From Whitney Avenue to Wall Street
For most of the week, 76 students from business schools around the world have gathered at Evans Hall to explore behavioral finance and marketing strategies. On March 5, they left the classroom for a first-hand look at the U.S. business capital, traveling to New York City for discussions with executives from three leading corporations.
The company visits were part of Global Network Week, during which Yale is hosting a mini course on behavioral science for students from throughout the Global Network for Advanced Management.
While in New York, students met with leaders from Hearst Corporation, Time Warner, and Credit Suisse. The executives discussed how their companies navigate the complexities of an increasingly globalized economy, adapting to the cultural and business environments of individual markets.
Jacques Botbol, an MBA candidate at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, said the concepts discussed in the classroom during the week came alive during the discussions. “Some things that the senior managers said connected the dots and that’s what helps,” Botbol said. “You learn some things as an MBA and think you understand them, but then you hear from the senior managers and you can conceptualize them in practice.”
María Alejandra Palomares, a Venezuelan native and an MBA candidate at IE Business School in Madrid, said she was impressed by a talk by Frederick Terrell ’82, vice chairman for investment banking at Credit Suisse. She said that Terrell and others provided perspective on strategies that can make a business sustainable for the long term.
We got to see a different perspective from big companies,” Palomares said. “The long-term strategy can be very different for some companies. One company may be o.k. with losing money for several years because they have a different objective, but others may have to worry about shareholders. The main point is to keep your common sense and stay focused on your goals.”
Yale SOM is hosting a second Global Network Week course, called “Alternative Investments,” starting on March 17. Students attending that course will also travel to New York City to meet with executives from several firms.