Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

I was born in Strasbourg, in the east of France, close to the German border. I was maybe 13 or 14 years old when I first thought about joining the Gendarmerie, one of the oldest institutions in France. It is an armed force, composed of 100,000 personnel and 40,000 reservists, which is dedicated to home security missions in times of peace, crisis and war situations. I wanted to wear a uniform and be a representative of my country, but I was also attracted by gaining physical skills and the ability to move all over the world.

I joined the armed forces in 2006, which is when I attended an officer’s academy close to Paris and trained in logistics and human resources. My speciality was to manage these functions, especially in crisis situations. I have worked in war zones as well as in European countries, where I mainly trained other military personnel.

Being an HR manager in the military can be very emotionally difficult, such as in the case of the death of people that you are managing. It can be tough when you are the only leader in a war situation, abroad with a small team, and have to react to face changing situations. Things can change very quickly — it’s very special being abroad.

The decision to do the Global Executive MBA at Neoma, in northern France, was a choice I made together with my manager. In the Gendarmerie, careers are divided into two parts. To move to the next stage, one must obtain a second-level higher education diploma. After 15 years in the armed forces, I felt I had mastered many aspects of my professional domain and so I wanted to get out of my comfort zone.

Executive MBA Ranking 2024

Read the ranking and report

I also believe that we in the armed forces are going to be having increasingly tight links to the private sector, and so we need to be more entrepreneurial and bring fresh ideas into an institution that has been around for several centuries.

I chose Neoma as it has a very good reputation in France and I wanted to do a course that was in English.

There were approximately 15 students, and we would meet for one week — or five to six days — every month. It was part-time but a huge amount of work — with my classmates, we estimated 15-20 hours per week to do our coursework. I started a new job around the same time and had two very young kids, so it was a busy year — or year and a half, if we count the final report we wrote at the end.

There were many great courses on so many topics: global leadership, marketing strategy, entrepreneurship mindset, agile business, strategic management, value creation, ethics, sustainable development, supply chain and resilience, as well as other social skills. I have particularly good memories from the international finance course. It was a brand new topic for me, which I found quite complex, but we had a great teacher and I discovered that I was actually skilled in the subject.

At the start of my Global Executive MBA, I was promoted and joined the national headquarters of the Gendarmerie, close to Paris. I became the deputy head of the office in the HR department and programme director of digital transformation for human resources. I’m managing a team that is developing a dashboard to better manage human resources and make strategic decisions. We have about 140,000 people and our budget for human resources is €8bn — it’s quite significant.

I have applied what I learnt about digital transformation, ethics and management in my relations with younger colleagues and my ability to motivate them — but where I really feel a difference is when I talk to my own top managers. Something changed in my relation to them, which I think is because I understand them better. This meant I got better at convincing them. I really believe there was a big change in my ability to keep track of the direction of things — and to explain my work, vision and strategy.

The Executive MBA wasn’t just a learning experience, it was about personal empowerment. When I discussed it with my cohort colleagues, they felt the same — there was a real change after this one-year programme. It’s not just a business school, it’s a life experience.

SWEET lovers have turned sour after bags of Jelly Babies were slashed by more than ten per cent.

Packets of the tot-shaped, sugar-coated chews now contain fewer treats than ever before — in the latest example of rampant “shrinkflation”.

2

2

Advertisement

Share bags of Britain’s favourite sweets — also loved by TV Time Lord Doctor Who — have been cut from 190g to 165g.

The sneaky move by Sheffield-based Bassett’s means shoppers now get two or three fewer babies per pack.

A retail source told The Sun: “The cost of producing sweets has increased and big brands can either hike prices or make these sorts of changes, which are always unpopular.”

The sweets were first mass produced at the end of World War One and marketed as “Peace Babies”.

They were re­branded Jelly Babies after sugar rationing ended in 1953.

Bassett’s admitted yesterday: “We are continuing to experience ­significantly higher costs.

“We have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight.”

Other brands to adopt shrinkflation tactics include Pringles, which chopped 15 grams from the size of its large tubes last month, and pasta sauce giant Dolmio.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The number of Executive MBA graduates who form their own companies jumps sharply for those in their late 40s or older, according to data from the 2024 FT EMBA Ranking.

While 29 per cent of alumni aged 30 or younger created one or more start-ups within three years of finishing their degree, this rose to one-third for those in their late 40s and more than two-fifths for those aged 54 or over.

The data is for graduates who completed their EMBA in 2021, at business schools taking part in the assessment for the 2024 ranking, which was topped by the China Europe International Business School (Ceibs), in Shanghai. The FT data supports wider statistics on the importance of more mature founders, who often have more contacts, access to capital and experience — and may also have lost out in their efforts to reach the top at their existing employers.

