Archive for June, 2008

What do SABF participants think?

Every day we are closer to the SABF and we want you to start knowing the 100 student participants that will be attending the SABF this year. We believe that a good way to do that is through their opinions and ideas. So, over these weeks, we will be publishing the essay’s abstract of some of them. These are the first we want to share with you:

João Miranda De Oliveira Rebouças Brandão – IBMEC São Paulo – Brazil

Institutions emerge to coordinate agents’ social expectations and as such pervade human affairs. In accordance with Institutional logical construction, economic and political institutions are crucial to the development of a society. In this essay, I intend to show how this can be verified in a concrete example: the United States case. The United States of America have a low set of initiative costs. The reputation of being “the land of opportunities” is much more a result of this fact, then of the mere wealth aggregate found within its borders. The strong individualist feeling, which includes self-determination and self-responsibility, associated with the ability to gather into broader groups in order to act more effectively, having the adherence to ideals as background, could introduce elements into the social system which seem to be crucial to the nation’s development. In Latin America, efforts should be done to foster socially desirable institutions – which means those that lower initiative and transaction costs. The structure is being imported through globalization. Free-trade, concurrence, entrepreneurship enforcement, leadership skills and strong dedication to work are common expressions in today’s business world. It is time to create the suitable institutional environment for these fast-coming changes. The ability of societies to fulfill this goal will determine not only the net benefits brought by the expansion of globalization, but also their sustainability in the long run.

Carlina María Rojas Almeida – Universidad Nacional de Asunción – Paraguay

“La Prensa: “Herramienta Poderosa”, capaz de desarrollar Agentes de Cambio”

Los medios de prensa o de comunicación social: televisión, radio, diarios, revistas, periodistas, empresas gestoras de la comunicación; comprenden una herramienta poderosa para el fortalecimiento y desarrollo de agentes de cambio, pues poseen un gran alcance, no solo a nivel de cobertura geográfica, sino más por el poder de influir en las personas.
La prensa produce efectos en la vida de las personas; es capaz de modificar su modo de pensar; (necesitamos actitud positiva), actuar sobre su grado de conocimiento; (precisamos educación, capacitación), es capaz de crear conciencia ética en la sociedad, (exigimos un juicio moral de nuestros actos), y motivar el pensamiento crítico, (debemos tomar decisiones que beneficie a todos), todo esto propicia el desarrollo de una cultura emprendedora sustentable. Los jóvenes, futuros profesionales; constituyen el eje fundamental para el desarrollo de una cultura emprendedora sustentable, pues estos son los futuros dueños de los nuevos emprendimientos que se están llevando a cabo ahora, y los que surgirán; por lo que deben ser el foco principal a atender. Se deben establecer alianzas estratégicas, con; universidades, centros educativos, colegios, institutos de capacitación profesional, etc. y desarrollar proyectos específicos con organismos gubernamentales, empresas privadas, organismos internacionales, vía convenios de cooperación, todos inter ligados por “medios de comunicación”.

Ahora que identificamos una herramienta poderosa, los medios de comunicación social y sabemos de lo que son capaces, entonces; concluyendo, además de desarrollar…

Son “AGENTES DE CAMBIO”, y deben ser llamados a cumplir su deber.

Daniel Ponce Gandarillas – Universidad Privada Boliviana – Bolivia

“Desarrollando culturas emprendedoras: Empresas sin Fronteras”

Mucho mas allá de buscar creencias y teorías que apunten a definiciones sobre el estado actual de la situación latinoamericana, el dilema hoy en día se concentra en la decisión de convertirse en ciudadanos trascendentales o vivir dentro el olvido colectivo de nuestros países por muchos años mas. Aun si fuera tan simple una respuesta como decidir ser o no una persona trascendental, el mismo concepto requiere una re definición que contiene características implícitas de actitud, carácter, valores y responsabilidad, y que además deben estar forjadas bajo el ritmo y las tendencias del mundo de hoy.
Hablamos entonces del nuevo emprendedor, el cual posee como hogar a América Latina y como ambiente al mundo entero. Es necesario por consiguiente construir y delinear claramente el rumbo por el cual la nueva visión emprendedora latinoamericana desarrollará sus pasos. Es fundamental superar los antiguos paradigmas mediante los cuales fuimos guiados y constituir entornos donde nuestra realidad quede exenta del autismo político, social, cultural y de negocios. Es imprescindible caer en cuenta que mientras antes levantemos la mirada y decidamos trabajar juntos estableciendo empresas sin fronteras, con responsabilidad social y respeto al medio ambiente, nosotros, los emprendedores daremos vuelta al mundo empujando desde nuestro hogar, desde nuestra América Latina.

