October 19 2015

FT BusinessEducation

ExecutiveMBARanking 2015

www.ft.com/emba

Singapore’s Mr Start-up | Lessons from Europe | From EMBA to instant finance

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4 editor’s letterDella Bradshaw looks at partnerships asthe dominant study model6 introductionBusiness schools are finding the benefitsof tapping into a world view10 dean’s columnChristoph Loch of Cambridge Judgefound inspiration from Jacques Delors12 on managementTechnology is making the monitoringof performance too easy and tempting

R A N K I N G S

24 analysisWhat the 2015 tables tell us26 rankingsThe top 100 executive MBAs

I N S I D E

34 entrepreneurshipThe shape of how business schools areviewing executive MBAs is changing asentrepreneurship education grows up38 from the drawing boardCourses offer fresh thinking for studentsas one graduate tells how he found thepath to striking out on his own43 meet the dean‘European dean’ Scott Beardsley seeshis consulting background as a goodfit for Darden

R E V I E W

47 booksPeople are rethinking their relationshipwith companies49 technologyConsumers love it when devices arecompatible, but they rarely are53 communitiesMeetings can be boring. Whom wouldyou invite to liven one up?54 hopes and fearsHow a global mindset grew fromlearning the way in which companiesaround the world work

C O N T R I B U T O R SKATE BEVAN is a freelance

technology journalistDELLA BRADSHAW is the FT’s

business education editorDAVID BUCKLEY is chief

marketing officer of SearsHometown and Outlet

SIMON CAULKIN is amanagement writer

WAI KWEN CHAN is businesseducation digital editor

CHARLOTTE CLARKE businesseducation communities editorEMMA JACOBS writes for FT

business lifeLUCY KELLAWAY is an FT

associate editor andmanagement columnist

CHRISTOPH LOCH is dean ofCambridge Judge Business SchoolHELEN MCCLURE is a freelance

journalistJONATHAN MOULES is FT

business education correspondentLAURENT ORTMANS is the FT’s

business education statisticianADAM PALIN is an FT reporter

IAN WYLIE is a freelance journalist

F E AT U R E S

14 interviewA self-confessed geek credits his MBAs for givinghim the ability to see opportunities in Singapore’s

location

20 dear Lucy…Agony aunt Lucy Kellaway on whistleblowing

and bringing your same sex partner to anoffice party

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October 2015Commissioning editor

Emma BoydeBusiness education editor

Della BradshawProduction editor

George KyriakosArt director Jonathan SaundersJunior designer Harriet ThornePicture editor Michael Crabtree

Sub-editor Ruth Lewis-CosteSpecial Reports editor

Leyla BoultonGlobal sales director

Dominic GoodGlobal director of

FT career managementSteve Playford

Head of business education salesGemma Taylor

Account director Helen WuAccount managers

Ade Fadare-Chard, Emily LucasPublishing systemsmanager

Andrea Frias-AndradeAdvertising production

Daniel Lesar

ONTHE COVERIllustration by Adrian Johnson

compatible, but they rarely are 53 communitiesMeetings can be boring. Whom would you invite to liven one up? 54 hopes and fearsHow a global mindset grew from learning the way in which companies around the world work

20 dear Lucy…Agony aunt Lucy Kellaway on whistleblowing

and bringing your same sex partner to an

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For the latest developments in business education follow us @ftbized

iwas talking recently tothe former dean of a UKbusiness school, who related aconversation between himselfand one of the professors at the

aforementioned institution.His biggest regret, he told the

professor, was that while he was deanhe could not convince the academicsof the strength of his strategy and howit would propel the school to a higherposition vis-à-vis its peers.

“Oh, we knew it was a great strategyand would make us a much betterbusiness school,” came the professor’sreply. “We just didn’t want to do it.”

It is hard to imagine such an attitudeholding sway in any kind of institution,public or private, except at a university.Unfortunately, this attitude can stiflechange and potentially even kill off theinstitutions that employ those sameprofessors.

This also raises interesting questionsin relation to executive MBAs — thosehugely expensive senior managementdegrees that are increasingly provingto be the flagship programmes ofmany business schools — because theprogrammes’ success depends on thesupport of the professors involved.

Until 20 years ago, EMBA degreescatered for an almost exclusively localmarket, determined by a format thatrequired weekend campus-based study.Then Duke University’s Fuqua schoollaunched its global programme, theUniversity of Chicago (now ChicagoBooth) started running a branch of itsprogramme in Barcelona and soon after,the Kellogg school at NorthwesternUniversity launched its partnershipswith universities such as HKUST inHong Kong.

Business schools had begun torealise that programmes that embracedinternational locations and businesses,as well as online learning, had a real

appeal. But two divergent strategieshave emerged. Some schools have setup overseas campuses and others haveforged overseas partnerships. The twoapproaches mean business school brainshave been taxed over which approachis best.

One school, Insead, has combinedboth options, with campuses in France,Abu Dhabi and Singapore and anEMBA partnership with Tsinghua.

A glance at the FT EMBA rankingsuggests the right answer is thepartnership model. The top fiveprogrammes in the EMBA table are allpartnerships. The Insead and TsinghuaEMBA tops the table this year, butInsead’s own MBA, which is taught inall three of its campuses, ranks at justseven.

So why should that be so? For thoseschools that choose to go it alone,persuading students they want to enrol

on these multi-location programmesand even persuading them they wantto pay the exorbitant fees — up to$180,000 — does not seem to havebeen the problem. But in someschools it is clear that persuadingprofessors they want to teach on theseprogrammes overseas has proven to bedifficult.

This reluctance in the academic bodymight help explain why partnershipsare emerging as the dominant modeldespite the logistical nightmare theypresent. For example, partner schoolsmust decide at which school studentsenrol and in what currency they pay.And what happens when exchangerates suffer extreme fluctuations? Thepartnership model also requires theprofessors at the partner schools to worktogether — never a given.

But it seems these issues are easierto manage than persuading professorsto invest time in travelling in order toteach. When Chicago Booth moved itsEuropean campus from Barcelona toLondon, there were lots of reasons fordoing so. London was (and is) Europe’sbusiness and finance hub and hometo one of the highest concentrations oftalented managers and bankers in theworld, people Chicago hoped to attract.

