Senior industry executives meet at Harvard at GIA’s Global Leadership Program

A gathering of 42 senior gem and jewelry executives recently unfolded at the Harvard Business School (HBS) in Cambridge, representing 12 countries and 14 sectors – ranging from mining to manufacturing and retail. The group met to discuss challenges facing the industry during GIA’s Global Leadership Program. The executives participated in a custom program with a curriculum based on the distinguished HBS case study method. The 2015 program focused on the importance of marketing, branding, strategy and communications to a company.

The meeting unfolded from June 15-18.

“The quality of the case studies, the participants, the interactions and debate, as well as the ability of the HBS professors to deliver was at the pinnacle of exceptional quality,” said John Green, chair of GIA’s Board of Governors. “This program has again brought closer collaborations to our supply chain and our industry.”

Among the case studies covered during this year’s program were Harley Davidson’s entrance into the Indian market, the iconic ‘Intel Inside’ campaign and the building of the Real Madrid soccer team into a global brand. The program served to disseminate much learning, as expressed by the participants.

This was the second consecutive year for such a gathering to take place at the HBS. GIA, in conjunction with HBS, initiated the four-day program in 2014 to bring together global leaders representing different sectors of the gem and jewelry to examine issues faced by international businesses and incorporate experiences of other sectors and industries to their own. The program also provides an unparalleled networking opportunity for senior executives, building bridges between different sectors of the global gem and jewelry supply chain.