IMD business school for management and leadership courses

 - IMD Business School  - IMD Business School  - IMD Business School

Our origins

We were founded by business executives for business executives,  just after the Second World War. Our founders recognized that good business leaders were essential to a prosperous and peaceful society. Today, we are the trusted learning partner of choice for individuals and organizations worldwide.

  • 1946

    CEI

    CEI – Centre d’Etudes Industrielles is established by Alcan Aluminium, Limited (now Rio Tinto Alcan, Inc) in Geneva.
  • 1956

    IMEDE

    Institut pour l’Etude des Methodes de Direction de L’Entreprise is established in Lausanne by Nestlé, with the participation of professors from Harvard Business School.

  • 1972

    MBA

    IMD’s world-class MBA program is launched.

  • 1981

    IMI

    CEI officially becomes IMI – International Management Institute and would function under this name until 1989.

  • 1989

    WCY

    Ranking the nations of the world in terms of economic outputs, IMD publishes the first World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY).

  • 1990

    IMI merges with IMEDE to create IMD

    International Institute for Management Development. Facilities are all to be based in Lausanne and the vision to develop global leaders is adopted.

  • 1995

    First edition of OWP

    IMD’s largest program for individuals and teams, Orchestrating Winning performance (OWP), is launched in Lausanne.

  • 1996

    50 years anniversary of CEI

    Marking the formation of CEI, IMD celebrates 50 years of providing knowledge and business education to global leaders.

  • 2013

    Anniversary

    The IMD Global Family Business Center celebrates its 25th Anniversary and the IMD World Competitiveness Center (WCC) celebrates the 25th edition of the World Competitiveness Yearbook

  • 2015

    South-East Asia

    IMD opens its Southeast Asia Executive Learning Center in Singapore. IMD and Cisco inaugurate the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation (DBT Center).

  • 2019

    E4S

    IMD joins forces with the University of Lausanne (UNIL-HEC) – and the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Enterprise for Society (E4S).

    Enterprise for Society Center

  • 2021

    75th anniversary

    IMD celebrates the pioneers who helped transform it into one of the world’s best institutions for executive education.

    Stories and book

  • 2022

    50th MBA Anniversary

    In 2022, IMD marked 50 years of its world-leading MBA program.

    Stories and books

  • 2023

    Launch of OWP-ChatGPT

    IMD develops its own generative AI that enables participants to continue learning beyond their program experience.

    The Artificial Intelligence Initiative