But there were other reasons.Professors preferred London toBarcelona because it was easier for themto do private consultancy work there,as well having multiple direct flightsbetween Chicago and London andnone at the time between Chicago andBarcelona.

Of course one of the big headachesfor business schools has been that thoseacademics willing to travel are oftenthe younger ones. Given the high fees,EMBA participants are looking for thestar professors with high performanceskills to teach them, not the newcomerswho have just finished their PhDs.

Partnershipsareemergingasthedominantstudymodeldespite logisticalnightmares

‘Business school brainshave been taxed over twodivergent strategies ’Beyond borders

Della Bradshaw

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Strength innumbers

BusinessschoolsbenefitfromtappingintomanyworldviewsfortheirEMBAs.ByDellaBradshaw

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it is just an hour into the firstlecture of the Trium executiveMBA programme in Londonand LSE professor RobertFalkner, a political economist,

poses a question: “Why is globalisationcontroversial?”As the 69 students gather in groups

of two or three to come up with ideas, itis clear that views vary right across theclass.

“The only thing controversial is theflow of capital,” asserts one student.Others have a different focus and citeissues such as pollution, uncertainty anderosion of national identity.For Eitan Zemel, vice-dean of global

and executive education at NYU Stern— which devised the Trium programmealong with LSE and HEC Paris — thiseclectic array of ideas is exactly whatmakes the Trium programme so special.

“We didn’t know when we startedhow timely this was and how it wouldresonate,” he says.Trium is one of five programmes that

inhabit a class of their own at the top ofthe Financial Times ranking for EMBAs—MBAs for working managers. Thougheach of the programmes draws on thestrength of two or more schools, theselling points differ.The London Business School and

Columbia programme brings togetherexpertise at the heart of two of theworld’s greatest financial centres, whilethe remaining three bring differentperspectives on Asia and its relationshipwith the US and Europe.Urs Peyer, dean of degree programmes

at Insead, says one of the strengths ofits joint degree with Tsinghua is theChinese professors’ huge knowledge ofChina and the Chinese economy. “Weappreciate the lens we get from them. InChina you need that inside regulatoryand political knowledge.”Trium’s strength lies in harnessing the

very different world views and teachingstyles of three institutions, says ProfZemel. “We would not be able to designsomething close to this on our own.It’s a negatively correlated portfolio ofdifferent schools.”Most of the 11 business schools

teaching these top five programmesalso have their own single schooldegrees. This fragmentation and >

Global reach: LSEprofessor RobertFalkner sparks debateabout globalisation

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diversification is in stark contrast tothe full-time MBA programme, wheretop-ranked schools have just oneprogramme.In some schools this fragmentation

goes even further. IE Business School inMadrid, which has EMBA programmesin multiple formats, has also seen a realgrowth in corporate executive degrees,says dean Santiago Iñiguez. This yearthe school will earn ¤2.8m from mastersdegrees tailored to specific companies’needs.“They combine the MBA with their

general content and build in customisedcontent,” he explains. In the gulf region,for example, the corporate degreesinclude courses on Islamic finance.Even for those schools that offer only

their own EMBA degree, these executiveprogrammes are almost invariably themost global in content and perspectiveof all degrees taught at business school.Even the most established EMBAprogrammes take the time to teachparticipants overseas. The ChicagoBooth EMBA, for example, which laysclaim to being the oldest EMBA in theworld, now teaches cohorts in Chicago,London and Hong kong.The move from the local to the global

is not just in the US or Europe. CameliaIlie-Cardoza is dean of executiveeducation at Incae business school inCosta Rica, which now takes its EMBAparticipants to Boston in the US, Spainand China.As a result, student numbers are up

and so are revenues. Last year, therewere 80 participants; this year, there are117. Along with an increase in fees thishas boosted income from the EMBA by53 per cent compared with the previousyear, says Prof Ilie-Cardoza.The buoyant enrolment numbers

are evident across the EMBA industry,in stark comparison to lacklustreenrolments on full-time MBAprogrammes.One reason is that the EMBA

market has been at the forefrontof experimentation in technology-enhanced learning, enabling schools toattract students from far afield to theirprogrammes and giving huge flexibilityin the way programmes are delivered.diane Morgan, associate dean

of programmes at Imperial College

Business School, believes this flexibilityand fragmentation will increase, withcompanies looking for a combinationof executive short courses and somecustomised courses that can becombined and certified as an EMBA orother degree.“In some ways we see applicants

skewing older, in some ways we seeapplicants skewing younger,” she says.For many participants on EMBA

programmes it is the wealth ofexperience in the participant body thatis as valuable as professorial research.“When our professor looks at you, he is

‘Executiveprogrammesarealmost invariably themostglobal incontentandperspectiveofalldegreestaughtatbusinessschool’

the Ft top 25 full-time MBAs in 2015

rank School nameSalarytoday (uS$)*

1 TsinghuaUniversity/Insead 324,115

2 Kellogg/HKUSTBusiness School 408,431

3 Trium:HECParis/LSE/NewYorkUniversity Stern 283,830

4 Columbia/LondonBusiness School 231,836

5 UCLA:Anderson/NationalUniversity of Singapore 250,956

6 Washington University: Olin 299,932

7 Insead 212,019

8 IE Business School 225,033

9 University of Oxford: Saïd 229,205

10= Nanyang Business School 242,328

10= Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Antai 292,525

12 University of Chicago: Booth 231,232

13 ESCP Europe 184,730

14 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton 208,412

15 Iese Business School 214,049

16 Ceibs 313,442

17 Duke University: Fuqua 251,645

18 IMD 261,397

19 London Business School 181,083

20 Kellogg/WHU Beisheim 182,078

21 Warwick Business School 154,471

22 Northwestern University: Kellogg 239,190

23 Kedge Business School 196,998

24 University of Cambridge: Judge 196,939

25= National University of Singapore Business School 233,946

25= Kellogg/York University: Schulich 167,343

*Adjusted for purchasing power parity

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Poll: Balancing act

B

t he workload on executiveMBA programmes continuesto surprise many students. In

a poll of 958 graduates from the EMBAclass of 2012, the most common difficultyencountered was balancing studies withpersonal commitments, such as family.

About a third also found it tricky tobalance study with work and said thecourse was more time-consuming thanexpected.

The good news is that some supportwas available. About 60 per cent of thegroup were allowed additional timeoff from work to focus on their studies.In addition, more than half receivedfinancial support from their employers.

