Graduation for Executive MBA participants at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

June 8, the 28 participants of the 2016-2018 cohort graduated from the Gothenburg Executive MBA programme. This was to date the largest group to have completed the 21-month management programme, which focuses on leadership and corporate management in a global market.

The participants come from both small and medium-sized companies and international corporations in different industries: SKF, Mindcamp, Sweco, Gina Tricot, Volvo Cars, Husqvarna and Stena Metall are some examples. On starting the programme, participants all held leading positions and their employers decided to invest further in them, in order to develop both business competences and leadership qualities. Participants have all been highly motivated to develop as leaders.

During 21 months they have met at the School Thursday-Saturday every third week, to listen to and learn from lecturers from all over the world, each an expert in his or her respective field, and also to learn from each other. Each of the 24 modules of the programme has honed both hard and soft skills, focusing on a specific subject: Strategic management, Organizational behavior and leadershipand Digitalization and IT Governanceare some examples of modules. Concluded by a comprehensive thesis work, the programme also includes two separate 10-day residencies in Asia, with lectures at top-ranked universities in China and India.

Here’s how some of the graduates reflect on their time on the programme:

Daniel Neang, CEO Emsy Engineering:
“I’m very happy about my participation in the Executive MBA program. Not only about the high quality education by professors from universities around the world, but also about the development achieved together with the class during this time. Learning in the group was especially evident during our time together in China and India. All in all, I now feel like a better leader, with new knowledge and insights from a diverse set of management areas, including deeper knowledge of myself.”

Susanna Dahlberg, CEO Regionteater Väst:
“My brain has grown, by being challenged to learn new things, combined with regular reflection sessions in a supportive group! I believe I am a better manager now than when I joined the programme. It has as truly been both demanding and fun. To work and to study in parallel is so beneficial; it has allowed me to bring problems and challenges from the theatre to the programme and get new perspectives on possible solutions. The best part, however, has been the other participants of the programme and the way we have collectively coached, encouraged, inspired and learned from each other.”

This year’s theses cover a wide range of areas. Two examples are:

• Daniel Neang, Nico Suazo & Rasmus Andersson:
  “Business Model Dynamics – Constraints that shape business models”
  In their thesis, Daniel Neang, Nicolas Suazo and Rasmus Andersson examined how different constraints impact how companies shape their business models. They found that constraints act both as drivers and barriers of business model transformation and should be seen as opportunities to enhance the business model performance, if mitigated. Their thesis constitutes a contribution to managers, practitioners as well as the broader business model literature by highlighting the limitations of current business model development methodologies.

• Philip Lejon & Joakim Lindholm:“CEO, Athlete or Both?”
  This thesis by Philip Lejon and Joakim Lindholm investigates what drivescorporate leaders with demanding jobs to invest in time-consuming endurance training. By interviewing CEOs who engage in endurance training they found that CEOs see their training to be a positive factor for relieving job-related stress and to make them perform better at work. The authors also found that associating achievements in training with the CEO role can create negativity towards him or her from actors within and outside the organization. Another finding was that setting up fitness programs for employees, if done in a sensible and inclusive way, has the potential to not only increase performance, but also increase the well-being of employees by addressing the needs for physical challenge as well as mental and emotional recovery.

For more information, please contact: Håkan Ericson, MD, GU School of Executive Education, hakan.ericson@handels.gu.se+46 709 50 63 35

The School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, delivers an Executive MBA programme with a Nordic-Asian focus, and custom programs for the private and public sectors. Deliveries take place in Sweden and globally. By designing programmes to always combine academic rigour and lasting practical relevance, The School of Business, Economics and Law develops leaders and executives. The School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg is the only business school in Sweden holding the three most prestigious international accreditations: AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. Our schools are usually referred to as being “Triple Crown” accredited. Only some 70 business schools in the world are, corresponding to approximately 0.5% of the total number of business schools globally. www.guexed.com