According to the MBA City Monitor, an study published by ESADE's Director of Global Intelligence and Strategic Initiatives, Ivan Bofarull, Barcelona is the 8th most attractive city in the world and the 3rd in Europe for international MBA students. ESADE's MBA City Monitor analyses the capacity of various cities to attract international MBA students. This study shows that students consider location to be the third most important factor in their choice of an MBA programme. Ivan Bofarull, ESADE's Director of Global Intelligence and Strategic Initiatives.

1. 1
MBA CITY MONITOR
Ivan Bofarull
Director, Global Intelligence
Barcelona, Oct 2015

2. 2
Aknowledgment
• I
want to thankDr.
Xavier
Mendoza
(ESADE),
who published
“Business
Schools and
attractingtalent to Barcelona”
in
2008
(Paradigmes
magazines,
issue #1,
Dec.08).
• The MBA
City
Monitor,
although consideringa
methodologywith
significant variations, has
been inspiredbyhis vision.

3. 3
Sources
of
data
• Financial Times MBA rankings 2013, 2014, 2015
• Bloomberg Business Week MBA rankings, 2014
• Financial Times ranking of “top MBA programs for entrepreneurship”, 2015
• Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) “Hotspots 2025” city report, 2013
• Global Talent Risk report, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
and World Economic Forum, 2011
• The 4 global forces … , McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), 2015
• “The Second Machine Age”, E.Brynjfolsson & A.McAfee (MIT), 2014
• “The Economic case for welcoming immigrant entrepreneurs”, Kauffman
Foundation, 2015
• Google maps
• LinkedIn

4. 4
Cities,
talent
attraction
&
MBAs

5. 5
Cities
and
talent
attraction
• “The global
talent riskis growing.
Soon staggering talent gaps
will appear
in
large parts of
the world threateningeconomicgrowth.
Economies will
struggle”.
(BCG)
• “The roots of
talent scarcityin
the Western
hemisphere are
no
mystery:
populations are
ageing rapidlyand
educational standards are
insufficient.”
(BCG)
• We will see competition for talent on an unprecedented scale.
Human
capital
is replacingfinancial capital
as
the engine of
economic prosperity.”
(BCG)
• On top
of
that,
In
the Second Machine
Age,
competition for highly-­‐skilled
talent will intensify(Brynjfolsson&
McAfee,
MIT)
• “The US
will need to add 25
million+
workers to its talent base
by2030
to
sustain economicgrowth.
Western
Europe:
45
million+.”
(BCG)

6. 6
Cities
and
talent
attraction
• 50%+
of
the world’s populationlives in
cities,
which generate 80%
of
the
GDP
worldwide.
(EIU)
• Urbanization,
a
major disruptive force (McKinsey Global
Institute)
• Global
hubs increasinglyinfluential:
decisionsmade from
a
city-­‐
perspective (for instance,
the case
of
the City
of
London,
Hong
Kong,
Singapore,…)
rather than a
country
or regional
perspective.
(EIU)
• New
highly-­‐skilled,
creative,
global
class
– Increasingly urban (Martin
Prosperity Institute,
U.Toronto)
– increasingly mobile,
which increases city’s competition for talent attraction and
retention.
(BCG)
• As
much as
American
cities capitalized talent mobilityin
the wake of
the
Second World War,
a
question looms today:
which cities will capitalize on
the global
talent mobilityflows after the Great
Recession and
the Dawn of
the Second Machine
Age?
(EIU)

7. 7
The
MBA
City
Monitor
• Is
there
any
tool
or
actionable
metric
that
we
can
provide
for
cities
to
measure
their
ability
to
attract
global,
highly
skilled
talent?

8. 8
The
MBA
City
Monitor
• Location &
MBAs have a
lot to do
with each
other à Location is a
major driver
prospective
students consider before applying to MBA
programs.
• MBA
students &
alumni are
key for cities within a
context of
“global
talent risk”*:
top
MBAs are
a
unique talent platform cities can
tap for their
economic growth.
• Why not predicting a
city’s appeal
for talent with
a
single
metric?:
How many top
international students are
doing an
MBA
in
your city at
any time
of
the year?