Personal feedback shines a light onsome of the problems that students canencounter.

Some said, for example, they hadnot anticipated how much readingthere would be. Another said: “Theteam element of the EMBA required aconsiderable amount of effort to manage.Not everyone worked well together.”

One respondent said he wishedhe could have learnt the basics aboutfinance and economics prior to startingthe EMBA, adding that this would havesaved a lot of time.

Despite all the hard work andsacrifice, only 7 per cent said they wouldhave preferred to study for a full-timeMBA and a majority of the respondents,84 per cent, said the skills they gainedduring the EMBA had helped themimprove their company’s performance.Some respondents said data analysistechniques had been useful in decisionmaking and others said improvednegotiation skills had helped win newbusiness and secure cost-effective dealswith vendors.

But for most of the poll respondents,who also took part in this year’s EMBAranking, the main reason for choosingthe part-time degree was so they couldkeep their full-time job.—WaiKwenChan

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‘the team element of the EMBArequired a considerable amountof effort to manage. not everyoneworked well together’

looking at 1,200 years of experience,”Prof Zemel tells the Trium class.

And participants are prepared to payfor it. One of the biggest changes in theEMBA market in the past decade hasbeen participant sponsorship. Twentyyears ago, almost all students werepaid for by their companies; now thevast majority pay for the programmethemselves.

This has forced business schools toreplicate some of the services offered toMBA students.

“I see most of us in the industryputting in substantial career support,”says Morgan.

Other areas still need to change. Foryears, business schools have wrackedtheir brains about how to increase thenumber of women on these high-levelexecutive programmes — the number offemale participants rarely rises above 30per cent.

This year, at Yale School ofManagement, a record 41 per cent of the63 participants are women, says davidBach, senior associate dean. What ismore significant is the yield, he says,with 90 per cent of the women admittedto the programme actually enrolling —compared with 82 per cent for men.

Prof Bach believes Yale’s focuson business and society helped. “Itis not ‘Let me accelerate your WallStreet career’.” But he also argues thatthe personal support given in theadmissions process was critical as well.“Women have talked about it feelingmuch more community-orientated… nottransactional,” he says.

FromCostaRicatoChina : Incae’sCamelia Ilie-Cardozasees the appeal of atruly global EMBA

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Skills set: JacquesDelors, formerEuropeanCommissionpresident

AdeaninspiredbyaEuropeanCommissionpresidentfindslessonsinhis legacy

Christoph Loch

Given recent depressingheadlines about Greekfinancial meltdown, finger-pointing over refugeepolicy and a general

sense of European drift, it is hard toremember that “Europe” was not longago the most exciting political andsocietal project in the world.

At least, that is the way it appearedto me when, as a German managementconsultant in my early 30s, I returnedto Europe from graduate studies and anice consultancy job in the US becauseI believed Europe was entering anunprecedented and amazing age.

As I settled into an academic careerin France (and later in Britain), theperson who really inspired me wasJacques Delors, who was at the timepresident of the European Commission,a figure who, like him or loathe him,truly left a lasting mark on Europe andthe world — and on me.

Long a figure of caricature in theEurosceptic tabloid press of Britain,Delors served a decade as head of thecommission. Starting his tenure in1985, he helped usher in projects thatculminated in the EU’s single market,a currency now shared by 19 countries,and carved out a role for “Europe” onthe world stage that once would havebeen laughable. Visit China today andone senses an admiration for the EU notunderstood among many Europeans —it is, after all, a continent of nations thathad been at war for centuries and nowachieves a high level of integration.

That is not to say that Delors did notmake mistakes. He made few efforts toreform the EU institutions, which nowcreak far more in an expanded unionof 28 countries. And morale was pooramong many EU staff because Delors’aides ran the show in a bruising manner.

Moreover, Europe is hardly theunited continent that Delors envisioned.Although he clearly recognised theincompleteness of the single currency,he trusted that the next generation of

leaders would complete the projectbecause economic pressures would leavethem little choice — a miscalculationbecause those new leaders have notstepped up to their responsibility.

Yet such shortcomings and failuresdo not dim my admiration of Delors andthat is because in politics, as in business,I believe it is important to strive toachieve what sceptics and other criticsdismiss as impossible, even if the finaloutcome is disappointing relative to thevision. Vision and determination areinspirational and the outcome is oftenbetter than not having tried.

So, after a very enjoyable periodin San Francisco, I chose to see the“European project” unfold before myown eyes because I believed then, asnow, that what Delors sought to achievewas something unique. His vision wasnot a fully fledged “country” of joinedjurisdictions, like the US, and not amere “association” of neighbouringcountries, but an in-between entityin which some powers are pooled andsome are not, and in which the “centre”

is powerful in some areas (such as trade)and weak in others (such as defence),but which despite its imperfectionsmarks a remarkable historical step.

Perhaps it took a generation shapedby a war-torn period, including Delors(born in 1925), Helmut Kohl (1930),former German chancellor, and FrançoisMitterrand (1916), the late Frenchpresident, to enact sweeping agreementsamong nations aimed at preventingfuture bloodshed. Yet Delors displayedrare skill in shepherding negotiationsthat led to today’s EU: as describedby biographer Charles Grant, one EUambassador said that Delors showed anincredible knowledge of each country’sbottom line in negotiations and applieda mix of “rudeness, finesse, insight anddiplomatic skill” in forging deals.

He could not complete the work bythe time his tenure expired and hadto leave to his successors the next stepof integration — a “political union” fitfor a currency union. But the youngergeneration has failed to see beyond thenext election and their populations arebecoming more and more insular. TheEU project is begging for renewal.

The Delors legacy teaches us twokey things. First: nothing amazingever results without taking risks andhaving the drive and skill to achievethose amazing goals. Second: politicalprojects, like business strategy, are nevercomplete. Many businesses fail becausethey do not look beyond the current five-year cycle, or they coast complacentlywhen effective leadership requires awrenching gear-change in good times toprepare for a more challenging future.

Leadership of the sort shown byDelors a quarter of a century ago issorely needed in Europe today. I hopethere is a next generation of Europeanpoliticians who are as inspired by him asI have been. B

Christoph Loch is the dean ofCambridge Judge Business School at theUniversity of Cambridge

‘Leadershipof thesortshownbyDelors issorelyneededinEuropetoday’Lastingmarkkk

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Onmanagement a

mazon is no stranger tocontroversy and mediaaccounts of relentlesswork practices andmanagement style have

caused a predictable outcry. But theyshould be seen in a wider context.

