyzed the fact that nowadays companies and their bottom lines are increasingly affected by government policy, changing regulations, activist pressure and media scrutiny. A lively discussion ensued and many participants gave their opinions and insights into how can and/or should companies respond to these growing “nonmarket” pressures.

Towards the end of the evening all candidates left with a better idea of MBA class dynamics, while IE alumni were given the opportunity to reminisce about their time as an IE student and reconnect with fellow classmates.