B-School Rules

Latin Trade, August, 2000 by Mary A. Dempsey, Alice Crane Kovler, Chris Humphrey, Dan Krishock

"What we've developed at EGADE is an expertise in doing business in Mexico and Latin America," says Tec's dean, Jaime Alonso Gomez. "Our professors travel the entire continent, and they understand how business really gets done in Latin America."

Second-year student Edison Argotti agrees. "I came here because I wanted the best preparation for working in Latin America," says the Ecuadoran student, who plans to work as a portfolio investor after finishing his degree. "Not only do the professors know the region, but our classes involve students from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina. So while we study here, were already making contacts with people with whom we can later do business."

Most of those contacts will never be personal. That's because the school takes technology beyond theory. Many of the international students taking Argotti's classes have never even been to the northern Mexican city where the school is located. Only about 800 of the business school's graduate students are in Monterrey; more than 6,000 others take classes via satellite hookup from all across Latin America.

In fact, given the option of satellite courses, many Tec students prefer them to traditional classroom studies, both for their more efficient use of time and because they allow interaction--albeit online or via two-way voice links--with students from around the region. The satellite program is the largest of its kind in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. Last year, Tec also launched a master's degree in e-commerce. In a telling sign of the business times, enrollment in that program has more than doubled in each of the three semesters, from 70 students initially to more than 300 today.

Old-fashioned ethics. At Argentina's Instituto de Altos Estudios Empresariales, Program Director Alejandro Carrera says the new business arena will be more complicated than that of the past. "We understand the New Economy to mean not just a new type of company but a new type of executive, with a range of skills that goes far beyond those needed 20 to 30 years ago," he says.

Nevertheless, not everything taught at the Buenos Aires-based university is as new as the handsome campus--with its tended lawns, stately eucalyptus trees and modern buildings housing the latest technology--built with semesters, from 70 students initially to more than 300 today. Old-fashioned ethics. At Argentina's Instituto de Altos Estudios Ernipresariales, Program Director Alejandro Carrera says the new business arena will be more complicated than that of the past. "We' understand the New Economy to mean not just a new type of company, but a new type of executive, with a range of skills that goes far beyond those needed 20 to 30 years ago," he says.

Nevertheless, not everything taught at the Buenos Aires based university is as new as the handsome campus--with its tended lawns, stately eucalyptus trees and modern buildings housing the latest technology--built with the support of Argentine magnate Gregorio Perez Companc. The school still underscores, Carrera says, the old-fashioned concept that who we are and how we treat others still counts, no matter how virtual the world becomes.