Amazon, consistently voted one ofthe world’s most admired companies,may be more systematic than others, butit is far from alone in its hard-drivingstyle. Studies suggest that work-relatedstress costs 120,000 lives and $190bn ayear in additional healthcare expensesin the US alone. That is not all downto one company. The harsh reality, saysProfessor Julian Birkinshaw of LondonBusiness School, “is that today’s largebusiness organisations are... miserableplaces to spend our working lives. Fearand distrust are endemic. Aggressiveand unpleasant behaviour is condoned.”

Do not expect the pressures andinsecurities to go away. It’s not justthat innovations made in downturns,such as zero-hours contracts, rapidlybecome part of the employmentlandscape. The difference now is thatdigital technology makes real-timeperformance management easy andtempting for managers constantlyseeking to boost performance. Big dataand the “quantified self ” movement havespawned a plethora of start-ups offeringtime-tracking, performance-monitoringand instant-feedback apps of the kindthat Amazon urges its employees to useto comment privately on the activity ofpeers and supervisors.

Indeed, cynics suggest that bigcompanies such as GE, Accentureand Deloitte are trumpeting theirabandonment of the annual ritual ofperformance appraisal not throughrealisation that “they were a terrible ideain the first place because they are basedon an elementary misunderstandingof what it is to be human”, as FTmanagement columnist, Lucy Kellawayhoped, but because it is much easierand less time-consuming to do them in

real time via an app on a smartphone.The creators of these techniques rejectsuch Big Brother intentions. Capitalmarkets are demanding every ounce ofefficiency, they argue, and the resultingtransparency and accountability willlead to greater engagement in the longrun.

“In the office of the future you willalways know what you are doing andhow fast you are doing it,” says oneentrepreneur. But they don’t deny thatwork intensification is the result. Andwhile some people can live, or moredisquietingly collude, with always-onsurveillance (as in Dave Eggers’ chillinginternet-age satirical novel, The Circle),for others the consequence is stressand illness. One employee likened 24/7location-tracking software to wearing anoffender’s ankle bracelet.

The other threat in these data-drivenwork practices is less obvious but no lessinsidious. Working to multiple goals atmachine-tracked tempo inevitably puts

people in competition with computers.As Martin Ford warns in the Rise of theRobots, if you’re working with software,you’re probably training it to replaceyou. Automation is just the logical nextstep. Running this forward, the digitalrevolution would just superchargetrends of inequality, winner-takes-alland the hollowing out of employment:the triumph of anti-humanity, in fact.

Yet these are not inevitable outcomes.For example, Carlota Perez, the socio-economic scholar, argues that, as inpast waves of creative destruction, theboom-and-bust cycle has left behind thepotential for a new global “golden age”that could see digital technology driving“green” growth and sustainable globaldevelopment, benefiting all humankind.

But tapping that potential won’tbe easy. Again, as in previous cycles, itwould require bold governments andinternational bodies to use the crisisto reshape the conditions that causedit. Institutional imagination beingin conspicuously short supply fromgovernments and international bodiesstill in thrall to the failed Washingtonconsensus puts managers in the hot seat.

As it happens, they have anopportunity to face up to the challengenext month at what has becomemanagement’s unofficial annual summit,the 2015 Global Peter Drucker Forum.Under the banner “Claiming ourHumanity”, it poses urgent questions,such as how digital technology can bedeployed to improve the humancondition generally; whether it can beused to augment human capacity ratherthan replace it; and how managementcan be reframed as richly human ratherthan the desiccated economic ideologyof the past three decades. It is anhistoric responsibility that cannot beshirked. As Drucker remarked: “We arebecoming aware that the majorquestions regarding technology are nottechnical but human.” And yes, Amazonfounder Jeff Bezos’s contribution on thatwould be welcome, too. B

technologyismakingreal-timeperformancemonitoringtooeasyandtempting

‘today’s largeorganisationsaremiserableplaces tospendourworking lives’

Pressure pointSimonCaulkin

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Health comes firstSteven Fang creditshisMBAs for givinghim the ability to seeopportunities inSingapore’s location

ByHelenMcclurepHotogrApH ByMunSHi AHMed

The enabler:StevenFang isco-founder offive start-upsresponsible forlife-sciences,healthcare andnutrition

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The business cycle, from start-upto success, has decreased from 10years to one or two years

entrepreneurs share their knowledge,as well as developing an ecosystem, oran incubator, for start-ups called theLaunchpad. It aims to be a one-stop-shop offering direction on funding,as well as facilities, business services,contacts and networking opportunities.

With so much on his plate, one mightexpect a man full of nervous energy.Instead he looks the epitome of calmand relaxation. His desk reveals hisattention to detail. Not a paper is outof place. He also ensures that no phonecalls interrupt our time together.

Fang says that being based inSingapore — in reach of so manyhigh-growth regions — has resultedin some exciting opportunities. Hepoints out that the city state is at acrossroads geographically betweendeveloped and developing nations, butthat he was able to take advantage ofits mature infrastructure. Education ishigh on his agenda. He has a doctoratein business and biotechnology, buthe credits his MBA background forgiving him the ability to understand theopportunities presented by Singapore’slocation. He points out that half theworld’s population resides in Asiaand opportunities are created due todemographics and emerging economiesas well as environmental issues.

Fang has earned not one but twoMBAs. He graduated with his firstfrom the University of Hull in the UKin 1997 and for his second, just a little

more than 10 years later, he took anexecutive MBA on the prestigious dualdegree programme offered by Insead inSingapore and Tsinghua, in China.

Management theories change, hesays, adding that the first programmewas very theoretical while his secondhas been of more practical use.

Hot topics change too. In the past, hesays, globalisation was the main themepicked apart by hungry MBA studentstrying to get to grips with internationalcommerce.

Today, the top concern, he says, istechnology: how to use it to allocateresources; how to speed up processes;

how to manage international businesses;how to create sustainable businesses.His MBA background has not onlyhelped him to analyse the pivotal themesof his time, but also has helped developan understanding of how entrepreneurshave had to adapt to a changing world.

