Courses of the International Summer School in Marseille

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from June 8 - 19.

Course Description:

This course presents a strategic business model approach to sports and events management. After identifying strategic assets (sponsorship, reputation, relational and physical resources) and key dynamic capabilities, students will engage in case analyses focused on international event creation, audit, and development.

The primary objective of the course is to provide a “sense-making” framework for creating, developing, and sustaining long-term performance in event and entertainment organizations.

Course Objectives:

This course is designed to give students a systematic methodology for analyzing and developing strategies in strategic asset management and event marketing. Professional case studies will be used throughout, including Roland-Garros, Aix-en-Provence Arena (live case study), Paris 2024, Live Nation Concerts, LDLC Arena, and others.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the strategic role of marketing in event and entertainment organizations, and the importance of informed decision-making.
2. Apply tools and frameworks to identify revenue opportunities and make strategic event marketing decisions.
3. Develop sustainable leadership and strategic thinking within multi-stakeholder business models and external asset management contexts.

Key Topics :

• Strategic event management
• Event business models
• Public relations and stakeholder engagement
• Reputation management
• Stadium and arena management

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from June 8 - 19.

Course Description:

This course provides students with a structured approach to analyzing and developing brand, communication, and sponsorship activation strategies through the lens of celebrity management, particularly within sport and entertainment markets.

Marketing decisions related to brands — and the use of communication tools — will be central to understanding how to build influential personal branding strategies for celebrities and sponsors.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the fundamentals of personal branding and sponsorship activation strategies.
2. Apply tools and frameworks to identify revenue opportunities for talents and celebrities through brand endorsement.
3. Demonstrate responsible leadership and strategic thinking using techniques from cause-related marketing and corporate citizenship initiatives.

Teaching Methods:

The course combines lectures, exercises, academic article discussions, group work, presentations, and a practical project. It is relevant to students pursuing career paths in talent agencies, sport and entertainment management, branding, and sponsorship in global organizations such as CAA, IMG, Octagon, Wasserman, and others.

Key Topics :

• Celebrity marketing
• Personal branding
• Sponsorship and endorsement activation
• Talent and reputation management

Contact LinkedIn Prof:

Lionel Maltese & Jean-Philippe Danglade:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lionel-maltese-620736/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-philippe-danglade-16655a1b/

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from June 22 – 03 July

Course description

In an ever changing socio-economic landscape, businesses must innovate in order to survive. In that sense, creativity is a company asset that should be carefully nurtured. During this course, participants will discover that creativity is anything except magical: it can be analysed, improved and managed in order to generate new business opportunities. 

The course is designed to help participants: discover and understand the different tools and methods used by creative teams to enhance their creative process, gain confidence in the frequently encountered “creative chaos”, analyse the methods and reasoning behind a creative mind, find creative ways to manage creative teams, and find ways to encourage and facilitate creative thinking in a non-creative friendly environment.

On completion of this module, students will be able to: 

• Develop & implement a creative process to tackle different types problems
• Pitch the value of creative & divergent thinking in an organisation
• Gain confidence in a creative environment
• Be a bit more creative themselves

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from June 22 – 03 July

Course Purpose & Objectives

This course is designed to help participants: understand a complex or ill-defined situation, empathize with the different stakeholders of a problem environment in order to gain a broader understanding of the situation, use visualisation, creative and prototyping tools to help in their ideation process and test their solution to gain feedback and assess the pertinence of a proposition.

The increasing complexity of our world and the ever growing number of variables (social, economic, political, ethical, technical …) that have to be taken in consideration by design professionals when tackling a problem makes their job nearly impossible to achieve.

In the late 60s, the design theorist Horst Rittel first described the situation and named it “Wicked Problems”. Nevertheless, designers continue to excel and their methods, widely described now, are the reason behind their success. 

The Design Thinking theory and tools are but one of the many attempts to make sense out of a designer’s approach to “wicked problem solving”. It is now widely accepted and used in businesses worldwide as a powerful tool for innovation

On completion of this module, students will be able to: 

• Define a complex problem and identify insights that could potentially bring to innovations
• Generate ideas using designers methods and tools
• Prototype solutions from early stages cardboard models to well defined 3D printed prototypes
• Test, observe and improve propositions through iterations

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from 06 – 17 July

Course Description:

This course offers a comprehensive overview of global financial regulations and their evolution across time and regions. Students will explore the historical foundations of international finance, the introduction of ethical principles in the financial sector, and the modern challenges related to wealth management and regulatory compliance. Through analytical frameworks and real-world examples, the course highlights how monetary changes, European integration, and financial education shape today’s regulatory landscape. A special focus will be placed on the financing of SMEs within Europe and the mechanisms designed to support sustainable economic development.

