Continued progress in an environment challenged by the health crisis

Published this Tuesday, March 2, the new 2021 ranking of Bachelors in Business Schools by the magazine Le Parisien Etudiant ranks the BIBA programme of Montpellier Business School (Bachelor of International Business Administration) as the joint 2nd best Bachelor, up one place, for the second year in a row.

This ranking list evaluates thirteen criteria and MBS has been awarded top marks for its labels, its development, its attractiveness, its selectivity and the integration of its students in the labour market.

A 97% employment rate for young graduates of the Montpellier Business School Bachelor Programme

Faced with an increasingly wide range of post-high school courses and an economic crisis that

threatens the employability of future graduates, high school students and their parents are more attentive than ever to the guarantees and opportunities offered by diplomas.

Faced with an increasingly wide range of post-graduate courses and an economic crisis that threatens the employability of future graduates, high school students and their parents are more attentive than ever to the guarantees and job opportunities of diplomas.

Each year, 50% of students continue their studies after the Bachelor’s degree, while the other half choose to enter the job market directly. “Thanks to the strong professionalization of the students, in particular through their work and study experience in the last year, the MBS Bachelor’s Programme reaches a 97% employment rate among its young graduates, which is reassuring in the current economic context. All business professions are represented: sales, marketing, finance, human resources, CSR, consulting, communication… Here is one last interesting statistic: 4% of them choose to start their own business. “concludes Dr. Alejandro Allera.

Are you a student in your final year of high school? Or maybe you already have your baccalaureate and would like to join the Bachelor Programme in the 1st year? Take part in the digital Open Day of the Bachelor Programme, tomorrow afternoon from 1pm to 6.30pm.

“CEO for One Month” to return in 2021

Until March the 19^th, MBS students are invited to join the “CEO for One Month” competition held by our major partner Adecco. After a selection process based on soft skills, the winner will have the opportunity to share the daily life of Alexandre Viros, President of The Adecco Group (France), and to participate in strategic projects during one month.

In 2019, Karim Al Sawah made it to the final. He is now a graduate and Operations Administrator at Amazon.

Registration is open until March the 19^th.

In 2019, Karim seized the opportunity of the competition to remove psychological obstacles and refine his professional project

When Karim took part in the competition in 2019, he was still a co-op student at Spring, a consulting

firm in Haute Savoie. “It was my manager who told me about the competition and suggested I apply. At the very beginning, I didn’t think I would be able to succeed: in my opinion, you had to have a solid background of professional experience to have a chance of passing the first stages. “The young graduate explains. “I also had another obstacle: my professional project was still very vague at the time. In concrete terms, I wanted to test all the positions in the company. “

Encouraged by his professional entourage to take part in the competition, Karim went through the various stages of the competition, which consisted of personality tests and professional scenarios. “Until the final, I didn’t realise that I was passing the stages. I had psychological blocks based on assumptions, like the fact that the jury would not choose me because they had already chosen someone with a similar profile. That’s when I decided to get rid of this type of mental block, to stop looking for an external justification for my performance in the competition, and to give it my all until the final. “says Karim.

Karim, from Adecco to Amazon

Karim, who graduated in 2020, is one of the students whose career plans were affected by the Covid19 crisis. “Initially, I thought I would continue working for the company where I had done my

co-op student placement. The first lockdown made this impossible. At the same time, Amazon opened

its offices five minutes from my home. Maybe it was a sign. When I look at the Amazon page on LinkedIn, I realise that employees are not confined to a job description and that they move quickly. It is this agility that I am looking for today, because it suits those who appreciate versatility in their missions. “Karim, who is currently working as an Operations Administrator at Amazon, concludes.

The opportunity to strengthen and structure her skills while taking a step back from her professional activity

The Executive MBA at Montpellier Business School is a highly experiential programme, built around each individual’s professional objectives. For Marie Legrand, an alumni of the programme for a few weeks and EMEA Technical Support Manager at Dell Technologies, the objective was to exchange with executives on their business transformation.