“Globalisation has taken on adifferent form,” Fang says. “Technologyhas changed globalisation. Technologymeans different things to differentpeople and it is being implemented indifferent ways.”

Technology has had a huge impact onhow business is conducted. The businesscycle, from start-up to success, hasdecreased from 10 years to one or twoyears, Fang says, pointing out that theexception to this is the healthcare sector,which has been forced to embracenecessary, but time-consumingcontrols to curate, protect and ensureethical development of products.

teven Fang has adrawer at home that contains everysingle mobile phone he has ever owned.The Singaporean entrepreneur maybe a self-confessed geek, but he didnot originally intend to create his minimuseum of mobile telephony. It is justthat he does not undertake any projectin a half-hearted way. Fang is showingno signs of slowing down, havingcreated more than a dozen companies,among them Singapore’s first privatecord blood bank, which provides stemcells from umbilical cords.

He manages to squeeze in aninterview in a brief interlude betweeninternational trips and is soon talkingabout his new passion — bringingmore funding to Singapore-basedentrepreneurs.

“Funding is the bloodline of acompany so if you mismanage it, it willdie off,” he says. “A lot of good sciencegoes to waste.”

He says he now sees himself as anenabler, able to find the right peopleand the right funding at the right time,which explains the array of companiesthat are directly invested in by Fang. Heis a shareholder and co-owner of fivestart-ups responsible for life sciences,healthcare, nutrition and funding.

He currently wears three hats inhis mission to support entrepreneurs.To begin with, he is a partner atClearbridge Accelerator, a Singapore-based technology incubator thatprovides funding and guidance andis currently looking after a dozencompanies. He is also co-founder andchief executive of a new venture calledCapBridge, a capital-raising platform setup earlier this year with Johnson Chen,a managing partner at Clearbridge, andwith the Singapore Exchange, which is astrategic co-funding partner.

Finally, Fang is chairman of ActionCommunity for Entrepreneurship,a private sector-led organisation forentrepreneurs in Singapore. Theorganisation offers mentorship andguidance by helping experienced

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Onamission: Fangis determined tobringmore fundingto Singapore-basedentrepreneurs

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‘I am proud of all myawards and am trulyappreciative of theirrecognition. Both aresought after and offervalue to recipients’

Hero: Amelia Earhart,adventurer andaviationpioneer

“There are an overwhelming numberof products within the grey area createdby new technology. We don’t yetknow how to regulate some emergingtechnologies. For example, stem cellresearch — is it biology or technology?or transgenic technology [developinghuman organs using an animal host].How do you regulate that?”

Fang insists that technology canstill help healthcare. “There is anopportunity to use technology to addressthese problems, for example datamining. If you get products to marketquicker, we save more lives. That’s thecrux of it.”

Unlike many of his peers, Fang isdriven by that need to help people. Hesays his diverse career has been givenstructure by both his family and hisChristian faith. “My philosophy is to

keep the family together,” Fang says.“The family needs to understand whatI’m doing otherwise there is no support.It is not about making money. It is abouthelping society first and I want myfamily to be part of that,” he explains,adding that he is an active member ofhis church and serves as a Sunday schoolteacher.

His impulse to do good might alsoexplain his choice of career path. Untilhis recent endeavours on the investmentand funding side, Fang’s career andmany companies have been in the lifesciences and related technologies sector.

In 2001, he founded Cordlife, thecord blood-banking group that is nowlisted on the Singapore Exchange.

His achievements have won himmany accolades including the Ernst &Young Entrepreneur of the Year award

in 2007 for Technology Innovation andthe World Economic Forum TechnologyPioneer award in the same year. “I’mproud of all my awards and am trulyappreciative of their recognition,”he says. “Both of these awards arecompetitively sought after and offersignificant value to recipients. I’m proudand honoured to be associated withthem.”

But his hard work has not comewithout a cost. It has sometimes been

hard to find the time to spend with hiswife and three daughters, who are nowaged 21, 17 and 15.

And, six years ago, at the age of 43,Fang was not the picture of health he istoday. He says he was carrying too muchweight, eating when stressed and wasdiagnosed as suffering from high bloodpressure and high cholesterol. In needof reassessing his work-life balance, healso took up marathon running. Today,he eats only one meal a day in theevening and starts the morning withcoffee and a 10-15km run. But, evenwhen it comes to his personal health,Fang does not do things by halves. Henow invests in a company that managesrunning events.

He says he still loves food, butis focusing more on savouring thedishes he consumes. “What I do like iscooking,” he muses. “You find the rightingredients and if you time it correctly,you can create an excellent dish.”

His hero, he says, is Amelia Earhart,the adventurer and aviation pioneerwho is famous for having said that oneshould “decide whether or not the goalis worth the risks involved. If it is, stopworrying.”

Fang says he admires herindomitable nature and ability tosucceed despite being surrounded bysceptics and outright critics. “If anyonewants to understand what it means to bean entrepreneur they need to understandthat kind of spirit.” BP

HoTo:GETTYIM

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20 F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

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I am being funded by my employerto do an executive MBA, but sinceembarking onmy studies I’ve realisedI would like to start my own business.I want to complete the programme,but cannot afford it myself. However,if I don’t launchmy business now Iwill have missed a once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity. What should I do?If it really is a once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity and if it really must bestarted right now, then you must dropeverything else and do it. However, Isuspect that it is less urgent than youthink. It wouldn’t matter if you pushedback the start by a few months, whichwould give you time to finish the course.Use the time to plot and research andmake contacts. Nothing concentratesthe mind as much as having far toomuch to do — so continue to do thejob and the MBA, while squirrellingaway things that will come in handyfor your business. If you take your timeyou might also realise that this crackingbusiness opportunity is not quite ascracking as you first thought, in whichcase you’ll be glad not to have droppedeverything to pursue it.

I am studying for an EMBA at a topschool but at a recent networkingevent I overheard discussionsbetween a professor and a visitingcaptain of industry and think theremight be financial impropriety goingon. If I blow the whistle it could bringthe school into disrepute and devaluemy own degree, which has cost me afortune. Should I keep quiet or let theauthorities know?This is doubly difficult. Whistleblowingalways requires a weighing up of prosand cons. In this case the cons againstspeaking out are pretty strong. Asyou say, if you have made a wallopinginvestment in the institution it makesno sense to be trying to destroy it at thesame time. However, you haven’t laid

out the case in favour. It all dependshow bad this misdemeanour is and howcertain you are that you got the rightend of the stick. If you think you mayhave misheard and misunderstood, itis then alright to say nothing. If you aresure you didn’t then you probably needto do something. I might be inclined todump the problem on someone with abit more clout. Is there anyone at theschool, a friendly professor, who you likeand trust? I would pass on to them whatyou’ve heard. It is then their problem. Ifthey do nothing, you are morally off thehook. If they take it up, there is strengthin numbers.

