Managers from Seven Countries Participate in a Harvard Business
School Program

High-Level Executives from Middle East Region at IESE

The program helps strengthen the participants’ understanding of management concepts and values, while enhancing their abilities to form effective international business relationships

IESE Business School played host to Harvard Business School’s “Senior Executive Program for the Middle East,” January 5-30, 2003 at the school’s campus in Barcelona.

“The program helped strengthen the participants’ understanding of management concepts and values, while enhancing their abilities to form effective international business relationships,” said IESE’s Prof. Paddy Miller, who taught sessions during the program.

HBS and IESE faculty led the program, which included the participation of 40 senior executives from seven Middle East countries – Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. The participants represented a broad range of business sectors, as well as government entities. Five members of the class were female, who all hold senior posts.

The program included academic sessions taught by Harvard faculty members Prof. John Quelch, the former dean of London Business School; Prof. Jan Hammond; Prof. VG Narayanan; Prof. David Thomas; Prof. Dutch Leonard; and Thomas Piper, director of the program. IESE faculty members teaching sessions were Prof. Paddy Miller; Prof. Luis Huete; Prof. Juan Roure; and Prof. José Luis Nueno.

Targeted at high-level managers, the program focused on the complex challenges posed by the globalization of the world’s economy, with a special emphasis on issues that impact specific regions, such as the Middle East. Among the objectives of the program were: 1) to strengthen the strategic capabilities of managers in the Middle East so they can successfully compete in the global business world, 2) enhance the leadership skills of high-potential managers in the private and public sectors, and 3) contribute to interrelationships between business and government across the region.

The program received special support from the Egyptian government and an NGO, the Future Generation Foundation, due to its high potential for developing management capacities.

The SEP program was organized in two modules. The first module took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, October 13-31, 2002. IESE Prof. Paddy Miller also taught sessions during the initial module.