Global Focus Vol 7, issue 1 - The business of change

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

No pyramidsWhy China needs creativity

Go globalA whole world of opportunity

AlumniHow to make the most of them

China b-schools Here come the dragons

Curriculum A new way to look at the MBA

CommunicatingLanguage is more than just talk

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Global Focus

Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013

Stanford GSB’s Garth Saloner on why business schools must change if they are to serve their students and society well

www.efmd.org Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013

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Keynote speakers include

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Professor Ellen Hazelkorn

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In focus

We are always pleased to hear your thoughts on Global Focus, and ideas on what you would like to see in future issues.

Please address comments and ideas to Matthew Wood at EFMD:

[email protected]

Business schools are slowly, painstakingly (and often painfully) adapting their strategies and business models to cope with the new reality that is emerging from the financial crisis. Like ancient icebergs or glaciers they are creaking and groaning as they make the necessary adjustments.

Articles in this issue of Global Focus (along with other matters) look at three key areas of this strategic change – globalisation, sustainability and the rise of a Chinese model of management education.

In our cover story, “The business of change” (p08), Garth Saloner, dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, explains why the school has embraced sustainability as both a business objective and a teaching approach.

“Some of the world’s biggest problems – education, environmental sustainability, healthcare, country governance, and access to food and clean water – are not just technical challenges; they are business, leadership, and management challenges,” he writes. “Those of us in the field of business education know that today’s students are eager to address these types of challenges.”

Another American dean, the long-serving Paul Danos from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, also writes about the way his school is expanding and developing opportunities for students to experience globalisation first hand (p24).

He concludes: “[T]wo of the most effective tools that can be used to globalise the learning experience relate to the most fundamental building blocks of a business school: its students and faculty. With students, the key is to not only assemble a diverse class but also to provide ample opportunity for the members of the class to share and learn from one another. With faculty, it is important to identify and hire individuals who are not only at the forefront of their respective fields, but also effective at eliciting and incorporating disparate viewpoints in the classroom.”

Finally, another world-renowned dean, Professor Cheng Siwei of the Management School of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, offers his thoughts on the future of management education both in China and in the world (p28).

He argues that the most important thing for the future in China is that it needs management based on people and on the creativity of people.

First, he says, China must realise that, economically, people are its most valuable asset. Second, it needs to train people and raise their skills. (“There is no superior company without superior employees,” he says.) Third, it must set up common values across an organisation so that every employee can share them.

We hope you find these articles and others in the magazine useful and entertaining.

2 www.efmd.org/globalfocus

Global Focus The EFMD Business Magazine

Executive Editor Matthew Wood [email protected]

Advisory Board Eric Cornuel, Howard Thomas, John Peters

Consultant Editor George Bickerstaffe [email protected]

Contributing Editors Geneviève Barré, Jopie Coetzee, Andrew Crisp, Paul Danos, David Grayson, Chris Greensted, Torben Jensen, Jane Kassis-Henderson, Jean-Paul Larçon, Philippe Lecomte, Garth Saloner

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Editorial & Advertising Matthew Wood [email protected] Telephone: +32 2 629 0810

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Contents

04 The sustainable business

06 EQUIS and EPAS accreditations in 2012

08 The business of change Business schools must change if they are to serve their students

and society well, says Garth Saloner, Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business

14 Outstanding doctoral research award winners

16 Towards a coherent portfolio of quality Chris Greensted explains how the three EFMD quality improvement

systems (EQUIS, EPAS and EDAF) are now designed as a portfolio

20 Growing talent in growth countries Novartis and EFMD share research and ‘best practice’

for developing and managing talent in emerging markets

24 Globalising students Paul Danos describes some simple initiatives business schools

can take to advance the globalisation of their students

28 No pyramids in China Cheng Siwei says that the country’s economic future depends on

a flexible empowered workforce without organisational pyramids. Interview by George Bickerstaffe

32 Fit for purpose: Putting sustainability into practice in a business school

David Grayson provides more detail on how Cranfield School of Management in Britain is incorporating sustainability

38 Rise of the dragons Jean-Paul Larçon and Geneviève Barré chronicle the development

of Chinese management education and economic transformation since 1984

44 What alumni want Alumni can be a great resource to help a business school’s

marketing messages. But, says Andrew Crisp, they must be properly motivated to do so

3EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013Contents

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38

Paul Danos describes some simple initiatives business schools can take to advance the globalisation of their students page 24

48 African futures Derick de Jongh tells George Bickerstaffe that while the future

for South Africa and the continent generally may be bright he worries that sustainability may get lost in the process

52 Progressive teaching ensures business school competitiveness

Teaching all too often receives a lower priority than research and funding. This is a strategic mistake, argues Torben Jensen, since better teaching is essential in order to future-proof business schools in the competition for accreditation, funds and talented students

56 The Social Contract with Business: implications for the MBA

Jopie Coetzee outlines his ideas for what an MBA could look like in the future

60 Languages and communication: a new challenge for management education

Jane Kassis-Henderson and Philippe Lecomte argue that globalisation means that communication is about more than learning a foreign language

24


Download this 200-page book and accompanying workbook from the EFMD website for

EFMD is pleased to announce the release of two important publications – a 200-page textbook, The Sustainable Business (2nd edition), and a 30-page accompanying workbook – in partnership with the Center for Industrial Productivity and Sustainability (CIPS), GSE Research, the Product-Life Institute and Greenleaf Publishing

The SuSTainable buSineSS 2nd

Edition


to learn more about how these fields, their impact on sustainability and how businesses can profit from sustainability, you are welcome to download The Sustainable Business (2nd edition) courtesy of eFMD. We hope you find it, and its accompanying workbook, enjoyable and enlightening.

ww.efmd.org/sustainablebusiness

E-versions of these publications will be available free from the EFMD website (www.efmd.org). Personalised printed copies (in which the name of a school, business or organisation can be displayed above the title) can be purchased at nominal cost from Greenleaf Publishing. Both books are designed to enable business schools, business students, managers and employees to improve their offerings and financially profit from their content.

So what is the big picture – and what exactly is sustainability? In regards to the former question, it is a sad fact that much of the world is dominated by short-term thinking. And almost any in-depth look at the numerous problems that humanity now faces often reveals that the downside of allowing individuals or groups to do whatever they want (without considering future consequences) usually results in all of us paying dearly for it. Equally as true is that an increasing number of people and their governments are waking up to the fact that producing high levels of waste, pollutants and other avoidable costs does not equate with freedom nor is it a basic human right.

Following this logic it is easy to surmise that unsustainable processes or acts may soon be destined for taxation or be declared illegal. In business terms, this often means financial loss, or worse, insolvency.

So why, you might ask, is the word sustainability synonymous for “going green”?

The answer is that countless awareness campaigns created by far-sighted environmentalists have gone a long way towards educating the public about the consequences of short-term thinking. Broadly speaking, however, the capacity for continuance into the long-term (sustainability) is about more than the environment. Make no mistake, the environment should be of paramount concern to all of us for the simple reason that every business (and life) resource comes from it. That being said, focusing only on the environmental aspects of sustainability – particularly in a business context - is both short-sighted and partial. It’s like claiming that good health is solely about vegetables. It is therefore important to note that business sustainability also embraces the legal, financial, economic, industrial, social, material (science) and behavioural arenas.

To add to the confusion, each of these fields of study propagates its own language, customs and culture, which do not often mix voluntarily in business circles and/or the halls of academia (see Figure 1).

Fortunately, however, there is common ground: waste elimination and resource-life extension. Simply put, in a business context the core of sustainability is comprised of waste elimination and resource-life extension. From a business viewpoint, sustainability is therefore about reducing expenses – including future expenses – in every conceivable form so as to facilitate profitability, competitiveness and longevity.

These expenses consist of the costs of short-term thinking, the problems and costs associated with waste, the spiralling cost of raw materials and resource deficits, costs created or exacerbated by poorly designed products and production processes, the costs of climate change (such as property damage and crop failure) and the costs of unemployment and underemployment – to name just a few.

Sustainability is comprised of numerous subject areas and fields.Each subject or field is motivated by its own reasons, and each subject or field speaks its own language.

MATERIAL &

PHYSICAL SCIEN

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ECONOMICS

INDU

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HUMAN

BEHAVIOURAL

SCIENCE

FIN

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LAWS & LEGISLATION

SOCIAL SCIENCE

THE ENVIRONMENT


2012EQUIS & EPAS AccreditationsEQUIS Accreditations

EBS Business School, EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, Germany

IESEG School of Management Lille-Paris, France

University of Cologne, Faculty of Management, Economics & Social Sciences, Germany

Yonsei University School of Business, Republic of Korea

Zhejiang University, School of Management, China

Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada

St. Petersburg University, Graduate School of Management, Russia

Thammasat University, Thammasat Business School, Thailand

EPAS Accreditations

Master of Business Administration Curtin Graduate School of Business, Curtin University, Australia

Bachelor Undergraduate Programme sub-set: Financial Management & Marketing Management School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bachelor in Business Administration Shantou University Business School, China

MBA Programme School of Economics and Management, University of Cyprus, Cyprus


EFMD would like to warmly congratulate the schools who were awarded EQUIS and EPAS during 2012

Master in International Trade Master in International Business – Central European Business Realities Faculty of International Relations, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic

MSc in International Marketing Management Lappeenranta University of Technology School of Business, Finland

Bachelor’s Degree Programme in International Business School of Business and Services Management, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland

BSc in Business Administration Reykjavik University School of Business, Iceland

MSc in International Business Salford Business School, University of Salford, United Kingdom

Master of Science in Administrative Studies Master of Science: Management Programmes (Online) – MS in Banking & Financial Services

Management – MS in Business Continuity,

Security & Risk Management – MS in Insurance Management – MS in International Marketing

Management – MS in Project Management Boston University Metropolitan College, USA

MBA in Global Management Nathan Weiss Graduate College, Kean University, USA

2012 EQUIS & EPAS accreditations


Business schools must change if they are to serve their students and society well, says Garth Saloner

9EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013The business of change by Garth Saloner

I realise this view may not obviously fit with our day-to-day thoughts as business school deans, senior administrators or even faculty members. In so many ways our business schools feel beleaguered, challenged and stressed. The prolonged global economic crisis and the Occupy movement have put business schools under intense scrutiny.

Internally, we face curricular pressures and the need to adjust our programmes to meet the demands of a changing student body. We face new competition and a changing industry environment that is different to what it was just a decade ago. The return on investment of the business school programmes we offer is also being questioned, a business model that is likely to be enormously impacted by online education.

However, despite all of the challenges we face, I remain optimistic about the role of management education. And for Stanford University, I think the challenge of poverty alleviation could and should be a significant part of our mission. The change in our own strategy and in particular what we think we can and should address, has its roots in our own process of curriculum reform that occurred over the last several years. In fact, if it were not for curriculum reform I don’t think we would be advancing SEED.

Lessons from curriculum reform

We began curriculum reform in 2006. In February of that year our former dean put together a task force that I had the privilege of leading. He had asked us to present a proposal to him by that May so there was not a lot of time.

Just over a year ago Stanford Graduate School of Business in California took the unusual step of launching an institute aimed at poverty alleviation. When most

people think about relieving poverty, the next words out of their mouth are usually not business school. Nevertheless, as we undertook the process of establishing the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, known as SEED, we began thinking about how entrepreneurship and the management disciplines we teach could be used to make an impact on poverty alleviation and on other pressing global challenges.

Some of the world’s biggest problems – education, environmental sustainability, healthcare, country governance, and access to food and clean water – are not just technical challenges; they are business, leadership and management challenges. For example, the problems of healthcare are not simply those of new drug discovery or medical device innovation but of healthcare delivery, including hospitals, healthcare systems and innovation in healthcare delivery organisations.

Those of us in the field of business education know that today’s students are eager to address these types of challenges. The millennial students, those earning higher-education degrees in the 21st century, walking through our doors don’t just want to make money; they want to make a difference. They want to lead lives of impact and meaning and they see the challenges I have described as opportunities and as problems to be solved. And I believe we have the opportunity to equip our graduates with the skills they need to meet those challenges. It is an exciting prospect and it is what energises me for my job every morning.

The millennial students, those earning higher-education degrees in the 21st century, walking through our doors don’t just want to make money; they want to make a difference


The genesis of reform was faculty concern about insufficient student engagement in the educational experience

Even as we were trying to act as change agents ourselves through curriculum reform, we have realised that we’ve broadened the education we provide in a way that more effectively helps our students to become change agents in their future lives

The genesis of reform was faculty concern about insufficient student engagement in the educational experience. One of the most significant problems was the extreme diversity of backgrounds among the students. Many of them had spent their undergraduate time and early work careers preparing for business. But many others had never planned to attend business school and had worked for non-governmental organisations such as the US Peace Corps or Teach for America prior to entering business school.

The students who had prepared for a career in business had already learned or had jobs doing what we planned to teach them, while other students did not have a solid foundation in management or business. The problem was that we were taking a varied student body and putting them through a one-size-fits-all curriculum.

We were exacerbating the problem by the order in which we taught our curriculum. If I use the analogy of a house, we would first start with the foundation (economics, statistics, organisational behaviour), followed by the walls (accounting, marketing, finance) and finally we’d add the roof (broad general management topics), which were the topics many of them had come to business school to study.

We decided to change many things as part of curriculum reform. First, we decided to start with the roof of the house, which was a big conceptual change for all of us on the faculty!

The bet we placed, which turned out to be well-founded, was that in grappling with general management issues the students would understand where they had shortcomings in their understanding of the foundations and walls and would be highly motivated to address those when we later turned to those subjects.

To deal with differing levels of knowledge, we also added menus of options to those so that our students could take the appropriate level foundation course based on their own background and experience.

The roof includes a course on critical analytical thinking (CAT), which requires students to take a position each week on a business case – pro or con – and defend that position by facing intensive questioning by their peers. Further, our Leadership Labs course asks students to role play and then review their performance with a personal coach. We also added a global study trip requirement for each student in their first year to provide them with hands on cross-cultural experience.

Many of the ideas we proposed and implemented did not work. For example, I am not sure what we were thinking when we added a required course, a synthesis class, in the spring semester of the final quarter for our second-year students! We ended up cutting some classes and though it was controversial it has gone well.


