Dr. David López
David López, Dean of the Full-Time MBA programme at the Esade business school and full member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (RAEA), defends the role that business schools and, specifically, MBA programmes in business management play in a world where artificial intelligence democratises technical knowledge and threatens the relevance of traditional master’s degrees, in the feature “AI or a Master’s: Why Should I Go to a Business School?”, published by the financial newspaper “Expansión” in its 13 March edition. According to the prestigious Financial Times MBA Ranking 2026, a benchmark academic ranking, Esade’s Full-Time MBA ranks seventh worldwide among specialised business education programmes.
In conversation with journalist Tino Fernández, the academic points out that new employees trained with AI will know far more about this technology than their bosses, and that executives will therefore have to learn to lead them. In this context, business schools position themselves as guarantors of the cognitive dimension, responsible for capturing, creating and developing relevant knowledge. For López, the issue is no longer about training engineers or mathematicians, but leaders capable of managing and directing the possibilities that artificial intelligence can develop within their companies. In this regard, executives must understand AI in terms of biases, options, ecosystem, functioning and, above all, its application in the chain of thought and in business strategy.
The expert cites practical examples of these tools in various business areas, such as personnel management in Human Resources, dynamic pricing policies in Marketing, demand forecasting in Operations, compliance in Legal, and ratio adjustments in Finance, among others. He also stresses the need to manage two opposing groups within companies: enthusiasts who use AI without control, and those who fear or reject it. For López, the executive must reconcile these positions and achieve an orderly, consistent adoption of AI that creates real value. And, to that end, he concludes, MBA programmes provide precise training based on the development of human judgement, leadership and the intelligent application of technology.
López holds a doctorate in Digital Strategy from the International University of Catalonia, is an engineer in Electronics and Telecommunications, and has a master’s degree in Project Management. He also holds an MBA from Esade and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University (United States). He has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Chile, the Catholic University of Córdoba (Argentina) and the University of São Paulo (Brazil), and was recently appointed Visiting Researcher at Boston University in recognition of his scientific work in digital marketing, e-commerce, strategy and digital transformation in business.
He was admitted to the Royal Academy last October with the admission speech “Relative Singularity in Marketing: Technology and Humanity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, in which he analyses the concept of singularity and its evolution, as well as the applications of artificial intelligence in marketing. In the business sphere, he has more than 20 years of professional experience in information technology. He has founded several start-ups and consulting firms. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Barcelona Marketing Club and GrausTIC, and Vice-President of the Barcelona Chapter of the Project Management Institute.
