IBSS Delivers Strategic Leadership Training for World’s Metal Industry Giant Danieli

International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) held an executive education programme for senior managers of Danieli Metallurgical Equipment Co., Ltd. from Buttrio, Italy recently.

With factories in Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Thailand, China and India, Danieli is one of the three largest suppliers of equipment and plants to the metal industry in the world.

“Strategic Leadership” is a customised programm for leaders within Danieli China aimed at developing awareness and preparedness for Danieli’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) industry environment. The workshop combined one-on-one, team and group discussions.

Key topics of this one and half day programme included: what strategic leadership is and why it is necessary within the context of Danieli; leadership to succeed; the VUCA challenge; strategy to action and how leaders can drive changes, and the practice of strategy.

“IBSS was very pleased to design a tailor-made executive education course to meet Danieli’s training needs,” said Professor Sarah Dixon, Dean of IBSS. “The session was attended by Danieli’s most senior managers who represent the future of the company and it was great to witness their active engagement in thinking about the challenges of strategic leadership and how it secures competitive advantage,” she added.

Reflecting on the training, Mr Pietro Golini, Asia HR Executive Vice President of Danieli, said, “The customised programme was the biggest advantage. We want to involve all the top management of the company and give them some vision about business in China.”

“This University-Industry cooperation is important for us because our managers are involved in the daily routine of their jobs, focused on their tasks and targets. For more development in management skills, this kind of approach and cooperation with IBSS is very valuable.”

Professor Roberto Dona, Director of International MBA at IBSS said, “In international companies, there are different cultures, it’s very important to combine different leadership styles that are more related to the original culture of people to a leadership style that belongs to a company.”

“IBSS offers executive education to a range of different companies, both multinational and local Chinese companies. Our courses are delivered by top quality faculty, many of whom have many years of international business experience which ensures the combination of leading edge theory with practice. Normally the classes are highly interactive and managers are encouraged to analyse their own company issues to support the strategic development of their company and the creation of competitive advantage,” said Professor Dixon.

“Our programmes can either be tailored to specific company requirements or are open to members of any organisation. We target senior or middle management and can deliver in either Chinese or English. It’s all about knowledge exchange and supporting economic growth in Suzhou Industrial Park and beyond,” she added.