The link between curriculum reform and SEED

In looking back at the process of curriculum reform, I realise we changed ourselves in ways we had not anticipated and in ways that make some things natural for us now that would not have been natural before. Even as we were trying to act as change agents ourselves through curriculum reform, we have realised that we’ve broadened the education we provide in a way that more effectively helps our students to become change agents in their future lives.

The fundamentals of our programme remain extremely important. For us, it is unthinkable that a graduate of an MBA programme should not be equipped with the core conceptual frameworks of accounting, finance, strategy, operations and so on. However, graduates must have at least three essential skills if we want them to tackle the world’s most significant problems.

First, they must have the ability to figure out the problem, which is an area where we have traditionally been strong and have embellished through CAT.

Second, they must be able to come up with a solution. This is largely a creative process, which has traditionally not been a strength of management education programmes. To improve our positioning in this area, we borrowed and implemented ideas from design thinking about how to drive innovation.

Third, alongside finding the solution is the ability to implement, which is done by and through collaboration with others. This is why we emphasise fundamental leadership skills such as self-awareness, character and cross-cultural communications.

Putting this overlay of problem identification, innovation and personal leadership on top of the more fundamental components of our programme takes our students beyond what we used to do before. They come in as high-potential individuals and are transformed into leaders equipped with the knowledge and skills to become effective change agents in the world. It is what we mean when we say “change lives, change organisations, change the world”.

The business of change by Garth Saloner

Clockwise from left:Dean Garth Saloner moderates a conversation with Anibal Cavaco Silva, President of Portugal, during the President’s visit to Stanford University in 2011.Garth Saloner speaking at a meeting of the Faculty Senate at Stanford in 2011. Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service Garth Saloner (with children) – Visiting the Akanksha Center in Pune, India, which provides educational support to local under privileged children.


This evolution in how we think about our role as management educators is shaping our strategy. Directions which may have seemed off-mission before now look like they are right down the middle of the fairway. These problems include the environment, education, global health and sustainable development.

It is in that spirit that we have embraced SEED. If we think of our role as developing leaders who are change agents who can tackle the world’s biggest problems, then SEED is very much part of our mission. When I think about the leadership that it will take to address the problems of global poverty and the many other challenges the world faces, I am inspired by leaders who have made a real difference in the world, those who redefine their businesses or their industries or create new ones.

Some of these are our alumni, some of them are your alumni and others have never had a formal management education. One Stanford GSB alumnus who particularly inspires me right now is Cormac Lynch (MBA 91). Following his successful career in investment banking, he is now founder and CEO of Camara, an international organisation dedicated to using technology to improve education and livelihood skills in disadvantaged communities around the world.

Founded seven years ago in Dublin, Ireland, Camara has established e-learning centres that have provided digital literacy services to some 450,000 children in poor communities in 1,650 schools in Africa, Ireland and the Caribbean. The organisation has installed over 35,000 computers and trained more than 5,000 teachers to use the technology for learning purposes.

Another alumni, Jane Chen (MBA 08), is co-founder and CEO of Embrace, a non-profit company that has developed a low-cost portable baby incubator. She was inspired to start the company after visiting Africa and learning that each year 20 million low-birth-weight babies are born worldwide and four million infants die within the first month because their low body fat does not allow them to regulate their own body temperature.

The incubator Embrace sells uses a gel-like liquid that can be heated in boiling water and inserted into the back of a modified infant sleeping bag, which keeps a baby’s body temperature at a constant 37 degrees. Today, these baby incubators cost less than $200 – about 2% of the cost of a traditional incubator – and are saving lives in India, Africa and beyond.

As we all know, change agents come from every background and every part of the world. Another example is Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. He’s not a GSB graduate but founded Amazon as an online merchant of books and later expanded to a wide variety of products. Under his guidance, Amazon.com has become the largest retailer on the internet, and is now used as a model for global internet sales.

I am inspired by these leaders because they make me optimistic about our role in society – to educate change agents. But also because they are exemplars for us – suggesting how we can reinvent ourselves. And I do think that we have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. Moreover, I think we should be highly motivated to do so.

450kCamara has established e-learning centres that have provided digital literacy services to some 450,000 children in poor communities in 1,650 schools in Africa, Ireland and the Caribbean

35kCamara has also installed over 35,000 computers and trained more than 5,000 teachers to use the technology for learning purposes


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Garth Saloner is the Philip H Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The business of change by Garth Saloner

First, the millenials, our students, are looking for us to provide them with the ability to be change agents. They increasingly come to us wanting to make a substantial impact on the world.

Second, we face significant future challenges in our industry that demand that we innovate more rapidly than in the past. We don’t have to look very far to see what happens to companies that do not adapt their businesses, their products or their business models in the face of changing consumer demand or as a result of the next economic dislocation.

From bookstores to video retailers and from banks to car manufacturers, companies in America, Europe and across the world are shutting their doors. I certainly do not want business schools to be added to a long list of entities that failed because they did not or would not keep up with the changing demands of society. The challenges to our conventional way of doing business are greater than ever and we will see big changes in the years ahead. Online education is perhaps the greatest of these.

The challenges to our conventional way of doing business are greater than ever and we will see big changes in the years ahead – online education is perhaps the greatest of these

Stanford’s President John Hennessy has described it as the tsunami that is headed towards us. We can ride it as some institutions in America are already doing or we can risk being crushed by it.

Third, the problems of the world simply need our attention, focus and help. When we talk about the need for innovation and for leaders who can bring it about we have in mind people such as those I have mentioned. As business schools, I think we are increasingly going to have to apply those lessons to ourselves.

The business of change can be relatively uncomfortable at times, but it is through this process that all of us – students, faculty, corporations and institutions – are able to transform ourselves so that we can stay relevant and competitive in today’s global economy.

The good news is that if we are successful, our graduates will be seen as the leaders who are bringing about positive change in the world and we as the institutions that are equipping them to do so.

Clockwise from top:The “Adverb Wall” at the Knight Management Center, where Stanford Graduate School of Business is located

Saloner introduces Dr. James Mwangi, head of Equity Bank of Kenya, to a group of students. Mwangi was at the GSB to discuss a case Saloner had written about the bank’s microfinance activities

Garth Saloner takes a canopy tour in Cape Coast, Ghana

Saloner on a global study trip to Ghana, is pictured with Nana Kofi Minta Gyeabour, the Defense Chief of the village of Kenyase in the Ahafo mining region


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EFMD and Emerald would like to warmly congratulate the 2012 EFMD/Emerald Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards Winners

INTERDISCIPLINARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCHCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

Winner

Dr Marie-Soleil Tremblay Three Dimensions of Corporate Governance: Trials of Strength, Illusions of Control and Gender Diversity

École Nationale D’administration Publique, Canada

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Personnel Review

Winner

Dr Sue Mulhall “Celtic Tiger, Hidden Tales: Living Stories of Career Success for Community Employment Scheme Participants – A Critical Interpretive Analysis”

Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

KNOwLEDGE MANAGEMENT CATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Journal of Knowledge Management

Winner

Dr Annette Dunham “Knowledge Management in the Context of an Ageing Workforce: Organizational Memory and Mentoring”

Deakin University, Australia

MANAGEMENT AND GOvERNANCE CATEGORY SPONSORED bY Management Decision

Winner

Dr Andreea Apetrei “Standardization and Adaptation in the Organizational Management – An Intercultural Approach”

Alexandru Loan Cuza University, Romania

HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT CATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Journal of Health Organization and Management

Winner

Dr Evelyn Cornelissen “Implementing a Rational Priority Setting Approach in Community Care in the Interior Health Authority: Assessing Fit, Evaluating Implementation, and Determining Impact”

University of British Columbia, Canada

LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENTCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Winner

Dr Purushottam Lal Meena “Sourcing Decisions under the Risks of Supply Disruption and Supplier Satisfaction”

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India


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OPERATIONS AND PRODUCTION MANAGEMENTCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

Winner

Dr Assadej Vanichchinchai “The Relationship between Quality Management and Supply Chain Management: An Analysis of the Automotive Industry in Thailand”

Sripatum University, Thailand

MARKETING RESEARCHCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

European Journal of Marketing

Winner

Dr Nadia Abou Nabout “Optimal Search Engine Marketing”

Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

INFORMATION SCIENCECATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Journal of Documentation

Winner

Dr Felix Portnoy “Avoiding Ad Avoidance: Factors Affecting the Perception of Online Banner Ads”

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP STRATEGYCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Journal of Educational Administration

Winner

Dr Angela Urick “To What Extent Do Typologies of School Leaders Across the U.S. Predict Teacher Attrition? A Multilevel Latent Class Analysis of Principals and Teachers”

Minnesota State University, USA

LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATION DEvELOPMENTCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Winner

Dr Shin-Guang Liang “Who Exhibits Authentic Leadership and When Does it Matter? A Cross-Level Examination of Antecedents, Boundary Conditions, Processes, and Consequences of Authentic Leadership”

National Defense University, Taiwan

Winner

Dr Shelagh K Genuis “Making Sense of Evolving Health Information: Navigating Uncertainty in Everyday Life”

University of Alberta, Canada

HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENTCATEGORY SPONSORED bY

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Winner

Dr Jie Wang “Planning for the Inevitable: An Examination of Strategic Crisis Planning in the Australian Accommodation Industry”

The University of Queensland, Australia

For more information on the awards including a list of all the Highly Commended papers visit:

www.emeraldinsight.com/awards

2012 EFMD/Emerald Doctoral Research Awards Winners


PEAK PERFOMANCETOWARDS A COHERENT PORTFOLIO OF QUALITY IMPROVEMENT SERVICES


The overall mission of EFMD is to act as a catalyst to promote and enhance excellence in management development in Europe and worldwide. Given that there are reputedly more than 13,000 business

schools in the world, this is not an easy task. It has therefore fulfilled this mission over the last 40 years by offering a range of services which have been developed primarily to meet the needs of its members. These services include offering a wide variety of conferences and seminars, research and information provision to identify and promote the dissemination of good practice, and the promotion of quality improvement in business schools through accreditation and other development services. These activities often utilise the expertise and experience of the members. As part of its responsibility to the whole management education sector, EFMD also sees its mission more widely in terms of going beyond the confines of its 800 members and, in principle, of opening its quality development expertise to any institution that wishes to partake.

Quality Services SystemsThe Quality Services Department has provided accreditation services over the past 15 years. These services have the aim of improving management education in Higher Education institutions by establishing internationally agreed standards and assessing institutions against them. Institutions deemed to meet the standards are accredited and thus gain international recognition. EFMD accreditation is recognised worldwide by potential students, employers, other clients, and the media (often being a pre-requisite for entry to rankings). It is the process of striving to meet these standards that leads to quality improvement although such improvements may take time to develop.

The accreditation process is well established and consists of self-reflection and peer review followed by recommendations for improvement and, where appropriate, for accreditation. Peer review is based on the expertise and wisdom of senior staff of the member institutions. These people give their time to the process and share their knowledge with the institutions under review. This leads to mutual learning and sometimes to the development of partnerships. In turn this strengthens the EFMD network and the management education sector.

Chris Greensted explains how the three EFMD quality improvement systems (EQUIS, EPAS and EDAF) are now designed as a portfolio

13kThere are reputedly more than 13,000 business schools in the world

Peak Performance by Chris Greensted


Beginning in 1997, the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) was designed to assess the quality of a business school holistically and to grant accreditation to those that met its exacting standards. These standards cover the school’s governance and strategy, its resources, its faculty and their intellectual activity, its degree programmes and students, executive education and the school’s international focus on the business world. However the EQUIS approach to quality assessment is rooted in respect for diversity of institutional and cultural contexts and EQUIS therefore does not believe in “one best model” for a business school. Since its standards cover all of a school’s activities, it is not surprising that, after 15 years, there are still only 140 EQUIS accredited schools. This relative uniqueness places EQUIS as the leading international system for Quality Assessment, Quality Improvement and Accreditation of business and management institutions/schools. The intention is that EQUIS will continue to focus on and recognise excellence and therefore the number of accredited schools is likely to remain relatively small – maybe 200 altogether in another 5-10 years – who knows!

In recognition of the fact there are many excellent programmes offered in schools that may not yet be able to achieve EQUIS accreditation, in 2005 EFMD launched the EFMD Programme Accreditation System (EPAS). This is designed to assess in depth the design, delivery and graduate output of any business and/or management degree programme, or set of programmes. Such programmes would normally be offered by a business school but EPAS also recognises that many other types of organisations offer business related programmes such as degrees in health or engineering management. The EPAS process focuses on the rationale for the programme design to ensure that it will meet the objectives implicit in its target markets, throughto assessing the quality of faculty and of their teaching, the learning achieved by students and ultimately to evaluating the quality of the graduate output. The key issues are the realised academic depth and rigour of learning, its applicability to international business and management, and the robustness of the quality assurance processes. To date there are 80 EPAS accredited programmes from 60 different institutions. Given that there are likely to be many more good programmes worldwide, we might expect these numbers to double or triple in the next 5-10 years.

Because of the fact that EQUIS and EPAS between them can only touch maybe 500 schools which is a very small, and top end, proportion of the business schools community, EFMD launched EFMD Deans across Frontiers (EDAF) in 2011. This is a service designed to assist the management of business schools at any stage of their evolution to develop their institution further. Many business schools in both developed and developing countries often struggle to fully achieve their potential because of their challenging environment. In such circumstances it is sometimes difficult to appreciate the factors necessary to raise their quality profile. External guidance or advice of a strategic nature may be beneficial not only to the business school but also to the parent institution or university. By peer review, EDAF evaluates where the institution is currently positioned with respect to its key strategic objectives and it makes recommendations for improvements. EDAF then provides a 3-year mentoring process to assist the institution’s management to achieve its goals, which may include eventual accreditation. The mentor is mutually selected from within EFMD’s large pool of experienced deans or associate deans. The evaluation and mentoring stages follow a structured process which is monitored by the EFMD EDAF team. At present there are five institutions as pilots in the EDAF process and the system is open to both EFMD members and non-members. Since EDAF is available to virtually any serious business school, the numbers in the system are limited only by the availability of EFMD members willing to act as advisors and mentors.