At the end of my EMBA a social eventis planned to which we are invitedto bring our partners. I have onlyrecently come out as gay. My partneris anxious to meet more people inmy life andmy fellow students seemvery open-minded, but I worry that itcould have implications for my career.Should I bring him?Yes, bring him. This is 2015: it isdepressing that you are even askingthe question. Being gay is not going

to hurt your job prospects. But hidingyour partner who wants to meetyour classmates will damage yourrelationship and it could damage yourcareer too. Being shifty and private willmean your colleagues will keep theirdistance. So stop being shifty; take himto the party and have a nice time. Letme know if there is any awkwardness. Ifthere is, I’ll eat my hat.

I have decided to do an EMBA andmoney is no object, but I need the

By Lucy Kellaway

It all depends on how bad themisdemeanour is and howcertain you are you got it right

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Dear Lucy...

21F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

qualification quickly to secure amuch wanted promotion. Should Ichoose a fast-route programme whereI would domost modules onlineor is it only worth doing a longerterm programme that will involveclassroom sessions in differentlocations around the world?How do you know that it would secureyou a promotion? Is there somethingwritten into the job spec that says only

people with an MBA need apply? If so,and if the promotion is the only reasonfor doing it, then get on with the onlineversion sharpish. But if you rather likethe idea of a more leisurely study, witha qualification that may be of more helpin the future, then go for that instead.Working lives are long and in the biggerscheme of things it doesn’t surely mattermuch if you get the promotion now, or alittle later.

I am hoping to get into a topschool to do an EMBA but amworried that a bad experienceearly in my career will hindermy chances. About 10 years agoI was dismissed frommy first

management level job after hugelosses at the division where I worked.I gained new employment, but havenot progressed as fast as I hoped.How can I convince admissions tutorsto overlook my early bad luck?I don’t think the early crisis is aproblem, but I think that the 10 yearsof stagnation might be. All admissionsdepartments are obsessed with theidea of learning from setbacks. If youare applying to an EMBA at Whartonthey get you to write an essay entitled“Describe a time when you were

faced with a challenge and how youresponded”. There is no setback orfailure that is too big, so long as you cancome up with a convincing spiel aboutwhat you learned as a result. And a tip:don’t say it was “bad luck”. Accept fullresponsibility for your part in the messand explain how you have changedsince then. But, most important, havea story that explains the last 10 years.That is what will really interest yourinterviewers.

My partner wants to do an EMBAbut I think it is only because hefeels inadequate when he compareshimself with me. I am a woman andI gained anMBA from a top schoolin my twenties. I have told him thathe should not bother because hiscompany provides management andleadership training, but he seemsdetermined. How can I get him to seesense?I have never met you or your partnerand have no idea about what goes onin your relationship, but judging fromyour message, you seem to be tryingto keep a good man down. Why areyou so against the idea of him havingan MBA? Far from it being a case ofhim trying to be equal, it sounds like acase of you desperate for him not to be.Why do you assume that his MBA is allabout you? Why shouldn’t he want onefor all the same reasons that hundredsof thousands of other people also wantone? None of them is signing up foryears of work and eye watering expensejust to feel equal with their partners. Buteven, if you are right, and getting one upon you is his main motivation, you stillshouldn’t be discouraging him. It is youwho needs to see sense. B

Lucy Kellaway is an FT associate editorand management columnist, and writesthe weekly Dear Lucy advice column inthe newspaper and online

All admissions departments areobsessed with the idea of learningfrom setbacks or failures

rank

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EMBA 2015

Rankings, p26

Full table of 100topprogrammes

Methodology, p30

How the listswere compiled

Analysis, p24

What the 2015survey reveals

Theworld’s topprogrammes forworkingmanagers andhow they compare

24 F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

RANKINGS

All the wayto the topSuccessofTiembaalumnihelpsamainlandChinaschool jointheleaders.ByLaurentOrtmans

41% 59% 27% 73% 25% 75%

Avg salary($’000)*

203 216 137

187

32%

49%

251

48%

42%

152

40%

44%

Entrepreneurs(%)who raisedequitywhollyfrom friends&family or ownsavings

Startedowncompany

Total number ofrespondents, byregionof residence

Entrepreneurialismin theEMBAClass of 2012

Entrepreneur Nonentrepreneur

Companies startedbyoverseasentrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs (%)whose companyismain sourceof income

Average salaryfrom thismainsource ($,000)*

* PPP adjusted, seemethodologypage 30

108 839 1,444

Africa

Asia/OceaniaEurope

10%15% 7%The 2015 FT GlobalExecutive MBA rankingthis year is remarkable fortwo reasons. Not only isit the FT’s 100th ranking

of business schools, but it also marksthe first time that a programme thatincludes a mainland Chinese businessschool has occupied the top position.

The joint programme deliveredby Tsinghua and Insead University(Tiemba) moved up two places to leadthe 2015 global executive MBA ranking,dethroning Trium, which drops back tothird place after only one year at the top.

The EMBA ranking rates the best100 programmes worldwide for workingsenior executives. The ranking is basedon a survey of business schools aswell as their students who graduatedin 2012. The data measure howsuccessful alumni have been in theircareer in terms of salary, seniority andachievements since graduating.

For the fourth year in a row, the topfive places continue to be dominated bythe same five intercontinental EMBAs.Tiemba came top this year not byspectacularly outperforming its rivals

25F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

GRAPHIC

:RUSSELLBIR

KETT,LAURENTORTMANS

% 26% 74% 24% 76%24% 76%

7 193 172 215

244

30%

50%

180

37%

42%

141

23%

52%

192 1,214 92

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Middle-East

North America

SouthAmerica

15% 4% 4%

but thanks to a strong performanceacross most indicators. In particular, thealumni have the second highest salaryon average ($324,000) behind alumnifrom the Kellogg/HKUST programme($408,000). Tiemba is also rankedsecond for career progression and fourthfor work experience.

