Additionally to the International Summer School courses, professors participated in seminars and other activities.
FIRST CYCLE:
Joeri Mol:
Research Seminar: June 6th, 2017
“Embeddedness and the Production of Novelty in Music: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective”
Presented by Joeri Mol, with Michael Mauskapf, Eric Quintane and Noah Askin
Creativity and innovation are central to cultural production, but what makes certain producers more likely to innovate than others? We revisit the concept of embeddedness to evaluate how different dimensions of social structure affect the production of novelty in music. Using original data on over 10,000 unique artists and 115,000 songs recorded and released between 1960 and 1995, we estimate how musicians’ social, cultural, organizational, and geographic embeddedness affects their propensity to create novel products. Results from a series of Relational Event Models (REM’s) suggest that artists who are highly culturally and geographically connected are more likely to create novel songs, especially when they span multiple genres, are women, or are in the early stages of their careers. Surprisingly, variations in social and organizational embeddedness do not significantly influence this outcome. These findings produce new insights into the production of novelty in music, and encourage us to further examine the multiplexity of embeddedness and its role in organizing innovation.
Miguel Gómez:
Executive Education: June 15th, 2017
“Global Tendencies in the Food Industry”
The food industry has been experiencing several changes and, as a result, companies must face both challenges and opportunities. Through this conference key issues will be examined, including innovation in retail, practical application of information tecnologies, sustainability efforts, innovation in particular owned brands, genetic innovation, consumer preferences, among others. Some real business examples will be studied, discussing possible implications in the food industry in Colombia.
Gyula Zilahy:
Participation in the International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS) 2017 Event.
Research Seminar: June 13th, 2017
“Sustainable Business Models – What do management theories say?”
Presented by Gyula Zilahy
Literature describing the notion and practice of business models has grown considerably over the last few years. Innovative business models appear in every sector of the economy challenging traditional ways of creating and capturing value. However, research describing the theoretical foundations of the field is scarce and many questions still remain. This article examines business models promoting various aspects of sustainable development and tests the explanatory power of two theoretical approaches, namely the resource based view of the firm and transaction cost theory regarding their emergence and successful market performance. Through the examples of industrial ecology and the sharing economy the author shows that a sharp reduction of transaction costs (e.g. in the form of internet based systems) coupled with resources widely available but not utilised before may result in fast growing new markets. This research also provides evidence regarding the notion that these two theoretical approaches can complement each other in explaining corporate behaviour.
SECOND CYCLE:
Ariel Casarín:
Research Seminar: June 27th, 2017
“Political markets, unobserved nonmarket action and firm performance. Evidence from a natural experiment”
Presented by Ariel Casarín
We examine how rivalry in political markets enables nonmarket action that unequivocally reveals on firm performance. We postulate that firms’ diverse but cumulative nonmarket activities are unobservable and therefore build on an unique empirical setting that allows us to detect whether interest groups’ structural features have an independent or facilitating role on nonmarket outcomes. Our results validate theoretical arguments on the attractiveness of both the supply- and demand-side of political markets for firms’ nonmarket strategies. They also show how interest groups’ structural features can serve as sound instruments for unobservable nonmarket action.
Benoît Heilbrunn:
Research Seminar: June 27th, 2017
The cultural contradictions of branding
Presented by Benoît Heilbrunn
Brands have often been analysed using a consistency paradigm according to the classical ideology of marketing which has spread worldwide since the 1950s. The positioning construct and the use of USPs have largely encouraged this monoaxial vision of brands and branding. Anyhow, brands have to integrate three expectations of the social, political and cultural spheres which are efficiency, equality and personal fulfillement as pointed out by Daniel Bell in the late 1970s. We will thus develop the idea that cultural branding means the resolution of contradictions which define society as well as indivivuduals. In other words, we will raise the question of whether capitalism does not make us crazy.
Alonso Martínez:
Executive Education: June 29th, 2017
“Emerging markets in a turning point
Around 1980, from China’s openness to the oil crisis, the economic growth and the world’s political environment have been dominated by both China’s growth and the need to supply oil worldwide. Since then, the environment has been changing radically, China´s growth has deaccelerated while uncertainty has increased, and the sources and uses of energy are not dependent uppon oil. The next decades will bring new opportunities and challenges to countries, plus some other questions to study, such us: From what depends China’s future growth? May India and Indonesia become driving forces of global growth? How should countries handle and nurture its growing and increased urban populations? What is the rol of Latin America and Africa as food suppliers? This conferences will show the stakes and possibilities where many of these issues will govern the next decades.
THIRD CYCLE:
Miguel Jaller:
Research Seminar: July 11th, 2017
“Sustainable Freight Transportation Systems: Challenges and Opportunities”
Presented by Miguel Jaller
Impacts from freight activities are profound and complex. The freight system is a crucial contributor to a vibrant economy and a key determinant to quality of life; however, it is also a major source of congestion, environmental pollution, unwanted noise, and potential safety hazards. Developing measures for an improved and sustainable system requires fully understanding it. This presentation discusses the complexity of the freight system, with an emphasis on urban areas. Specifically, the discussion builds on the challenges and opportunities that arise when traditional urban freight activity patterns (dominated by business to business transactions) face new trends in logistics and supply chain management operations (e.g., enhanced e-commerce business to consumer and consumer to consumer), as well as the advent and introduction of new technologies (e.g., electrification of delivery vehicles). The presentation includes study results from various research areas including transportation, logistics, economics, and management.