STEFANO FRANZOIA is mid-point in his EMBA studies at CBS, which he began in January 2007. As Finance Manager for Ferrero Scandinavia, a brand well-known to anyone, who has ever spread Nutella on their morning bread, he also acts as supply chain manager and IT manager in Ferrero’s Malmo offices. “If it is operational, everything ends up with me,” says Stefano. “It is fulfilling, because I like to be busy, but sometimes I would like to have enough time to be able to read my email – or maybe write one,” he laughs.

Adding Executive MBA study to this schedule would seem to be folly. But the energetic Franzoia, who was promoted to Finance Manager eighteen months ago, was looking for a programme that would help him broaden his business knowledge, skills and perspectives. “ And more than anything,” he says, “I was looking for an EMBA, where I could meet and collaborate with other managers.”

The “exciting, well structured” CBS EMBA has really fit his expectations in this regard. “I am working closely with some very good managers, who come from different specialities – anything from marketing to investment banking.” The breadth of experience they bring to the programme is “fantastic,” says Stefano. “If someone presents a problem, you get six or seven ways to solve it; you really see different approaches. There is no right, no wrong…just different ways of finding a solution.”

The CBS programme was also uniquely well-suited to one of his specific ‘soft’ learning goals: acquiring the cross-cultural awareness he can use at Ferrero. His wife, whom he met in California while in school, is Swedish; this prompted his initial move to Stockholm four years ago. But in his business life, in which he is “working for an Italian company with management made mostly of Germans and Italians,” Stefano saw that a deeper understanding of local management styles was needed. “I really wanted to work more with Scandinavian managers and to understand, how they approach business” he says.

To this end, he finds the intensive personal contact of the CBS Executive MBA’s weekly format (in which students attend class for five hours each Friday and Saturday) of benefit. It helps foster deeper and more consistent relationships with the other working professionals on the study. “It is time consuming, of course, and that puts a challenge on your relationships at home and at work,” he says. But he notes that the time-intensive nature of the EMBA is where much of the unofficial, but essential advantage of the programme lies: “Looking back at the ten months I’ve been in the EMBA, I see that its value is to show, how you actually do manage to put everything together,” he says. How does Stefano cope with his ‘everything’ - an intense work schedule, ten hours of class time per week, and homework that adds another six to twenty hours to the week?

He is actually added a 6AM run to his schedule. And he also spends some time gardening each weekend, even if it is just an hour. “I really draw a lot of energy from running and working in the garden. I enjoy the peace, and just being with myself – it is my time to recharge.”

At work, he is delegating more. Although operational work was something he always enjoyed, he realised early into his EMBA that “I needed to let it go; this is a good change for me. It has to do with gaining confidence, and trusting the people who are working with me.” Is this strategy working? “So far, so good,” he says.

Asked about his goals post-Executive MBA, he laughs, saying that “First of all I want to finish it!” But Franzoia adds that the programme has given him “a lot of professional tools that I can implement; I have already had some colleagues tell me ‘Wow – something has changed in you, in your approach to work and problem solving.’” And while his career path was “doing well before,” he adds that “a little acceleration would not be bad.”

He sees the rewards of his CBS Executive MBA studies as valuable today, and also an investment that will continue to develop as his career evolves. “I would recommend the programme to anybody,” he says. “It is worth the sacrifice for some very long-term benefits.”