Reflections on the role of companies in society and the education of the next generation of leaders

Since the Great Recession that started with the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and in the context of important worldwide environmental and humanitarian challenges, there is once again a debate about the role of companies in society. Were large corporations responsible for the recent crisis? Or are companies rather the solution to the problems?

In this context, our guest speaker will discuss the role that companies play in society, the responsibilities they have and ways in which they can contribute to the good of society. Moreover, he will reflect on the education of the next generation of younger business leaders that will take over responsibility in companies and society and how this generation looks at questions of corporate social responsibility.

Dr Franz H Heukamp is a Professor of Managerial Decision Sciences and concurrently Associate Dean for MBA Programmes at the IESE Business School, University of Navarre in Barcelona Spain, where he has worked since 2002. Professor Heukamp teaches decision analysis and forecasting methods in the different MBA and executive education programmes. As an academic he has worked with leading European companies in the pharmaceutical and IT services area. He has published more than a dozen case studies and other teaching materials.

Professor Heukamp's research focuses on individual decision making under risk and in time. In addition, he has an interest in neuroeconomics. His research has been published in Management Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, PLoS One and European Neuropsychopharmacology, among others.

In his role as Associate Dean for MBA Programmes, Professor Heukamp oversees the full-time MBA Programme, Executive MBA Programme and Global Executive Programme for about 1,200 students in Barcelona, Madrid and Sao Paulo. He has been a member of IESE Business School's Executive Committee since 2009. He holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and engineering degrees from Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees (Paris) and Technische Universitat Munchen.

*Please note that, effective from 1 January 2016, the price of ECCT lunch events has been raised by NT$100 owing to increased charges by hotels.