“I have been working in the digital transformation and telecommunications sector for about ten years. Today I manage an international support team based in four different countries. I chose the Executive MBA to share best practices around agile leadership, implement collective intelligence methods such as design thinking and learn how to delegate effectively. The distance I needed to take a step back from the day-to-day business while following the Executive MBA course helped me to refocus on the essentials of strategy,” says Marie Legrand.

Training to support teams through the 4th industrial revolution

Since the course is personalised, participants can build their thesis around a personal professional challenge. “For my part, I wanted to use this lever to develop my knowledge in the adoption of technological innovations by employees and company managers, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence (AI),” adds Marie Legrand.

“I have a personal passion for technological innovation, and Dell’s business model allows me to be at the heart of the artificial intelligence reactor and its deployment within the company. Through this thesis, I wanted to develop my knowledge in AI and augmented employee to better support internal initiatives, participate in the transformation of the company and transfer best practices to my teams.” she explains.

Given the ever more frequent and faster upheavals that companies are going through, managerial innovation based on the agility of leaders seems to be the best strategy to facilitate change. ” Choosing this training means deciding to develop critical thinking and thus adopt a more effective attitude in the face of change ” concludes Marie Legrand.

With the health crisis, the traditional general ranking of Best French Masters in Management, in which MBS ranks 12th in 2020, is reinforced by 4 thematic rankings

This Thursday, February 18, Le Point magazine released the exceptional methodology implemented for its 2021 rankings.

In order to adapt its evaluation to the health crisis, the Le Point team has chosen not to build a new general ranking for 2021 and has decided to publish a report composed of the 2020 ranking list in order to remind the place of the schools in the long term, completed by four new thematic rankings.

Digitized or postponed stays abroad, comodal courses, increase in the number of apprenticeships, “the exceptional health situation has led us to modify our traditional ranking list.” explains Claire Lefebvre of Le Point magazine.

The general ranking 2020 republished this year ranks MBS in 12th place.

Strenght of the Research (2021) : 5th and Multicultural exposure (2021) : 11th

With 37 establishments evaluated this year, Le Point has chosen to build its four new rankings on the following themes:

• Pedagogical supervision
• The Multicultural Exposure
• The strenght of the research 
• Effectiveness of insertion

Among the many criteria taken into account to build these rankings, MBS manages to make the difference thanks to the power of its research with a 5th place in the ranking and an 11th place for the multicultural exposure. “These two results are in line with our two characteristic values, which are academic excellence and inclusion, and this encourages us to pursue the implementation of our 2020-2025 strategic plan. “explains Bruno Ducasse, Chief Executive Officer of MBS.

The full list of Le Point magazine’s awards will be available to subscribers directly on their website.

A 7th edition of the Business Game open to all the Programmes

January 5th marked the launch of the 7th edition of the Montpellier Business School (MBS) Start-Up Week, organized by the school’s Entrepreneurship Center. While the first round, reserved for the 800 final-year apprentices of the Grande Ecole Program, offered solutions to the ecological transition of the aviation sector, a second round began on Tuesday, February 16, opening the challenge to the international students of the Bachelor and Master of Science Programs.

The new Business Game means a new sponsor, and Haribo, another of the school’s Grand Partners, has agreed to support the students in this extraordinary entrepreneurial approach.

“With more than 7,000 employees in 100 countries, our company offers the ideal international playground for the cosmopolitan audience of MBS students” explains Sylvain Chardard, Director of Human Resources at Haribo.

Composition, packaging, health: priority to social and environmental issues

MBS already links the vast majority of its teachings to the CSR theme. “It is important to seize the opportunity presented by Start-up Week to use in a practical and concrete way the skills that students have developed to imagine ecological and sustainable solutions,” said Dr. Annabelle Jaouen, Director of the Entrepreneurship Center.

