Negotiation – An essential skill for executives

When: 28-29-30 May (08:30 – 17:30)

Where: USI Executive Center, Blue Room

Professor: Kandarp Mehta

We are back to campus!
USI is very much committed to classroom lectures and in attendance learning and therefore, despite the challenge of reopening in such a short time frame, has decided that the Spring semester will be concluded as far as possible in attendance on the campuses.

For an executive negotiation is not a choice, it’s a necessity. As a result it’s essential for a manager to work on his/her negotiation skill. In this session, through a practical simulation we will try to understand some of the most important aspects of negotiation skill of a manager. Negotiations involve a dual pressure for an executive. On one hand the executive is under pressure to compete and create maximum value, on the other hand the executive wants to collaborate and establish a relationship. Quite often negotiations involve not only opportunities for creation of value but also a resolution of a conflict or a deadlock. This session will address this competitive-collaborative pressure that each manager faces.

The session will provide practical tools and tips that managers can use in their day-to-day negotiations and become more effective.

Come join us at the Executive Center 28-29-30 May

Limited places, book now at emba@usi.ch

Kandarp Mehta BIO

Kandarp Mehta is a PhD from IESE Business School, Barcelona.

He has been with the Entrepreneurship Department at IESE since October 2009.

His research has focused on creativity in organizations and negotiations. He frequently works as consultant with startups on issues related to Innovation and Creativity. His doctoral thesis was about the process of creativity in the context of motion picture industry.

He has conducted several Negotiation and Creativity Workshops for corporate executives and management students in Europe, USA and India. Before coming to Spain, he was at ICFAI Business School in India where he taught Corporate Finance. He is also actively involved with Creative Industries.

Marina, what is your current position?

I am the Head of Group Internal Audit at DITH. I’m in charge of organizing this new body worldwide. It is a challenging project which I like to call Global Assurance & Advisory Project because it is aimed at establishing best practices of risk management, control and corporate governance all over the DITH Group that encompasses more than 30 companies worldwide and 3300 employees.

How the EMBA helped you in your job as a woman?

The EMBA provided me with tools, skills and frameworks to successfully grow within my organization, become purpose-driven, broad-minded and forced me to step out of my comfort zone. My competence is strengthened and acknowledged.

Why you decided to start an EMBA?

I realized I wasn’t learning new things, I wasn’t improving my knowledge for too long, I wasn’t challenging my mind.

Describe yourself before and after EMBA in three words.

Before: focused on details.

After: open mindset, seeking challenges.

How the program changed your mindset?

The program did change my mindset, and it was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to a curriculum that teaches both hard and soft skills my vision became more strategic and open. The confrontation and exchange of views with the class and the teachers was of great value in this.                        

Would you suggest an EMBA to women? Why?

From early childhood, girls are taught that their success is contingent upon acting in certain stereotypical ways, such as being polite, soft-spoken, compliant and relations-ship oriented. Throughout their lives, this message is reinforced by media, family and society. But “nice girls don’t get the corner office”, as a L.P. Frankel says. Women are 3.8 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs, worldwide 8 per cent of top executives are female. It is a matter of empowerment and an EMBA is one of the tools a woman can use to empower herself.

The need to create and maintain a sustainable society for future generations must be an integral part of a successful business strategy, but also of a corporate culture.
Our new EMBA10 program will be renewed on two keys trends: Digital Transformation and Sustainability.

EMBA and Università della Svizzera italiana are dedicated to maintain a sustainable campus, thanks to some measures:

• the introduction of sustainability criteria in daily management and purchases;
• sensitization of the administrative community, professors, and students;
• USI’s orientation towards a model of sustainability.

We try not to waste natural resources, in particular paper: our first step is to delete the hard-bound thesis copies , and to ask our candidates only for PDF version.
The delivery of lessons also changed: 1 day is asynchronous, with videos, case studies and hands-on exercises.
In-campus activities will be concentrated on Saturday and Sunday, ensuring great flexibility, efficiency and sustainability.

iWin has been recognised as an innovative start-up by the Office for Administration and Controlling (UAC) of the Canton Ticino.

After the successful  participation in the entire VENTURE KICK programme, which ended with a Phase III won in September 2020, iWin and our EMBA9 Francesco Frontini have achieved this important recognition from the Ticino Canton.

What does it mean?

According to the Tax Act (Legge tributaria) innovative start-ups can benefit from privileged taxation, through an exemption from donation tax and a reduction in capital tax.