Ana Carolina Jiménez Vargas – Universidad de Antioquia – Colombia

“El emprendimiento: motor de desarrollo global”

El emprendimiento es una actitud y una secuencia de acciones con las que se crea riqueza, empleo, capital humano y social. Situaciones que al mismo tiempo impulsan la productividad, competitividad y bienestar social de las comunidades de Suramérica.

La región de América Latina es la más emprendedora del mundo con una tasa de actividad emprendedora promedio de 17,3%1. El nivel de actividad emprendedora en la región varía desde un 12,2% en Uruguay a un 25,9% en Perú, entre este rango están Brasil con un 12,7%, Chile con 13,4% Argentina con 14,4%, Venezuela con 20,2% y Colombia con 22,7%.

Estos resultados indican que el terreno de la cultura emprendedora está siendo cada vez más abonado por las entidades estatales y en menor, pero importante, proporción por el sector privado, sin embargo es necesario entender que el emprendimiento es un proceso que debe construirse día a día entre todos, que su consolidación es gradual y que es compromiso de todos los ciudadanos e instituciones de la sociedad aportar para su desarrollo y crecimiento; las bases que se están cimentando son profundas por lo que no hay que abandonar esta construcción, sino articular esfuerzos individuales que generen sinergia y un pull de liderazgo colectivo para alcanzar la meta: productividad, competitividad, bienestar social y progreso económico.

1 Centro de Entrepreneurship. IAE – Escuela de Dirección y Negocio. Universidad Austral, 2008.

Nicola Magri – Università Luiss, Roma  – Italy

“Socially Responsible Corporations as Leaders of Change”

South America is a developing regions which suffers from a variety of problems ranging from lack of infrastructure to corruption, from lack of capital to political stability. This situation has become even more uncertain because of globalization which has opened national and regional markets to international flows of capital.

As it is possible to notice, multinationals have become extremely powerful actors in the global arena and they can easily move their business activities from one area to another having a huge social, economic and environmental impact. The positive impact of Socially Responsible Corporations (those which integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis) can be tremendous. Multinationals can stimulate capital accumulation (human capital, business capital, natural capital, etc.) in developing areas which is the key factor for economic growth and development. Why should multinationals undertake these virtuous behaviors? Because they can attract customers support. Customers play a fundamental role in approving or disapproving multinationals activities while shopping. In fact, the “market democracy” (also called the “wallet vote”) is a powerful tool people have to influence companies and support those which integrate social, economic and environmental values in their final products. A constructive and continuous interaction with the stakeholders will guarantee a virtuous outcome; at the same time companies will create not only economic but also social and environmental values and benefit from the legitimacy of being trustworthy agents of change.

Juan Martin Pagella – Universidad de Buenos Aires – Argentina

“Quien tiene ideas nunca es pobre”

Toda innovación es producto de una idea previa .Las innovaciones repercuten en nuevos productos, mercados y métodos de “cómo hacer las cosas”. Los cuales, a su vez, atraen y generan inversiones  y nuevos proyectos. Estos últimos, vía imitación o “inspiración”.

Cuando un emprendedor tiene éxito, lo más importante que se aprende, es que se puede.

Dada la falta de capital de los países de Sudamérica, y las infinitas contingencias que afectan la explotación de los recursos naturales, considero que el factor clave de cambio-el “motor”- que debe promoverse, reside en la capacidad de inventar y de encontrar aplicaciones útiles, de los RR.HH.
Una educación sólida es la condición necesaria para que un país pueda crecer, desarrollarse y progresar. Valores compartidos, reglas de juego justas, apoyo y gestión eficiente del gobierno, constituyen la condición suficiente. Digo esto, basándome en mi creencia acerca de la veracidad de la conocida frase “Money is not an issue”. Si están los proyectos, el dinero vendrá.  De aquí que, quien tiene ideas nunca es pobre.

Con reglas de juego claras, equitativas y estables, tiende a desaparecer la inversión especulativa y a cambiar la actual cultura empresaria de dinero rápido. También fomenta el ingreso de empresarios locales al mercado.

En un mundo globalizado, dónde no queda lugar para los débiles, debemos  aceptar los desafíos que este nos presenta, para poder mejorar nuestra situación. “No perdamos nuestro tiempo. Quizás los hubo mejores, pero este es el nuestro” (Sartre). Cambiemos algo.