Supervised by the Lecturers-Researchers and the incubator’s expert coaches, the challenge for the Bachelor and Masters of Science students is to create an innovative business model to strengthen CSR approaches in the confectionery sector.

“The confectionery market is based on variety. The emergence of vegan consumption, the awareness around healthy and balanced food, the need to reduce plastic and the climate emergency are the reasons that push Haribo to innovate and propose new sustainable products” testify Odile Verneaud, Sustainable Development Director and Jean-Noël Michel, Marketing Director at Haribo.

Supporting entrepreneurial initiatives during the crisis

At the end of the week, students will have the opportunity to pitch in front of a jury composed of Haribo’s board of directors and MBS experts. They will then have to prove that their idea has a market, that it is feasible and viable in terms of environmental, societal and financial impact.

For those who wish to do so, they will also be able to continue the creation process with the incubator. “If the health crisis may have slowed down the entrepreneurial spirit of some students, others have been able to detect new opportunities and sometimes coaching is enough to reassure, structure, move forward and launch” explains Dr. Annabelle Jaouen.

For all students who have developed a taste for entrepreneurship, Dr. Annabelle Jaouen reminds them that their projects are welcome in the MBS incubator. “Pre-incubation, incubation, acceleration, personalized coaching: the incubator is open to all students or alumni who have a project with a responsible dimension. »

An idea inspired by Matteo’s journey at the MBS Incubator

After two years of literary preparatory classes, Matteo joined the first year of the Grande Ecole Program in 2019. “I’ve always been passionate about entrepreneurial stories, starting from scratch and having the opportunity to imagine and create everything. At the time, like many students at the school, I used to consume a lot of podcasts related to the subject, such as Koudetat or Nouvelle Ecole. Along the way, I had finally spotted a market opportunity. So I joined the incubator in my first year,” explains Matteo.

At the end of this first year, Matteo chose to take a year off and finally decided to give up the incubated project. “I wasn’t passionate about the idea. I just saw an opportunity. What’s more, you quickly burn out when you create your own company by yourself. I decided to give up this project. But in contact with start-ups, the incubator and entrepreneurs, I wanted to continue the adventure in another form, without being alone this time. That’s how the “1 jour 1 Start-Up” (“1 day 1 Start-Up”) concept was born,” says the student.

Fostering creativity and giving visibility to those who embark on the entrepreneurial journey

Since the beginning of January, Matteo co-facilitates “1 day 1 start-up“, a free media that features a disruptive start-up, from Monday to Friday. “I created this concept with three friends. We each study in a different field: law, communication, political science and management. Together, we pool our skills and produce content on LinkedIn and by email to promote start-ups, their concept and their projects,” explains Matteo.

The creation of this medium is nourished by our ambition to create vocations and open up new opportunities, especially at a time when the morale of some students has been hit by the health crisis. “Our idea was to adopt a pragmatic approach to desacralize entrepreneurship, stimulate imagination, and share best practices in order to finally take the plunge. We have adopted a “column” format to do so. We then designed our editorial calendar to present a broad spectrum of start-ups in different categories: Unicorns, start-ups working with other start-ups, socially responsible start-ups, and finally start-ups founded by very young entrepreneurs. “concludes Matteo.

To keep track of their adventures, check out their LinkedIn page!

A project initiated as a tribute to his grandfather

A graduate of the Grande Ecole Program a few weeks ago, Axel is one of the hundred or so students and graduates who benefit from the MBS incubator. “The story begins in 2015, long before my arrival at MBS. I was still a student in Marseille and I decided to create products as a tribute to my grandfather, Jacques Magnan. In his day, he liked to wear sustainable and elegant clothing, always with his headgear on, regardless of the occasion. He often advised me to be unique to stand out, and it is through him and to perpetuate his memory that I developed my streetwear brand: Jack Magnan, with the slogan: To be unique. Innovation First. “explains Axel.