140Since its standards cover all of a school’s activities, it is not surprising that, after 15 years, there are still only 140 EQUIS accredited schools

x3To date there are 80 EPAS accredited programmes from 60 different institutions, we might expect these numbers to triple in the next 5-10 years


The QS PortfolioThe three systems (EQUIS, EPAS and EDAF) are now designed as a portfolio. Each of them is a free-standing quality improvement process dealing with different aspects of an institution. However they are also linked as a potential pathway between systems. For example an institution entering EDAF may either use it as part of its development trajectory or to aim in due course for EPAS accreditation for one or more of its programmes, or perhaps to achieve EQUIS. On request EDAF can provide a gap analysis on the key areas requiring improvement in order to achieve an accreditation. Alternatively an institution entering EPAS may just be seeking programme accreditation or it may use it to develop its range of programmes before aiming for EQUIS and it too can receive advice on its readiness for EQUIS as part of the EPAS process (EQUIS gap analysis).

In principle the directional arrows on the diagram below can also be reversed. For example an EPAS school could use the EDAF process to assist it to evaluate its gap to EQUIS accreditation and to receive guidance through mentoring to achieve its goal. Alternatively and in the light of the acknowledged value of EPAS reviews, an EQUIS school might wish to have one of its programmes, such as its doctoral programme, reviewed in depth by EPAS. However, this would require a change in the policy agreed by the EFMD membership some time ago that EQUIS schools should not be permitted to undergo EPAS. Finally EQUIS and EPAS member schools (as part of their own social responsibility) are particularly welcome to sponsor EDAF schools in terms of supplying advisors and mentors and/or funding some of the EDAF costs.

With this structure, EFMD and Quality Services offer a coherent portfolio of improvement and development services which are open to the full quality spectrum of business schools or institutions. They now all have an opportunity to benefit from the expertise and wisdom of EFMD’s members through taking part in these activities. EFMD welcomes expressions of interest.

For further information go to www.efmd.org

EFMD and Quality Services offer a coherent portfolio of improvement and development services which are open to the full quality spectrum of business schools or institutions

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Greensted is Senior Advisor at EFMD

Peak Performance by Chris Greensted


Emerging markets are not bystanders. Over the next 15 years, emerging markets will not be a place where you just sell your products but also a place that develops products and companies that compete with you and your markets

Growing talent in growth countries

Novartis and EFMD share research and ‘best practices’ for developing and managing talent in emerging markets

21EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013Growing talent in growth countries

Novartis Corporation and EFMD recently hosted a leadership and talent development workshop in Basel, Switzerland. The event

brought together learning leaders from different industries and corporate business schools. Together they shared best practices for leadership and talent development in emerging markets.

“EFMD is about excellence in international corporate learning and development organisations,” says Richard Straub, Director of Corporate Services & EU Affairs at EFMD. “Why is this necessary? Because according to surveys, learning and development is not seen as important as it truly is. The challenge, then, is to clarify this misconception and demonstrate its value to companies.”

And that is exactly what the consortiums did. Key speakers included Stephen H Rhinesmith, PhD. (Oliver Wyman Leadership Development), Betty Lau (Director, Novartis China Commercial University), Victor Agnellini (Senior VP, Alcatel-Lucent University), Michael Fuerst (Manager, Corporate Citizenship, Novartis) and Frank Waltmann (Head Corporate Learning) with participation from other experts in the field of emerging market talent acquisition, training and retention. They shared the latest research and their first-hand experiences about leadership development in the BRIC nations and other emerging economies.

25%There are “talent-ready” gaps between educational graduation and the capacity to work in a corporation, running at about 10% to 25%. In India 600,000 engineers graduated last year but only 125,000 were actually qualified to work

2012 emerging market economics and talent trendsFocusing on the BRIC countries, there are key factors at play in emerging economies that impact corporations and their learning organisations. Over the course of the workshop, several trends were identified and discussed.

Emerging markets are not bystanders. Over the next 15 years, emerging markets will not be a place where you just sell your products but also a place that develops products and companies that compete with you and your markets. GDP is expected to double over the next 20 years and 500 million people will move to urban centres by 2025. And there is a high correlation between urbanisation, innovation and education. Projections indicate there will be 500 million people in markets who will be resources, as well as competitors, on the global stage.

Emerging markets need leaders now. At present, there is a talent crisis in emerging markets. According to Waltmann, two factors that account for this are:

• Investment in talent and leadership around the world is just beginning to yield a harvest and/or robust talent pipelines have not yet been developed

• There are “talent-ready” gaps between educational graduation and the capacity to work in a corporation, running at about 10% to 25%. For example, in India 600,000 engineers graduated last year but only 125,000 were actually qualified to work in companies that needed employees. While leadership development is catching up with new generational and geographical forces, the volume of need still overwhelms resources and capable training available.


Emerging markets tend to create high employee turnover. Talent retention is and will continue to be a challenge as competitive interests continually seek experienced employees. Therefore, what attracts and keeps a good worker at a company for the long haul must be understood, nurtured and effectively communicated. What may come as a surprise is that data shows attracting and retaining talent is more than just salary and bonus almost everywhere.

There is much to extrapolate from this information and many reasons to feel inspired today if you are a member of a corporate learning organisation since so much hinges on the work you do. The following are some “best practice” methods recommended by the experts and used by Novartis to successfully address these challenges.

Factors that attract and retain talent in emerging economiesAn eight-month study conducted in 2008 involved interviewing dozens of executives from more than 20 global companies to identify the factors that differentiate successful firms in emerging markets who are able to attract and retain talent (Douglas Ready, Linda Hill and Jay Conger, “Winning the Race for Talent in the Emerging Markets,” Harvard Business Review, November, 2008).

What they found were four key attributes that go beyond salary and bonus:

• company brand

• opportunities in the company

• a purpose beyond profit

• a continuous growth culture.

Company brand“A desirable company brand associated with growth and personal advancement is particularly attractive when the brand challenges employees to develop themselves as leaders,” explains Rhinesmith. “They want a company that plays on the global stage and is growing so they can help it grow further—or it is not worth it for them to be there.” This is critical.

OpportunityEmerging market talent wants challenging work, stretch assignments, continual training and development, and competitive pay. Also, the work must imply an accelerated career track to senior positions. “You will not get good talent coming to your company if they don’t see a continuous learning process, and if they don’t feel the company is centred around learning,” adds Rhinesmith. “This is particularly true in China, somewhat true in India and moderately true in Russia and Brazil.”

It’s no secret that talent will hop from company to company if they do not get promoted. But there are some interesting ways of handling the “rapid turnover” problem. Salary bands could be spread out, so promotions can be awarded every six months. Also, job titles can be modified with key words like Senior, Junior etc to keep the growth going.

Mentoring is another huge issue. “Because a lot of emerging economies come from hierarchical cultures, the mentoring process, which is a classic form of development, is familiar,” adds Rhinesmith. “So if you don’t have a programme where an older person can help a younger person, it’s a strike against you.”

PurposeEmerging market talent also looks for purpose in their work, or a game-changing business model that is engaged in redefining the nation and the world economy. “They want a mission that helps the less fortunate, based on their own experience, and one that expresses the value of global citizenship and sustainability,” explains Rhinesmith. “It comes up everywhere. For example, when Novartis gives away drugs to the poor, it’s a big draw for young people.”

Growth cultureAnd lastly, the company culture is extremely important to incoming talent. “Research shows emerging market talent wants a story or brand promise that feels authentic, rewards based on merit, a personal connection to teams, and a talent-centric culture, so they know they are critical to the success of the company,” says Rhinesmith. “In essence, they want to see a company that is really serious about their talent strategy.”

Best practice: leadership development strategiesSeveral best practice cases were presented. The first highlighted China’s Standard Chartered Bank, which engages a step-wise approach toward talent development and retention. It begins with specialised skills, followed by broad managerial training and development, and concludes with global networks/leadership development. Corporate learning, therefore, is critical to success.

This raw talent “superhighway” consists of six phases: employee selection, induction and orientation, technical training, professional and management development, stretch assignments and deployment, and professional development and performance management.

Lau, Director of Novartis China Commercial University, shared another best practice. Since Novartis has made a considerable investment in China, talent management is imperative – roughly $2.5 billion has been spent there for R&D centres, manufacturing facilities and employee salaries.

23EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013Growing talent in growth countries

“Our strategy is based on three key fundamentals,” explains Lau. “First, develop talent through traditional but world-class training and on-the-job learning. Second, deploy talent in new, exciting and stretch assignments with clearly defined career paths. And finally, connect employees so they can learn from their experienced peers and other professionals.”

Alcatel-Lucent University shared its ideas about how to best train and develop emerging market talent. With 22 training centres worldwide, it believes the role of the corporate university is to quickly ramp up business-critical knowledge and skill sets linked to company strategy.

Its “Strategic Workforce Planning in a Personalised Learning Environment” model includes methods such as access to cost-effective resources (with an emphasis on technology enabled learning), transferring subject matter expertise/best-in-class practices from developed countries to emerging markets and harnessing professional development as a means of employee motivation. This is accomplished step-wise through job mapping, building a development plan, preparing an accreditation application and undergoing a rigorous accreditation process.

And finally, Novartis highlighted one of its newest learning endeavours, the “Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP).” It is based directly in the emerging market and grounded on a real-world, action-based learning model. As Michael Fuerst, Manager, Corporate Citizenship, Novartis, explained, during the programme a team of talents is taken from the classroom to an unfamiliar market environment and charged with developing an innovative business solution to a societal challenge in the healthcare sector.

The programme consists of three phases: project preparation, being deployed full time in-country working on the project and a reflective “re-entry” phase to share what was learned. The goal of the ELP programme is to improve skills to successfully deal with cultural diversity, drive an understanding of the market and patient needs and develop an innovative business solution for that particular market. It serves as an innovation lab, so to speak, whereby both the participant and the company benefit.

Best practice: generational and cultural awarenessCultural and generational considerations in emerging economies also require sensitivity and understanding in order to grow talent and better manage employees. Recent work by Tamara Erikson has revealed that different generations in different countries have had different formative experiences. The prominent events that children of any one country experience in common with each other therefore can be described as defining characteristics for their cohort. And older generations tend to have more country differences in their defining experiences because the common experiences of young people today through technology are more globally encompassing. Such generational characteristics need to be considered when doing business in these environments.

Also, throughout the BRIC countries and most emerging markets, work will not get done without a complete understanding of the government’s policies and laws pertaining to the private sector. And, country-by-country, cultural laws and norms relevant to gender (such as travel constraints and expectations about child/elder care) are also factors that must be considered and built into a company’s human resources plans.

ConclusionBy hosting this event, Novartis and EFMD advanced the dialogue just a bit further and confirmed how leadership development and learning organisations positively impact companies operating in emerging markets.

While the business environment for the next 10 years is going to continue to be very challenging due to talent shortages and fierce competition for trained workers, it can be managed. Data shows a strong leadership brand works very well in these markets because talent places high value on personal and professional growth. Therefore, by articulating your company’s corporate culture, brand, opportunity and purpose there is a strong probability you will have an edge on producing – and keeping – leaders who are globally oriented, wise in the ways of business and government-savvy.

Keep in mind, however, that the shortage is temporary. The gap will soon close as educated workers increase. It would be prudent, then, to promote educational and talent development measures today in order to be prepared for the next wave of change that is bound to come in these exciting, growing emerging market economies.

By articulating your company’s corporate culture, brand, opportunity and purpose there is a strong probability you will have an edge on producing – and keeping – leaders who are globally oriented, wise in the ways of business and government-savvy


Paul Danos describes some simple initiatives business schools can take to advance the globalisation of their students

GLOBALISING STUDENTS


For several decades, business school officials have been concerned about ensuring that their programmes keep pace with the explosive business developments around the globe. They determined early on that simply offering a few courses that concentrated on “doing business in…” or having a course on international trade would not be sufficient.

Many schools have experimented with different offerings and even requirements but I have found that the three most effective globalisation tools a business school has are: the students themselves; a faculty of active researchers and great teachers; and a centre that offers an array of global experiences such as visitors, exchanges and projects.

A student body made up of experienced students who have worked in all parts of the world brings richness to the learning process and changes mindsets in unique ways. Learning from peers is a priceless feature of the great full-time programmes where students live and learn together.

In such programmes, globalisation is advanced by paying attention to the diversity of students and selecting those who bring the most relevant experiences with them. Once on campus, helping students share their global experiences and cultural differences is another very important role for a business school. Teamwork, study groups, residential arrangements and the way students work together in class are all important in fostering the sharing of experiences and expertise.

Every school has a personality that is to some extent imprinted on students during their time on campus. Students absorb and reflect elements of the institution’s dominant culture, such as openness, friendliness, sharing, healthy competition, ethical behaviour, helping peers and participation in classes. Together, those qualities improve the experience for everyone. In a similar way, students transmit their personalities and knowledge laterally to fellow students.

Globalising students by Paul Danos

Globalisation is one of those era-defining phenomena that demands the attention of anyone who wants to understand the world. Conveying that understanding is what business schools try to do day-in and day-out and thus there is no need to explain the importance of globalisation to business school deans. Anyone who

has visited China, India or Brazil in the last several years, for instance, can feel the transformation that globalisation is bringing to these massive economies. The internal growth of these countries and the unprecedented expansion of cross-border trade in general will be integral to the welfare of all societies for the foreseeable future.


In the top American schools, 30% to 40% of students come from other countries and during the nearly two-year period for a full-time MBA, there are innumerable opportunities for sharing business and cultural experiences. In non-US schools the percentage of non-citizens varies greatly, with high percentages in some schools and a predominance of local citizens in others. In all cases, it is safe to say that non-citizen students want to learn as much as possible about the local culture and business practices.

The keys to optimal peer-to-peer learning are selecting the most interesting people from the start and bringing them close enough to facilitate sharing. At Tuck, our buildings incorporate both study and social space to encourage as much interaction as possible. Students build life-long relationships, which serve them well during their time on our campus and as they navigate a complex and rapidly changing global economy after graduation.