9. 9
The
MBA
City
Monitor.
Inputs.
When it comes
to consider MBA
students/alumnia
talent platform for cities,
we should make two previous considerations:
• Sample “Curation”
– MBAs have to be
a
reliable,
“high-­‐quality”
source of
talent for the city.
We have taken
the Financial Times
MBA
ranking
as
a
signal of
this quality à only programs ranked by FT
have been considered as
a
base
for our calculations.
• Size and
networkeffects
– Volume is relevant to produce
network effects.
An extra
effort has
been put in
the
calculations to include not only MBAs within specific city limits but in
a
metro
area and
beyond ,as
long as
the city is within a
2
hr.
driving distance.

10. 10
The
MBA
City
Monitor.
Inputs
Definition of
the universe and
methodologyfor the purpose of
the MBA
City
Monitor:
Criteria that have to
do
with “sample curation”
• The MBA
program has
been ranked by the Financial Times
in
at
least one
of
the last three editions of
the MBA
ranking
• Full
Time
general
management program (not part time,
evening,
specialized,
and
other variations)
• International
students (international mobilitypresumes
a
higher level of
commitment with a
specific destination)

11. 11
The
MBA
City
Monitor.
Inputs
Definition of
the universe and
methodologyfor the purpose of
the MBA
City
Monitor:
Criteria that have to do
with “size /
network effects”
• Enrollments,
not intakes (BloombergBusiness
Weekschool profiles)
– Intakes would over-­‐represent cities with one-­‐Year MBA
programs.
• Urban areas,
not strictlycity limits (for instance:
Oxford
and
Cambridge
add to London)
– Max.
2h
driving distance according to Google
Maps (without traffic)

12. 12
The
MBA
City
Monitor.
Outputs
• City
ranking
bytotal
international enrolled students
• City
ranking
bytotal
international enrolled students(per
1
million citizens)
– When it comes
to
enrollments per
1M
people,
only cities/metro
areas larger than 1M
have been considered
• Country
ranking
bytotal
internationalenrolledstudents

13. 13
The rankings

14. 14
The Top
10
Cities
By international enrollment

15. 15
#10. Raleigh-­
Durham, NC
International enrollment: 630
Total enrollment: 1,454
International enrollment per 1M: 370
-­2

16. 16
#9. Singapore
International enrollment: 677
Total enrollment: 742
International enrollment per 1M: 128
=

17. 17
#8. Barcelona
International enrollment: 771
Total enrollment: 873
International enrollment per 1M: 143
*BCN has dropped 3 spots in the ranking because Eada, one of the top three b-­schools in the city, has not been ranked among the top100 by the FT in the last 3 years
-­3

18. 18
#7. San Francisco
–San Jose
International enrollment: 804
Total enrollment: 1,548
International enrollment per 1M: 125
+3

19. 19
#6. Toronto
International enrollment: 808
Total enrollment: 1,384
International enrollment per 1M: 145
+1

20. 20
#5. Paris
International enrollment: 860
Total enrollment: 911
International enrollment per 1M: 83
+1

21. 21
#4. London
International enrollment: 938
Total enrollment: 1,042
International enrollment per 1M: 63
-­1

22. 22
#3. Chicago
International enrollment: 1,124
Total enrollment: 2,661
International enrollment per 1M: 118
+1

23. 23
#2. New York
International enrollment: 1,167
Total enrollment: 2,693
International enrollment per 1M: 61
=

24. 24
#1. Boston
International enrollment: 1,637
Total enrollment: 3,694
International enrollment per 1M: 363
=

25. 25
Rank City
International
MBA
enrollment
1 Boston 1637
2 NY 1167
3 Chicago 1124
4 Toronto 808
5 SF
/
Silicon Valley 804
6
Raleigh-­‐Durham,
NC
630
7 Philadelphia 572
The top
in
North
America
*Only urban areas with:
-­ 500+ intl’ MBA students

26. 26
Rank City
International
MBA
enrollment
1 London 938
2 Paris 860
3 Barcelona 771
4 Madrid 531
The top
in
Europe
*Only urban areas with:
-­ 500+ intl’ MBA students

