All about sustainability, inequality, diversity and AI

These are the biggest conversations we’ve been having over the past year.

It’s a wrap on the 2023-24 academic year, and it has been a year of profound change and evolution.

At IESE, some of the big conversations we’ve been having, and that our professors’ research has been exploring, center on sustainability, inequality, diversity and artificial intelligence. This isn’t surprising, as these are also some of the main concerns of executives and of society in general.

Here’s what we’ve been saying.

Sustainability: a crucial challenge

Sustainability is a priority for companies around the world. Businesses are seeking sustainable growth, balancing environmental sustainability with the bottom line. Gaizka Ormazabal discussed keeping senior management accountable in The Economist. The Financial Times featured research and case studies by Fabrizio Ferraro and Anna Saez de Tejada Cuenca on sustainability in the fashion industry. Mike Rosenberg talked about translating ideas into strategy. And Carles Vergara assessed climate risk, which is back in the news now that it’s wildfire season again. All this research contributes to executives being able to make the best decisions possible, for their companies and also for the planet.

Inequality: a persistent problem

The fight against inequality is another central debate. Marta Elvira’s research into the gender pay gap and organizational inequalities appeared in Forbes and El País, and her investigation into the impact of the financial sector on income inequality was published in Expansión. Meanwhile, Isabel Villamor’s research into how working remotely affects women’s careers caught the eye of the World Economic Forum.

Their findings highlight the need for labor policies that promote gender equity and mitigate the disadvantages faced by women in remote work environments.

Diversity: enriching research

Diversity is crucial in research if we are to obtain stronger and more globally relevant results. Yuliya Snihur made a case for non-Western voices in management research in Times Higher Education. IESE Insight’s magazine ran in that vein, collaborating with IESE’s Africa Initiative to explore what the global business community can learn about innovation from Africa. New research by Yih-Teen Lee also pointed to the subtle prejudices informing which nationalities in global teams get promoted. These studies underscore the importance of recognizing and addressing biases in international team management, promoting a more inclusive and equitable organizational culture.

Artificial intelligence: the future of work

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been top of most minds this year. IESE Insight worked with Sampsa Samila to discuss the AI hype and the future of jobs, as well as featuring an interview with Google’s Mitesh Agarwal that Philip Moscoso did during an IESE session in Singapore. Victor Martinez de Albeniz’s novel use of AI to propose an ideal musical collaborator for Shakira also made headlines as a practical application of how AI can be used in business contexts as a data-driven decision-making tool.

More conversations are happening on all elements of business knowledge

There are many other conversations happening — on management practice, on entrepreneurship and on IESEconomics. We’re also on LinkedIn, where IESE Insight polled the IESE community to ask how many people trust public institutions to improve the current economic situation, inspired by Jordi Gual’s new book. In other media, we collaborated with Tawfiq Alashoor to make a video discussing privacy concerns, and with Albert Valenti to learn about the advertising factors that drive sales the most.