The second major catalyst for globalisation of the learning experience is a faculty of active researchers and great teachers. Although often overlooked when describing globalisation, faculty research – digging deeply into unanswered questions while seeking and testing generalities across companies, industries and economies –makes business schools a prime source of global business practices. I know of no better activity to keep the faculty in tune with globalisation than their pursuit of cutting-edge knowledge in their fields.

In addition, the professors’ approach to encouraging participation and fostering discussion in the classroom, which can often be informed by their own cultural background or cross-cultural experiences, is crucial in ensuring an authentic global learning experience. Here it is not the case that “one size fits all.”

40%In the top American schools, 30% to 40% of students come from other countries and during the nearly two-year period for a full-time MBA, there are innumerable opportunities for sharing business and cultural experiences

I know of no better activity to keep the faculty in tune with globalisation than their pursuit of cutting-edge knowledge in their fields

Professors must be sensitive to the experiences that people from different countries have over classroom participation. Some countries’ primary education systems emphasise aggressive discussion and even open disagreements in the classroom. In other countries, that behaviour might not be acceptable. Thus, professors must find ways to prompt more reticent students with great experiences and perspectives to participate in the learning experience, share what they know and question assumptions.

Also, in a multicultural classroom, special attention must be paid to the rules of the road. There must be a common understanding of the institution’s norms concerning joint work, team efforts, and intellectual property, especially when digital information is involved.

The third catalyst is a centre or concentration of people and resources dedicated to globalising the learning experience. People in these types of centres or offices work with faculty, practitioners and students to understand the knowledge, skills and experiences required to lead in the global economy and help set educational goals and priorities accordingly.

They build and nurture relationships with alumni, practitioners, companies, NGOs and equivalent MBA programmes worldwide and bring these parties together to deliver rich educational experiences for students.

Global education programmes that we offer at Tuck include courses taught by our faculty or partner school faculty overseas, projects for companies and NGOs around the world, term exchanges, speaker series featuring distinguished global leaders, and conferences focusing on specific countries, regions, or global themes.


At Tuck, we also encourage students from the moment they arrive on campus to create global education plans to ensure that they accomplish their goals. To help them craft their plans, we provide the opportunity for individual counselling on this aspect of their MBA experience.

These counselling sessions often begin with a discussion of students’ career goals and the types of global experiences that might be helpful given the sectors in which they are interested. Students’ own backgrounds and prior overseas experiences also factor into these conversations. We then discuss the characteristics of the programmes that Tuck offers, and identify those that are the best fit.

We also help students design “tailor-made” global education programmes such as independent studies, “mini” internships and the like. In addition to advising students about educational programmes, we also help them think about how to leverage their summer internship experience to build their global knowledge.

Lifelong learning is critical to business professionals, especially given the rapid pace of globalisation. In recognition of this, Tuck offers educational programmes on the global economy to alumni and other business people. Such programmes create opportunities for rich dialogue among business people and academics, broadening the perspectives of both parties. Lessons from these types of interactions can be cycled back into the MBA programme, ensuring that it remains as current and relevant as possible.

In summary, two of the most effective tools that can be used to globalise the learning experience relate to the most fundamental building blocks of a business school: its students and faculty.

Two of the most effective tools that can be used to globalise the learning experience relate to the most fundamental building blocks of a business school: its students and faculty

With students, the key is to not only assemble a diverse class but also to provide ample opportunity for the members of the class to share and learn from one another. With faculty, it is important to identify and hire individuals who are not only at the forefront of their respective fields, but also effective at eliciting and incorporating disparate viewpoints in the classroom.

Finally, dedicating resources and expertise to global education programmes helps to ensure a constant and relentless focus on this crucial aspect of the MBA experience. If a business school can do all three of these things well, it will help ensure a rich and dynamic global learning environment that will indeed keep pace with a complex, ever-changing world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Paul Danos is Laurence F Whittemore Professor of Business Administration and Dean of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, a position he has held since 1995, one of the longest tenures as dean of a top-tier business school.

Globalising students by Paul Danos


P Y R A M I D S I N C H I N A

Cheng Siwei, one of China’s leading management education scholars, says that the country’s economic future depends on a

flexible empowered workforce without organisational pyramids

Interview by George Bickerstaffe

29EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013No pyramids in China: Cheng Siwei by George Bickerstaffe

The Chinese philosophy is more centred on people. There are differences of culture and tradition between the two so China cannot just copy what the West does

P rofessor Cheng Siwei is one of China’s leading economic, financial and managerial scholars as well as a noted chemical engineer and expert in such esoteric areas as complexity science and the

fictitious economy (See box on the following page).

He is also the Dean of the Management School of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a relatively new business school that says it is committed to acquiring a deep understanding of China’s economic development, theoretically and practically, and expanding its teaching and researching fields, while striving to be a first-class research-based management school for China with significant international influence.

Dean Cheng has played a significant role in the internationalisation of the school, driving a number of strategic alliances with business schools around the world. Chinese business schools, he says “need to be global”.

Although he has spent most of his working career inside China, he is an inveterate traveller with wide international experience. A period spent studying in America proved to be particularly influential.

Following the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution in China (which ended around the mid-1970s), Professor Cheng left China for America to study at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), gaining an MBA in 1983.

His return to China coincided with the “opening up” of the country that led to its great economic expansion. He became, and has remained, deeply involved in this change. He used complexity science (the study of complex systems and the interconnection of system components and systems architecture) to study economic reform in China and produced many proposals for change to China’s top leaders in his then roles as Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China and Chairman of the Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association.


His experience in America made a deep impression on him and changed the direction of his career. Already a leading scientist and engineer in the chemical engineering field and a pioneer and leader in China’s borax industry (borax is a mineral used in the manufacture of many detergents, cosmetics and enamel glazes), he now combined this with a passion for management education.

“I changed my mind,” he says. “I wanted to change my career from engineering to management because I thought that would be much more important for China than science and technology.”

In fact he subsequently combined both roles for many years but has thought deeply about the way Western approaches to management can be brought into play within a Chinese context.

“Thirty years ago Chinese business didn’t know what an MBA was. Now everyone does. But, to speak frankly, management is not so highly respected in China,” he says dryly.

“What I would like to do is integrate management philosophy in the West with the traditional Chinese philosophy of Confucius and also integrate modern Western theory with Chinese practice. This is what I want to do with our school. It’s not so easy to do but I think we are moving towards it.”

But that requires adaptation on both sides, he argues:

“Western management philosophy is different from the Chinese traditional approach. I think the Chinese philosophy is more centred on people. There are differences of culture and tradition between the two so China cannot just copy what the West does.”

Similarly, he firmly believes that scientists and technicians need to be trained in management –“most of them do not have management skills,” he says. Key areas where he believes they are particularly lacking in skills are leadership, human resource management, finance and strategy.

In terms of the overall needs of Chinese management at the present time, he believes that business schools in the country (including his own) should have two major directions: finance and entrepreneurship.

Even though Chinese people have a well-deserved reputation for highly developed entrepreneurial skills that dates back several centuries, Professor Cheng believes this still need developing, especially to include more emphasis on venture capital.


This is something of a personal crusade. He has been one of the main proponents of venture capital in China and has a high reputation in the field, often being described as the Father of Chinese Venture Capital.

But he also believes that management is both a science and an art.

“In my opinion management is a combination of science and art. There are some scientific principles behind management, which we have to learn and understand. But on the other hand, the practice of management comes more naturally.”

And essentially, he says, management must relate to the cultural context and must release the creativity within people.

He argues that the most important thing for the future in China is that it needs management based on people and on the creativity of people.

How can we do this, he asks?

First, he says, we must realise that, economically, people are our most valuable asset. Second, we need to train people and raise their skills. (“There is no superior company without superior employees,” he says.) Third, we must set up common values across an organisation so that every employee can share them.

“And last, let people have what I would call power

in their work. They must not just obey their boss. They must have flexibility. An organisation should not be like a pyramid.”

When asked to sum up his views on the future of China and of its amazing growth and position on the world stage he answers very simply and in a way that is modern and youthful, belying his venerable age (he is 78) and experience.

“In a few words – management based on people. This is the future.”

PROFESSOR CHENG SIWEI

Professor Cheng Siwei is the Dean of Management School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Director of Chinese Academy of Sciences Research Center on Fictitious Economy and Data Science.

He served as the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China, from 1998 to 2008. Professor Cheng studied at the South China Institute of Engineering in 1952-1954 and at the East China Institute of Chemical Engineering in 1954-1956. From 1956 to 1957, he served as a technician at the Shenyang Institute of Chemical Engineering and technician at the North China Designing Institute of the Ministry of Chemical Industry and the Tianjin Institute of Chemical Engineering between 1958 and 1973, a technician at the Institute of Petrochemical Engineering of the Ministry of Chemical Industry and an engineer of the Inorganic Chemicals Department of the Ministry of Chemical Industry between 1973 and 1981.

He also studied at the University of California at Los Angeles and received his MBA degree in 1983. He then served as a senior engineer and chief engineer of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Chemical Industry from 1984 to 1988, vice president and chief engineer of the Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Chemical Industry from 1988 to 1993, deputy chief engineer of the Ministry of Chemical Industry from 1993 to 1994, and vice minister of the Ministry of Chemical Industry from 1994 to 1997; director of management science and engineering, National Natural Science Foundation of China from 1996 to 2004; chairman of the China National Democratic Construction Association Central Committees from 1997 to 2007; Dean of the Management School, the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2000. Chairman of International Finance Forum (IFF) since 2003. president of the Association of the Chinese Soft Science Research since 2000.

Professor Cheng has published more than 30 academic books in both Chinese and English and over 120 articles in prestigious academic journals. His academic thoughts and views haven had extensive influence on both academia and professions. For example, the notion he suggested – “Three Foundations, Three Levels, Three Areas” – has become an important strategy for the development of management sciences in China. He has also led and promoted the research and development of complex science, fictitious economy and venture capital investment, with profound impact on China and beyond.

Professor Cheng also served as the; president of Chinese Society for Management Modernization in 2006-2010 and as an academic advisor to the World Bank Institute in 1998-2001.

No pyramids in China: Cheng Siwei by George Bickerstaffe


David Grayson provides more detail on how Cranfield School of Management in Britain is incorporating sustainability

Putting sustainability into practice in a business school

There has been an increasingly vocal debate in recent years about whether management education is fit for purpose. The publication of the

50plus20 report in June 2012 by an international group of business school academics published under the auspices of the UN PRME, the Global Responsible Leadership Initiative and the World Business School Council for Sustainable Development represents a particularly challenging reform manifesto for business schools.

In 2007, in my early fifties, I found myself joining academia, by becoming part of the faculty of the Cranfield School of Management in Britain. The official brief was to establish a newly endowed centre for Corporate Responsibility. Only in the last couple of years has it become clearer that this also means supporting change-management at Cranfield to embed sustainability and corporate responsibility within research, teaching, consulting and Cranfield’s own organisational practices.


This reflects the arguments of the 50plus20 report. Our Cranfield experiences (positive and negative) may help some other schools that are also seeking to journey towards sustainability and responsibility.

Business schools need to prioritise sustainabilityThe plethora of reports published around the Rio+20 meeting provides ample evidence of the worsening global sustainability crisis; and the business logic for business to embrace sustainability.

Business cannot and should not try to solve these challenges alone: governments, international institutions, civil society, individuals as citizens and as consumers all have to engage. Business, however, has a crucial role in finding the products and services and new ways of operating that will ensure that nine billion people can live reasonably well by mid-century within the constraints of one planet.

That means business schools need to be much smarter at helping business to embrace sustainability. In particular, rather than positioning corporate sustainability in opposition to markets, it means helping business to use its entrepreneurial vitality and innovation to drive sustainability.

Managers in all sectors need to be equipped with the mindset, behaviours and skills for sustainability. Frank Horwitz, Cranfield’s director, and I described some of our school’s initiatives to embed sustainability in an earlier Global Focus article (EFMD Global Focus | Volume 04 | Issue 02 2010. “Putting PRME into practice in a business school”). We have continued to develop these over the last two years.

Cranfield on corporate sustainabilityWe have, for example, published Cranfield on Corporate Sustainability (Greenleaf Publishing 2012), in which 30 of our faculty and doctoral students write about sustainability from their particular management disciplines.

As far as we can establish, this is the first time that a cross-section of faculty from one school have produced a book on corporate sustainability. Our objective was to engage with more of our faculty, beyond those already working on corporate sustainability, to create a platform for further reflection about just how sustainability will change theory and practice in their particular disciplines and to “nudge” faculty into further projects around the subject.

Lead authors for each of the book’s 13 chapters also summarise the key messages of their chapter in short film interviews that are freely accessible on the school’s website along with an executive summary of the book:

http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/dinamic-content/media/knowledgeinterchange/booksummaries/Cranfield%20on%20Corporate%20Sustainability/Summary.pdf

Fit for purpose: Putting sustainability into practice in a business school by David Grayson

Business has a crucial role in finding the products and services and new ways of operating that will ensure that nine billion people can live reasonably well within the constraints of one planet


Extending planned initiativesSimilarly, an already scheduled overhaul of the School of Management website and the establishment of “management themes” to present the school’s cross-disciplinary work in key thematic areas has become a vehicle for helping to show the implicit as well as the explicit sustainability connections among more of the faculty’s work.

We are also experimenting with the development of a suite of teaching cases, exploring how one company’s approach to embedding sustainability leads to fundamental changes in sourcing, manufacturing, innovation, marketing and sales, human resources, strategy and even product “servitisation”.

Each case is being written by faculty and/or doctoral students from that particular management discipline under the overall project management of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility. The initial idea for this project, as with the Cranfield on Corporate Sustainability book, came from faculty members who had not previously been involved with sustainability and corporate responsibility but who recognised the synergies with their own fields.

Involving business peopleEven before the recommendations of 50plus20, we have been involving experienced corporate responsibility practitioners in leading companies and corporate sustainability experts in helping us to design and shape research projects related to corporate responsibility. We are also working with business-led CR coalitions, as well as individual businesses, as routes to market in order to increase relevance, speed up the dissemination of results and to help to frame further relevant research questions.

