Issue 24 - ALBA Graduate Business School

The
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The ALBA Quarterly Newsletter
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 1
ALBA participates in the
Special Points: United Nations
Principles for Responsible
► ALBA participates in the
United Nations Principles for
Responsible Management
Education
Management Education
ALBA has become a participant of
PRME as of November
2009. Participation in the PRME
► ALBA welcomes 3 new
ensures that ALBA integrates Sustainability and Social Responsibility values
Corporate members
in learning and teaching, research and day-to-day operations. An academic
institution that signs on to the PRME expresses its conviction that academic
► ALBA introduces a new
institutions, through integrating universal values into curriculum and
service: The ALBA Executive
research, can contribute to a more stable and inclusive global market and
Briefings
help build prosperous and thriving societies.
► Awarded Scholarships for
ALBA believes that PRME is an extremely important initiative for business
the ALBA Programs
education and consequently for the business world and society at large,
► ALBA intensifies its Interna- especially because of the changes and developments that have taken place
in economy and society during the last decade. It is, therefore,
tional activities
the first Greek Academic Institution to have become a participant in
► Interview of Ms Alexandra PRME. Following an internal review process, ALBA made sure it fulfills
Nikolitsa, Executive Director
all six (6) Principles for Responsible Management Education and is currently
at Boyden Athens and MSc in preparing its first review report.
Strategic HRM 2 Alumna
► A new member joins the
ALBA Resident Faculty
New ALBA Corporate members
► Enterprising ALBA success
story of Stefanos Souldatos,
Full-time MBA Alumnus
ALBA is proud to announce that three new companies have been added
to its Corporate Members, currently numbering 85 in total. These are:
OPAP S.A., Club Hotel Cazino Loutraki and Ericsson Hellas S.A. Corporate
Members comprise the General Assembly of ALBA by supporting
the School and taking part in decision-making and long-term
planning. They are also given priority in accessing
educational and other benefits and activities that ALBA
Academic Programs…………………...2
offers. We would like to welcome them to the ALBA
Executive Development………………. 3
family and thank them for their support.
The ALBA Insider………….……..……...3
Applied Research & Innovation……..4
ALBA Executive Briefings
Career & Alumni Office.…….…………5
A new service has been developed by the Applied
Experience from our Alumni………..6
Research
& Innovation Department which is addressed
New Knowledge created at ALBA….7
to all companies that want to strengthen their
Enterprising Alumnus Feature…… 8
employees’ knowledge. It is a series of short chapters
AHEAD………………………………..…..9
providing an overview of selected management topics. It is
offered to HR managers who wish to develop a library of
useful information on several thematic areas.
Contents
(continued on page 4)
Academic Programs
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 2
Awarded Scholarships
In appreciation of the continuous support
and cooperation of the HR industry
regarding all its activities, ALBA has
established an annual scholarship program
for the MSc in Strategic HRM. This year, 4 scholarships
covering 50% of the total tuition fees for the academic
year 2009-2010 were awarded to the following
professionals in the field of HR Management:
► Mr. George Kakogiannis
► Ms Amalia Episkopou from Adidas Hellas S.A.
► Ms Christina Papachristopoulou
Hay Group offered 2 full scholarships for the Professional MBA. The
scholarships cover 100% of the
total tuition fees for the academic year 20102011. The successful candidates are:
► Ms Maria Kalogeropoulou from sanofi-aventis S.A.
ALBA would like to
congratulate the successful
candidates and wish them
all the best in their studies!
► Ms Andrita Lapardhaja from PWC Business
Solutions S.A.
► Mr. Ioannis Vomvas from Bank of Cyprus
Guest Speaker
Students had the opportunity to learn from the
invaluable experience of Mr. Chris Tsangos, Consumer
and Online Marketing Officer of Microsoft Central and
East Europe. Mr. Tsangos visited ALBA on October 19,
2009, within the scope of the “On Site Insight“
lecture series.
Mr. Chris Tsangos
“Marketing in Action” Project in Cooperation with Minerva
ALBA Full time MBA students, with the
active participation and support of
Minerva, had the opportunity to put
into practice the principles of Marketing
using as a real example Minerva’s brand, So Real.
