Amidst an increasingly globalized economic order, businesses now have to contend with stiff global competition as well as the adverse effects of any financial, political or security turmoil and instability that are happening anywhere in the world.

While local, regional and global markets are still segmented as such, rapid advancements in technology have provided huge opportunities for businesses to reach farther into markets that are way beyond the confines of their home market. In fact, some have started up their businesses solely for the purpose of serving other markets rather than where they are physically located. But, with such expansion of opportunities also comes an almost proportional or an even wider scope of business management risks, complexities and challenges.

The global financial crisis of the not-so-distant past taught businesses and economies some of the harshest lessons in economic downfall, depression and recession. In fact, a huge number of economies have yet to rise back up and recover from its impact, while some are still on the road towards a very slow recovery. And, while a drop in oil prices can help spur global activity and offset some of the obstacles to growth in oil-importing and developing economies, it can likewise hamper growth prospects in oil-exporting countries, with significant regional impacts.

In order for aspiring entrepreneurs, business executives and private and public sector leaders to succeed in facing any of these challenges presented by contemporary as well as future economic orders, it is imperative that they be equipped with the proper management skills and knowledge to steer businesses and economies into resiliency and sustained growth. Such can be acquired through continued management education from an educational institution that has pioneered a focus on business studies and seamlessly combines years of experience in teaching business theories, conducting research and bridging such theories and research in helping establish business best practices.

HEC Paris
As an educational institution established in 1881, HEC Paris has gone from being an outstanding French Business School to an international reference among universities worldwide. It is recognized for the quality and variety of its programs, the excellence of its faculty, and its close relationships with the corporate world. In 2014, it was ranked first business school in continental Europe, by the Financial Times. HEC Paris is also one of the founding members and the only business school of the Paris-Saclay Innovation Cluster, this links HEC Paris with other top French research institutions and businesses, which allows students to additionally draw upon their expertise.

Guided and inspired by its motto ‘The more you know, the more you dare’, HEC Paris advocates that knowledge and research determines the freedom and entrepreneurship required for a better world. Accordingly, the results of its first entrepreneurship barometer, a survey of a representative panel of 8,500 alumni from all HEC programs (Master in Management, MSc, MBA and Executive MBA) confirmed the boom in entrepreneurship on campus, as 25% of all HEC graduates are now entrepreneurs, up from 9% ten years ago.

The three main trends from the survey indicated that the desire to start a business is rapidly growing. Among HEC Master’s students, entrepreneurship is booming, with almost 20% of them having started their own business – three times the national average in France. In addition, that HEC entrepreneurs are value creators in France whereby 4% of businesses are founded in France, helping create jobs and generate growth for the country. And lastly, that businesses started by HEC graduates from very diverse sectors have sound and sustainable business models, often benefiting from the support of venture capitalists.

Entrepreneurship has always been one of the strategic priorities of HEC Paris. Throughout the years it has taken various forms: innovative teaching methods (with flagship programs such as HEC entrepreneurs and Challenge+), research, support and coaching, awareness campaigns on campus, and facilities such as the HEC Incubator or the e-Lab.

With a firm belief that the faculty is central to knowledge creation and dissemination at HEC Paris, its 105 permanent faculty (64% are internationals) work on internationally acclaimed research in most of the major disciplines of management. The permanent faculty is reinforced by 94 affiliate professors who bring their academic and professional skills to HEC's students and program participants, and 25 visiting professors each year who come to teach and carry out research alongside HEC's own professors. All these professors enhance HEC's courses and programs through their research work, original teaching materials, and personal interaction with the business world. They also contribute to corporate reflection on management issues and are involved in national and international scientific community debates.