Overall, the share of alumni of all participating schools who created their own businesses has risen from 25 per cent in 2016 to 29 per cent this year, just below a peak of 30 per cent in 2023. The average age of alumni who created start-ups since completing their EMBA has also risen to a peak of just over 43 years old, compared with 41 in 2016.

Executive MBA Ranking 2024

Read the ranking and report

Ceibs, founded through a partnership between the EU and the Chinese government in 1994, is ranked top by the FT for the first time — building on its second placing for the past four years. It is also the first time a school from the Asia-Pacific region has topped the table with a solo EMBA, not run in partnership with an institution elsewhere.

The Shanghai school’s top ranking defies China’s recent economic slowdown, travel and operational restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, and rising geopolitical tensions with Europe and the US. This was partly offset by bringing international students to Ceibs’ subsidiary campuses in Switzerland and Ghana.

Ceibs’ rise reflects, in part, high average alumni salaries of nearly $537,000, after adjusting for purchasing power parity using IMF rates. All five of the highest salaries were recorded by China-based courses, all but one on joint EMBA programmes with a US partner.

Earnings three years after completing the course have dropped significantly

The FT ranking is based on criteria including average alumni salaries, publication of faculty research in selected journals, and the gender and citizenship diversity of students and faculty.

While the age of EMBA students has remained roughly constant in recent years, their earnings three years after completing the course, when polled by the FT, have dropped significantly in real terms. Average salaries for those aged over 40 fell from a recent peak of $240,000 annually, in 2018, to $210,000, this year, after adjusting for inflation, with a similar decline for younger alumni.

Those working in healthcare earned the largest salaries, ahead of alumni working in financial services, insurance and banking, which were collectively in second place by sector, with those in technology, telecoms and IT third.

Interest in the EMBA, typically studied alongside their job by middle and senior managers with more than a decade of working experience, appears relatively strong even as it stagnates among the typically younger cohort seeking full-time MBAs.

Michael Desiderio, head of the Executive MBA Council (EMBAC), a professional association of business schools offering EMBAs, says demand is holding up among his members. There have been small increases in the number of institutions joining, in new programmes launched and average cohort sizes, slightly up at more than 57.

A survey of EMBAC members showed that average tuition costs had risen from $94,000 last year to $95,000 in 2024, while nearly 55 per cent of students in their schools said employers now made no contribution to the costs, 27 per cent said they received partial reimbursement, and 18 per cent had all of their costs covered by their employer.

Among the 100 leading global business schools ranked by the FT, just two — Iscte Business School, with campuses in Portugal, Spain and the UK, and Grenoble Ecole de Management in France and Georgia — had an equal share of female and male faculty, which scores highest. Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business reported gender parity among students, while just 13 of the total 100 schools had more women than men studying.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School was top for academic research, measured by recent articles in leading peer-reviewed journals, followed by Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

IE Business School ranked highest for its integration into core courses of environmental, social and governance topics, and SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan was top for the most ambitious target of reducing carbon emissions on its campus.

Yale School of Management was ranked highest for aims achieved by its alumni, and the joint EMBA offered by BI Norwegian Business School and China’s Fudan University School of Management topped the assessment of the value of alumni networks. 

SEVERAL little-known airlines are now offering the chance to sleep in lie-flat beds — even in economy class.

Once a luxury reserved for business and first-class passengers, the future of lie-flat beds in economy seating is now here, and it’s changing the way we think about air travel.

3

3

Advertisement

3

This innovation could make long-haul flights far more comfortable for economy travellers by transforming three-row sections into adaptable sleep zones.

Surprisingly, the idea of lie-flat beds in economy isn’t entirely new.

It all started in 2010 when Air New Zealand introduced its revolutionary “Skycouch” model.

The Skycouch is still in service today, using special panels to bridge the space between seats, effectively creating a lie-flat bed across a row.

At 35,000 feet, passengers can stretch out in what amounts to their own mini-bed, a game-changer for economy flyers.

But Air New Zealand isn’t stopping there.

The airline is now pioneering an even more radical solution: economy-class bunk beds.

Known as “SkyNests,” these pods, available on flights between New York and Chicago, offer a new level of comfort.

The SkyNest could set a trend, and other airlines may soon follow suit.

While Air New Zealand may have sparked the movement, other smaller airlines have also embraced this concept, providing similar options for budget-conscious travellers who want a good night’s sleep at cruising altitude.

Here are five airlines that offer economy lie-flat beds as of 2024:

Air New Zealand

As the trailblazer of the lie-flat economy experience, Air New Zealand’s Skycouch continues to impress.