The project took place as part of the Marketing
Management course. The company supplied the
ALBA students with all the necessary information
in order to carry out their research in the best
possible way, under the supervision of the course
instructor Dr. Kyriakos Kyriakopoulos and company managers.
To raise the real-life challenge, students
presented their final plans to Prof.
Kyriakopoulos and managers of
Minerva, Mr. Tasos Petropoulos, Brand
Manager, Ms Katerina Briggou,
Assistant Brand Manager and Ms Evi
Pountou, Personnel Manager.
Two teams that equally impressed the Minerva
managers were distinguished, consisting of
students: Anika Jensdotter, Giannis Flouris,
Grigoris Kardaras, Panogiotis Spyridakos, Nikoletta
Petrova, Ioanna Tzardi, Kostas Beltegris,
Charalampos Fantidis & Dimitris Vassiliadis.
ALBA, once more, challenged the standard
educational philosophy in which students learn
passively to absorb facts and theories.
Minerva gained a unique access to innovative
ideas from a young and dynamic group of people.
In the past, ALBA students’ plans have been
repeatedly employed by companies.
Executive Development
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 3
ALBA – AIA “Mini Business Administration Program”
1 Class Graduation Ceremony
st
The Graduation Ceremony of the 1st Class of the “Mini Business Administration Program” took place at
the AIA premises on November 16, 2009.
During the Ceremony, the graduates of the program presented their final projects to the General
Manager, Mr. Yiannis Paraschis, to the C.F.O., Mr. Basil Fondrier, as well as to a number of executives
from AIA and to ALBA Faculty members.
The ALBA Executive Development Team wishes the graduating class all the best in their professional
and personal endeavors.
ALBA – EUROBANK EFG "Leadership Development Program"
st
1 Class Graduation Ceremony
Launch of the 2nd Class
The 1st Class of this newly launched executive
program graduated after having completed
three modules within the last year. Mr.
Nikolaos Nanopoulos, CEO of EFG Eurobank,
and Ms Athina Dessypri, Advisor to the
Management of EFG Eurobank, attended the
Ceremony, which took place on October 2,
2009, at Grand Resort Lagonisi.
The 2nd Class of the Program began in October 2009.
The first module had a duration of 4 days and took
place at Elatos Resort in Arahova. The 31 executives
of the Bank who participate in the Program had the
chance to attend one-to-one and group coaching
sessions with coaches from London and Greece. The
first module was taught by Dr. Babis Mainemelis,
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at
ALBA. The Program aims at empowering the
participants with leadership competencies in order to
lead themselves and their teams.
ALBA – sanofi-aventis “Leadership Development Program”
Conclusion of the 1st Class
The 1st Class took place in July 2009, at Club Hotel Casino Loutraki.
The Program was addressed to 24 executives and had a duration of 4 days. The
instructor of the Program was Dr. Babis Mainemelis, Associate Professor of
Organizational Behavior at ALBA.
ALBA Insider
The module included one-to-one and group coaching sessions with coaches from the UK and Greece.
New Faculty Member
This September, we welcomed
a new Resident Faculty
Member,
Dr.
Babis
Mainemelis,
Associate
Professor of Organizational
Behavior who comes to ALBA
from London Business School. Prof.
Mainemelis has already collaborated with
ALBA in the Executive Education and in some
academic programs. We would like to
welcome him and wish him all the best!
ALBA intensifies its
International activities
Due to the increasing volume of its international
needs, ALBA has established a new Department that
brings together all its international activities and
specialized services for its international student body.
The Director of this new Department is Ms Erato
Paraschaki, former Program Director of the Full Time
MBA and the MSc in Strategic HRM. The new
Department has launched its webpage at:
www.alba.edu.gr/international/ and has also
created an International
Community on LikedIn.
JOIN THE GROUP > Applied Research and Innovation
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 4
Recruitment Confidence Index
The survey has begun for the 1st half of 2010
The collection of data for the 1st half of 2010 will take place during December 2009 January 2010. The 2010 RCI is carried out with the support of ECDL Hellas, while
Eurobank Business Services sponsors the Special Theme of the survey entitled “The
Financial Crisis and its Repercussions”.
