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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, September 1, 2010

IU's Kelley School of Business to extend its reach worldwide through a new institute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 1, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's Kelley School of Business today (Sept. 1) announced the formation of a new institute that will house its international initiatives and reach out to other programs on the Bloomington campus with a global focus.

The Kelley School's Institute for International Business (IIB) will be home to the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), which recently was awarded a $1.55 million Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The primary emphasis of the IIB is to secure major government and private sector grants to support research and teaching initiatives related to international business. It will also have a significant outreach agenda that will engage faculty, students, business and government leaders in the state with emerging markets worldwide.

"The Kelley School is recognized as one of the most important business schools in the world, and we are routinely asked to collaborate with leading business schools, companies and government organizations around the globe. The IIB will provide the school with a means of fully leveraging these relationships for the advancement of our research, teaching and outreach missions," said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School.

"With our widely recognized programs in social enterprise and entrepreneurship, this new Institute in particular will enable us to further our already significant presence in major emerging markets," Smith added.

The institute will be located in a separate building at 324 N. Jordan Ave. It will provide facilities for visiting international scholars at IU and will continue to provide other resources to support teaching and research on global business and global social entrepreneurship issues at IU.

"What we are trying to create is a renewed emphasis on working with other institutions who share our same goals and values. Through grant and sponsored research seeking activities, we will be able to extend our reach into the world," said Idalene Kesner, associate dean of faculty and research and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management at Kelley.

"Many government and charitable foundations have realized that economic development and entrepreneurial activity can contribute greatly to stability and growth," Kesner added. "Here at Kelley, through this new institute, we are working with these partners to develop fundable programs that can be implemented in communities and countries throughout the world."

Kesner said of special interest at the new institute will be social entrepreneurship in emerging markets within the Middle East and Latin America. For example, the institute will be working to foster small business development by women in those areas.

"We know the more you give people a chance to make a strong economic living and develop businesses, the less you'll see the kind of violent activities that often emerge when opportunities are lacking," Kesner said.

The school recently announced the formation of the Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness, which has a goal of increasing activities by the Kelley School within Latin America. While they are separate entities, she said there will be many opportunities for collaboration there.

Bruce Jaffee, professor of business economics and public policy and the institute's executive director, said the IIB will serve as the administrative home for the cooperative MBA program between the Kelley School and the International Graduate Business School-Zagreb. That partnership has provided short-term international teaching opportunities for more than 20 Kelley faculty members since 2002.

The Kelley School has a long record of international activities. The late IU president and chancellor Herman B Wells brought a global vision for the school when he served as its dean in the 1930s and continued that while leading the university for three decades. Its faculty have taught in all parts of the globe and often have been tapped by other countries for their expertise in development and problem-solving.

In recent years, many students have followed faculty into developing economies as part of outreach activities. For example, the GLOBASE program sends MBA students to Peru for consulting projects at small companies and not-for-profit enterprises. Other students have traveled to and met with business and government leaders in India, China, Korea, Ghana, Brazil and other nations.

"We're taking our existing resources and putting them under a broader umbrella to drive toward larger impacts," Kesner said. "It is an exciting time for Kelley and Indiana University."

As previously mentioned, the new institute's activities will go beyond the walls of the Kelley School. Kesner said the institute will work closely with other international programs at IU Bloomington.

For more information about the institute, call the institute's managing director, LaVonn Schlegel, at 812-855-5944.

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