VISION

To be a business school recognized for its excellence in teaching, research, and extension programs in Business Administration, resulting from the integration of advanced, renowned pedagogical technologies, interdisciplinary programs, and internationalization, in a stimulating and welcoming environment.

MISSION

To prepare professionals, with scientific, social, and humanistic training, to act responsibly in complex and challenging business environments, with a focus on interdisciplinarity, internationalization, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.

THE HISTORY OF IAG PUC-RIO

The idea that became reality

IAG was founded in 1958 as an Institute of Administration and Management with the objective of contributing to the improvement of small and medium-sized companies, through the training of its executive managers. The idea had come up a year earlier, in a course that the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial – Senai (National Service for Industrial Learning) offered to industrial leaders. At the end of that event, two participating engineers dreamed of creating a course for managers, of short duration and non-academic nature: they were Paulo Afonso Horta Novaes (who already taught at PUC-Rio) and Ary Marques Jones. Fortunately, that idea was welcomed by Professor Carlos Alberto Del Castillo, also an engineer and Director of the Polytechnic School of PUC-Rio at the time. Thanks to the actions of these three idealists, that dream came true. They are rightly considered the founders of the IAG. It is worth remembering that Professor Paulo Novaes became the first director of the Institute and was one of the most long-lived professors at PUC-Rio.

The first years

In 1958, Brazil was experiencing an unprecedented modernization movement. New industries were installed in the country, with emphasis on the birth of our automobile industry. Euphoria reached universities in general and PUC-Rio was no exception. It was a good time for the creation of the “Institute of Administration and Management”, a name that sought to add two schools of thought at the time: the European, linked to traditional public administration and the American (Management), more focused on business interests. Concepts have matured and evolved over the years, but the acronym IAG has become a brand.

The didactics adopted were different from the academic approach of the time. The courses were based on case discussions, seminars, demonstrations, visits, and practical group work. A very select group of teachers was specially hired for the task.

Over time, and after several courses had been taught, IAG’s objectives have expanded to include specialization courses at the graduate level for management leaders, and the development of scientific research. In addition, already in 1963, the first IAG Business Game was introduced, then applied frequently over a long period. For the Institute’s financial maintenance, in 1967 the Fundação para Incremento da Administração e Gerência – FIAG (Foundation for Incremental Administration and Management) was created.

The first years of the seventies saw the birth of Specialization and Deepening courses, now with longer durations. As an example, there were the Human Resources, Marketing, Finance and Organizations, and Methods deepening courses. In 1972, the seed of what would become the Department of Business Administration was planted, with the completion of the first Master’s in Administration, with 15 students in its class. Interestingly, the first courses of Administration (at undergraduate level) started in 1975 linked to the Department of Economics of PUC-Rio, but it’s worth remembering that the profession of Business Administrator had been regulated a few years before. At that time, IAG maintained its focus on short/medium-term courses and the newly created master’s program.

A great redesign

The major structural changes, which left the IAG with the features it has today, were implemented from 1976 to 1978: linking the Department to PUC-Rio’s Centro de Ciências Sociais – CCS (Center for Social Sciences), the extinction of the FIAG foundation and the rebirth of IAG, now fully incorporated into the academic life of the University.

1979 was a special year for the Institute: in that year, the Department of Business Administration of PUC-Rio was created and, from there, the undergraduate course in Business Administration separated from the Department of Economics, gaining its own identity and aligning itself with existing graduate programs. At the same time, the Business School maintained its focus on lato sensu post-graduation, on the professional master’s degree (the most recent one), and on executive education in general. The most important thing was that, from that year onwards, the Business Administration Department and IAG were always connected, led by a single Director and with shared administrative/financial structures.

From IAG Master to MBA

Although they have existed since 1970, the lato sensu graduate courses underwent a reformulation in 1986, being called IAG Master, because they combined managerial education at the graduate level with the personal experience of the participants. New names were adopted, still used today: Marketing, Finance, and Human Resources.

At the end of the nineties, a new strategy was developed, aiming at updating the IAG in the face of market needs: the Doctoral program (1997) and the Professional Master’s program (1999) were born and, at the same time, IAG changed its name to The IAG School of Business – PUC-Rio, a trend already adopted by internationally renowned universities.

New courses were also created: Management (1998), Project Management (2004), Investment Management (2011), Commercial and Sales Management (2013), and Tax Planning (2016). The last three were created under the new and popular acronym MBA (Master in Business Administration, adopted in 2010, inherited from the Master’s courses in Business Administration in the United States, but with different content). Together, these courses add up to more than 300 classes formed to date.

Today, the Academic Master’s and Doctoral programs in Business Administration aim to train students into fine professors and researchers, and have the CAPES concept 5. In addition, the recent Professional Master’s program aims to qualify market professionals to exercise leadership positions in their institutions.

Finally, it is worth remembering that IAG PUC-Rio also has the Career Development Center, an area aimed at assisting the development of the careers of its current and former students in the Undergraduate, MBA, Master’s, and Doctoral programs.

Scientific research at IAG PUC-Rio

IAG has maintained, throughout all these years, an interest in pioneering and a drive for excellence in the formation of managerial leaders, developing programs aligned not only with the new fundamentals, but also with the techniques and practices renowned in the field of Business Administration. Its faculty consists of professor-doctors, trained in the best graduate schools in Brazil and abroad, and who are constantly renewing their teaching methodologies in order to improve the process training their students.

Thus, in addition to teaching, scientific research is also intensively developed in the fields of Finance, Marketing, Strategy, Organizations and Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, in line with PUC-Rio’s guidelines, explained in its Conceptual Framework. To this end, research centers were created. Here are some of them:

• NUPIN – Núcleo de Pesquisas em Negócios Internacionais; (Research on International Business)
• NUPEI – Núcleo de Pesquisa em Energia e Infraestrutura; (Research on Energy and Infrastructure)
• NEOS – Núcleo de Estudos em Organizações Sustentáveis; (Studies on Sustainable Organizations)
• NORTE – Núcleo de Organizações, Relações de Trabalho e Empregabilidade; (Organizations, Labor Relations, and Employability)
• MAGIS – Centro de Pesquisa em Inovação. (Research on Innovation)

Digital transformation: the future has arrived

This is IAG PUC-Rio’s story; more than 60 years dedicated to teaching and research on Management Science. Ever aware of today’s business and governmental needs, willing to overcome the challenges of the future, especially digital transformation, which has been deeply affecting organizational activities, processes, and competencies, and will continue to do so in the coming years!

Directors

• 1958 — 1964: Paulo Afonso Horta Novaes
• 1965 — 1966: Hélio Leôncio Martins
• 1967 — 1976: Edgard Fróes da Fonseca
• 1976 — 1980: Paulo Cesar de Mendonça Motta
• 1980 — 1982: Augusto Luiz Duarte Lopes Sampaio
• 1982 — 1985: Paulo Afonso Horta Novaes
• 1985 — 1987: Paulo Cesar de Mendonça Motta
• 1987 — 1991: Patrícia Tomei
• 1991 — 1995: Roberto Moreno Moreira
• 1995 — 1999: José Carlos Sardinha
• 1999 — 2004: Paulo Cesar de Mendonça Motta
• 2004 — 2008: Hélène Bertrand
• 2008 — 2013: Luís Felipe Jacques da Motta
• 2013 — 2015: Luís Eduardo Teixeira Brandão
• 2015 — 2019: Paulo Cesar de Mendonça Motta
• 2019 — Present day: Leonardo Lima Gomes