No surprise that now, the members of the "Playstation generation" comprised of students with ages between 14 and 26 years old are more used to all kinds of techno tools like instant messaging, text and e-mail communications, podcasting, vcasting, blogging and even videoconferncing and they know that when these techno tools are applied in context of improving their education they prefer them to the traditional classroom environment.

We may see some advances in the technologies used in delivering high quality graduate education as implemented in the Global MBA program at IE, where the students from remote locations as far away as Hawaii, Dubai or Hong Kong attend weekly sessions with the support of an advanced videoconferencing, class forums and group discussion platforms.

More and more programs will use this systems as we move along, that allow delivery of high quality continuous or graduate level education without the high expense of travel and stay, or time commitment required to attend the face-to-face education under the traditional models.

This platforms are reaching a level of industrail strenght, and there will be an important effort by faculty to take maximum advantadge of this new options.

Instituto de Empresa, a leading European business school, and the Centers at MIT and Zaragoza, with top-rated master's programs in the rapidly growing field of supply chain management, created this dual degree to provide the international business community with leaders who can meet the challenges of globalization. To compete and grow, companies confront the complexity of product proliferation, offshore manufacturing and emerging markets. The schools' unique blend of business and engineering faculty prepare managers with the general management know-how, technological expertise, and advanced analytical skills to face these challenges.

Students enrolled in the dual degree program will earn an International MBA at IE Business School in Madrid, and either a Master of Engineering in Logistics (MLOG) at the CTL in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or a Master of Engineering in Logistics & Supply Chain Management (ZLOG) at the ZLC in Zaragoza, Spain. The ZLOG degree is administered and managed under the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program and is strongly linked with the MLOG program at MIT.

"Globalization has created the need for a new kind of business leader who has a sophisticated understanding of complex management issues and the ability to design and operate global networks that are constantly in flux. The unique resources available at these leading business and engineering schools will provide that essential understanding and expertise," said Professor Yossi Sheffi, Director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics.

"This key partnership is a source of great satisfaction," said Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Dean of Instituto de Empresa Business School. "This dual degree will place participants in a privileged position to meet the professional challenges of a highly specialized global environment."

Students must pass through the admissions process for each program and satisfy the requirements for each of the two degrees. The MBA/MLOG and the MBA/ZLOG programs require students to spend nine months at either CTL or ZLC, and ten months at IE.

The first group of MBA students to complete this dual degree will graduate from IE in December 2006. These students will then attend the logistics and supply chain management program at CTL or ZLC to earn their Master of Engineering degree in May 2007.

In a bold move to prepare more students for a very competitive marketplace where US companies are outsourcing more projects and services to overseas software factories, they are producing an important change in next year Curriculum for their traditional home turf of Computer Science undergraduate and graduate studies.

In a world where competition for talent, specialy in the IT products and services is being dominated by the strong outsourcing giants in India they are establishing a base of new thinking for building the knowledge base with a different approach.

The key words are now: "Threads"

With the new format of "threads" curriculum, students can pick and choose the subjects of concentration for their studies based on the particular areas of their expected carrer paths:

Computers and the physical world
Computational modeling
Computers and media
Computers and people
Computers and intelligence
Computers and foundations
Computers and platforms
Information internetworking

Now, they not only learn the basics of computer programming theories and models, but they direct their education "tailoring" the emphasis they want to gain to have a better access to a job on or before graduation.

The result: 33% increase in enrollment for 2007 classes.

The second key to this move is the process to create professionals that can deal with a multitude of profiles, situations and people in what they call "Symphonic Thinking"

Now that the smaller, more connected, flat world makes things move faster and adapt to the changes to become more competitive.

A good example to watch and follow.

Competition is the biggest threat for companies operating in the fast food business. With so many new competitors offering a wide variety of choices based on type and quality of food, convenience, pricing, and extras, the need to differentiate oneself from others is seen as a big impetus for continuing success. McDonald's is testing new initiatives like internet access in its stores, new packaging (which is a customer driven change), operational changes, introducing new products and product lines.

McDonald's is diversifying its product line by making forays into the high-end market with its introduction of premium coffee products. Store layouts are being changed to provide a high-end look and feel. This initiative will be a direct challenge to coffee chains like Starbucks and Dunkin´ Donuts. But it remains to be seen how serious McDonald's threat will be since McDonald's is not really well known for its premium product offering and also because they are up against such strong competitors in the coffee industry.

A marked change has been observed in McDonald's traditional products (burgers, fries etc.), a change largely driven by the growing customer consciousness for a healthy and active lifestyle. McDonald's has introduced a whole new line of smaller portions of existing products, new line of salads, and other low carb foods. On the operational side, McDonald's has introduced an innovative way of communicating nutritional information to the customers through packaging. Product packaging carry this information in an easy to understand format. This is seen as a further step in building customer confidence and loyalty in the McDonald's brand which has taken a lot of beating because of a growing sentiment among customers that it promotes unhealthy food habits.

Another challenge that McDonald's faces is from one of its traditional competitors Wendy's. Wendy's recently announced its much touted new blend of oil for its french fries and other items. This oil is said to significantly cut trans fat content from its products. Wendy's has beaten McDonald's by introducing this healthy formula ahead of the market leader. McDonald's is still working on getting this formula out in the market.

McDonald's has been a clear market leader for a very long time not such much through its innovative products but more with an innovative overall product offering and positioning. Newer challenges like a highly health conscious consumer and exposure to newer markets like premium coffee are definitely putting their business model at risk but the benefits of success are tremendous.

This is good news for commerce and industry and for busy people like most professionals in NYC.

Please take a look at the details at:

An additional 2.5 million U.S. shoppers will log on to the Net this holiday season to bring overall online sales revenue to more than $18 billion, according to a new prediction from Forrester Research.

If you do it with class, it may become a tool but otherwise
can be something that people tend not to like.

This is a clear finding about gaining respect and trust among
peers and bosses in today´s job scene.

Allways good balance between truth, and motivation can take you
to places. Want to try??

We discovered that fact in the South long time ago.

And the spread of diversity is reaching other distant places in America.

The lesson to be learned here is that because of the expected shortage of skilled workers with multilingual capabilities, there will be a host of new opportunities for those that either had that asset in their education from family background or otherwise.

Good to keep an eye on how many languages can we master??

This is a place where you may find articles, comments and ideas for discussion among the members of USA Global Communities, to inform and invite the participation from other members of the IE Global Communities.

We wish you enjoy your time using this blog providing your contributions for the benefits all fellow members.

Sincerely,

Guillermo Montes - IMBA87
Managing Director
IE Global Communities

I find that this program may give the best of two worlds: Chigago´s best known Northwestern University School of Law, and IE´s strenghts on business policy development.

Top highlights of this program as as follows: