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Dean Jordi Canals and Professor Juan José Toribio Speak in Argentina and Chile
Alumni Meetings Examine Latin America’s Changing Economic Scenario

IESE’s Dean, Jordi Canals, and Economics Professor Juan José Toribio traveled to Latin America at the end of November to take part in Regional Alumni Chapter Meetings in Argentina and Chile. The professors’ trip began on November 25 for a meeting organized by the Argentina-Uruguay Alumni Association Board.

The event was held at the headquarters of the IAE Business School of Austral University and was attended by 191 alumni and local business leaders. Fernando Fragueiro, Dean of IAE, welcomed the guests and the panel of speakers. Julio De Vido, Minister of Planning and Government Investments opened the session with a presentation on the Argentinean government’s principal investment projects, led by President Néstor Kirchner.

Jordi Canal’s speech “Globalization and the Changing Business Paradigm” examined the experiences of emerging countries such as China, Malaysia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. These countries, he said, are “the protagonists in the creation of a new world order, each in their own way.” Canals said this shift will challenge the status quo of the 1990s: two superpowers, the US and the former Soviet Union.

Dean Canals said that in the new world order, human values such as ethics will be more highly regarded. “Nevertheless, business leaders will not always practice what they preach,” he said. He also predicted that free trade will lead to greater tolerance between nations, and that the e-revolution will allow consumers to buy in countries and markets that were previously inaccessible.

One of the greatest economic challenges, he said, is the growing volatility of countries with closed or relatively closed economic systems and government systems. As rivalries surface in the global economy, he believes that nations will form clusters to maintain a competitive edge, which will lead to a greater degree of transparency and trust.

Canals said Argentina, a country rich in natural resources, should build an extraordinary, able workforce and a deep pool of talented business leaders. The dean believes that Argentina can achieve this in the next two decades by fostering closer cooperation between government and industry and by creating excellent learning facilities in order to train the next generation of business leaders.

Dean Canals passed the baton over to Professor Juan José Toribio who discussed “The Financial Crisis and the Return to International Capital Markets.” Toribio reflected on the international community’s view of the 2002 crisis before setting out his blueprint for Argentina’s return to the world’s capital markets. The economics professor stressed that Argentina must fulfill six conditions before this can take place:

• Reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• Maintain a realistic exchange rate that assures stability in the current account

• Gain the trust of the international community through transparency in government

• Promote sustainable growth in the economy through government policy

• Reform those aspects of the economy and the government that led to the crisis

• Negotiate a reasonable reduction of the country’s debt

Enrique Pascarmona, president of the Argentina-Uruguay Alumni Association Board and President of Industrias Metalúrgicas Pescarmona (MBA ’67) concluded the session. Pascarmona said, “Argentina is on the right path now, thanks to our government’s policies which will lead to resurgence in industry and job creation. There is no point crying over spilled milk. If we all look to the future and set targets for ourselves, I’m sure we can achieve them.”

Dean Canals and Professor Toribio left Buenos Aries for the following day’s alumni meeting in Santiago, Chile. The event was held at the headquarters of Banco de Credito e Inversiones (BCI) and more than 100 IESE alumni caught up with each other in the bank’s dining room over lunch. Luis Enrique Yarur, President of BCI and of the Chile Alumni Association Board (MBA ’75), hosted the meeting.

Yarur thanked the professors for their visit to Chile and assured them that he continued to apply the lessons he learned in IESE in his role as a banker, and especially, in his dealings with colleagues. “A sign of this trust in IESE’s ability to bring out the best in young business leaders is that many of our team are alumni,” he said.

Jordi Canals then updated alumni about IESE’s objectives for short and medium-term growth. His announcement that both the Madrid and Barcelona campuses would be expanded was met with applause.