All Greek companies are invited to complete the online questionnaire at: www.alba.edu.gr/Rci.
For more information please contact Mr. Panagiotis Tarsinos, e-mail: [email protected].
“Measuring Efficiency after Training on IT skills and the cost of IT ignorance”
Since September 2009, ALBA has started a new survey in
collaboration with ECDL Hellas, entitled: “Measuring
efficiency after training on IT skills and the cost of IT
ignorance”. 140 employees from 46 companies participate in the survey
which will be finalized on January 2010. Its main goal is to explore employees’ needs in IT skills, train them accordingly and, finally, measure the subsequent change in their performance and efficiency. The initial results of the
survey were presented by Dr. Evi Baralou at the annual ECDL Foundation
Forum “From Crisis to Dia-Crisis”, on October 23, at the Westin Athens Astir
Palace. The final results will be published in February 2010.
For more information please contact Ms Zoe Kourounakou at: [email protected].
Simulation Game in Thessaloniki
facilitated by ALBA
A LB A P r ofe s s o r, D r. Ni k ola os
Mylonopoulos facilitated a simulation
game in which participants were
engaged in a “learning by doing” experience. They
were exposed to various socio-economic topics and
were confronted with the complex collaboration
dynamics and breakdowns that occur in large
multidisciplinary project consortia.
Policy Dialogue on
“Diversity Management and Equal
Opportunities in the workplace”
ALBA organized a Policy Dialogue Meeting
that took place on December 16 at SEV.
The game took place during a training workshop
organized by the Q-PLAN North Greece (PLATON+
project coordinator) entitled: “Effective Collaboration
in Multidisciplinary Research: A Learning
Experience”, on December 4 at ACT, in Thessaloniki.
The workshop was organized in the framework of
the PLATON+ project and is designed to address the
complex and demanding context in cross-disciplinary
research activities, by exposing participants to the
collaboration challenges of such activities.
The aim of this event was to bring
together researchers, policy makers, business
community and civil society organizations to discuss key
findings on relevant policy research and therefore
initiate public discussion concerning Diversity
Management in the workplace. During the event, new
policies and trends that will lead to improvement in the
workplace in terms of Diversity were suggested. Moreover, four thematic areas were identified and discussed
by the invited audience: Gender equality, Ageing,
Immigration and Management of Employees with
Special Needs. Research results of past and ongoing projects were presented concerning these four areas and
policy suggestions were presented to the public bodies,
business community, Civil Society Organizations as well
as the Representative of the European Commission.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
For more information on all Platon+ activities please visit: www.platonplus.net or contact Mr. Dimitris Gardikiotis,
e-mail: [email protected].
ALBA Executive Briefings
(continued from front page)
The ALBA Executive Briefings will be accompanied by two Executive Breakfasts on
selected business subjects per year, exclusively for companies that have adopted the
Executive Briefings. The first company, which provided this service to its employees
through their intranet portal, is TT Bank. TT Bank created a library section on the
intranet portal accessible only by its employees, where the ALBA Executive Briefings
are presented.
If interested, please contact Mr. Aristotelis Alexopoulos at: [email protected], +30 210 8964531.
ALBA Alumni Association
Career & Alumni Office
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 5
Company Presentations
Career Workshops 2009-2010
The first workshop for the academic year 2009-2010,
Career Planning, was held by Career & Alumni Executive,
Ms Maria Melioti, in November. This workshop
introduced the full-time students to a basic model for
career planning. They were provided with the opportunity
to explore a framework for their career options and the
specific actions they need to take to get there.
In December, Career & Alumni Director, Ms Maria
Moragianis, held the CV Preparation Workshop for the fulltime classes. Students were presented with useful tips and
techniques for creating winning CVs.
The following workshops are scheduled for the upcoming
months:
- Market Mapping - Interview Skills - Psychometric Testing
The first presentation of
the year was given by
sanofi-aventis
during
which, Managing Director and General Manager,
Marcos Gerassopoulos,
presented
valuable
insights to the Full time MBA students.
Yearbook 2009: Get your copy!