Another 50plus200 recommendation is to increase the use by business schools of reflective practitioners from business and civil society – again, something which we are trying to do. More controversial is the question of professors by practice.

Schools like Cranfield have long welcomed business people in mid or even late career who want to retrain and work their way up the academic hierarchy. Going straight into a professorship from outside academia is altogether scarier and more challenging – even when, as in my case, I enjoyed strong support from the school director and his predecessor and, until his tragically early death in 2012, an engaged and thoughtful centre sponsor.

If 50plus20 is to be implemented, there will need to be a good number of professors by practice appointed by business schools across the world. There is an opportunity for a well-respected organisation, like the EFMD, to champion a fast-track development programme, to fill some of the more gaping and critical gaps for about-to-be and recently appointed professors.

Something akin, for example, to the long-established and well-regarded International Teachers Programme run for younger, high-flyer academics. An equivalent for new professors by practice might be linked to an international mentoring programme.

There is an opportunity for a well-respected organisation, like the EFMD, to champion a fast-track development programme, to fill some of the more gaping and critical gaps for about-to-be and recently appointed professors


ABOUT THE AUTHORDavid Grayson CBE is director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. Further information on the Cranfield approach can be found in the school’s 2012 PRME Communication on Progress.

14The report, Sustainability: CFOs come to the table, collected the views of 250 chief financial officers in companies with an average revenue of $12 billion (£7.4 billion) in 14 countries

Remember Deep Throat’s advice: follow the moneyOlder readers will recall the Watergate whistle-blower, nick-named Deep Throat, who famously advised the Washington Post investigative reporters Woodward and Bernstein to “follow the money!”

Interestingly, an autumn 2012 survey by professional services firm Deloitte found that two-thirds of chief financial officers (CFOs) say they are involved in leading sustainability strategies within their organisations and more than half say their involvement has increased over the last year.

The report, Sustainability: CFOs come to the table, collected the views of 250 chief financial officers in companies with an average revenue of $12 billion (£7.4 billion) in 14 countries. Deloitte’s sustainability leader, Dave Pearson, explains that: “Companies are sitting up and taking notice that sustainability is not just a brand or a corporate responsibility element - it is becoming a key driver of financial performance and the future of business.”

Interestingly, at Cranfield, the school’s own sustainability strategy has been championed and led by the school’s finance director, Neil Wilson, from the outset.

While still early days, there are visible changes such as investment in energy-saving hardware and software (eg new lighting, audiovisual equipment and an air handling plant) to reduce the amount of electricity consumed; removal of bottled water and paper towels; new, more energy efficient toilets; and increased recycling. Other environmental impacts like reducing air travel remain to be tackled.

Signs of progressA major review of the Cranfield MBA has led to corporate responsibility and ethics becoming compulsory courses. New MScs in Strategic Leadership and in Management will be launched and, from the outset, sustainability and corporate responsibility will be core (required) courses. In a 2012 Financial Times Soapbox article Professor George Yip argues that business schools need a new business model to be relevant and advises: “Start with action and let the mindset follow.” That has very much been our Cranfield approach.

Fit for purpose: Putting sustainability into practice in a business school by David Grayson


The ETP is a one year business development and training programme for EU executives from European companies

The ETP is funded by the European Union. Participants are supported through:• Funding of the entire training course in Japan or Korea• A scholarship for each participant of 126,400 a year for Japan and 124,000 for Korea

Do you want to develop your business in Japan or Korea but lack in-house expertise to do so?

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The Executive Training Programme (ETP) will help you to do this!

Inception module in the EU

A 3-week intensive training course in the UK on the culture, history and civil society of Japan or Korea.

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A 30-week business and language training course run by leading universities in Japan or Korea.

Organisers:Waseda University (Tokyo)Yonsei University (Seoul)

Internship in Japan or Korea

A 12-week internship in a Japanese or Korean company to apply the newly acquired skills and knowledge in practice.


The 2012 ETP intake included 46 European managers from 13 EU member states

To date, over 1000 executives and 800 companies have participated in ETP

More than 65% of ETP alumni proceed to become top executives within their companies

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‘The programme uniquely combines language and business. The ETP gives you the chance to focus on language training and achieve a working level in Japanese, while giving you sufficient access to the business world to familiarize yourself with business customs and to get valuable contacts in the business world.’Eberhard Baehr, Country Division Head, Bayer HealthCare, Japan


Jean-Paul Larçon and Geneviève Barré chronicle the development of Chinese management education and economic transformation since 1984

39EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013Rise of the dragons by Jean-Paul Larçon and Geneviève Barré

The 1980s saw the start of modern management education in China. To accompany economic reform the Chinese government launched an initiative with the specific objective of improving the

quality and effectiveness of business management through the development of specialised management education.

Tsinghua University (Tsinghua SEM) in Beijing founded its School of Economics and Management in 1984. The school’s first dean was Zhu Rongji, then Deputy Minister of the State Economic Commission, a future mayor of Shanghai (1987-1991) and later Prime Minister of the Republic of China (1998-2003).

With a history of business and management education dating back to 1917, Shanghai’s Fudan University reintroduced management training at undergraduate level in 1979, leading to the creation of the Fudan University School of Management in 1985.

In 1991 the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council (ADCSC) and the Ministry of Education gave the go-ahead for trial MBA programmes in nine universities including Tsinghua, Fudan and the Renmin University of China.

At the same time, China was opening its doors to international co-operation in management education.

An initiative created by the European Union and supported by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) gave birth in 1984 to the China-EU Management Institute (CEMI). Ten years later this became the China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS) relocated to Shanghai in the form of a partnership between EFMD and Shanghai Jiao Tong University with the support of the EU.

In the same year, Dalian University of Technology introduced the first American MBA in China in partnership with the State University of New York (SUNY) School of Business at Buffalo.

In 1991, the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and the French Foundation for Management Education (FNEGE) created the first Franco-Chinese Institute of Management Training (IFCM).

In summary, since 1984 management education in China has undergone a dramatic expansion. The annual number of students entering an MBA in China went from under 100 in 1991 to over 12,000 in 2001 and up to 20,000 in 2011. This boom reflects the increasing demand among Chinese businesses for expertise and the growing attraction of a career in business for Chinese students.

By striking a pragmatic balance between academic tradition and modern international methods the Chinese government has opened up the country through a wide range of initiatives. It has succeeded in maintaining high standards at degree level while encouraging a healthy level of competition between the leading institutions.

1984An initiative by the EU and EFMD gave birth in 1984 to the China-EU Management Institute (CEMI). In 1994 this became the China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS) relocated to Shanghai


Today, management education is present in most Chinese universities, variously incorporated as a college, a faculty, a department or a school of management. There are nearly 250 Chinese business schools currently awarding an MBA, which remains the flagship degree for management. The MBA has its critics, however, due to widely varying standards of selectivity including recruitment, entrance requirements, the qualifications of permanent faculty and the academic content of the programme.

For this reason, the China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee is currently working to update the national accreditation system.

Courses such as the Executive MBA have also been swiftly developed. Such courses target experienced managers or executives already high up in Chinese businesses, both public and private, but who have not received any formal management education in their career so far. There is still a need for training in this area even though today’s most international and best-performing Chinese companies tend only to recruit graduates who already have a masters degree in economics or management from a top university either in China or abroad.

More traditional management education degree programmes have been developed more slowly but more thoroughly, at bachelors, masters and doctorate level. These courses match up well to their international counterparts. They have a long-term focus, with graduates gaining a firm grounding in economics and management and strong leadership skills.

From around 2010 a new trend has emerged in China among graduates with a masters degree in a management subject. In the past, such a degree was generally a stepping stone to a PhD and a subsequent career as a teacher-researcher. But we are now seeing the development of applied masters degrees in general management, international business and, above all, finance in response to the demand for business specialists.

While the range of courses offered varies with each business school, we can draw a distinction between those institutions offering a complete range of courses and those focusing entirely on postgraduate education.

The first group, and the biggest in number, consists of the “research-based” business schools that have a strong tradition of academic research. Notable among them are Tsinghua SEM, Guanghua School of Management, Renmin School of Business, Fudan School of Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Antai College, Zhejiang University School of Management, Lingnan University College and Sun Yat Sen University. These schools boast a full portfolio of degree programmes and non-degree executive education courses.

Institutions belonging to the second group, concentrating solely on post-graduate education, include CEIBS, whose headquarters remain in Shanghai but which in 2010 opened a campus in Beijing as part of the Zhongguancun Technology Park. CEIBS is one of the biggest producers of postgraduates ready to work in Chinese businesses and, indicating the importance of research, is planning to launch a PhD programme in 2013.

Another example is Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). The school was founded in 2002 by Li Ka-Shing. Mr Li, head of mega-conglomerates Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, was one of China’s first business tycoons. CKGSB is a non-profit private school and is independent of any university. Its headquarters are in Beijing but courses are also available at sites in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The degree courses that the school offers are the MBA, the Executive MBA and a specialised finance MBA.

250Management education is present in most Chinese universities, variously incorporated as a college, a faculty, a department or a school of management. There are nearly 250 Chinese business schools currently awarding an MBA


Management education in China is large, diverse and of a very high quality, driven by strong competition between the top schools at all levels

The most renowned and popular management schools are located in China’s major cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In the last 10 years or so, since Peking University opened a graduate school there offering programmes in economics, management and finance (all in English) as part of Peking University HSBC Business School, Shenzhen has become a hot bed of management education. Likewise, Tsinghua University is rapidly developing courses in management and finance for its Shenzhen campus (Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University).

Today, management education available in China is large, diverse and of a very high quality, driven for the most part by strong competition between the top schools at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

China has not allowed itself to become isolated from the international management education scene. It has drawn heavily on the experience, opportunities and partnerships available with foreign business schools in developing its own approach.

On a teaching level the most highly qualified Chinese business school professors have nearly all benefited from some foreign education at PhD or post-doctorate level. Most are multilingual, with first-hand experience of top international methods acquired in America, Europe or elsewhere. Young Chinese teacher-researchers trained abroad return home to a rapidly expanding market with excellent career prospects.

Many Chinese business schools have created niche MBAs and Executive MBAs in conjunction with international partners, thereby affording both the Chinese and international market the possibility of pursuing English language international degrees in China with a mix of Chinese and foreign professors.

Rise of the dragons by Jean-Paul Larçon and Geneviève Barré

The third factor in this process of internationalisation has been the creation of a network of exchange students at the MBA and other masters level. Six Chinese business schools belong to the Partnership in International Management (PIM), founded in 1973 by HEC Paris, London Business School and New York University Stern Business School. The first Chinese universities to join this partnership were both from Hong Kong. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) became members in 1998 followed by CEIBS in 2002, Tsinghua SEM in 2005, Fudan School of Management in 2007 and Guanghua in 2009.

In 2011, Tsinghua SEM became the first Chinese school to join the CEMS Global Alliance, an organisation that brings together 27 leading business schools, 77 major companies and various non-governmental institutions through its joint masters degree of international management, ranked in the top three of its kind in the world by the Financial Times since 2009.

Many Chinese universities have chosen to seek international accreditation for themselves or for their programmes from independent international organisations such as EFMD, AACSB and AMBA, a good indicator of a school’s international status. A few schools have even achieved the sought-after hat trick of accreditation from all three organisations.

An expanding economy and the growing reputation of its business schools make China an attractive prospect for foreign students, either on exchange or attending full bachelors or masters programmes. The experience of Chinese management culture and career opportunities in Chinese multinationals is a primary attraction.

Foreign students are also lured by the opportunity to learn Chinese through a business internship, a semester exchange or an entire degree course. Courses taught in English help remove any language barrier to admission while still affording foreign students the opportunity to learn Chinese during their stay.


Of the 121 students set to graduate in 2013 with an International MBA from Tsinghua SEM, for example, 71 come from mainland China, six from Hong-Kong, Macao and Taiwan, leaving 44 foreign students from elsewhere in Asia, America or Europe.

Several Chinese business schools are already ranked at the highest level; the HKUST Business School’s MBA was ranked 10th in the world by the Financial Times in 2011 and the CEIBS Executive MBA ranked 11th.

Though the recent success of Chinese business schools has certainly been remarkable, challenges to improve further in the field of management education remain – challenges that represent further opportunities for future growth.

The first of these is to match the country’s considerable and continually growing demand for management training. The second is regional expansion; management education is still mostly undeveloped in the large urban areas in the west of the country. The third is in the field of research, in which Chinese schools are still a long way behind their international counterparts in terms of the amount and methods of research. Finally, there is the challenge of developing management education for public administration and non-profit sectors, which has grown less rapidly than business-specific management education.

In less than 30 years China has established a strong national system of management education at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. A significant number of high-quality business schools have been set up, particularly as offshoots of leading universities.

These schools offer education that is relevant both internationally and adapted to the specific needs of the Chinese economy. They have at their disposal many competitive assets, including the management and direction of very experienced deans and faculties.

They are able to attract both excellent faculties and highly promising students. They serve the needs of both domestic and foreign firms operating in China and the needs of Chinese multinationals operating abroad.

In 2012 the top Chinese business schools are not trying to join the establishment of international leading institutions; they are already a part of it.

The original version of this article was published in “Waiguoren kan Zhongguo Jiaoyu” (Chinese Education Seen by Foreigners). Yuan Guiren (Ed.). Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2012-9.

INDEx oF ChINESE MaNaGEMENt SChoolS MENtIoNED

Antai College of Economics & Management (ACEM), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU)

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Business Administration, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)

City University of Hong Kong College of Business, City University of Hong Kong (CityU)

Hong Kong University Faculty of Business and Economics, Hong Kong University (HKU)

Dalian University of Technology School of Management, Dalian University (DUT)

Fudan University School of Management, Fudan University

Guanghua School of Management, Peking University (PKU)

HKUST Business School, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST)

HSBC Business School, Peking University (PKU)

Lingnan (University) College, Sun Yat Sen University (SYSU)

Nankai Business School, Nankai University (NKU)

Nanjing University Business School (NUBS), Nanjing University (NJU)

Renmin Business School (RBS), Renmin University of China (RUC)

Tsinghua SEM - School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University

University of International Business and Economics (UIBE)

Xiamen University School of Management (SMXMU), Xiamen University (XMU)

Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Management (XJTU)

Zhejiang University School of Management (ZJU)

ABOUT THE AUTHORSJean-Paul Larçon is Professor of International Strategy, HEC Paris.

