Today we have finished Professor Peter Nolan's International Business course. And it's a pity, because he is no doubt the most singular lecturer we have had in the course so far. He really says interesting things and make you think about the global economy.
Peter Nolan is original not only for what he says, but also for how he says it. For instance, he doesn't use slides. And when he talks, he doesn't dictate, he just talk. It's very difficult to take notes of what he says, but it doesn't matter. I gave up the first day and since then I just tried to enjoy the lectures and capture the message.
Professor Nolan has a vast bibliography. One of his favourite concepts is "the global business revolution". I've found this abstract of one of his papers in the Cambridge Journal of Economics: "The global business revolution since the 1980s has witnessed an unprecedented degree of industrial consolidation and concentration of business power at a global level. Firms with powerful, globally recognised technologies and/or brands constitute the ‘systems integrators’ at the apex of extended supply chains. This paper examines the supply chains in four different sectors: aerospace, telecommunications, automobiles and beverages. It finds that these sectors have striking similarities in the way in which the core systems integrators have stimulated industrial concentration across the whole supply chain. This ‘cascade effect’ has profound implications for firms from developing countries in catching up at the firm level."
But, why do I entitle this post the "cascade effect"? Well, because I have noticed that the MBA is also acting as a system integrator and by continously trying to rise its standards, it demands each of us, as elements of the system, to improve our performance. The good thing is that this happens without too much pressure, not as an obligation, but as a motivation.
Finally, today I've also found out that Peter Nolan regularly visits the Universitá degli Studi di Pavia, in Italy, where most of my brothers and sisters in law live.
Peter Nolan is original not only for what he says, but also for how he says it. For instance, he doesn't use slides. And when he talks, he doesn't dictate, he just talk. It's very difficult to take notes of what he says, but it doesn't matter. I gave up the first day and since then I just tried to enjoy the lectures and capture the message.
Professor Nolan has a vast bibliography. One of his favourite concepts is "the global business revolution". I've found this abstract of one of his papers in the Cambridge Journal of Economics: "The global business revolution since the 1980s has witnessed an unprecedented degree of industrial consolidation and concentration of business power at a global level. Firms with powerful, globally recognised technologies and/or brands constitute the ‘systems integrators’ at the apex of extended supply chains. This paper examines the supply chains in four different sectors: aerospace, telecommunications, automobiles and beverages. It finds that these sectors have striking similarities in the way in which the core systems integrators have stimulated industrial concentration across the whole supply chain. This ‘cascade effect’ has profound implications for firms from developing countries in catching up at the firm level."
But, why do I entitle this post the "cascade effect"? Well, because I have noticed that the MBA is also acting as a system integrator and by continously trying to rise its standards, it demands each of us, as elements of the system, to improve our performance. The good thing is that this happens without too much pressure, not as an obligation, but as a motivation.
Finally, today I've also found out that Peter Nolan regularly visits the Universitá degli Studi di Pavia, in Italy, where most of my brothers and sisters in law live.
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