We would like to invite this year’s
graduating class to stop by the Career &
Alumni Office and pick up their own
personal copy.
Please contact us
beforehand: [email protected].
17th ALBA Career
Forum
Personality Tests
The Office has recently collaborated with Orientum Career
Counselors in order to provide students and alumni with the
opportunity to take two powerful career tests:
• The Profiler: Traits Personality Questionnaire. A useful tool
for understanding the factors that determine your professional behavior and discovering your natural strengths- talents. It measures 30 personality traits.
• The JVIS: Jackson Vocational Interest Survey. A useful tool
that can give you powerful insights into the type of work
that is right for you. It measures 34 occupational areas.
You may register to take the tests online. Registration is simple and
all information provided is confidential. For more information,
please contact Maria Melioti at: [email protected].
Watch
the
Video
Most of our 2009 graduates who are
now employed made their initial contact
with their current companies at the
Career Forum! We would like to
congratulate them and wish them
every success in their careers!
Alumnus on the Move
Alumni Stay in Touch
► George Lagarias (MBA 13)
from EFG Eurobank Ergasias to
Marfin Global Management as
Assistant Fund Manager
All alumni please inform us of any changes in your job and contact
details and spread the word to other alumni who may not be
receiving our e-mails. Contact us and stay in touch through:
FOLLOW US ON > AAA Annual Xmas Party
To celebrate the start of the Christmas season, the AAA
hosted their annual Christmas party on December 4, at
Astrolavos Art Gallery. This event was part of the AAA
efforts to reconnect and reunite with the ALBA alumni community.
The cozy and artistic atmosphere of Astrolavos made everyone feel
welcomed and provided an excellent opportunity for the alumni to
recall memories from their postgraduate studies and update each
other on their professional and personal news. The event was
sponsored by the Association, Astrolavos Art Gallery and Cellier Le
Bistrot.
BECOME A FAN ON > Experience from our Alumni
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 6
We interviewed Ms Alexandra Nikolitsa,
Executive Director at Boyden Athens
and MSc in Strategic HRM 2 Alumna
Alexandra shares with us her experience of moving from a
career in finance to the executive search field and comments
on the current situation of the Greek labor market.
[email protected] Could you inform us on your latest professional developments?
In 2008, I joined Boyden Athens - the oldest executive search firm in the world - as an Executive Director,
although the greatest part of my professional life had been dedicated to financial positions. Executive
search is a specialized branch of management consulting in which qualified candidates are located and
presented to clients for specific management positions, usually at middle to senior levels. This process
involves broad industry research leading to the identification, interviewing and evaluation of candidates. My
position entails the management of client relationships, primary responsibility for executive search
assignments as well as business promotion.
How did you decide to make such a big career shift? Which factors helped you in achieving it?
The shift in my career to the executive search industry occurred gradually and smoothly as the need for
enhancing my personal people management skills had become essential in order to further develop in my
career. Since 2002, I have been involved with HR issues initially on a professional level (as part of my
administrative duties as CFO of SIMDA) and later on, on an academic level (pursuing the ALBA MSc in
Strategic HRM in 2004). Interviewing potential candidates for positions in the departments of companies I
was working for goes back to 1998. However, interviewing forms only one of the many components of our
profession. I believe that in our profession, the key to successfully completing a project is to understand from
the very beginning the needs but also the business and the culture of the client. Of course, one may note
that I have a competitive advantage in conducting assignments relating to financial positions, but I think
that all positions can be handled in an efficient manner as long as thorough analysis and strategic thinking
precedes the commencement of any project.
What is the current situation of the Greek labor market? What is your feeling about its evolution in
the year to come?
The findings of the Recruitment Confidence Index survey that ALBA conducted for the 2nd half of 2009
concluded in stagnancy in all recruiting processes and fear for the impact of the financial crisis. Moreover,
the official figures from the National Statistical Service of Greece published a few days ago showed an
unemployment rate in September 2009 of 9.1% compared to 7.4% in September 2008 and 9.0% in August
2009. All these findings depict the current situation in the Greek labor market.
As far as executives are concerned, we observe a tendency for employers to seek and hire professionals that
are multi-tasking and will efficiently perform more than one functions. Job moves between companies are
not accompanied by the level of salary increases that a healthy economic environment would dictate.