Geneviève Barré is Director of International Development, Asia-Pacific, HEC Paris.

Though the recent success of Chinese business schools has certainly been remarkable, challenges to improve further in the field of management education remain – challenges that represent further opportunities for future growth


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As a high-flying executive in an international business with an MBA degree, what do you yearn for – reduced-

price tickets to a theme park? Probably not, though that was the highlight of an alumni offer from a business school recently.

Making the most of alumni is not difficult but it is essential. A strong alumni network offers a business school many opportunities – mentoring, attracting new students, speakers, a source of placements/jobs, fundraising and much more. What do alumni want in return?

A new report, Alumni Matters, by CarringtonCrisp supported by EFMD, suggests the top priority is to keep learning. But many alumni are either unaware of what their school offers or find themselves too busy to get involved with alumni activities. Just under 40% of alumni are not involved with their alumni network because they are too busy with work and other commitments. A third of alumni suggest they are not active in the alumni network because they are unaware of the services for alumni.

Alumni relations needs to be a lifestyle offer, something that works around busy alumni lifestyles, be that work or family, and continues to help alumni obtain the lifestyles they desire.

Eight business schools from Ireland, UK, South Africa and Switzerland took part in the Alumni Matters study, questioning their alumni and final-year students about what they want from the alumni experience. More than 2,500 respondents, comprising 90 different nationalities took part in the research.

WHAT ALUMNI WANTAlumni can be a great resource to help a business school’s marketing messages. But, says andrew Crisp, they must be properly motivated to do so

45EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013What alumni want by Andrew Crisp

While alumni have a clear view of the purpose of alumni relations, it may not be the same as that of their business school. In North America, alumni relations has a long tradition of playing a central role in fundraising for a business school. In 2010 BusinessWeek reported that 67% of alumni of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire made gifts at a median level of $200. More than $5 million was raised for the school’s annual alumni giving campaign, making Tuck the best-performing American school that year.

With finances under pressure in European higher education, the potential for alumni as donors has come to the fore. Unfortunately, only 11% of alumni and 10% of current students believe the purpose of alumni relations is largely fundraising. Instead, alumni highlight facilitating friendships and business connections as well as fostering collaboration and networking among alumni and with their school.

The lack of expectation of a fundraising purpose means that alumni relations offices will have to sell this aspect of their work carefully if it is to be successful.

One of the problems for many alumni is that they do not know how to give or what the implications are for them personally. Close to three-quarters of alumni say they are unclear how to support their school. Some find it hard to know where or how to make a donation and more are uncertain about tax or legal questions. Making it easy, either online or off, with clear guidance is key to successful fundraising.

However, there are encouraging signs of the potential for giving. Only 20% of alumni say that they would never make a financial contribution.

High-quality effective communication is central to raising alumni involvement, whether in fundraising or other activities. However, too many schools rely on an electronic newsletter and alumni pages on a school website. An e-newsletter is often highly valued by alumni, although the quality and quantity of content can have a big impact on the success of such tools. Alumni web pages are becoming less and less relevant.

Alumni Matters found that few alumni use the dedicated pages of business school websites while around 70% are frequent users of Facebook or LinkedIn. Almost half (47%) of alumni indicate they “don’t know if either the university or business school have dedicated pages for alumni”.

Many alumni will be online on their smart phones or tablets throughout the day and during that time will often be connected to a social network. Fellow alumni and friends will be on the same social networks as well as a host of material that might be useful in their work or social lives. By contrast, few alumni will visit the school web pages with little interaction taking place. Much information may be hidden behind a password and the content quality may be poor.

11%With finances under pressure in European higher education, the potential for alumni as donors has come to the fore. Unfortunately, only 11% of alumni and 10% of current students believe the purpose of alumni relations is largely fundraising

70%Alumni Matters found that few alumni use the dedicated pages of business school websites while around 70% are frequent users of Facebook or LinkedIn. Almost half (47%) of alumni indicate they “don’t know if either the university or business school have dedicated pages for alumni”

Some alumni find it hard to know where or how to make a donation and more are uncertain about tax or legal questions. Making it easy, either online or off, with clear guidance is key to successful fundraising


A strong school presence on social networks is essential to successful alumni communication. Alumni pages on a school website still have a role but that role needs to be clearly defined and other tools will be needed to drive traffic to the site.

Another reason for lack of involvement is distance from a former school, which is especially true of international alumni. Finding virtual tools to enable international alumni involvement and maximising the use of staff time when on international recruitment activity or attending conferences will be a high priority for most schools. About one in five alumni say they are inactive because “there are limited opportunities for international alumni to participate”.

Social networks may also offer an easier medium for international alumni to network. Only 5% of alumni indicate that they contact other alumni through “dedicated alumni pages on the university website” while 10% use “school social media pages” and 31% make use of “other social media websites”.

Just as alumni communications may have a sizeable online component, so may the services that alumni seek. Many alumni indicate that they want to keep their skills up to date to ensure their potential in the jobs market. Inevitably, alumni reunions (39%), speaker events (38%) and social events (36%) are also popular with many alumni.

Delivering development and learning is not always straightforward. For some schools this is done through taster sessions of existing programmes or by offering alumni discounts on courses. Increasingly, schools are turning to online delivery, which works particularly well for an international audience. It also offers the flexibility that many alumni seek.

Alumni were specifically asked what actions could be taken to quickly improve their relationship with their former schools. The main request, sought by 32% of respondents, was providing online learning opportunities, followed by 27% who wanted their school to “provide stronger career support/enhanced career services”.

Just as alumni communications may have a sizeable online component, so may the services that alumni seek. Many alumni indicate that they want to keep their skills up to date to ensure their potential in the jobs market

5%Only 5% of alumni indicate that they contact other alumni through “dedicated alumni pages on the university website” while 10% use “school social media pages” and 31% make use of “other social media websites”


ABOUT THE AUTHORAndrew Crisp is the joint founder of CarringtonCrisp and has worked with business schools and universities for over a decade, providing market research and marketing support to more than 100 institutions worldwide.

What alumni want by Andrew Crisp

Maintaining value in the jobs market is also something that alumni relations can support. Many alumni, but especially those who have studied part-time, turn to their schools’ career support services when looking for jobs and employment advice years after graduation. A school that can support alumni with mentoring, with advice on business start-ups and with details of job vacancies as well as opportunities to post job notices will enhance its reputation with them. Many of these services can be provided by fellow alumni rather than the school having to add significant resources. Instead the school simply acts as a facilitator.

No relationship can be just one way and alumni are keen to support their school in many ways. Speaking at events and mentoring current students are popular but alumni are also keen to play an active role in recruiting new students. Almost 90% of alumni would answer questions from prospective students.

Having “been there and done that”, alumni are in a strong position to validate the marketing messages that business schools put out to potential students. They can also set out clearly how their degree programme helped them with their career.

Providing information to prospective students can be done in many ways. Options for schools include virtual question-and-answer sessions, having alumni at an open day/evening, having alumni on a stand at a fair, including alumni case studies on a school website or even allocating an alumnus to an individual applicant to guide them through the process.

Building strong alumni relationships does not mean jumping straight to an American model with a strong focus on fundraising. Such an approach may even weaken any relationship that already exists.

Alumni are keen to engage with their school, to see its reputation grow and for it to succeed in the future. Alumni want to play a part in that success, even if it is only answering questions from prospective students.

Finding ways to help alumni continue to learn and grow, allowing them to network with other alumni as well as the school and doing so in a way that suits their lives are the key to strong, sustainable relationships with benefits for both sides. And, in time, that may also mean growing financial support.

An executive summary of the full results of the Alumni Matters research is available to download free of charge at: http://www.carringtoncrisp.com/alumni_matters

90%Speaking at events and mentoring current students are popular but alumni are also keen to play an active role in recruiting new students. Almost 90% of alumni would answer questions from prospective students


Derick de Jongh, Director of the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, was the Chair of the EFMD Africa Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, last October. He believes that South Africa and the continent generally is on the verge of a huge explosion of growth, fuelled by abundant natural resources. But, he tells George Bickerstaffe, he is worried that sustainability may get lost in the process.

What is the current state of management education in Africa?I think I can talk better about the state of management education in South Africa, a country, rather than Africa as a whole, a continent.

South Africa is a sophisticated country in terms of academic institutions. This is widely acknowledged and we succeed in maintaining a cutting-edge approach to management education. The quality and content compare well with the best available in the world. Obviously we don’t have the Harvards, Stanfords and LBSs of the world so we can’t always attract the top scholars to teach at our business schools but I think it’s going very well. I think the market in South Africa appreciates the quality and calibre of the graduates we provide.

And management education is not just something that exists within business schools; it’s also in our major universities. Most universities can argue that they are heavily involved in management education, particularly the commerce, economics and management science faculties, though it’s not so applied as it is within a business school.

My views are of course to an extent coloured by my own areas of expertise, which is the whole field of sustainability, corporate responsibility and responsible leadership. If we look at this area I would not be so optimistic, supportive and positive about the state of management education as I am when I talk about it in more general terms.

49EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013African futures: Derek de Jongh interview by George Bickerstaffe

I think sustainability is not yet mainstream. It’s treated as an externality by most management schools, though there are schools in South Africa and on the whole African continent that really do get it

When it comes to the point of the extent to which management education, the curriculum, the faculty and most business schools see their role in society then I’m not as optimistic and positive because I don’t yet see strong engagement by the management education fraternity in South Africa with the issue of sustainability. I’m not convinced that management educators and institutions in South Africa are aware of the value and importance of social consciousness.

Why do you think that is the case?I think sustainability is not yet mainstream. It’s treated as an externality by most management schools, though there are schools in South Africa and on the whole African continent that really do get it. But it’s not easy for them to adjust to the issue of sustainability at a much deeper philosophical level – as I think they should be doing.

They treat the topic as an externality in the way that many businesses do. Businesses will say that issues such as climate change, social issues, governance and so on are out there and we deal with them as externalities through compliance mechanisms and so on and don’t really internalise them.

I think you can say the same in management education. There may be a module, which in many cases is still an elective, on ethics for example that is not satisfactory – at least not to my mind.


Will it improve?Well, there is pressure to do so from areas like rating agencies and accreditation bodies such as EFMD, AACSB and AMBA. Organisations like those are increasingly talking about the importance of non-financial elements and soft skills in management education. But I think that most faculty in business schools don’t really get it. We need to think about these issues.

We can teach marketing, finance, operations and so on but what we really need to do is to drill down into these subjects and look at the underlying theories of of economics, finance and marketing etc.

The theoretical underpinnings of these subjects need to be examined and challenged at a much deeper level. You can’t just say the theory of economics is there; it’s based on the existing paradigm and so we will only deal with it on the surface. There’s a much deeper question here. We need to challenge the basic foundation of the theory of economics, or marketing or finance. That takes guts, courage, a very open mind – almost a new breed of faculty.

And management education must be multidisciplinary. Economics and social sciences are not strange bedfellows – they are crucial bedfellows for the future. For example, you can’t talk about climate change without talking about economics. These things are all interlinked. That’s the challenge that academics face.

Is there a move within South Africa or even Africa generally, to a kind of Africa-specific form of management education?The interesting thing about Africa and South Africa is that they are a living laboratory of the real world. We have disparity, inequality, huge developmental challenges but on the other hand an abundance of natural resources and growth potential. So there is a lot of tension in the systems of a continent like this. And because of underlying anomalies and contradictions managing these tensions will be very difficult going into the future.

At a political and economic level, it is difficult to imagine what the influence of the Chinese will be on this continent. In any big city if there’s a new wing on a hospital or a new terminal at an airport the chance is 99% that the funding is Chinese. They will have a huge influence.

Can we use this very interesting platform we have to develop a new kind of management for Africa or South Africa? Well I think we can. And there are a few very courageous deans and faculty members who are starting to push the debate in this direction. If you just look at the issues – poverty, corruption, environmental degradation and loss of bio-diversity – that are impacting the continent you can build your management education curricula around them.


So, for example, you can then align the theory of finance around the issue of poverty. That doesn’t mean you throw away the fundamental pillars of the theory of finance. Not at all. But the application needs to be in the direction we need to build a sustainable future world. Management education can play perfectly into that space, even more on a continent like Africa where it is glaringly obvious that we need to deal with these things.

Most business schools in Africa are only a few kilometres from a township where you can see the most severe social problems. Or you can drive through scenes of appalling poverty and end up at the entrance of a beautiful spanking new business school.

However one of our key issues is that many of our best students in Africa want to go to study for an MBA in Europe or America, not Africa. And, of those that do, only about 63% come back to Africa.

Is that because of a perception that African schools are perhaps not yet world class?No. Absolutely not. In fact I have suggested that the theme for the next EFMD conference in Africa should be a simple question: what can we learn from Africa?

The continent seems to be suffering from a feeling of inadequacy because of all the stories we read and the problems it faces. And it’s true that senior executives in South Africa seem to prefer to go to Harvard or Stanford for senior executive programmes even though business schools like Pretoria, Cape Town and Stellenbosch can offer equally good programmes. So there is still this self-image problem.

So, answering the question what can we learn from Africa, people would probably have a knee-jerk reaction and say well, nothing. But in fact this continent has a wealth of indigenous learning and knowledge.

What is management education in Africa going to look like in the future?Africa is poised for huge growth potential in natural resources as diamonds, gold, coal, platinum, natural gas and oil are being discovered on a daily basis. This creates growth and wealth but is has to be managed so that more people benefit rather than just a select few.

When I look at management education I am extremely positive and apprehensive at the same time. There is a huge desire and demand for improved education at all levels across the continent and business education and development can and must play a critical role in moving the continent forward. One thing for sure if that the future will be very interesting and the work EFMD is doing in Africa, along with the GRLI, GBSN & AABS will play a big part in its development.

