Sofia Business School – Master Classes 2013
In May 2013, the Reform Union Club and New Bulgarian University signed a new additional agreement for the realisation of the second edition of the Sofia Business School. The project was carried out as part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two organisations, whose main goal is to increase the quality of the knowledge and qualification exchange networks and to ensure the closer interaction between the academic sector, civil society structures and the corporate community.
The second edition of the forum took place between 29 June and 5 July 2013, with New Bulgarian University once again hosting the lectures and the discussions. The format included all-day master classes with morning and afternoon sessions. During the morning sessions, each of the invited foreign speakers presented one academic lecture and the topics analysed by them were subsequently further developed by the participants, divided in two brainstorming groups. The focus of the afternoon sessions fell on the development of skills for leading a reasoned discussion by presenting and defending leadership ideas and projects connected with the conclusions drawn at the morning lectures. As in the previous edition, at the end of the day prominent corporate figures – members and partners of the Reform Union Club – were invited to share with the participants their managerial experience and present their successful business projects.
The leading topics during the second edition of the school included:
• Water and food security
• Monetary policy and systemic crisis
• The Eurozone: problems and proposed solutions
• Banking and accounting regulations
• The failure to recognise risk: common factors behind business success/failure
• Moral foundation of free market economics
• The crisis: Greece and Cyprus
Some of the other topics to stand out during the discussions included: the effective management of debt management; drivers and inhibitors of economic growth; technological progress and its effect on the economic paradigms; the challenges facing the modern demographic perspectives; the economic growth in the context of the new ecological imperatives; the global security in the sphere of food, food supplies and water resources.