The new Banco Sabadell Chair of Emerging Markets was unveiled at a special event held on IESE's campus in Barcelona this week. Prof. Pastor has been named the holder of the new chair. Also on hand at the event were Josep Oliu, president of Banco Sabadell, IESE's Dean Jordi Canals, Prof. José Manuel Campa and Prof. Sanjay Peters.
 
Prof. Pastor and Prof. Peters provided perspectives on recent trends among emerging countries, which now number 144 and represent 85 percent of the world's population.
 
While each country has its own characteristics, all have the potential to advance economically. The solution lies in international cooperation, Prof. Pastor said. He stressed that it is critical to identify new approaches to economic development in these countries, given that over the last 20 years, few strides have been made in many regions.
 
Prof. Peters discussed shifts in global politics due to key emerging countries, noting that today the G-20 is given greater attention than the G-7 or G-8. China and India will continue to be the world's key sources of global economic growth in the future. He also refuted two stereotypes - that China is the country for manufacturing and India the country for services. In fact, the reverse may be true, he said.
 
He also stressed that the crisis will have minimal impact in terms of consumption in these two markets and there are still important opportunities for growth in sectors such as infrastructure, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, automobile components and foods.
 
Prof. Campa noted that several markets traditionally regarded as "emerging," such as those in China and India can now be referred to as "emerged."
 
In their remarks, Dean Canals and Josep Oliu highlighted the strong relationship between IESE and Banco Sabadell and the importance of advancing management research in the area of emerging markets.
 
Banco Sabadell Chair of Emerging Markets website