Pittsburgh Executive Education Program To Explore 'Leadership In The Global Economy'

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (April 23, 2007) – Penn State Executive Programs, the executive education division of the Smeal College of Business, in collaboration with four Penn State campuses, will host a two-day, high-level executive education program for Pittsburgh-area business leaders focusing on organizational effectiveness and strategy development in the ever-changing international marketplace.

"Leadership in the Global Economy," to be held June 21–22, will feature two of the foremost experts in global business strategy and strategic leadership—Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Smeal, and Albert A. Vicere, executive education professor of strategic leadership at Smeal—in a program specifically designed for Pittsburgh-area executives.

Ghadar and Vicere will identify the key challenges and trends facing companies today and provide attendees with the strategies and best practices for growing their businesses and finding success in the increasingly international economy. They will discuss how the successful companies of this century will be streamlined and flexible, with a staff well equipped to anticipate challenges and capitalize on the opportunities of the global marketplace.

"The coming decade will see accelerated change in the global business environment," said Ghadar. "Products and services that used to take a leisurely 15 years to work their way through the product life cycle now rush through in a matter of three or four years. At the same time, the global economy is growing more rigorous. Protectionism is on the rise, and exchange rate fluctuations are becoming more difficult to forecast."

On day one of the program, Vicere will lead a discussion of strategic leadership and present practical ways businesses can align people and strategy for organizational excellence. He will share how to develop long-term strategic direction, assess an appropriate operational focus, align people management systems that promote organizational effectiveness, and foster a culture of performance and change in pursuit of strategic objectives.

On day two, Ghadar will address global business strategy and implementation. He will discuss the impact of strategic imperatives on organizations as international alliances and partnerships are formed, technologies are developed, products are launched, and markets are penetrated. He will share some of the strategies required to remain competitive and explore how companies will be affected during the coming era of change.

The program is a collaboration between Smeal and the Penn State Beaver, Greater Allegheny, Fayette, and New Kensington campuses. It will be held June 21–22 at The Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township, Pa., 20 minutes north of downtown Pittsburgh.

For complete details and registration information, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep/lge.html.

About Fariborz Ghadar
Fariborz Ghadar is the William A. Schreyer professor of global management, policies, and planning and director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. BusinessWeek magazine named him one of the top 10 Stars of Finance, and he is listed among the top 10 strategy coaches in the world. Ghadar's research and teaching interests include global corporate strategy and implementation, international finance and banking, global economic assessment, and e-business. He is lead author of the book Global Tectonics: What Every Business Needs to Know, which identifies the key international trends that will present the most formidable business challenges in the next 30 years.

About Albert A. Vicere
Al Vicere is executive education professor of strategic leadership at Penn State's Smeal College of Business and president of Vicere Associates, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in the design, development, and delivery of strategy, leadership, and organizational processes for clients spanning the globe. Vicere was recently listed among the top 10 leadership coaches and profiled as a "next wave guru" in leadership development by Business Horizons magazine. His latest books are Leadership by Design, published by Harvard Business School Press, and The Many Facets of Leadership, published by FT Prentice Hall.

About Penn State Executive Programs
Penn State Executive Programs, the executive education division of Penn State's Smeal College of Business, has been serving the development needs of the world's business leaders since 1954, providing both open-enrollment and custom programs. Nearly 36,000 executives from 43 different nations have participated in programs on topics ranging from strategic leadership to supply chain management.

Penn State Executive Programs was recently ranked as the No. 1 provider in the world of customized executive education programs by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of The Economist magazine publisher. The EIU also awarded Penn State Executive Programs its Award of Excellence for open-enrollment programs, making Smeal the only U.S. provider to be rated excellent in both categories.

For more on all the offerings of Penn State Executive Programs, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep.