X International MBA Congress - Cracow

The 10th  Jubilee International MBA Congress will be held in Cracow on May 16 – 18, 2014. The event will bring together distinguished guests from Poland and internationally. The Congress is the largest initiative in Poland, bringing together the MBA community. It is organised by the Cracow Business School at the Cracow University of Economics. This year’s edition of the International MBA Congress will be organised around the theme: “Ready for the Premier League?”.

Thematically, the focus will be on issues which are likely to be of key importance in the coming  10-15 years for shaping Poland’s position in international markets. Polish businesses are engaging more and more boldly with global markets. Will this prove to be also an impulse for bringing the Polish economy as a whole to the global Premier League, as evidenced for example by joining the 20 most industrialised nations? These and other questions and themes will be discussed at the 10th Jubilee edition of the Congress. The substantive programme of the Congress will include presentations from renowned specialists from the worlds of politics, economy and science. It will be organised around four main discussion panels.

The Congress programme begins with the East Panel. Will the development of the economic situation in the East prove to be the key factor influencing the economy of the European Union as a whole in the nearest future? The rapidly changing situation right behind Poland’s Eastern border adds prominence to questions about opportunities and threats for Polish economy.

Guests invited to participate in the Macro-Economic Panel will discuss the foundations necessary for further development of Poland: energy and its availability, infrastructure and the directions of its development, financing and the impact of global trends on Polish economy.  Next, the perspective of the discussion will shift to the local level in the Innovation Panel, which will deal with new innovation-led directions for development of Cracow and the Malopolska region. The discussion will focus on the situation of the most dynamic sectors in the region, such as media, film production, computer games and meetings industry.

The closing discussion panel of the Congress will focus on business aspects of sport. Sport transfers, mass recreation sports or sport clubs quoted on the stock exchange encourage reflection on the nature of relations between sport and economy. The leading question for the Sport Panel is: what, if any, is the meaning of sport for business in Poland?

The following special guests will participate in the 10th Jubilee edition of the International MBA Congress:

• Marek Sowa, Marshal of the Malopolska Voivodship,
• Magdalena Sroka, Deputy Mayor of Cracow,
• Tadeusz Syryjczyk, Minister of Industry in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
• Vitalij Maksymenko, Consul of Ukraine in Cracow,
• Andrzej Tombinski, Honorary Consul of Austria in Cracow,
• Jacek Bednarz, Chairman of the Board, Wisla Kraków SA,
• Marek Dworak, investor, Open Horizon advisor,
• prof. Geoff Goldman, University of Johannesburg,  
• Andrew Hallam, Secretary General and Founding Member of ASPIRE,
• Andrzej Jonas, Editor-in-Chief, The Warsaw Voice,
• Robert Kwiatkowski, Vice-Director, Department of Business Network Development, Warsaw Stock Exchange S.A.,
• Krzysztof Misiolek, PhD,  Cracow University of Economics,
• Grzegorz Madry, Manager, Krakow Valley Golf & Country Club,
• prof. Elzbieta Maczynska, President, Polish Economic Society,
• Ryszard Petru, President of the Board, Association of Polish Economists,
• Piotr Pietrzak, independent consultant,
• Malgorzata Podrecka, PhD, 1st Vice-President of the Board, Can-Pack S.A.,
• Marta Póltorak, President of the Board, MARMA Polskie Folie S.A.,
• Wojciech Przybylski, Cracow Technology Park,
• Ivan Mykolajewicz Romaniak, „Sambor ATP – 14608”,
• Pawel Wegrzyn, PhD, Director, European Academy of Games,
• Piotr Wilczek, Vice-President, EFAPCO.

During the Congress the results of the 5th independent ranking of Polish MBA programmes will be announced. The ranking is carried out by the Association for Managerial Education (SEM) FORUM. The SEM FORUM will also hold a discussion panel on “University – Business Relations and the Development of Management Executives: Good Practice”. Directors of MBA programmes in Poland have been invited to participate in the panel, along with special guests, including: Urszula Gasior, Wlodzimierz Kicinski, Roland Pac, Piotr Ploszajski, Andrzej Popadiuk (the discussion moderator). Participation in an independent ranking of MBA programmes is a key factor in strengthening the positive image for business schools and their management education programmes.

In addition, Congress participants will take part in study visits to leading businesses inthe Malopolska region,which include: Alvernia Studios, Salt Mine in Bochnia, ORLEN OIL production plant in Trzebinia, Can Pack S.A. Group, PROSTER Sp. z o.o.

The Cracow Business School at the Cracow University of Economics and its MBA Alumni CBS Club have been organising the International MBA Congress for 10 years. The Congress Director is Piotr Bula, PhD, Director of the Cracow Business School at the Cracow University of Economics. The Cracow Business School was the first school in southern Poland to offer a post-graduate MBA programme. The MBA programme offered by the Cracow Business School scores very high in professional rankings.

See you in Cracow!