This feature turns a row of seats into a 5’1″ sleeping space, providing enough width for two adults to comfortably lie down.

The “cuddle belt,” a special seatbelt designed for use while lying flat, ensures passengers are safely secured, even during turbulence.

For those looking to sleep during a long-haul flight, Air New Zealand remains the gold standard.

Azul Brazilian Airlines

Brazil’s Azul Airlines quickly followed Air New Zealand’s lead with its “Skysofa” option.

Unique to Azul, its planes have a two-four-two seat arrangement, giving passengers in Skysofa sections even more room.

This is especially beneficial for families, as it provides ample space for kids to stretch out or even nap comfortably during a long flight.

Skysofa isn’t just about sleeping — it’s a family-friendly solution that adds flexibility to travel.

Air Astana

Kazakhstan’s Air Astana has created a different approach with its Economy Sleeper cabin. Unlike the Skycouch or Skysofa, the Economy Sleeper is a dedicated cabin offering solo travelers their own lie-flat bed.

While narrower than some of the other options, it offers a flat sleeping surface that’s ideal for individual passengers.

Air Astana sweetens the deal with extra perks like separate boarding and in-flight entertainment for Economy Sleeper passengers.

All Nippon Airways (ANA)

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) offers its own version of a lie-flat bed with the “Sky Couchii.”

Like Air New Zealand’s Skycouch, leg inserts fold out to create a spacious and comfortable bed, making it ideal for couples or families traveling together.

Some of ANA’s aircraft also feature a four-row layout, providing extra room for passengers, a key advantage for those flying with children on long-haul routes.

Lufthansa

Germany’s Lufthansa takes a different approach with its “Sleeper’s Row” model.

While it doesn’t feature special panels or pop-out sections like the others, Lufthansa allows passengers to book an entire row for themselves on certain flights.

While simpler than the Skycouch or Skysofa, the Sleeper’s Row still provides a spacious, lie-flat option for those looking to maximize their comfort without upgrading to business class.

It’s offered according to availability and while that means they aren’t always bookable, it also means that Sleeper’s Rows are more affordable.

You can add on this option for between $180-250 on a long-haul flight.

These innovations mark a significant shift in air travel, making long-haul economy flights more comfortable than ever.

With airlines constantly seeking to improve the passenger experience, the future of lie-flat beds in economy looks promising.

Whether you’re a solo traveler, a couple, or a family, these airlines offer unique options that could make your next long flight a restful one.

Yvette Sánchez receives regular lucrative offers for works in the art collection she oversees, from international auction houses to rich Gulf buyers. But she refuses them all, respecting the way the collection was assembled and its purpose today.

Sánchez works at the University of St Gallen, the Swiss business school founded in the late 19th century, which has since diversified into law, international affairs and computer science. It has also embraced a more cultural topic for more than half a century: art acquisition.

The university’s brutalist, postwar campus is a showcase for dozens of paintings, photographs and sculptures by renowned artists, from Giacometti and Miró to Calder and Richter. “It’s so incredible that we have all these pieces, but we do not display them like in a museum or hide them away,” says Sánchez. “They are really integrated. There is no barrier. Students see them every day.”

Many universities have their own art collections. A far smaller but growing number of business schools now do, too. But there is a wide variety of approaches to the selection of works, the ways in which they are funded and displayed (often poorly online), and the extent to which they are woven into student and faculty life.

Gerald Schwartz, the founder of Onex, a Canadian investment manager, recalls how his parents loved and collected art, inspiring him to do the same. But he was struck, while studying at Harvard Business School, from which he graduated in 1970, that there was almost no art on display. “It’s important people develop interests other than what happens when they go to work,” he says.

In 1995, Schwartz began a collection for his alma mater, and has since organised annual trips to galleries and studios of young and “thought-provoking” artists. A group of Harvard students and staff agree a selection and use his donation to buy items — typically for less than $5,000 each. “Everyone gets a say, probably everyone gets a veto,” he says, before adding: “It’s fair to say, I get listened to closely.”

Elsewhere, art acquisitions have often been catalysed by new buildings. At the University of Michigan, for example, Stephen Ross, the real estate developer and art collector who gave his name to its School of Business, lent his support. With extra funding from other donors, Kathleen Dolan — an art expert and wife of the then dean, Robert — bought most of the 250 works in the Ross collection.

“There was some blue-chip art, and [other works] including some commissioned from young artists,” says Wendy MacGaw, who helps manage the collection. “There was definitely a focus to bring in art that would challenge people.”

Around the same time, Bocconi in Milan took advantage of new buildings to host a “gallery”, working with artists to loan and sometimes donate their art, generating a cultural hub for the city. “We hope our students become successful managers and entrepreneurs, but they need a broad culture,” says Prof Antonella Carù. “The idea is to create a beautiful environment to develop their critical thinking.”