As a student professional at MBS, Axel benefits from the school’s incubator

Axel joined the Grande Ecole Program following the FIA2 competitive Exam in 2018.He has thus completed his entire co-op student program as a sales representative. Like all students and graduates, he had access to the resources of the incubator.

“The first product to be marketed was a hat that I was able to test with my family and friends. When I joined the incubator, I was assigned two coaches. The first one helped me structure my posture, my pitch and my business model. I was then able to professionalize my interventions with suppliers and investors. »

“The second coach was an expert in the fashion industry. He helped me to perfect my story telling and to improve my packaging and my supplier selection,” says the young entrepreneur.

Now a graduate, Axel has come a long way and so has his company! “We now have a complete range of caps, hats, sunhats, with a maximum of 100 units per model. Our goal is to create unique products. Athletes, models, and actors from a Netflix series have agreed to adopt our headwear and thanks to this influential marketing strategy, the company has grown. I can now devote 100% of my time to this project and we have been able to bring together a community of 28,000 people on social media,” said Axel.

Jack Magnan, an ethical and socially responsible company

Axel’s company and MBS share the same value: social and environmental responsibility. “With Jack Magnan, we want our carbon impact to be offset by an environmental investment. With each order we receive, we donate part of our margin to Ecotree, a start-up company specialized in planting and maintaining trees to neutralize our CO2 production. In addition, we have adapted our materials in order to ban plastic from the production chain. We also carry out waste collection on the beaches in collaboration with the association “1 déchet par jour”. This concrete ecological commitment is all the more important as we are evolving in a sector that needs to catch up with its ecological backwardness. “concludes Axel.

To follow the adventures of Axel and his company Jack Magnan incubated at MBS, visit his website or follow him on Instagram!

Like Axel, are you a student or graduate looking for personalized support in the process of creating your company? Contact the incubator at the following address: ec@montpellier-bs.com.

Since February 2nd, a Covid testing center is now open on campus to all students, employees, occasional teachers and permanent service providers on site. This center will complete our approach to prevention, responsible management and risk control of the Covid crisis in addition to the barrier actions and the applicable regulations.

On a voluntary basis and when they come to work on site, everyone will be able to perform an antigen test free of charge in order to know their virological status during testing sessions which will take place from 02/02/2021 to 26/02/2021, every  Tuesday and Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., in room G5.

This test may be repeated later in the event of symptoms or if you are identified as contact case.

The tests will be carried out by a qualified medical team of three health professionals. The test is completed in a few minutes and the results are visible after 15 minutes. They will be anonymous and communicated individually in a results sheet.

In the event of a positive test, a letter will be delivered by hand to the student/employee who will have to transmit it to his/her general practitioner.

All employees and students who are tested positive are also required to comply with the protocol in force, to isolate themselves immediately and to report their health status to their supervisor/programme staff and to Human resources. 

The MBS screening center offers salivary tests from March 9^th every Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., in room G5. This effective and painless antigen test is performed free of charge by a team of healthcare professionals. In the case of a saliva test you must not have eaten, drunk or smoked in the 15 minutes preceding the test. This preventive and free device is open to everyone and aims in particular to detect asymptomatic people. The results are confidential and are only communicated to the person tested.

If you wish to do the test, thank to register via this link: Inscriptions dépistage Covid

You have the possibility to register at the latest the day before, the schedules being stopped each evening for the following day.

For any additional question , please contact : Sandrine Gigord  (s.gigord@montpellier-bs.com or 04 67 10 26 44).

High school students now have a new benchmark when choosing a course on Parcoursup: the “Grade de Licence” (equivalent to the Bachelor’s Degree) has been awarded to the MBS Bachelor’s program.

Only 15 state-approved Bachelors from management schools have obtained this recognition issued by the State. They all meet the highest standards of academic quality, professionalization, social openness, internationalization and contribution to the local economy.

