Message from the Dean
These are exciting times for Central European University (CEU) Business School. But times have been exciting since our inception 19 years ago shortly before the political changes that transformed Central and Eastern Europe. We have been a part of that dynamic process every step of the way. At CEU Business School, we don’t just teach change management; we live it each and every day through the rapidly evolving lives of our students and our alumni, and through the many countries and cultures we operate within. In fact, you might even say that change has become a part of our DNA. As a result, we have not only adapted to survive in rapidly changing times, we have learned to thrive on it.
In the initial years after the political changes of 1989-1990, many people thought that the East needed to catch up to the West. When I first came to Budapest in 1995 to set up marketing operations for Coca-Cola in 23 countries throughout the region, I thought the same. And I thought that way for about a month. Than I came to realize what many other business leaders also saw: this was a unique opportunity to do much more than merely catch up – we could leap ahead. Certainly we want to take best practices from the West, and any other direction they may come from, and CEU has been a leader in cascading that knowledge to our students from the beginning, but what if we can find a way to do it better? What if we can find a way to collapse the process in any given business endeavor so it moves faster, grows faster. Maybe we can completely eliminate step four or six, or start at step three instead of step one. What if?
And it isn’t just in Central Europe where the Eastern brother has begun to show the Western brother a thing or two about business and commerce. Look at the pace of change in China and India, two countries where we are experiencing a growing number of students arriving at CEU Business School.
Seventeen years on, we are beginning to see businesses ranging from well established multinationals to bold start-ups coming to CEU Business School to recruit a new breed of manager who can more readily adapt to and then lead change in their operations not only in the region, but across the globe. Western students from Germany, Canada, Mexico, the USA and France participated in a Strategic Market Planning course I personally taught this past spring. They are coming to our school because they realize the need to embrace change in their home countries as well. The only thing that is certain about the future everywhere is that it will be somewhat different than what we think it will be.
Our home city of Budapest has always been at the cross-roads of great civilizations and an active proponent of sharing ideas from north and south to east and west. It is still true today, and nowhere is that more true I believe than in our university. Also present at my course this spring was a vibrant mix of students from India, Romania, Malaysia, Palestine, Nigeria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Israel, and Georgia. Imagine the discussions that took place about potential market entry strategies, the role of digital communications, and many other important marketing topics real businessmen and women need to deal with in the real world of today…and of tomorrow. The same diversity of discussions and the development of new ideas occur in the finance classes, logistics, HR, and so forth. And most importantly, they occur among you yourselves in the many study areas and lounges spread liberally around our school. This is perhaps the most important benefit of all you receive from your business education: learning from the other students you meet and the bonds that you make – bonds that will last a lifetime.
Central European University Business School will continue to leap forward in the months and years ahead both in what we do, and through the students with whom we do it. Come join us. Make the leap yourself!
Paul Garrison
Dean and Managing Director
