Introduction
In April 2016, the Cass Business School held its third MBA London Symposium. The Symposium was hosted to discuss the questions of thought leadership and best practices in the industry, all in the glorious city of London.
Opened under the title “Explorers & Discoveries”, this conference drew more than 150 Masters of Business Administration candidates from a wide variety of fields of study. It, like the previous Symposiums before it, allowed Masters of Business Administration students an invaluable chance to meet the principal players in commerce, various sports, finance, digital and mass media, and culture, and through them have a glimpse of the behind the scenes of the different businesses in London.
Such events are invaluable opportunities to witness firsthand the professional, technical, and scientific manpower behind the rapid growth of London’s economy, as compared to the average percentages around the country. Students can use these opportunities to learn about the financial, industrial, socio-economic, and cultural business environment of London, gain insights into the operating strategies and processes of a variety of sectors and organizations, and apply MBA learning and skills in a reflective context to real business challenges.
Cass MBA London Symposium 2016
The 2016 Symposium was opened by the former Mayor of London and the current Chairman of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Sir Alan Yarrow. He set the tone for the following four days of the conference by discussing the high global significance of the financial services sector in London and described to the students the role they may one day play in the future of the city and its commerce. In the speech, a strong emphasis was made on the role of Lord Mayor as a supporter, promoter, and spokesperson for the people and industries of the City of London. And he projected his desire to restore pride and confidence the people living and working in the city had before the recession (Sir Alan Yarrow opens third annual Cass MBA London Symposium 2016).
Most of the events on the agenda focused on teaching the audience the lessons of productive commerce, enterprise, addressing the question related to luxury brands, discussing the difficulty of staying innovative in a fast-changing world where innovation is the goal of all of the competition, as well as providing success advice for the students.
London Stock Exchange
One of the two most interesting sites in the Symposium was the site of the London Stock Exchange Group (London Stock Exchange Group n.d.). This group is a business specializing in global markets infrastructure. It is very diverse in its directions of interest, concentrating on intellectual property, formation, and accumulation of capital. LSEG functions under an open access model, allowing extensive choices to the customers from its different businesses.
On the site, the students were able to get themselves with the company and its main traits. They were able to learn about the broad range of their foreign shares of the companies that the Group uses, about their involvement in financial markets for bonds and derivatives, namely in the London Stock Exchange.
An important part of its business is access to Europe’s capital markets it provides for its clients, as well as finances for expansion, growth, and development.
The Group’s chief executive Xavier Rolet discussed not only the past and the present of the business, but also the future, and how the current events can affect it.
HSBC
The next site visited was the site of the HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC n.d.). It is a major global banking and financial services firm, currently the fourth largest bank in the world, with estimated assets of $2.68 trillion. HSBC participates in four principal businesses: Commercial Banking, Global Private Banking, Retail Banking, and Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets. Through these companies, HSBC connects with more than 47 million people in 71 countries around the world. While HSBC is steadily expanding and involving themselves in growing and developing areas of the global market, a majority of their business is in Europe, which can have dire consequences in the face of the upcoming United Kingdom’s European Union referendum.
Reflection
There were a lot of business and commerce related questions discussed at the two sites by the representatives of LSEG and HSBC, but one of the questions appeared and was discussed in depth in both conferences. The issue is the mentioned above referendum about whether the United Kingdom will leave the Union or not. Both of these choices have far-reaching consequences for both businesses.
LSEG and HSBC have a lot of interests abroad and are benefiting from the free trade agreements and the certainty that the status quo remains, to the point where HSBC is willing to resort to domicile if the United Kingdom decides to exit the European Union.
However, a lot of citizens, government officials, and businesses feel that the country and the City of London, in particular, are suffering as the result of the payments the UK has to make into the EU budget, the immigration freedoms, and the laws imposed by the EU. They believe that separation will create new job opportunities, allow for less EU influence over the country’s internal affairs, and more protection from the eurozone regulations being imposed on the City of London.
Conclusion
The speakers at the Symposium provided a lot of relevant discussions, both on the economic state of the businesses of the City of London, as well as what the future might hold for it. The key companies in the city are awaiting the referendum in June and making preparations for either outcome.
Reference List
HSBC n.d. Web.
London Stock Exchange Group n.d. Web.
Sir Alan Yarrow opens third annual Cass MBA London Symposium 2016. Web.