27. 27
The Top
10
Cities
By international enrollment
per
1M
population

28. 28
Rank City
International
MBA
enrollment
Int’
enrollment
per
1M
1 Boston 1637 363
2 Raleigh-­‐Durham,
NC 630 315
3 Toronto 808 145
4 Barcelona 771 143
5 Singapore 677 128
6 SF-­‐Silicon Valley 804 125
7 Chicago 1124 117
8 Philadelphia 572 95
9 Paris 860 83
9= Madrid 531 83
The
top
10
cities
by
international
enrollment
per
1M*
*Only urban areas with:
-­ 1M+ pop.
-­ 500+ intl’ MBA students

29. 29
Rank City
International
MBA
enrollment x 1M
1 Boston 363
2 Raleigh-­‐Durham,
NC 315
3 Toronto 145
4 SF
/
Silicon Valley 125
5 Chicago 117
The top
in
North
America (x
1M)
*Only urban areas with:
-­ 1M+ pop.
-­ 500+ intl’ MBA students

30. 30
Rank City
International
MBA
enrollment x 1M
1 Barcelona 143
2 Paris 83
2= Madrid 83
4 London 63
The top
in
Europe
(x
1M)
*Only urban areas with:
-­ 1M+ pop.
-­ 500+ intl’ MBA students

31. 31
Top
countries

32. 32
Rank Country
International
MBA
enrollment
1 US 10,202
2 UK 1,400
3 Canada 1,211
4 Spain 1,003
5 France 887
6 Singapore 677
7 China 527
Top
countries

33. 33
Takeaways
• The US
is still the dominant country
in
the world when it comes
to
attractinga
global
top-­‐notch MBA
population(close to 60%
of
total).
• In
particular,
the East
Coast attracts 1/3
of
the global
top
MBA
population,
and
the Ivy League
corridor accounts for almost 20%!
• However,
the San
Francisco
-­‐ Silicon Valley
area has
experienced the
highest growth in
the last 3
years.
A
plausible
explanation is that MBAs
increasinglyconsider workingin
start-­‐ups
a
main career option.
• Outside of
the US,
the UK,
Canada,
Spain and
France
are
the leading
countries,
while Toronto,
London,
Paris
and
Barcelona/Madrid
their key
hub cities.
• Emerging hubs in
Asia
still struggle to have a
relevant population of
this
type of
international students (in
this program format).
• For both cities and
countries,
the global
MBA
populationin
top
programs,
should be
one of
the targets
of
specific policy initiatives that help to
address the “talent risk”
in
the decades to
come
(see Appendix)

34. 34
Appendix (1)
• In
2015,
Kauffman Foundation released a
major research on the impact of
immigrants into the American
entrepreneurial ecosystem:
– 24
out of
the top
50
venture-­‐backed startups had at
least a
foreign-­‐born co-­‐founder
– 40%
out of
the Fortune 500
founders were foreign-­‐born or son/daughter of
immigrant.
• MBAs are
not a
majorityamongco-­‐founders (Inc.
Magazine)
but are
instrumental
in
makingstart-­‐ups
successful (hired for management team).
– In
top
MBA
programs,
between 80%
and
100%
of
startups are
still operating three years
after (Financial Times
“top
MBA
programs for entrepreneurship”).
• In
Barcelona:
– 40%
out of
Wired Magazine’s hottest startups (2014)
have a
foreign-­‐born founder.
– 10%
of
top
MBAs start up
new
businesses.
– 80%+
are
foreign-­‐born.
– 80%+
are
still operating after three years.

35. 35
Appendix (2)
• International
students in
top
MBA
programs can
be
instrumental
in
the
configurationof
a
healthyand
robust entrepreneurialecosystem.
– Foreign-­‐born citizens seem to
have incentives
to
give the “extra
mile”
when it comes
to
entrepreneurship or simply put,
are
more
creative because of
the “out-­‐of-­‐the-­‐comfort-­‐
zone”
context where they develop.
– Top
MBA
students have specific abilities instrumental
for the success of
startups and
for
entrepreneurial ecosystems to
thrive.
– Local
governments should address specific policies to
tap into this talent base
and
facilitate this virtuous cycle to
happen.

36. 36
@ivanbofarull