63%Most students in Africa want to go to study for an MBA in Europe or America, not Africa. And, of those that do, only about 63% come back to Africa

Answering the question what can we learn from Africa, people would probably have a knee-jerk reaction and say well, nothing. But in fact this continent has a wealth of indigenous learning and knowledge

African futures: Derek de Jongh interview by George Bickerstaffe


Teaching all too often receives a lower priority than research and funding. This is a strategic mistake, argues torben Jensen, since better teaching is essential in order to future-proof business schools in the competition for accreditation, funds and talented students.

How can a business school justify spending resources on the development of teaching-related activities – when these resources could be spent on more teaching or research?


t the School of Business and Social Sciences, a broad business school at Aarhus University in Denmark, the development of teaching-related activities is a strategic

priority. Hence the school has established the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CUL), an independent facility that conducts research into university pedagogics, executes interdisciplinary development projects and implements mandatory training courses on teaching for all lecturers – even the most experienced researchers.

CUL has 13 full-time employees, which means that there are two employees per department. But how can a business school justify spending resources on the development of teaching-related activities when these resources could be spent on more teaching or research?

The reason that the School of Business and Social Sciences, one of Europe’s largest business schools, has chosen to focus specifically on teaching development is primarily based on strategy. Better teaching is indeed indispensable in order to ensure the school’s competitiveness, both now and prospectively, in connection with internationalisation, recruiting the most talented students and securing funds.

Why progressive teaching development is a strategic necessity

The Scandinavian contextAround 50% of the school’s revenue derives from student fees. But part of the external research funds is also dependent on the number of students and the quality of the teaching. If this is included, up to 70% of the school’s revenue is based on teaching. Teaching is therefore of major direct importance to the school’s financial situation and space for action in the future.

Teaching development ensures accreditationsEven for business schools that are publicly funded, ensuring teaching development is essential. Although for these schools external funding is not necessarily dependent on teaching, the quality of teaching is included in the assessment of business schools in other ways, for instance through accreditation. For example, teaching is at the heart of EFMD EQUIS accreditation.

The management of business schools should therefore keep abreast of this development by constantly improving teaching in order to achieve or maintain their accreditation – the most important mark of quality for business schools with international impact.

... part of external research funds is also dependent on the number of students and the quality of the teaching. If this is included, up to 70% of the school’s revenue is based on teaching

At School of Business and Social Sciences around 50% of the school’s revenue derives from student fees, but...

Progressive teaching ensures business school competitiveness by Torben Jensen


Win the fight for the best studentsTo be able to recruit the most talented students, it is vital that the best possible teaching is offered. Research capacity at the highest level is not enough if not converted into valuable teaching for students. In a globalised world, the best business schools cannot afford to settle for average students. And in order to attract the most talented students it is vital to make degree programmes as contemporary and attractive as possible. This means that the quality of teaching is a crucial factor in the fight for talented students.

Greater benefit for masters degree studentsBusiness schools that offer masters degree programmes need a special focus on progressive teaching. Masters students contribute to further education and knowledge sharing in society but they are also strategically important because they are a business school’s direct contact to the labour market, which consists of the “buyers” of the school’s primary “product” – its graduates. The ability to provide masters degree students with a substantive educational boost is essential to a school’s future reputation and results.

How to develop teaching?So we can see why there are many good reasons to prioritise teaching development, especially for international business schools that live off their degree programmes and strive to be among the very best. But how are progressive ideas translated into practice? How is it possible to avoid pursuing inane symbolic politics and instead achieve measurable results through quality?

First, it is important to invest the necessary resources in the area and, second, it is important to not just cope with the demand but also to generate it through financial incentives. Below is some general advice, based on our extensive experience over the last decade.

Avoid symbolic changeIn the same way as more lessons do not necessarily equal better teaching, voluntary courses for lecturers do not guarantee the development of teaching. If the goal is simply to offer courses to lecturers, there is a risk that only the most interested lecturers will participate in the courses. This may imply symbolic change, while a major boost of the quality of teaching is not guaranteed. Compulsory courses assure an actual boost in the quality of the teaching.


Distinct course qualityCompulsory courses for new PhD graduates seeking employment as assistant professors are relatively easy to implement as part of the process new staff undergoes. However, compulsory courses for experienced associate and full professors can create tension between an often independent research environment and management priorities.

If management is to implement mandatory courses for lecturers, both resources and a targeted long-term effort are required. It is crucial to ensure courses of such a high quality that lecturers both during and after the courses are able to see the benefit.

Strong financial incentivesThe quality of the courses is pivotal, but strong incentives are also required. Specific requirements for participation in courses at CUL have been incorporated in the employment contracts for new employees – at all stages of their careers. A number of departments also give their lecturers one-off payments for participation in pedagogics courses.

Financial incentives are also employed in connection with senior researchers. The School of Business and Social Sciences administration determines the annual number of allocated places in the course per department, based on CUL’s course capacity and the number of associate and full professors in a department. Every year, departments are charged for each course place allocated to them but also receive a corresponding subsidy for each course place taken up. The scheme is thus “free” for those departments that take up their allocated course places each year.

Requires research capacityTo ensure progressive development of teaching and high course quality, the work must be performed with a solid, evidence-based approach – not least when teaching and co-operating with talented and critical researchers. The legitimacy of the courses and the strong incentives depend on having a development centre with the appropriate research competencies to perform this task. Although not the main purpose, a certain level of basic research in terms of university pedagogics is therefore desirable.

“Go-Online” course increases the benefit of teachingThe “Go-Online” course at Aarhus shows participants how to digitise teaching and derive more benefit from lessons. Based on the idea of a physical and a virtual classroom, they learn about “blended learning”, which stimulates student activities outside the classroom. Through an online course taking place over a three-week period, participants are presented with the many opportunities of virtual teaching and subsequently choose which method(s) and media suit them best. The participants adapt the many options to their specific teaching needs, thereby avoiding compulsory, standardised solutions such as having to pod-cast all lectures.

The “Go-Online” course is directly mandatory for all assistant professors and the incentive structure ensures that departments also send experienced associate and full professors to the course. This means that it is also indirectly mandatory for senior researchers.

The management of business schools should keep abreast of this development by constantly improving the teaching in order to achieve or maintain their accreditation

ABOUT THE AUTHORTorben K Jensen has been Centre Director at the Centre for Teaching and Learning, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark , since 2003 and has been conducting research, teaching and developing university teaching full time. Before that he was an associate professor in political science. www.bss.au.dk www.cul.au.dk / a

Progressive teaching ensures business school competitiveness by Torben Jensen


Jopie Coetzee outlines his ideas for what an MBA could look like in the future

THE SOCIAL CONTRACT WITH BUSINESS:PLEASE SIGN HERE USING BLACK INK

Figure 1: The contrast between a modern and a Social Contract MBA

old world

Western canonCapitalism‘Business is the whole’

transition WoIG

East, West & South canonEco-Economic conservationism‘Business is an organ of society’

Functions of businessInput – outputCharacter building

Incremental adjustments

Conscientização

Internal drivers of changeA practical conscience-based critical awareness towards delivering a specific kind of future, namely: humanity’s global sustainability mandate to its business leaders

Modern MBa Glass ceiling Social Contract MBa

amoral > Schools of management educational paradigms > Social Contract

External drivers of changeFord: Foundation Reports – 1950sPorter & McKibben Report – 1988EnronBerlin WallGlobal warming & ecological degradationFood & Economic crises if 2008/09Increased social activism – ‘no Planet B to go to’ – 2010Political economic crisis: Jasmine revolution – 2011

57EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013The social contract with business: Implications for the MBA by Jopie Coetzee

In 1987 Peter Drucker said that business scholars and business leaders will take 50 years to figure out the meaning of business as an organ of society.

Taking up Drucker’s challenge was an eight-year safari of research, reflection and writing, drawing on the thoughts and speeches of today’s finest leaders and thinkers around the world. From them emerged their answers to a series of Socratic questions:

What kind of future does humanity want? What kind of society will be able to deliver and sustain such a kind of future? What kind of business is suitable for such a society? What kind of business leader is needed for such a business? What kind of education does such a business leader need?

There emerged a research-based understanding of the purpose, nature and dynamics of business as

an organ of society, crystallised into what I have called the new Social Contract with Business

as a business case with eight business leadership responsibilities:

• directed towards itself – to be an organ of society

• towards its direct stakeholders – to be sustainable

• towards the earth – its alignment with the earth’s finite nature

• towards the global commons – to be a co-custodian

• towards society – to be a co-architect of a healthy society

• towards democracy – to protect its own operating space

• towards government – alignment with government priorities

• towards transnational crime – to eliminate its role and influence

The rest of this essay focuses on the answer to the last question: What kind of education does such a business leader need?

The current MBA applies one of the following educational paradigms:

• Functions of business: where the curriculum mimics the various functions of business

• Input-output: where the curriculum is populated by many ad hoc and unrelated subjects

• Character development: where the curriculum focuses mainly on leadership competences

The challenge for business educators today is to soften the 1950s context of the above models with subjects such as ethics and social responsibility. These incremental changes are positive but sadly remain below the glass ceiling – the MBA curriculum designer’s inability to answer (or fear of answering) the calls for change made by eminent scholars over the past 25 years.

The Social Contract with Business breaks through this glass ceiling, opening a new world of “conscientisation” – an educational paradigm that stands in stark contrast to today’s modern MBA as depicted in Figure 1.

The Social Contract with Business breaks through this glass ceiling, opening a new world of “conscientisation” – an educational paradigm that stands in stark contrast to today’s modern MBA


Let us look at this model in a little more detail:

Vision: What kind of MBA graduates do we wish to produce?Business leaders who can apply the Social Contract with Business.

Rationale: To sculpt leaders who can lead the turnaround from a world of destructive globalisation to a world of inclusive globalisation – on the global stage, and in any country and any sector of human endeavour.

End-Purpose: What if the vision is achieved?To heed humanity’s global sustainability mandate to its leaders; namely to deliver:

• a world of inclusive globalisation (WOIG) where systemic poverty has been permanently removed and where humanity’s broad security is assured.

This requires:

• a society that finds its greatness in the courage of protecting both its humanity and its economy as a whole; and

• world-class businesses, financially robust across economic cycles, with global stewardship as the dominant business logic; and

• business leaders with the ability to envision a WOIG, and then to lead towards it in an entrepreneurial and path-breaking manner exerting leadership qualities anchored in wisdom, love, and courage.

Rationale: This mandate is the raison d’être of business as an organ of society.

Mission: How do you intend to deliver on your vision?Educational paradigm: “conscientisation”.

Rationale: This educational paradigm aims at sculpting MBA graduates to deliver a specific kind of future, that is, humanity’s global sustainability mandate. The educational challenge is to develop an applied consciousness of conscience.

Entry requirements:Any bachelors degree; and

Prior learning of at least a first-year university qualification in:

• Economics

• Reasoning through words, such as philosophy or literature

• Reasoning through numbers, such as mathematics or accounting.

Rationale: (a) To attract gifted men and women to lead the top echelons of any enterprise in any country and in any sector of human endeavour; (b) this kind of prior learning prepares the mind for broad-based intellectual agility and higher cognitive abilities – ie a return to classic learning.

Knowledge clusters: Learning materials need to incorporate the following three knowledge areas:

table 1: The Social Contract MBA’s leadership-in-practice capabilities

Craft wealth

Strategy

Finance

Marketing

Business development international business entrepreneurship social entrepreneurship

holistic innovation management technology business processes culture and mindset

Build wealth

leadership social contract with business entrepreneurial services kairos events

Building the enterprise internal organisational design external design of global footprint

Strategy implementation project management turnaround strategy change management

holistic risk management corporate governance enterprise-wide risk management business law – local, international

Manage wealth

Management processes functions skills required

Functional management human resources operations information technology cost control quality assurance environment health and safety

Knowledge Clusters


Leadership-in-practice capabilities: (see Tables 1) Rationale: (a) All knowledge for the Social Contract MBA’s subjects is already available in the canon of business and related sciences but not yet taken-up in new education material; and (b) management educators need to re-discover that management is a core competence for managers.

Overall structure The Social Contract MBA can be structured either as an educational event over a specific period (such as two years), or as an educational process over a leadership development timeline, of, for example, five years. In this case, formal education is provided for three months per year, with mentored, on-the-job training for nine months per year (See Table 2).

Conclusion: I am mindful of Gary Hamel, who said that the gap between what can be imagined and what can be achieved has never been smaller today. And, Nancy Adler, who asked: “Now that we can do anything, what will we do?’.

I conclude by asking myself where will the first light break through from beyond the glass ceiling – from the kind of world we all secretly hope for?

table 2: The Social Contract MBA’s curriculum

Year or Module

1

2

3

4

5

Educationalfocus

Managing self

Managing people

Managing managers

Enterprise manager

Managing enterprises

Kairos capabilities leadership-in-practicecapabilities

Note: The stars indicate the relative weight for each knowledge cluster

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*

*

*

*

**

**

**

**

**

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The social contract with business: Implications for the MBA by Jopie Coetzee

ABOUT THE AUTHORJopie Coetzee holds a doctorate in business leadership. His research and writings on the social contract with business are profiled in his blog:

http://coetzeejopie.authorsxpress.com

His latest book is The Social Contract with Business – beyond the quest for global sustainability. Xlibris Publishers, London.

Global mindset, oriented towards a WOIG, through:• mastering the context of history and the

present, ie an economic history of the world, globalisation, global political economy and current global status

• mastering consciousness of the world, ie universal ethics and values, sociology, ecology, culture and key global trends

• mastering consciousness of the self, ie a moral judgement of self in the presence of the call for stewardship

• mastering consciousness of the conscience, ie the ethos and intent of the Social Contract with Business as a means to deliver humanity’s global sustainability mandate.

The outcome should be an ability to exercise the vocabulary of wisdom, love and courage in leadership for a WOIG.

Holistic decision-making, oriented towards the turnaround to a WOIG, through:• mastering the tools of decision-making;

namely, creativity, critical reasoning, systems thinking, understanding risk, uncertainty and opportunity, intergenerational business models, management decision making, business analysis, due diligence, complex business problem solving, research techniques

• mastering the tools of buy-in of decisions: namely, communication,negotiation, influencing,crossing cultural and mindset divides, dealing with power, ambition and ego

The outcome should be an ability to exercise entrepreneurial judgement.

