IESE Business School

The Chair is currently involved in the following research avenues: 

The business model concept

Information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially the Internet, have played a crucial role in the emergence of new business models. The Chair is researching the impact of these changes on business development.

The offshoring revolution and the global battle for talent

After years of production offshoring, we are now witnessing a new trend which is also backed by developments in information technology, namely the offshoring of white collar knowledge-based activities to remote countries. As companies join this trend, we can see enormous changes in knowledge management, the creation of new organizations, and the development of new business models.

Strategies for the base of the pyramid

More and more companies are channeling their activities towards emerging countries. The majority of countries still commercialize their products only at the top of the population pyramid in each country. Some, however, are beginning to develop new business models aimed at the base of the pyramid. In conjunction with IESE’s Centre for Business in Society, the Chair is analyzing the potential business models in these markets. 

The sustainable company

Although it is not yet highly developed, the concept of the sustainable company may begin to be further developed once we understand the relationship between creating value and managing a company’s stakeholders in the appropriation of value in the new business models. This field is closely linked to the complexity theory in strategy, another field of research for the Chair.

The Carl Schroeder Chair in Strategic Management is held by Joan E. Ricart, IESE professor and General Management Department director.

Ricart holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Business Management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, as well as a Ph.D. in Managerial Economics from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and a Ph.D. in Economics and Business Management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

In addition to holding the IESE Chair, Ricart has recently received further acknowledgment by being appointed President-Elect of the Strategic Management Society, an international organization made up of academics, business people and consultants devoted to promoting knowledge and the exchange of ideas in the process of strategic management (EURAM).

- Joan E. Ricart, IESE professor and holder of the Chair.

- Ramón Casdesús, HBS (Harvard Business School) professor and IESE associate.

• The Carl Schroeder Chair in Strategic Management teaches the MBA course entitled “Competitive Dynamics and Business Models.” This program, taught by Joan E. Ricart and Ramón Casadesús, is offered simultaneously at HBS and IESE.
• Continuing Education Program: Some of the sessions or series in IESE’s Continuing Education Program (targeted at alumni) are aimed at promoting and disseminating the knowledge generated in the Chair. 
• Executive forum: Sessions aimed at executives to discuss developments in the field of business and prevailing trends.
• Symposia and Congresses: The Chair organizes periodic gatherings of experts from all over the world to examine issues of research interest.