Centers of Excellence

In December 2008, the  Corporate Governance Center was created by Bankinter, Iberdrola, IE Business School and PWC. This joint initiative highlights these corporations’ interests and concerns about everything related to best practices for Corporate Governance such as continuous and sustainable improvement, interests of the different stakeholders and markets, transparency,  Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Reputation. 

The Center for Corporate Governance aims to become an  forum to facititate the exchange of ideas & opinions, analysis & research, and teaching & disclosure featuring topics concerning Corporate Governance, Corporate Responsibility and Corporate Reputation. It will try to indentify ideas and new trends coming up at the international environment, as well as to find answers for queries that arise. 

The center pays special attention to the origins of economic and financial crises, current and past, and it specifically tries to find out whether or not these origins are related to Corporate Governance…

The Diversity in Global Management Centre at IE was created in September 2002. 

The Centre’s mission is to promote the diversity management of gender, culture, personality and age as a competitive advantage in the corporate world, through reflection, creation of knowledge and the dissemination of know-how. 

The Centre’s main aims are: 

1. To foster a greater understanding of the demand for and needs of corporate diversity, by analyzing the improvement in bottom line results and effectiveness of inclusion policies. 

2. To improve diversity in the corporate world by promoting management training programs for minority groups both in western  and developing countries, thus promoting the integration of women into the economic fabric.

The Eco-Intelligent Management Center (CEM) at IE is an international research and training centre whose mission is to help the business community shape the Next Industrial Revolution. 

The basis of the eco-intelligent focus lies in an in-depth approach to design and commerce that incorporates concern for prosperity, social equity and eco-intelligence. 

The CEM is the European and international nexus for the study of business management challenges faced by companies that are implementing eco-intelligent strategies. This center finished on 2009.

ENTER (the Analysis Centre for the Information Society and Telecommunications) aims to contribute to the development of society in general and the technology sector in particular through the generation and diffusion of reports, the benchmarking of other markets, the analysis of best practices and the identification of new opportunities for the development of the sector.

 “ENTER's proposal for value focuses on its independent, multi-discipline and international spirit, as well as on the guarantee and know-how of the persons backing the initiative,” sources at the Centre point out.  This center finished in 2010

The objective of the Finance Research Center (FRC) is to produce and disseminate high quality research output in the area of financial economics. 

Following IE Business School’s philosophy, the center has a multidisciplinary approach, including full-time professors and research fellows across different disciplines (strategy, control, economics and finance) and schools with a common and broad interest in financial economics research topics. 

Among its activities, the FRC conducts new research across a wide variety of financial topics; promotes high profile conferences and workshops for academics, practitioners and regulators and contributes to the diffusion of cutting-edge knowledge in financial economics for the academic community and society as a whole. The current director of the Center is Juan-Pedro Gómez.  

We invite you to explore the profiles and research output of the Center members and keep yourself posted on our upcoming events.

The mission of the Human Resources Centre at IE is to provide support for HR directors and specialists that enable them to update their professional skills. 

The main objective is to provide a platform for the generation and exchange of knowledge in different areas of human resources, with particular emphasis on emerging issues that may have a marked impact on management capacities in the near future. Activity in the Centre focuses on three main areas:

Knowledge creation 1. Development of applied research projects. 2. Preparation of reference and benchmarking reports. 3. Participation in national and international research forums. 

Knowledge dissemination: 1. Organization of conferences and seminars for HR directors and managers. 2. Participation in debates on issues of interest to professionals in the sector. 

Generation of Networks: 1. Organisation and management of interest groups and communities to examine specialized aspects of human resources. 2. Generation of an information point on the web that serves as a hub for up-to-the-minute sources and issues for human resource professionals. 

Activities carried out by the Centre include: The IE Human Resource Benchmarking Club, Observatory on Internal Communication and Identity, E&E HR Awards for Innovation in HR, Organization of Seminars and Conferences and Applied Research

The IE Center for European Studies  is a Jean Monnet Center of Excellence. It completes the recognition of IE University as a distinguished institution in the generation of knowledge of European Integration in Spain, after having offered various Jean Monnet European Modules and having created a Jean Monnet Chair.

The aim of the IE Center for European Studies is to become a reference in studies in and teaching of the European Integration thanks to the professors of recognized prestige forming part of it.

The IE Center for European Studieswill consist of three types of main activities: Conferences and public debates, Research and Teaching.