Five schools from five differentcountries are ranked for the first time.Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian Schoolof Business is the highest new entrantcoming straight into 36th place.Canada’s Queen’s Smith School ofBusiness registered the best progression,climbing 32 places to 67th.

Overall, starting a companyranked lowest among reasons citedfor undertaking an EMBA (rated 5.5out 10). Students’ main motivationswere learning about management(9.1), networking (8.3) and increasingearnings (8.1).

While 17 per cent of graduatesrated starting a company as jointmost important reason, only 2 percent of them saw it as their main soleambition. However, entrepreneurship isclearly growing on them, as more thana quarter of graduates (26 per cent)reported starting their own companyduring their EMBA or since graduating.

Nearly all the entrepreneurs (93per cent) rated their new skills asimportant or very important in theirdecision. “I understand the value ofmy skills without the ‘fear’ of not beingemployed,” said one.

Also important to EMBAentrepreneurs was the support of theirschool and alumni network. Aboutthree-quarters of entrepreneurs thoughtthat both the school and their alumninetwork were helpful or very helpfulwhen setting up their company. “Alumnisupport was key to getting the ideavetted and getting the right contactsneeded for the business”, said one.

About 40 per cent of entrepreneursdid not seek any help when securingfinance. Half of these raised equitypurely from their own savings and/orfamily and friends compared with only40 per cent of those who sought helpfrom the school or alumni network.

About 40 per cent of entrepreneursderive most of their income from theircompany with an average salary ofabout $194,000 compared to $171,000for non-entrepreneurs. Entrepreneursin Asia/Oceania seem to be the mostsuccessful. Nearly half (48 per cent) ofthem earn most of their income fromtheir company and earn the highestsalary ($251,000 on average), justahead of those based in the Middle-East($244,000). B

RANKIN

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26 F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

EMBA 2015

Newentrant to thetop10:SaïdBreaking into the top 10 for the first time, Saïd’sEMBAprogramme jumped 12 places to achieve9th spot in the rankings. Theprogrammeentered the rankings in 2010 andhas graduallybeen improving since sinking to a lowof 38thplace in 2012.

Saïd has thehighest ranked single EMBAprogramme in theUKand secondhighest inEuropebehind Spain’s IE Business School. Thegraduates have, on average, thehighest salarythree years after graduating, comparedwithgraduates fromother British schools, and thesecondhighest salary increase.Entrepreneurship is a key feature of the

programme,withmore thanhalf the graduatesstarting their owncompany.—LO

Topprogramme:Tsinghua/InseadTheTsinghua-InseadEMBAprogramme,launched in 2007, entered the FT rankingswith a bang in 2012, going straight into fourthplacewith its very first cohort. Theprogrammehas since been ranked second, third, andfinally has achieved first place in the rankingsthis year.Tiemba scores highly for international

experience, beingdeliveredhalf onTsinghua’scampus inBeijing aswell as on Insead’sthree campuses in Singapore, France andtheUAE.Theprogramme is ranked second for career

progress three years after graduation. Tiemba’sgraduates number only about 250 so far,makingthemanelite group.—LaurentOrtmans

FINANCIALTIMESEXECUTIVEMBA2015The top 100executiveMBAprogrammes (continuedoverleaf)

2015 2014 2013

Three-yearaverage Schoolname Country Programmename

1 3 2 2 Tsinghua University/Insead China/Singapore/UAE/France Tsinghua-Insead EMBA

2 2 1 2 Kellogg/HKUST Business School China Kellogg-HKUST EMBA

3 1 4 3 Trium: HEC Paris/LSE/New York University: Stern France/UK/US Trium Global EMBA

4 5 3 4 Columbia/London Business School US/UK EMBA-Global Americas and Europe

5 4 5 5 UCLA: Anderson/National University of Singapore US/Singapore UCLA-NUS EMBA

6 7 6 6 Washington University: Olin China Washington - Fudan EMBA

7 9 11 9 Insead France/Singapore/UAE Insead Global EMBA

8 13 - - IE Business School Spain Global EMBA

9 21 23 18 University of Oxford: Saïd UK Oxford EMBA

10= 8 13 10 Nanyang Business School Singapore Nanyang EMBA

10= 17 32 20 Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Antai China Antai EMBA

12 11 9 11 University of Chicago: Booth US/UK/China EMBA

13 16 25 18 ESCP Europe France/UK/Germany/Spain/Italy ESCP Europe EMBA

14 6 7 9 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton US Wharton MBA for Executives

15 12 12 13 Iese Business School Spain/US GEMBA

16 10 10 12 Ceibs China Ceibs Global EMBA

17 19 8 15 Duke University: Fuqua US Duke MBA - Global Executive

18 15 19 17 IMD Switzerland IMD EMBA

19 25 20 21 London Business School UK/UAE EMBA

20 22 18 20 Kellogg/WHU Beisheim Germany Kellogg-WHU EMBA

21 19 21 20 Warwick Business School UK Warwick EMBA

22 13 24 20 Northwestern University: Kellogg US Kellogg EMBA

23 27 43 31 Kedge Business School France/China Kedge-SJTU Global MBA

24 36 - - University of Cambridge: Judge UK Cambridge EMBA

25= 18 17 20 National University of Singapore Business School Singapore NUS Asia-Pacific EMBA

25= 33 26 28 Kellogg/York University: Schulich Canada Kellogg-Schulich EMBA

27 28 22 26 Korea University Business School South Korea EMBA

28= 22 15 22 Georgetown University/Esade Business School US/Spain Global EMBA

28= 25 30 28 Columbia Business School US EMBA

30 30 29 30 ESMT - European School of Management and Technology Germany ESMT EMBA

31 24 13 23 CUHK Business School China EMBA

32 40 35 36 City University: Cass UK/UAE EMBA

33 34 34 34 New York University: Stern US NYU Stern EMBA

34 38 27 33 OneMBA China/Netherlands/US/Brazil/Mexico OneMBA: Xiamen/RSM/UNC/FGV São Paulo/Egade

Keytothe2015rankings

Weights for ranking criteria are shown inbrackets as a percentage.SalarytodayUS$ (20): average salarythree years after graduation, US$PPPequivalent (seemethodology, page 30).†Salary increase (20): averagedifference in salary betweenbeforethe EMBAandnow.Half of this figureis calculated according to the absolutesalary increase andhalf according tothe percentage increase relative to thepre-EMBAsalary— the figure publishedin the table.†Careerprogress (5): calculatedaccording to changes in the level ofseniority and the size of companyalumniwork innow, versus before theirEMBA.†Workexperience (5): ameasure of thepre-EMBAexperience according to theseniority of positions held, number ofyears in eachposition, company sizeandoverseaswork experience.†Aimsachieved(5): the extent towhichalumni fulfilled their goals or reasons fordoing anEMBA.†Female faculty (3):percentage offemale faculty. For the three gender-related criteria, schools that have 50:50(male:female) composition receive thehighest possible score.Femalestudents (3):percentage offemale students on theprogramme.Womenonboard (1):percentage offemalemembers of the advisory board.International faculty (5): calculatedaccording to thediversity of faculty bycitizenship and thepercentagewhosecitizenship differs from their country ofemployment— thepublished figure.

