Formation 2011 Executive Director Bhaskar Chakravorti | Location Medford, Massachusetts | |
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Type Educational organization Purpose Study international business Parent organization The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University | ||
Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC) is an educational organization founded in 2011, devoted to international business studies, within The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, at Tufts University. IBGC houses the school's Master of International Business (MIB), and the think tank Council on Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME).
Contents
Activities
IBGC lists four core activities: education, research, conferences and practical training. For the education focus, it houses the two-year residential Master of International Business degree program (MIB) which combines the flexibility of the international affairs curriculum with a core of business courses. The research arm of the Institute is the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME).
CEME's areas of focus include Country Management and Doing Business in BRICs, Inclusive Growth, Innovation and Change, and Sovereign Wealth Funds and Global Capital Flows.
In addition, the Institute engages with global entities and businesses through its Speaker Series, Global Consulting, and Executive Education programs. The institute also provides funding to select Fletcher degree candidates.
Prior to foundation
In the late 1970s the Fletcher school started to incorporate some international business and finance courses within a curriculum traditionally centered on international politics.
In 2007 the Fletcher school created the Master of International Business program (MIB) and the think tank Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME), both of which were launched in the fall 2008 along with several new international business centered initiatives at The Fletcher School.
These new initiatives, under the auspices of Dean Stephen W. Bosworth, were part of the Fletcher school's strategy of connecting the study of business with its larger social, cultural and political context.
Fletcher alumnus and co-founder and former executive director of Mercer Oliver Wyman, Charles N. Bralver, was appointed the first Senior Associate Dean for International Business and Finance at the Fletcher School from 2007 to 2010 and was Executive Director of the MIB and CEME during that period.
Establishment
In 2011 Bralver was succeeded by Bhaskar Chakravorti. Chakravorti is a former partner of McKinsey & Company, and held research and teaching positions at MIT and Harvard University.
As the Senior Associate Dean of International Business and Finance, Chakravorti founded the IBGC and incorporated within it the MIB and CEME. The new institute serves as umbrella department to host the school's international business education and research.
He defined the purpose of IBGC as "creating cross-linkages between business and the broader contextual factors that affect business and vice versa", adding that subjects could include "geography, history, cross-border issues, security questions, diplomacy and cultural issues." He argued that Fletcher's unique approach to business lies in that "there is a lot of overlap of business decisions with the public policy arena and issues like international trade, peace and conflict, humanitarian issues, inclusive growth issues. These are not the kind of topics that business schools normally talk about".
In December 2013 CEME's full form name was changed to Council on Emerging Market Enterprises, and transitioned into serving as a nexus of experts.
Partnerships
Several business schools have partnered with the Fletcher School to offer dual masters degrees or exchanges in international affairs and business, for students wishing to address issues at the intersection of business and policy, and tackle questions of political context. These include Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, China Europe International Business School, HEC Paris, IE Business School (Spain), Indian School of Business and Higher School of Economics (Russia).
SovereignNET
CEME fellows established in 2011 the Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative within IBGC, in partnership with the financial services company State Street Corporation. and the law firm K&L Gates LLP. It was founded to provide strategic analysis and quantitative research focused on public policy issues and investment challenges facing sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, central banks, governments and international organizations. It also aimed at providing executive education on topics such as direct-investment transparency, national investment restrictions and the impact of tax policy. The Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative subsequently changed its name to The Fletcher Network for Sovereign Wealth and Global Capital, or SovereignNET in its short form.
Council on Emerging Market Enterprises
IBGC houses the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME), which serves as the nexus point of experts from diverse fields that engage with IBGC to lend their expertise through conferences, research, and student coaching.
CEME's founding purpose was the study and application of best practices in emerging market enterprises through research, conferences, and visits from senior business executives.
History
CEME was founded in 2007 concurrently with the creation of the Master of International Business (MIB) program at the Fletcher School, as part of the school's strategy of expanding its scope of international relations to strengthen its study of business and economics.
The at-the-time Dean Stephen W. Bosworth stated that CEME would be central to the new program and would help establish more connections with practitioners in the private and public sectors. At its inception Thomas Schmidheiny donated two million dollars, stating that it wanted to support its "unique approach in understanding the social and cultural issues of other countries". CEME's first executive director was Charles Bralver. In 2011 Bhaskar Chakravorti succeeded him.
CEME was originally named Center for Emerging Market Enterprises, established to become the think tank arm of IBGC. In December 2013 CEME changed its full form name to Council on Emerging Market Enterprises. As a council, it transitioned from being a think tank into serving as the nexus point of experts from multiple areas, that engage with IBGC by lending their expertise for conferences, research, and student coaching.
Research
CEME is composed of a network of senior fellows who perform research on emerging and frontier market issues. The council’s areas of expertise include: Inclusive Growth, Sovereign Wealth and Global Capital, Innovation and Change, Country Management and Doing Business in BRICs.
Original research performed by CEME's fellows is often published by IBGC. IBGC also offers fellowships to students to lead their own research projects.
Guest lectures and conferences
CEME fellows are often invited to speak at The Fletcher School as part of the Institute for Business in the Global Context’s Global Speaker Series. While on campus, many Fellows mentor Fletcher students in their areas of expertise.
In 2009, in partnership with the Bretton Woods Committee, CEME held a conference entitled Strengthening Capital Markets in Emerging Market Countries In 2011 CEME held the Strategy, Operations, and Leadership for Emerging & Frontier Economies Conference and Killing Cash - Pros and Cons of Mobile Money for the World's Poor, A Look at Both Sides of the Coin.