At Chicago’s Booth School of Business, the process also began early this century, with its new building, supported by a $5mn endowment earmarked for art by David Booth, the businessman who also gave his name to the institution. Today, a group including his former wife, Suzanne Deal Booth, has an annual $250,000 budget to spend, expanding a contemporary art collection that already numbers almost 1,000 items.

Canice Prendergast, an economics professor who oversees the acquisitions, says there is still room for new purchases but worries about keeping the selection committee fresh. “One of the challenges is not getting locked into a particular perspective,” he says. “What I’m afraid of is [that] someone will say, at some point, that this was such an early 21st-century collection.”

Schools including Booth and Ross have developed courses on art appreciation and, sometimes, on the art market and cultural management. Less common are initiatives to bring artistic creativity and innovation into the core management curriculum. The Stockholm School of Economics has, perhaps, gone furthest over the past decade in integrating arts into its strategy. It has raised funds to commission artists to produce site-specific work inside its classrooms.

“Education is about opening doors and increasing possibilities,” says Lars Strannegård, the dean. “Art becomes incredibly important to open up your view of the world and serve as intellectual itching power. Our classrooms are artworks in their own right.”

Pierre Guillet de Monthoux, who teaches at the school, welcomes the contrast of its collection today with the commissioned portraits of former deans, which signalled the limits of its engagement with art in decades past. “There’s lots of conformity in business schools and, when art becomes decoration, interest fades, engagement goes away and provocation disappears,” he says.

But he laments the more radical era of the 1970s, described in his book Curating Capitalism: How Art Impacts Business, Management, and Economy, when artists worked within, and all but took over, some businesses. Today, with prices soaring for works often bought as speculative investments and rarely publicly displayed, business has more than ever taken over art.

NEW landlords have faced social media backlash after announcing kids under 14 are banned.

The Bristol pub owners made the decision to keep the venue an adults-only spot as ‘an ode to the glory days of the boozer.’

6

6

Advertisement

6

6

Mandy Keefe, 62, and John Forge, 59, gave The Wheel Inn pub in Westwell a revamp after it was closed for two years and finally welcomed its first customers last week.

The choice to ban all youngsters left the village conflicted with many taking to social media to express their concerns.

However, the defiant pair claim many locals actually support the decision to refuse kiddos.

Forge told KentOnline: “We’re getting older people saying, ‘Brilliant, we don’t want bloody kids running about.’

“We get people actually standing at the bar saying, ‘This is great because we don’t have to worry.’

“In a pub, you don’t watch your language. You’re drinking – you’re taking a legal drug.

“You’re then, at times, behaving inappropriately. Customers have said it’s brilliant because they don’t have to watch exactly what they’re saying.”

With a lack of adult-only places, the pair decided it was about time there was somewhere people could relax without worrying about constantly keeping it PG.

They bought the venue March 2022 after it shut shop during the pandemic and the team are ready to give it a new lease of life.

They decided there was no reason for children to be there at all as they would do is ‘get bored, cry, or get shouty.’

In response to the criticism, Forge said it’s no skin of his back and they have no plans of bowing down to the social media storm.

He said: “I really couldn’t give a toss about them because what you’ll find is that they’re actually hypocrites.”

Some critics have labelled the decision as ‘archaic’ with one Westwell mother stating the pub has taken away her family’s chance to get to know people in the village.

She added: “Even when my kids come ‘of age’, I don’t get the impression they’ll be welcomed with open arms.

“It will please a very small demographic, unfortunately not the future one.”

Other pubgoers disagree with the critics, with one taking to Tripadvisor to relay how much they enjoyed the venue.

They wrote: “Great food. Great that there are no screaming kids under 14 years which is the reason I went. It has a more adult vibe and for that I loved it.”

The controversial pub regulation was blasted on the local Facebook page, which Keefe explained was more hurtful than the criticism itself.

She said: “When the signs went up, nobody came to speak to us. Not one person.

“It’s a close-knit community, and then suddenly you look on what is the village Facebook page, and you see it being slated. It’s not very pleasant.

“It felt like I was being bullied into changing my mind rather than coming in the door and asking why we’ve done it.”

The sign on the wall of the rebranded and extended pub simply states ‘No children under 14 years’ which was a rule implemented in all public houses up until 1995.

Only in 2003 when a new licensing act was brought in were kids allowed to into pubs.

There is currently no law that would cover discrimination against children and as it stands Ms Keefe and Mr Forge are entitled to refuse service to whoever they choose.

6

6

Advertisement