Francisco José Lirola Valdivia – Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio – Spain

“Actitud para el desarrollo”

El potencial natural del que dispone una región es la base para conseguir de un modo continuo y razonable unos niveles de desarrollo que le permitan competir en un mundo global en todos los campos imaginables. América del Sur cuenta en su haber con ese requisito indispensable para conseguir un desarrollo equilibrado: abundancia de recursos naturales y humanos; encontrándose ante una oportunidad de avance inmejorable, originada por la escasez de recursos a nivel mundial y que abre para la región una interesante vía de mercado. La gran variedad natural, sitúa ante las instituciones y empresarios un amplio abanico de sectores de comercio, entre los que destacan los combustibles y el alimentario. Así, el punto de partida se encuentra en la preparación y en la calidad de ésta, hecho que origina diferentes niveles de cualificación y que organiza el panorama profesional estableciendo diferentes estratos de competencias, haciendo fundamental la administración del activo intelectual que cada profesional ofrece en su campo y que junto con las acciones políticas deben de tener como fin esencial ampliar la libertad individual e incentivar el espíritu emprendedor de la región suramericana para con sus recursos innatos.

Definitivamente, Suramérica cuenta con la valiosa experiencia de episodios pasados y el conocimiento de las políticas satisfactorias que han aplicado otras regiones para llegar a un desarrollo sostenible, reseñando que el desarrollo únicamente será cuestión de actitud para superar las adversidades e inteligencia para aprovechar los recursos que la tierra y el pueblo le brinda.

“We entrepreneurs are big challengers”

We have the honor to share with you an interview made by Fortuna Magazine to one of our speakers, Andrés Freire.

Axialent’s CEO was chosen by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, together with the Martín Lousteau, the Economy Minister, among 3,500 candidates. He talks about the challenges and vices corporations have and about new leadership. The “victim” attitude of many Argentinean executives.

Andrés Freire met Economy Minister Martín Lousteau at University while they were both studying Economy.
This year, they were both chosen by the World Economic Forum as Young Global Leaders. They are the only two Argentineans chosen among 3,500 candidates all around the world. In Freire’s case, his most important achievement is a vertiginous career as an entrepreneur, leader and businessman. His reputation kicks off in the dotcom era. In 1997, he founded Officenet, a company which sells office supplies for companies. They started with ten employees and an investment of U$S 7,000,000. Five years later, there were more than 700 employees all around Latin America. Then, in 2003, he co-founded Axialent, a company which “helps big corporations in the world to solve the unbalances resulting from what they say and what they do”. When having to analyze the weaknesses of big organizations he says that “the narrower the gap between what companies say and what they actually do, the more successful they will be in the long run.”

FORTUNA: Why do you think that there is a gap between what we say and what we do?

FREIRE
: Because executives think that there is a dilemma between the personal values and the organizational values. Sometimes we have the chance of being aligned with our own values or doing what the company needs. That is a lie. We show companies how these two things can be integrated. And they are realizing that the content of knowledge as regards technology is not a competitive advantage whereas generating a culture of work is.

FORTUNA
: How do you accomplish that?

FREIRE: Generally corporations pay little attention to their corporate culture. This means, for instance, how a leader company in technology can generate a task oriented culture. If they are consequent, then the people who work there should be impeccable with their commitments. If the meeting starts at one, it starts at one. To achieve that culture they want to generate, they must follow the values they want to promote.

FORTUNA: What are the big vices of corporations?

FREIRE: One is unconsciousness. People don’t know the impact it has when they do not live up to their word. For example, they preach that the best ones within the organization will be promoted but then those positions are covered with the director’s friends or those men he trusts. There is no problem in being a loyalty-built company but you don’t have to say a different thing and you have to be coherent with the messages you deliver. Our motto is “what leaders do speak so loudly that people don’t listen to what they say”. The actions of those running an organization have a multiplying effect.

FORTUNA: Is it possible to have an entrepreneur emerging from a big corporation? Should they be promoted?

FREIRE: It depends on what the company wants to generate. If you are looking for innovation, then it is a good idea. The secret of an innovative culture is to break paradigms. Entrepreneurs are generally big challengers. I think that those organizations who promote the entrepreneurial activity among their employees will have better chances of improving day by day and reinventing themselves.

FORTUNA: Your company advises big corporations such as Google, General Motors, Shell. How do you think these companies are adapting to the changes that knowledge and the insertion of China and India have brought about in the world markets?

FREIRE: I reckon that there is a huge sensation that the speed at which you have to learn is ten times faster than before. The secret for this is humility. Maybe it sounds too philosophical but it is so. The organizations are saying: “How can I get to a context of more humility to generate a better learning process and incorporate the undergoing changes that occur in the world, at such unexpected speeds?” There is a strong will to incorporate knowledge and to go back to being apprentices. There is a direct correlation between the level of commitment they have for change and the speed at which the results are finally given.

FORTUNA: You are constantly traveling around the world because your company has subsidiaries in different countries. How, in your opinion, do foreigners see the country?

F
REIRE: Honestly, they don’t see much of it. It’s as if two Argentineans were talking about how they see Surinam or French Guyana. No matter how much it hurts, it is like this.