Course Objectives:

The objective of this course is to equip students with a structured understanding of global financial regulation and governance. Participants will analyze key regulatory reforms, evaluate ethical implications within finance, and study how regulatory frameworks impact economic policy, investment decisions, and financial stability. Case studies and contemporary examples will allow students to understand the role of regulation in both protecting economies and enabling growth.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand the historical evolution of international finance and its influence on current regulatory systems.
• Evaluate the role of ethics within the financial sector and its impact on decision-making and compliance.
• Analyze wealth management practices within the global regulatory environment.
• Examine recent monetary changes in France and their implications for markets and institutions.
• Understand the European policies aimed at preventing excessive public debt and promoting economic stability.
• Recognize the importance of financial education as a tool for responsible citizenship and informed financial behavior.
• Assess the regulatory challenges and opportunities related to financing SMEs in Europe.

Key Topics:

• A brief history of international finance
• Monetary changes in France
• The introduction of ethical rules within finance
• Wealth management
• The Europeanization of policies aimed at combating excessive public debt
• Financial education
• Financing SMEs in Europe

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from 06 - 17 July

This course will focus on developing an understanding of international business, taking a closer look at the environment in the Mediterranean region – and more specifically the countries in southern Europe and northern Africa. During the two-week course, we will examine key success factors for creating and sustaining trans-national and multi-national business ventures, and help students develop a practical, hands-on approach for optimising the conditions necessary for healthy business performance.

The Mediterranean is celebrated for being arguably the world’s oldest centre of ‘international’ trade and commerce. For centuries, this area of the world has been (and continues to be) a crossroads of cultures, bringing together the populations of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Today, this region remains both a highly relevant, and economically significant cradle of trans-national and multi-national business. 

Moreover, given the current highly complex geopolitical context, addressing the region’s economic stability and development remains one of the critical challenges for both national governments, as well as organisations such as the European Union. Specific financing structures, EU subventions and complex international trade agreements have been developed to foster development and promote growth. However, the challenges of managing multiple stakeholders, conflictual interests, and even corruption continue to be present. 

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Better understand the Mediterranean region’s geopolitical context and financial structures
• Develop an enhanced appreciation for the region’s multiple stakeholders and interests
• Articulate how international businesses can answer key questions related to: where they should invest, what are their markets, who are their clients, and how to both mitigate risk and create favourable conditions for success
• Conduct and present a limited-scale feasibility study

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over -weeks; from 20 – 31 July

Sustainable Development will not be achieved without the private sector. In recent years, corporate (un-)sustainability has become headline news. Accidents such as the BP Deepwater Horizon or the Fukushima incident received global media attention; Volkswagen is still dealing with the fallout from its “Dieselgate” scandal. At the same time, Unilever help to create rural entrepreneurs in India; Pfizer have improved access to prescription medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa; Daimler actively support the fight against HIV/AIDS in the same world region; and numerous companies publicly address the widespread problem of corruption throughout their operations.

In this module, we will explore why and how companies have started to integrate sustainability objectives into their core business activities, and critically discuss strengths and limitations of these approaches. Along the way, we will be using case studies and interactive elements to explore underlying theoretical perspectives, actual outcomes of corporate sustainability activities and the opportunities and challenges we are facing in the transition to sustainability. As part of this, we will also explore your own roles in this transformation, be it as consumers, citizens, activists, or future entrepreneurs and employees.

Course Format: 3 hrs. per day over 2 weeks; from 20 – 31 July

More than a study of management techniques, this course is an introspection into who we are as employees, managers and human beings, and what impact can we have (or do we want to have) in our respective organisations. 

Corporate Social Responsibility is a large umbrella under which one must consider many elements, not least of which are the concepts of “Diversity and Inclusion”; how companies engage with, manage, and otherwise consider the human beings impacted by its activities – i.e. stakeholders.    This course will take a closer look into the direct and indirect implications of D&I.   

We will begin the course by defining the different aspects of diversity and take a closer look at discrimination and unconscious dynamics in the workplace. We will also explore unconscious bias and how it shapes organisations and our decision making.   

In an ever increasing, diverse and complex workplace environment, managers are facing challenges to maintain a sense of teamwork and cohesion amongst staff members, and providing meaningful objectives is taking on ever increasing importance.

An even more diverse and international customer base adds to the highly demanding challenges confronting modern companies, and necessitate tailored services and approaches to meet their clients' needs. 

In such a context, the questions must be asked:

How do organisations attract talent in different forms?

Does increasing the diversity amongst staff always equate to good performance? 

What is a "Great Place to Work"?

Can all employees be happy?