Among them is David Thesmar, a Professor of Finance, who, before joining HEC Paris, was Eurozone’s Forecast Manager for the Ministry of Finance and researcher at INSEE, the French statistical office. Having been the recipient of 'The Best Young Economist' award in 2007 by Le Monde and the Cercle des Economistes, he has also been a member of the Council of Economic Analysis since 2008. Sam Aflaki and Andrea Masini, both HEC Paris professors in the operations management & information technology department, won first place in the 2014 NextBillion Case Writing Competition which recognizes and publishes the best written case studies about business strategies aimed at alleviating poverty, especially in the developing world. Also, reflecting the diversity of thought and cultures, the open-mindedness and the exacting intellectual standards promoted at HEC Paris, Professor Alberto Alemanno, a legal scholar, public interest lawyer, civic advocate, academic entrepreneur and currently a Jean Monnet Professor of Law at HEC Paris, was selected as a 2015 Young Global Leader. This honor recognizes top global academics, executives, and public figures under the age of 40. Professor Alemanno was recognized for his innovative work in legal education via the massive online open course (MOOC) 'Understanding Europe.'

HEC Paris retains only the brightest students and the best professors. At the same time, its multidisciplinary approach to management speaks to all nationalities and profiles, and serves the need of a globalized market. It encourages students to think out of the box, reinvent themselves, fulfil their wildest dreams and reveal their talents. Furthermore, through assertive needs-based scholarships and educational programs dedicated to social responsibility and sustainable development, HEC Paris provides a model of social diversity aimed at training responsible business leaders make a positive contribution to society as a whole.

HEC Paris has adapted its training offer to an increasingly competitive and international environment. Thus, the ever changing world of business constantly presents our students with new challenges. HEC Paris offers a complete program portfolio: Master’s, MBA, PhD, Executive MBA, TRIUM Global Executive MBA and Executive Education open-enrolment and custom programs participants. The school therefore strives to ensure that the quality of its teaching, the relevance of our research and the originality of our learning approach deliver strong return on investment. It provides highly selective MBA and EMBA programs that enable participants to exchange and learn from classmates coming from widely diverse cultural, academic and professional backgrounds. Students from all backgrounds benefit from HEC’s long tradition of academic excellence. The business school’s mission is to transform exceptional potential into exceptional success.

As a proof, most of the school’s programs are well ranked: in 2014, the HEC Paris MBA, a leading global MBA, was ranked number one in Europe and number four in the world by The Economist. The Master in Management was ranked number 2 worldwide by the Financial Times, and the executive education programs were ranked number one.

HEC Paris has produced more alumni in CEO positions within Fortune Global 500 companies than any other European business school, as stated by The Times Higher Education Alma Mater Index 2013. This ranking is a clear illustration of HEC’s ability to shape the business leaders of tomorrow.
Being the alma mater of CEO’s and top executives of Europe’s well-established brands such as BestBuy, L’Oreal, Kering, Lafarge, and AXA, HEC Paris has also established strong corporate relations with a host of other business organizations. This has resulted in privileged access for students to La Défense, the epicenter of European business with the highest concentration of Multinational Corporation headquarters on the continent.

With a sound European approach to business education, students get to learn exactly how to do business in Europe with Europeans. Accordingly, HEC Paris offers students, including those from abroad, with the broadest career opportunities in Europe. Its Careers Management Center, personalized career support and access to a powerful network of 52,000 alumni, all serve to provide students with the proper guidance and approach that draw the attention of top recruiters from Europe.

HEC Paris in Qatar
In 2010, HEC Paris accepted the invitation of Qatar Foundation to bring its world-class Executive Education programs to the region. With its establishment, HEC Paris became the first foreign Executive Education institution to have launched in Qatar and the region its first international Executive MBA (EMBA) in 2011. Since then, other programs such as the Specialized Master’s Degree in Strategic Business Unit Management, non-degree management programs for executives in the form of open-enrolment programs, and custom-designed programs for individual companies have also been introduced. It has also designed an Executive Master in Energy Resources program in partnership with Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Georgetown University School of Foreign Services, and Texas A&M University. Furthermore, it also created a Research Office in Qatar for the development of local pedagogical content in collaboration with companies operating in Qatar, as well as increasing the visibility of Qatar’s economy in the school’s global executive education degree programs.