What we also see is new positions and openings in Finance Divisions as companies seek to improve their
cash flows, reduce pending receivables and create more efficient organization structures. On the other
hand, professionals who are currently employed are reluctant to move to a new employer given the overall
economic instability.
What are your personal endeavors for the future?
The services industry in Greece is a very challenging sector to work in. Companies are reluctant to hire
consulting firms believing that - because they are not tangible - services are not worth paying for. We will
continue to educate the market on the benefits of cooperating with a specialist. What we will also continue
to do is to offer the best possible standards to our clients providing them not only with the perfect matches,
offering fresh solutions and flexibility, but also being their advisors whenever they need us. We are
enthusiastic and passionate of our work and aim at establishing prosperous long-lasting relationships with
our clients.
New Knowledge created at ALBA
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 7
Special Contributions by ALBA Faculty
Special Awards
The paper by Kostas Axarloglou and Vasilis Theoharakis entitled "Diversity in Economics: An Analysis
of Journal Quality Perceptions" was recently listed 2nd on SSRN's Top Ten download list for Labor:
Human Capital.
Babis Mainemelis has recently received the Academy of Management Review's Outstanding Reviewer
Award for 2008. The Academy of Management Review is one of the top journals in management.
Prof. Mainemelis is a member of its editorial board since spring 2009.
Recent Papers in leading International Journals
Nickolaos G. Travlos with G. Alexandridis and D. Petmezas, “Gains from M&A’s Around the World:
New Evidence”, Financial Management, September 2009
Vasilis Theoharakis with L. Sajtos and G. Hooley, “The strategic role of relational capabilities in the
business-to-business service profit chain”, Industrial Marketing Management, October 2009
Robert D. Marx with J.E. Garcia and D. A. Butterfield, “Preparing Doctoral Students in Business Schools
to Teach: Examining Current Practices”, Academy of Management and Education Journal,
forthcoming spring 2010
Book Reviews & Chapters
Sarah Dodd, “The politics and aesthetics of entrepreneurship; a fourth movements in entrepreneurship book”. Ed. by D. Hjorth and C. Steyaert (eds), reviewed for the International Small Business
Journal, 2007
Ilias Visvikis with P. Kleindorfer, “Integration of Financial and Physical Networks in Global Logistics”, (In
Eds.) P. Kleindorfer, Y. Wind and R. E. Gunther, The Network Challenge: Strategy, Profit and Risk in an
Interlinked World, Pearson Education Inc., Publishing as Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle
River, NJ, 2009
Ilias Visvikis with M. Kavussanos “Freight Derivatives and Risk Management: A Review”, (In Eds.),
H. Geman, Risk Management in Commodity Markets: From Shipping to Agriculturals and Energy, John
Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2008
Magazines
Sarah Dodd with A. Komselis, "Family businesses in the hub; the thin line in siblings administration",
Naftemporiki, 2009
Kyriakos Kyriakopoulos, ‘Strategy During Crisis for the next day’, Kathimerini tis Kyriakis, July 2009
Ilias Visvikis with F. Antonopoulos, “Freight Derivatives: The Real Winners of the Recent Shipping
Market Collapse”, Lloyd’s Shipping Economist (LSE), June 2009
Ilias Visvikis with F. Antonopoulos, “How the Use of Risk Management Tools in Shipping Can Help
Navigate through Stormy Periods”, The Greek Economic Almanac, T&T Publications, April 2009
Participation in Conferences
Ilias Visvikis with M. Kavussanos, “The Hedging Effectiveness of Non-Storable Commodity Derivatives”,
16th Multinational Finance Society Conference, Greece, 28 June-1 July 2009
Ilias Visvikis with M. Kavussanos and D. Dimitrakopoulos, “Volatility Spillovers across Shipping and
Commodity Derivatives Markets”, 19th International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME)
Conference, Denmark, 24-26 June 2009
Ilias Visvikis, “Opportunity or Crisis for Greek Shipping?”, Panel Speaker, Preparing for the Upturn, FT
Global Events & Athens Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Greece, 1-2 April 2009
ALBA Contribution to Business Conferences
ALBA continues its intensified scientific contribution to high-profile, business-oriented Conferences of
renowned organizations, by offering academic expertise as well as special offers to its students and
alumni. Moreover, an ALBA representative is available in each of the Conferences providing anyone
interested with all the necessary information. For a full list of the Conferences please click here.