The “Grade de Licence”: a new benchmark for high school students

“The “Bachelor’s degree” is an additional recognition of the quality of the training,” explains Dr. Oussama Ammar, Director of Programs at MBS. “It complements the visa, which is a proof of the academic level guaranteed by the State, and reinforces the choice of high school students who are looking for a high level training that will help them join the job market or continue their studies. “Only 15 schools have received a positive opinion out of the 35 applications evaluated by the CEFDG (Commission for the evaluation of management training and diplomas).

The requirements for obtaining the “Bachelor Degree” are more demanding than those for the State Visa. “The CEFDG’s standards include an in-depth evaluation of the quality and the configuration of the teaching staff as well as the level of internationalization of the curriculum. The prerequisites also include an assessment of the school’s policy of social openness and its proximity to companies. These are two the MBS Bachelor’s degree major strengths, as the CEFDG has emphasized. “Dr. Oussama Ammar added.

MBS, which is the leading Grande Ecole of Management in France in terms of the number of vocational students (pursuing a work-study programme), is developing a unique diversity policy both in terms of the number of students involved and their professional success. This driver for equal opportunities also guarantees the marketability of the graduates, with an employment rate of 97% among young graduates.

The MBS Bachelor’s degree: a post-baccalaureate diploma that maximizes employment opportunities during the crisis

The visa and the new “Grade de licence” of the MBS Bachelor’s degree allow graduates to pursue a

Master’s degree either at the university, or in a course leading to a Master’s degree in any business school (Grande Ecole Program), or within the MBS fast-track program to join one of the 5 specialised MSc’s of Montpellier Business School.

To learn more about the MBS Bachelor’s degree, don’t miss these two 100% digital events:

• The Course Guidance Week (Semaine de l’Orientation) for high school students and high school graduates by MBS from January 25^th to 29^th
• The Open Day (Journée Portes Ouvertes) on February 6^th.

Thanks to a team of researchers from Montpellier Business School and Montpellier Management (University of Montpellier), LabEx Entreprendre becomes the French representative in the global research program “Global Entrepreneurship Monitor”.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is the only global monitoring centre of entrepreneurial activity

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor was created in 1999 at the initiative of Babson College (USA)

and the London Business School. It now brings together 77 leading institutions in the field of entrepreneurship on all continents.

Its annual surveys are scrutinized by economic and political decision-makers and the main international institutions with which close relations are established, such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). They are also widely reported in the international press and journals such as Forbes, The Economist, BBC, Harvard Business Review or The New York Times.

Following a rigorous selection process, LabEx Entreprendre was chosen to conduct the studies in France thanks in particular to its recognized scientific expertise in the field of entrepreneurship and its ability to develop international chairs and monitoring centers. GEM France is led by Professors Karim Messeghem from the University of Montpellier and Frank Lasch from Montpellier Business School. It is supported by a team of researchers from LabEx Entreprendre and the Montpellier Management Research Laboratory (Jean-Marie Courrent, Walid Nakara, Sylvie Sammut, Roy Thurik and Olivier Torrès).

What to expect from this new collaboration?

GEM France will publish two important studies each year. The first one will be carried out on a representative sample of the French population and will allow to assess entrepreneurial attitudes and activities. The second will aim to better understand the characteristics and evolutions of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by relying on interviews with French experts. The findings will notably provide a better understanding of the entrepreneurial behaviour of the French in the context of COVID-19, while drawing comparisons with other countries. We will attempt to understand how the COVID-19 crisis has influenced entrepreneurial activity and how entrepreneurship contributes to overcoming the economic and social crisis.

The Labex Entreprendre

LabEx Entreprendre was born in 2011, during the first wave of the call for projects issued by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research within the framework of the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir (PIA), to select labs known as “laboratories of excellence” (LabEx) in different academic fields. It brings together 200 researchers from six research teams in Law, Economics and Management, including several Montpellier Business School professors, conducting studies on entrepreneurship and innovation in connection with the challenges of sustainable development.