The educational challenge is to develop an applied consciousness of conscience


LANGUAGES & COMMUNICATION: A NEW CHALLENGE FOR MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

Jane Kassis-henderson and Philippe lecomte argue that globalisation means that communication is about more than learning a foreign language

61EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013Languages & communication: a new challenge for management education by Jane Kassis-Henderson and Philippe Lecomte

Since the mid-1990s business schools have undergone major changes due to the globalisation of the higher-education market. These changes are characterised

by the development of academic research, the process of internationalisation of campuses and faculty, and the greater proximity of faculty to the business world.

These changes have in turn led to the increasing importance of international accreditation bodies, whose quality labels are a key factor in the drive to attract the best students and faculty members on an open international market. Globalisation has also changed the requirements of companies regarding the training of managers, who must now operate worldwide within growing networks of international business connections.

This means that business school graduates, in order to prove their employability, are required to understand and analyse complex situations in multicultural and multilingual environments. They must also be adaptable and reactive as the world around them is changing rapidly.

These major consequences of globalisation should have made the question of communication competencies a central issue of company policies and of management education. It is therefore worth investigating how this has been translated into the strategies of today’s corporate world and business school curricula.

Some decades ago questions of foreign language use in the corporate world were of a marginal nature. They tended to be associated with the exportation of products or the expatriation of company personnel and concerned a relatively small proportion of the workforce. However, with the internationalisation of companies an increasing number of employees at all levels of the corporate hierarchy are confronted with a variety of languages in the course of their daily business, be it in the head office or in foreign subsidiaries. They will often be faced with the need to speak, understand, read or write in a foreign language. The language question should therefore have shifted from being a marginal to a central concern for management.

However, in spite of this increasing need for organisations to understand the repercussions of working in a multilingual environment, language has, until recent years, been a much-neglected factor in international management research.

This can be partly explained by the fact that research has tended to focus on cross-cultural issues and that language-related phenomena have been hidden by the all-encompassing category of culture. An additional element accounting for the lack of sensitivity to questions linked to the presence of different languages in the workplace is the fact that the majority of management scholars have been educated in the mainstream English-speaking academic tradition.

English is indeed the lingua franca of international business. But the mistaken and widely held notion that English alone is the solution to be adopted in business education and in companies has led to the failure to recognise the complexity of working across languages and cultures and consequently the failure to address the language question.

This state of affairs is aggravated by the fact that top executives are often cut off from the reality of everyday communication practices in their organisations as information flows up to them in standardised boardroom language.

To summarise, there tends to be an oversimplification or lack of understanding of the ramifications of the language question. In fact, we can speak of a double challenge: companies confronted with the need to understand the challenge of multilingual/multicultural communication; and business schools confronted with the challenge of identifying the place of language and communication studies in the curriculum.

In spite of an increasing need for organisations to understand the repercussions of working in a multilingual environment, language has, until recent years, been a much-neglected factor in international management research


During the last two decades many language-related issues have been investigated by scholars in the fields of international business and organisational science, such as, for example, cross-border co-ordination or multicultural team cohesion.

These issues include, for example: how do cross-language exchanges take place in the multilingual workplace and what language policies and strategies exist in organisations? Articles have been published in management journals under the following headings: “Beyond English: transnational corporations and the strategic management of language in a complex multilingual business environment” and “Speaking in tongues: the importance of language in international management processes”.

In the field of linguistics and communication studies, the multilingual workplace is also coming under increasing scrutiny with concepts from disciplines such as sociolinguistics and discourse analysis being introduced to throw light on language-related phenomena in international business. Moreover, recent research has emphasised the importance for international teams and management education of understanding language use in establishing rapport and building interpersonal relations.

The stated aim of most business schools today is to provide the programmes and framework to enable students to develop the competencies required in the international business arena, which go beyond the acquisition of the so-called “hard” management tools and techniques. Within this context, the objective of communication studies in particular is to enable students to communicate effectively in multinational/multicultural/multilingual settings. In short, business schools are committed to preparing business students to become effective international managers and instilling communication competencies is an integral part of this.

There is a need to reconsider the place of communication in international business studies and to re-think the role of language and communication departments in business schools. This could make them one of the drivers for change within business education, playing an active part in teaching and course design and in academic and company-oriented research in the developing field of language-related issues and management.

More specifically, this means taking a broader view of the role of language and communication faculty. One of the main goals for language and communication departments is to train students to develop communicative competencies within multiple language environments. This entails achieving mutual accommodation between parties in order to become adaptable and co-operative. For this purpose it would be more appropriate to shift emphasis from teaching “language skills” to teaching the rhetorical or discourse strategies required in specific contexts.

Language and communication departments must change their image, develop shared learning goals with other departments and collaborate with them in order to acquire a cross-disciplinary understanding of international management issues. For this purpose schools need to adopt a holistic approach in order to break down disciplinary boundaries.

The internationalisation of business school campuses does not automatically lead to the emergence of intercultural learning; schools must put adequate structures in place to draw tangible results from the presence of mixed student populations.

Experience has shown that it is principally the members of language and communication departments who provide this structure and learning forum. The courses they provide offer students the opportunity to exchange observations, experiment with communication strategies and learn about concepts and theories that will throw light on their experiences.

63EFMD Global Focus | Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013Languages & communication: a new challenge for management education by Jane Kassis-Henderson and Philippe Lecomte

ABOUT THE AUTHORSDr Jane Kassis Henderson is Associate Professor of English and International Business Communication at ESCP Europe Paris campus and General Secretary of GEM&L. One of her current research interests is the use of English as a working language in international business and academic contexts.

Dr Philippe Lecomte is Associate Professor at Toulouse Business School, a member of the human resources department, former head of the school’s language department and President of GEM&L. He is a qualified German teacher and holds a PhD in applied linguistics. His research fields are the place of language in international business and the impact of Higher Education policies in French business schools.

www.geml.eu

If business schools are to meet the needs of international firms they should not only teach languages but communication competence in multilingual settings to train students to adopt a flexible approach to language use

In this way, examples of misunderstandings or of failed communication experienced in the multicultural classroom or reported by students are analysed by experts in a structured and formal context. One of the objectives of the courses delivered by language and communication academics is to teach students to develop a critical capacity to analyse communication behaviour and to relativise communication norms between cultures. Indeed, managing language diversity in the workforce should be an integral part of all business school modules on leadership and change management.

There is a need to develop research in the field of international management with a special focus on managing people in a multilingual world. One aim of this research agenda would be to identify and analyse the multiple issues related to the question of communication and interactions within multinational teams. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly necessary to introduce more diversity in order to accommodate the changing needs of globalised companies.

If business schools are to meet the needs of international firms and adapt their teaching methods and goals to their requirements, they should not only teach languages but communication competence in multilingual settings to train students to adopt a flexible approach to language use, according to the composition of multilingual teams.

Addressing the above questions is the aim of the recently created Groupe d’Etudes en Management et Langage (GEM&L). This international association emphasises the importance of research focusing on language use and language management in globalised companies.

It aims to promote an interdisciplinary approach to management education and break down the barriers between academic disciplines and to place communication competence at the heart of the issues encountered in management rather than arbitrarily and artificially include foreign language courses within the business school curriculum.

Business schools throughout Europe have different traditions concerning the place of languages in the curriculum. French business schools, for their part, have always had departments of “language and communication studies” although these are often considered as non-academic areas because of the general and mistaken assumption that they simply teach language courses in the narrow sense of language as a simple tool for communication.

We propose that international business and language and communication studies are two areas that could be mutually reinforced through the development of joint programmes based on joint research within a broad-based Department of International Business combining economics and strategy, cross-cultural studies, and language and communication studies. We therefore recommend a cross-disciplinary perspective, allowing business schools to strengthen the links between management sciences and other human sciences such as linguistics, anthropology and social psychology.

Business schools need the competencies of researchers and teachers devoted to the question of language use in globalised firms. Our hope is to see these recommendations implemented through institutional change, the open-mindedness of stakeholders and a determination to move forward.


Upcoming events

EFMD 2013 | www.efmd.org/events

February 2013

EQUIS and EPAS Accreditation Seminars

Dates / Venue12-13 February Brussels, Belgium

tHeMeInterpretation and practical application of the Standards and Criteria

HOstEFMD

March 2013

2013 EFMD Entrepreneurship Conference

Dates / Venue4-5 March Madrid, Spain

tHeMeEmpowering Entrepreneurs for Growth

HOstEOI Business School

2013 EFMD Conference for International, External and Corporate Relations, PR, Marketing, Communication and Alumni Professionals

Dates / Venue14-15 March Hong Kong, China

tHeMeBridging the “Gap” – Awareness and Collaboration between Europe and Asia

HOstHong Kong Baptist University, School of Business

Sharing Best Practice CLIP Workshop

Dates / Venue14-15 March / Munich, Germany

tHeMeCoaching and Mentoring as Motors of Strategic Change

HOstSwiss Re

2013 EFMD MBA Conference

Dates / Venue17-19 March Lausanne, Switzerland

tHeMeLeading the MBA – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

HOstIMD

April 2013

EQUIS/EPAS/EDAF Seminar

Dates / Venue14 April Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

tHeMeIntroduction to the interpretation and practical application of the EQUIS, EPAS and EDAF criteria as well as to the key stages of the accreditation and development process

HOstAbu Dhabi University

2013 EFMD Conference in the MENA Region

Dates / Venue14-16 April Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

tHeMeBusiness Schools in the MENA Region: Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders

HOstAbu Dhabi University

Research Leadership Programme – Cycle 4 – module 1/3

Dates / Venue24-26 April Brussels, Belgium

tHeMeThe Long View – Strategy

HOstEFMD & EURAM

May 2013

2013 EFMD Higher Education Research Conference

Dates / Venue23-24 May Paris, France

tHeMePurpose, Performance and Impact of Higher Education Institutions

HOstUniversité Paris Dauphine

Research Leadership Programme – Cycle 4 – module 2/3

Dates / Venue27-29 Mayr Brussels, Belgium

tHeMeThe School View - Organization of Research Activities

HOstEFMD & EURAM

June 2013

EPAS XXL Accreditation Seminar

Dates / Venue6-7 June Brussels, Belgium

tHeMeTBC

HOstEFMD

2013 EFMD Annual Conference

Dates / Venue9-11 June Brussels, Belgium

tHeMeTBC

HOstEFMD

2013 EFMD Doctoral Programmes Conference

Dates / Venue19-21 June Ljubijana, Slovenia

tHeMeTBC

HOstUniversity of Ljubijana

For more detailed information, please visit our website www.efmd.org or email [email protected]

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The educational quality of ESIC Business & Marketing School simulatorshas been recognized through numerous prestigious international certificationsand accreditations along with other prizes and awards.

Sponsor

Partner

Using the most advanced business simulators participants will forecast, plan and take decisions inan authentic business environment and will be involved in the largest competition of its type:

This international competition, organized by ESIC, Business& Marketing School and sponsored by Banco Santander,gives students from all over the world the opportunity not onlyto put their Marketing knowledge and skills to the test but alsoto learn from the experience.

YOURSTUDENTS

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• 18th Year

• 44,000 Participants

• 79 participating Countries

• Students from more than 850 Universities and Schoolsof Business from all 5 continents

1 pag. EFMD - GMKC 2013_Maquetación 1 08/01/13 12:13 Página 1

Keynote speakers include

Professor Jordi Canals

Dean of IESE Business School and one of the leading thinkers worldwide on the future of business schools and the future of the management profession.

Professor Ellen Hazelkorn

Director of Research and Enterprise, and Dean of the Graduate Research School, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland and a consultant to the OECD Programme on Institutional Management of Higher Education.

For full details visit: www.efmd.org/events

Purpose, Performance and Impact of Higher Education Institutions and Business Schools

With this conference, EFMD aims to facilitate research and dialogue on topics related to HEIs and business schools in transition by bringing together academics from management, higher education and other fields.

Themes will include:• Leadership of HEIs and business schools• Measurement and determinants of performance • Impact of HEIs and business schools• Innovation, entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurialism• Mergers and strategic alliances • Fostering sustainability and social responsibility

Paris 23 - 24 May, 2013 Hosted by by the Université Paris Dauphine

2013 EFMDHigher Education Research Conference

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

No pyramidsWhy China needs creativity

Go globalA whole world of opportunity

AlumniHow to make the most of them

China b-schools Here come the dragons

Curriculum A new way to look at the MBA

CommunicatingLanguage is more than just talk

EFMD

aisbl

Rue G

achard 88 – Box 3

1050 Brussels, B

elgium

Phone: +32 2 629 08 10

Fax: +32 2 629 08 11

Email:

info@efm

d.org

EFM

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Global Focus


Business schools must change if they are to serve their students and society well

www.efmd.org Volume 07 | Issue 01 2013

For over a century, ESSEC has been a centre of excellence, developing programmes that promote the values of freedom, openness, innovation and responsibility. The ESSEC model is founded on individual experience and academic excellence, giving consideration to the common good in decision-making, knowing how to listen and question to effectively anticipate tomorrow’s management challenges, and weighing economic challenges with social costs. At ESSEC, we believe that tomorrow’s leaders can create a world that has meaning for us all.

Selecting the right candidates for our programmes is critical. That’s why the GMAT exam is an integral part of our admissions process. At ESSEC, students are at the heart of our mission and the GMAT exam helps ensure we select candidates who can succeed in our rigorous programmes. Educating future leaders is the ESSEC commitment and the GMAT helps us select the best students with the right qualities and skills to achieve our programme goals.

Pierre Tapie on selecting for success

Pierre TaPie, Dean anD PresiDenT of esseC Business sChoolPierre TaPie, Dean anD PresiDenT of esseC Business sChool

© 2013 Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC®). All rights reserved. GMAT logo is a trademark and GMAC®, GMAT®, GMAT Write®, GMAT Prep®, Graduate Management Admission Test® are registered trademarks of the Graduate Management Admission Council in the United States and other countries.

To learn more about the GMAT exam and the products and services it makes possible, visit gmac.com

Documents

Global Focus Vol 7, issue 1 - The business of change