Enterprising Alumnus Feature
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 8
Alumnus Entrepreneur: Stefanos Souldatos
Program Attended: MBA 11
Names of Enterprises: A: OlaTaEpipla.gr, OlaTouGamou.gr, OlaTouSpitiou.gr.
B: Melodima.gr
Description of Enterprises: A: Electronic exhibitions for furniture, wedding products and building materials.
B: Music laboratory for weddings.
Year founded: A: 2005, 2007, 2009
B: 2007
Number of Employees: A: 2.
B: 1 employee and 30-40 musicians and dancers.
Websites of Enterprises: A: www.olataepipla.gr,
www.olatougamou.gr, www.olatouspitiou.gr.
B: www.melodima.gr
Who or what would you say was the source of your inspiration?
A: The inspiration was born in 2005 by two graduates of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in
the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). I was specialized in Computer Engineering, I had attended
courses in Management and e-Commerce at ALBA and I was researching in Web Databases during my PhD in
NTUA. I had the technical knowledge and the managerial skills, but I was just missing the most important thing:
The knowledge of any industry or market. I joined forces with a colleague and good friend of mine who specialized in Electrical Engineering and had worked in the construction of exhibition halls. Combining my knowledge
in electronic commerce with his experience in exhibitions, the idea of "electronic exhibitions" emerged.
B: I have been a successful musician in Byzantine and Classical music. As a member of the famous (esp. abroad)
Greek Byzantine Choir, I have repeatedly performed in great halls in about twenty countries, including the Metropolitan Museum of New York recently. I realized that there is a huge market gap in wedding music when my five
siblings all got married within the last three years, and I was requested to deal with the music.
What do you most like about this career path? Is there something that you do not like about it?
Web development and music have always been my hobbies, and I still regard them to be my entrepreneurial
hobbies. Although they have now become quite profitable, they do not require more time than my spare time in
the weekend. They are available on the Internet 24/7, and I only intervene whenever a new customer appears.
Therefore, I enjoy my job as an IT consultant during the week, providing services to the EU, the UK National
Health Service, the Federal Government of Belgium, the Government of Cyprus, etc.
What is your personal mission statement?
A: To help people find "everything" they need through our electronic exhibitions ("Ola" means "everything" in
Greek).
B: To provide a means for traveling through the music wedding traditions.
How did you develop your business? What are your plans to develop it further?
A: In general, starting a new business is a complicated task, especially if the available resources are minimal. However, this is not the case with the Internet. Starting with an initial investment of €100 for booking OlaTaEpipla.gr, I
worked really hard to develop a high quality portal. Using advanced techniques for Search Engine Optimization I
managed within a year to have OlaTaEpipla.gr as the first result of Google for query "έπιπλα" (furniture). At the
same time, my partner visited many furniture exhibitions and hundreds of furniture companies to expand our
reputation. Soon, OlaTaEpipla.gr became the leading furniture exhibition, providing consumers with an easy way
to view furniture from more than 200 companies all over Greece. Studying the questions sent by the consumers
to the companies through OlaTaEpipla.gr, we realized that most people are looking for furniture before they get
married and after they have built or renovated a house. Based on our better understanding of the market, we
launched OlaTouGamou.gr (wedding products) in 2007 and OlaTouSpitiou.gr (building materials) in 2009. Selecting an area for expansion is not as simple as it might sound, and we have already rejected hundreds of ideas.
As a measurement of our success, let me mention that our electronic exhibitions have had more than 500,000
visitors in 2009. I strongly believe that we have not fully exploited this potential...
