Leadership and Decision Making Experts

The length of the program (19 months) and the use of the case study method are just right to make students true experts in business management and decision making.

Each case simulates a real-life business scenario. Case by case, week by week, participants become familiar with and share the problems of SMEs, multinationals and family-owned businesses in the service and industrial sectors. They might be asked to deal with a financial dilemma or design and implement a new marketing policy. They learn to make decisions in real-life situations.
The method's effectiveness is the result of a three-step process:

First Step: Individual Study
Every week or every other week, depending on the program format, students are provided with work material for the following sessions. Each case study places the student at the epicenter of a decision of vital importance for the company's future success. By analyzing the situation and reflecting on possible courses of action, students are able to consider the what, how and why of any executive decision.

Second Step: Teamwork
Students are divided into diverse groups in which they are able to pool their ideas, a process that enables them to understand and discover new criteria for successfully dealing with the problem posed.

Third Step: General Session
Students participate in a general session led by an IESE professor who steers the discussion with methodological rigor, evaluates the different alternatives recommended by the students and outlines the different consequences. The professor simultaneously introduces theoretical concepts and tools that round out the students' learning.

In short, the case study method helps students improve their ability to analyze and summarize problems, and then make reasoned arguments, all of which are skills that are applicable to day-to-day company activities.