Alumni Association Update

The Lauder Institute has new director. Effective July 1, 2007, Mauro F. Guillén, the Dr. Felix Zandman Professor of International Management at Wharton and professor of sociology in Penn’s Arts and Sciences (SAS), will succeed Richard J. Herring, Wharton’s Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking and Professor of Finance, who served as director from 2000 to 2006.

The Lauder Institute, a collaboration of Wharton and SAS, integrates management education with language and international studies to prepare students for careers in global business. Lauder students follow a curriculum leading to an MBA in management and an MA in international studies. The Lauder curriculum requires advanced applied language study in one of eight languages, and a twomonth immersion course abroad. Last year a joint JD/MA Lauder program was launched, integrating Penn Law School students into Lauder after their first year of legal studies.

"I differ from many other academics and journalists in that I don't think globalization produces convergence, in the sense of only one best practice, or only one market theory. Nor should it," Guillen has said. "Countries should not try to adopt the same economic model because how could everyone possibly succeed if they imitate each other? The name of the game is to decide what your strengths are and play to those strengths in the global economy. Globalization should be an opportunity for countries and firms to differentiate themselves from others, to promote diversity, to enhance their own performance."

Guillen's multifaceted research examines the impact of globalization on patterns of organization and the diffusion of innovations. Recently he has focused on the rise and fall of business groups in emerging economies, including, for example, the Korean chaebol (e.g. Samsung, Hyundai), the Indian business houses (e.g. Tata, Birla), the conglomerates of Indonesia (e.g. Salim Group), and the Latin American and Spanish grupos (e.g. Perez Companc in Argentina and El Corte Ingles in Spain). While his research includes data from Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Taiwan, he has concentrated primarily on the emerging economies of South Korea, Argentina, and Spain. His most recent book is The Rise of Spanish Multinationals (Cambridge University Press), and he has published in Spanish and English.

In another book, Developing Difference: Organizations, Globalization, and Development in Argentina, South Korea, and Spain, Guillen urged the business community to work harder at understanding and supporting differences among the economic systems of individual countries—a goal in line with the Lauder Institute itself.

A native of Leon, Spain, Guillen graduated from the Universidad de Oviedo with a BA and PhD in political economy and from Yale University with a master's and PhD in sociology. He has been at Wharton since 1996, and received his secondary appointment in SAS in 2003.

The Lauder Institute was founded in 1983 by Leonard A. Lauder, W'54, and Ronald S. Lauder, W'65, in honor of their father, Joseph. Leonard Lauder is Chairman of The Estee Lauder Companies and Ronald Lauder is Chairman of The Clinique Laboratories.