Conferences and public debates: The center intends to organize multi-disciplinary academic conferences and seminars aimed at academics and experts on European studies as well as debates open to the public through its alumni network.

Research: The center will promote research as well as popularization of research papers written by its members. In particular, it will have a series of Working Papers which will include studies on European Integration from the perspective of different fields. This Working Paper series will, in turn, incorporate the series of Working Papers sponsored by the Jean Monnet Chair of the Instituto de Empresa.

Teaching: The center will promote “European modules” as compulsory or optional courses in each Master's as well as Bachelor degree programs in IE University. In addition, the center intends also to offer “European programs” for foreign students as well as summer school courses in Madrid and Segovia.

The creation of the Innovation of the Public Sector Chair by PwC and IE is the direct result of the awareness that the participation of private firms in the public sector will foster growth and enhance levels of efficiency and effectiveness. 

The Centre’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for this process. The challenges facing the public sector are the following: 

1. The need for greater specialization among its professionals. 

2. Continuous training as a key element of progress. 

3. The redesign and improvement of processes: application of methodologies focused on efficiency and effectiveness. 

4. The incorporation of private operators in public services and companies through outsourcing of both management and funding. 

5. The chief objectives of the Innovation of the Public Sector Centre are centered on: Providing professionals who work in both the private sector and the public sector with the training they need to undertake increasingly competitive projects with greater impact. 

To provide a reference in Spain for solutions required by public and private sector companies who embark on joint projects. 

The Innovation of the Public Sector Centre aims to achieve these objectives through the following lines of work: 

1. Research applied to the management and funding of the public sector from a legal-administrative and economic-financial perspective. 

2. Postgraduate teaching and 3. Consulting services for institutions, firms, NGOs and other organizations in the public and private sector.

IE Business School shapes leaders who promote innovation and change in organisations, equipping directors with an entrepreneurial mindset that generates employment, wealth and social wellbeing. 

Since its inception, IE Business School has embraced the entrepreneurial spirit as a core value, and is now an international reference in the field of entrepreneurship. 

The School’s International Centre for Entrepreneurial Management serves as a hub for all activities related to the field, both academic and corporate.

The IE Centre for Negotiation and Mediation’s mission is professional Business Management training in skills and techniques for negotiation and mediation. Furthermore, the Centre’s ultimate goal is the study and research of the process of negotiation in all its forms, in order to formulate and apply its own unique practical method of negotiation which would serve as a basis for its work in training. 

The Center carries out its activities in the following areas: Instruction in the coursework of the Masters Degree Programs and Postgraduate Courses offered by IE. 

1. Executive Education. Throughout the year, the Center conducts various workshops and courses open to all professionals who would like to learn the techniques and methods of Negotiation in order to apply them in their work. 

2. In-Company Training Courses tailored to the client’s needs. The duration of these courses varies in accordance with the client’s specific training requirements. 

3. On-Line Training Courses intended for those who wish to take the program on-line and maintain contact with the professors by means of various forums, threaded discussions and e-mail. 

4. Organization and participation in various activities, conferences and forums related to negotiation. 

5. Development and translation of various practical cases to be used in accordance with the profile of the professionals for whom the program is intended. 

6. The preparation and translation of case studies for use on IE programs. Cinematographic studies and analyses of films that feature conflict management and negotiation issues.

Centre for Financial Sector PwC-IE is a unique institution in Spain, independent of credit institutions, which analyses the challenges facing the Spanish and international financial sector. It investigates and establishes itself as a benchmark for strategic aspects related to innovation in the sector, and remains active in the debate on the newest topics in regulation and supervision, which all contribute in prioritising the changes that the industry must undertake in an increasingly competitive market.

The institution promotes the organization of meetings and the publication of research to achieve an efficient and competitive financial system. The analysis of international trends, the regulatory framework, innovation and the changing environment, are the main focus of its activity.

SCIEF is Europe´s leading center for Islamic Economics and Finance. The center was launched in 2009 with the mission to be a hub for research, teaching, applying and promoting Islamic economics and finance within Spanish and international businesses, governments and future leaders.

The center leverages from the experience of its partners: Islamic Economics Institute - King Abdulaziz University and IE Business School and Chair for Ethics and Financial Norms (CEFN) – University of Paris 1, Sorbonne. 

The activities range from developing course material, leadership through producing publications, conducting executive training on contemporary issues and raising awareness through our think tank series on Islamic finance and the future of alternative financing in business.