B: Based on my experience in music, I took the responsibility to deal with the music in the weddings of all my siblings. Then, I realized a huge market gap since I found no agent to deal with all aspects of wedding music, and in
general musicians are not very well organized. Since Byzantine music was my expertise, I first created a wedding
choir and I also founded a group of traditional Greek music. The word-of-mouth and OlaTouGamou.gr have been
my only advertising. To satisfy my customer needs, I soon included Cretan music, Cypriot music, jazz music
(saxophones), classical music (violins) and traditional dancers.
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
Page 9
What does "success" mean to you?
Enjoying an interesting career and being happy in personal life…
Who do you admire? Why?
I always studied in awe the success stories of famous entrepreneurs. When I was young, I worked in the printing
factory of Michael Hadji-ioannou during the summers. Every afternoon, my father was driving Stelios Hadjiioannou home (first cousin of the so-called "Easy-Stelios"). Stelios sometimes commented on his cousin's entrepreneurial activities, which I was listening in admiration. When I got the Gazis-Triantafyllopoulos scholarship for undergraduate studies, the Bodossaki scholarship for MBA studies and the Onassis scholarship for PhD studies, I
studied the biographies of all these entrepreneurs, who have been a great inspiration for me.
What risks will your company face due to industry changes?
The industry changes have been on our side during the last years. The financial crisis has forced many large companies to look for alternative means of advertising. The expansion of broadband networks in Greece has been
constantly increasing the number of visitors in our electronic exhibitions. We have made efforts to build a stable
network before more competitors appear.
What advice would you give to someone who would like to follow your footsteps and start their own business?
Find the right partners, find an interesting idea and just try it. The Internet is a great marketplace, where it does
not matter who you are, how much money you have or how many years you are on the market. However, if you
do have money, network and experience on a market, it will be much easier for you...
Hellenic Entrepreneurship Association Awards
AHEAD managed for the 4th consecutive year the
selection and voting process for the KOUROS
entrepreneurship awards that the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Association
(HEA) established in 1995. In addition, the AHEAD team managed for the
2nd year the Stelios Haji-Ioannou Award for young entrepreneurs, hosted by
HEA. During the Awards Ceremony on November 19, 2009 the Awards
were presented to the winners by the Vice-Chairman of the Government, Mr.
Theodoros Pagkalos, Minister for Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping
Maritime, Ms Louka Katseli, Sir Stelios Haji-ioannou and the CEO of Eurobank
EFG, Mr. Nikolaos Nanopoulos. Moreover, the Grand Winner for the Green
Dreams Competition on environmental friendly entrepreneurship, a joint
ALBA and HEA project, was also announced. More on the award winners
can be found at the HEA website as well as the Stelios Haji-Ioannou Award
and the Green Dreams Competition websites.
AHEAD
BABSON STEP Project on
Family Business Enterprising
AHEAD participated in the annual academic meeting of the BABSON STEP Project that it joined earlier this year. During the meeting, which was held
in Edinburgh on October 22 and 23, 2009, the
new Director of STEP, Professor Pramodita Sharma
of the Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada
was introduced. Prof. Sharma is one of the leading
scholars in Family Business globally and has been
appointed Director of STEP by BABSON management. The project currently has 37 academic
members enlisted from all around the world and is
growing rapidly. More on the project can be found
at: www3.babson.edu/eship/step. The next annual
European academic meeting will be held in June
2010 in Barcelona, where the AHEAD team looks
forward at presenting the Greek case studies.
Watch
the
Video
During the Ceremony,
Mr. Alexis Komselis,
Assistant Director of
AHEAD, commented on
the Awards at SBC.
“Leading Ladies” upcoming event
AHEAD participated in this year’s Money Show that
focused on youth and female entrepreneurship with
a session titled: “Leading Ladies: How education
helps them grow businesses”. The event included a
panel of 5 ALBA alumna who presented their
experience in setting up businesses, contributing to
the growth of their family business and managing
key executive posts. Dr. Sarah Drakopoulou-Dodd,
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director
of AHEAD, facilitated the discussion and presented
on the contribution of education to venture growth.
The event was held at the Athens Hilton on
December 18, 2009 at 18:00.
The
nac
The ALBA Quarterly Newsletter
Issue 24, Winter 2009
2009--10
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