FORTUNA: And how do they see Latin America?

FREIRE: In the eyes of big companies – with some exceptions like Google who is opening an operations centre in Buenos Aires – Latin America means Brazil. North Americans see a bit more of Mexico, but Europeans don’t. However, everybody sees Brazil, which is incredibly booming.

FORTUNA
: Do you think that the Argentinean executives being versatile explains the result of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor which ranks Argentina as one of the 10 countries with the most entrepreneurs?

FREIRE: We have a highly entrepreneurial culture given our Italian, Spanish and other immigrant ancestors.
But we also live in a context which leaves you unemployed every now and then. Nevertheless, if you observe the rate of effectiveness, Argentina ranks within the worst countries in the world, taking into account the quantity of projects that did not overcome their fourth year. So, there is a very high rate of entrepreneurs but with an overwhelming rate of failure. This has to do with the fact that people don’t train themselves to start up a project, they start it up out of necessity.

FORTUNA: Do you think that the present national conjuncture is good for start-up projects?

FREIRE: I think that all conjunctures are good to generate businesses, in any place.

FORTUNA: You are very optimistic…

FREIRE: I think good businesses can be done in any scenario and there are opportunities in all crises. The key issue is to assume the attitude of the protagonist and not the victim’s.

FORTUNA: Do Argentinean executives have a victim’s attitude?

FREIRE: I think that Argentina unfortunately has the counterpart of our ability to adapt to the context and being so versatile. As we are always living in changing realities, it is very easy to blame the context. Be that the political, managerial, social, educational, whatsoever. You can always find arguments to see the glass half empty.

FORTUNA: As a leader, what have been your worst miscalculations and faults?

FREIRE: My greatest fault is arrogance. I think I know something and then I realize there is a lot I need to learn.

FORTUNA Bearing all the issues in the global agenda in mind, which do you think corporations should pay more attention to?

FREIRE: Although it might sound philosophical, one of those issues is conscience. What maximizes the individual objective doesn’t maximize the collective success. There is a trend now, to pay a little more attention to global issues that are affecting us. This goes from the value of organizations to global warming, water and the integration of China and India to the consumer market.

FORTUNA: The current leader is very different from that of the middle of the XX century. What features should he have?

FREIRE: The current leader is one who is very worried about integrating the organizational values with the ones that people have. He should be focused on getting people motivated inside out, not the other way round. You have to create the best workplace to motivate and invite people to live their lives to the fullest.

FORTUNA: Being in the kitchen of the decision-making of big companies, have you found any myths broken?

FREIRE: Yes, many. One of them is the accepted wisdom that leaders of big companies are people who are extremely happy and satisfied, with money and power. But sometimes, they have the same fears as anybody else: that his boss or the shareholders will come and criticize him. On the other hand, I see a lot of kindness in organizations. I see they are trying to offer higher value services and to build things. I don’t see any evil or conspiration, as it is usually thought. Obviously, there are all sorts of people: honest, dishonest, with values and without values. But everyone wants to grow.

FORTUNA: How does it feel to share this recognition by WEF with the Economy Minister of Argentina?

FREIRE: I never imagined that I would share it with Martín (Lousteau). We went to University together.
Among other reasons, I’m being given this prize for the global impact Axialent is having in the corporate world. We have big companies from all around the world. We are a truly globalized company, the only Argentinean thing is that I am Argentinean and that I said “everything that is not consultants I want to have in Argentina.” I think our country can export grey cells.

SABF Around the World

In this occasion we would like to introduce our group of delegates. They are SABF representatives throughout the five continents that works along with us, to manage to spread the event around the world. They are an essential component in the organization since they are the ones who transmit the spirit and concept of the Forum reaching personally where we cannot. We would like to thank all our delegates for the excellent work they have done during these months which made it possible to achieve such great results this year!

We have more than 60 delegates from 21 different countries. Just Awesome! If you would like to know who is the delegate in your country or university, please visit the Delegates section of our website.

Here you can see some pictures of them in their countries! This reflects their hard work, effort and commitment!

Agustín Taberner

Agustín Taberner is a SABF delegate at the Universidad Nacional de La Matanza in Argentina. On his trip to Rosario he took a photo in the National Monument to the flag.

She is Mary Laura Delgado Montes, our delegate at the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín in Perú. In this pic, she is in her city: Arequipa. Amazing sight!

William Castaño

This pic was taken by William Castaño, delegate at Universidad EAFIT in Colombia. This is the second aerial tramway that was inaugurated in Medellin showing an uncommon perspective of the city.

Gonzalo Basso

Gonzalo Basso is a SABF Delegate at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He’s in the Alcalá Gate in Madrid!

We hope you have enjoyed the pics and got to know the world a bit more through them!