Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62199
NASDAQ CEO Sees Bright Future for Tech The digital revolution is alive and well, and within a decade it will help establish a globally linked marketplace. So said John L. Hilley, CEO and President of NASDAQ, as the keynote speaker at the recent 23rd International Conference on Infor - mation Systems. The conference was hosted in Barcelona by ESADE and IESE and attracted close to 1,000 participants. Hilley, who also served as princi- pal advisor to the White House dur- ing Bill Clinton's presidency, noted that the many early experiments in e-commerce failed not because of the technology, but because compa- nies misinterpreted the market dynamics and economics involved with the new medium. "Companies surviving a digital collapse will be those converting to 'soft' and tech services, concentrating on processes and information," he said. "The winner will be the one who adapts best to using today's tools." Hilley also commented that the Participate in AACSB/EBI Stakeholder Assessment Studies Comprehensive, Confidential, Cost Effective surveying of: • Undergraduate business graduating students & alumni • Full-time and part-time MBA graduating students & alumni • Business school faculty Compare results with schools of your choice Build longitudinal comparisons over time Administer paper surveys or use WESS (Web Enabled Survey System format) Enrollment deadlines: For Spring Survey administration enroll- ment is open until early April. Enroll today at www.webebi.com. For other AACSB Knowledge Services products, visit www.aacsb.edu/knowledgeservices Questions? Call Viviana Harper at 417-831-1810 or email vharper@webebi.com. renewed emphasis on corporate gov- ernance poses a problem in a global- ly linked economy. Governments that pro- mote regulations on e- commerce do so to have greater control over their own markets, he said. As a result, he added, the combination of trans- parency and connectivity will make it more diffi- cult for companies to protect their products and business lines. "The biggest barriers to the growth of the global economy are rules D ATA B I T The London Business School estimates that technological failures cost companies approximately £31 billion directly and £100 billion in lost opportunities annually. Its report also noted that each employee of a small- to medium-sized enterprise spends, on average, 183 hours a year waiting for malfunctioning IT systems to be repaired. and regulations," he said. "From now on, CEOs and managing direc- tors must be extremely careful, since if they give any wrong information they could find themselves in jail." Company managers must also take extra care in selecting their team members, he added, since managers will have to be able to trust in their teams to succeed in a globally con- nected environment. This was the first time the con- ference was held in Bar - celona, and the sixth time it has been arranged outside of the U.S. Attend ing the conference were experts and aca- demics from universities and institutions from around the world, includ ing 528 from North America, 103 from Europe, and 25 from Australia. Delegates from China, Japan, Afri - ca, India, and the Middle East also attended. Babson MBA Combines Onsite with Online Babson College in Wellesley, Massachu setts, has launched its Fast Track MBA program for senior executives. The online/onsite MBA program inte- grates traditional onsite classroom instruction with distance and inter- active learning, enabling students to obtain their MBAs in 27 months instead of the three to four years it normally takes to complete. Thirty-five students are enrolled in the course, including four presi- dents and CEOs and five COOs and corporate VPs. Once a month, stu- dents attend two and a half days of in-depth face-to-face sessions with Babson's faculty on campus in Wellesley. The rest of the time, stu- dents participate in distance learning sessions with Internet-based profes- sor/student collaboration and inter- active multimedia course content. The Internet-based portion of the classroom experience allows execu- tives from multiple locations world- BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2003 51