27F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

Key continued overleaf

TABLES:JO

HN

BRADLEY

PHOTO:CHARLIE

BIB

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Topfor internationalstudents:LBSIn an increasingly globalised world, manybusiness schools are looking to add elementsthat ensure their programmes are relevantinternationally. The one to beat this year isLondon Business School’s EMBA programme,which is ranked 19th overall, but first forinternational diversity for the second year.

The programme is divided into twocohorts based in London and Dubai. In thelatest enrolled cohort, about 90 per cent areinternational students and they come from 52countries.

Students from India represent the singlelargest grouping from one country (14 per centof students). LBS also has a high proportion ofstudents from the Middle East. —LO

Career progress School diversity Idea generation

Salary

today

(US$

)

Salary

increa

se(%)

Caree

rprogress

rank

Work

experience

rank

Aim

sachieved(%)

Femalefacu

lty(%)

Femalestuden

ts(%)

Women

onboard(%)

Internationalfacu

lty(%)

Internationalstuden

tsrank

Internationalboard(%)

Internationalco

urse

experience

rank

Languag

es

Facu

ltywith

doctorates(%)

FTdoctoralran

k

FTresearch

rank

Ran

k20

15

324,115 80 2 4 81 27 18 12 47 19 70 9 1 96 2 33 1

408,431 39 14 2 78 21 28 23 79 11 87 30 1 98 18 16 2

283,830 49 42 1 82 26 27 16 91 7 88 1 1 99 12 15 3

231,836 72 30 42 83 21 23 17 72 18 42 10 1 98 13 6 4

250,956 53 19 5 82 28 24 18 72 8 58 5 1 93 38 32 5

299,932 49 58 11 74 23 37 14 90 47 100 32 1 98 78 18 6

212,019 56 39 9 78 16 25 25 93 4 85 12 1 97 11 9 7

225,033 56 34 8 83 37 26 46 61 5 84 7 2 98 79 60 8

229,205 73 15 15 83 18 24 57 61 14 71 37 1 100 33 49 9

242,328 65 12 41 75 34 17 22 66 24 56 10 2 99 56 48 10

292,525 92 63 71 75 30 25 16 3 94 42 74 1 91 9 78 10

231,232 51 28 35 75 15 24 12 78 9 43 33 1 96 4 3 12

184,730 72 3 29 83 35 25 35 71 31 52 3 2 95 71 87 13

208,412 54 20 86 75 20 28 17 37 45 50 69 1 99 1 1 14

214,049 63 55 13 77 21 20 26 76 3 87 4 1 100 69 68 15

313,442 37 9 18 77 13 36 8 69 52 50 22 1 98 94 63 16

251,645 32 56 12 75 16 21 17 40 29 51 2 1 99 16 8 17

261,397 40 31 3 74 16 23 13 95 2 87 15 1 100 94 83 18

181,083 41 23 30 77 27 20 32 86 1 63 26 1 100 20 4 19

182,078 55 5 32 82 19 12 20 78 16 80 30 1 98 24 19 20

154,471 92 10 65 76 34 24 20 78 27 20 55 1 100 14 36 21

239,190 53 48 33 78 20 23 22 34 92 28 62 1 97 7 10 22

196,998 114 22 99 73 24 35 36 42 60 39 29 1 91 68 90 23

196,939 55 7 14 79 14 18 28 74 10 39 47 1 98 29 24 24

233,946 51 51 17 75 34 27 14 55 12 29 16 1 89 52 53 25

167,343 51 45 39 80 22 33 22 83 6 78 17 1 97 28 14 25

246,492 92 69 58 79 8 6 38 10 97 19 34 2 100 43 71 27

200,170 50 53 10 77 30 37 20 65 28 60 5 1 98 77 50 28

209,988 55 27 89 75 17 23 12 61 41 34 75 1 96 8 7 28

168,636 56 1 19 83 27 33 33 82 22 11 26 1 100 94 69 30

263,132 52 91 24 68 18 38 50 52 33 100 46 1 98 67 30 31

156,631 68 26 68 76 29 30 45 80 15 55 42 1 96 42 42 32

208,765 39 52 67 69 20 35 13 50 36 19 48 1 100 10 2 33

e 185,718 64 62 28 77 26 23 24 26 42 21 14 1 95 26 51 34

FootnoteAlthough theheadline rankingfigures showchanges in thedatayear toyear, thepatternof clusteringamong the schools is equallysignificant. Some235points separateTsinghuaUniversity/Inseadat the top fromthe twoschoolsranked99th. Thefirst 17 business schools, fromTsinghuaUniversity/Insead toDukeUniversity:Fuqua, form thefirst tier of schools. The secondtier is headedby IMD, about95points aboveFordhamUniversityGraduate School of Businessat thebottomof this group.RutgersBusinessSchoolheads the third tier.

RANKINGS

28 F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

Highestnewentrant:SingaporeManagementUniversity:LeeKongChianMaking its debut at number 36, the Singapore-based programme is the highest-ranked of fiveEMBAs entering the ranking for the first time.

Applicants for the SMU EMBA must have atleast 10 years of professional experience beforeenrolling. The programme, therefore, has amongthe most experienced students in the ranking.

The S$109,500 degree involves six weeks atthe Singapore campus, plus three week-longimmersions around the world. As well as PekingUniversity in China and the Indian School ofBusiness, participants also visit the University ofPennsylvania’s Wharton school, on which SMUis itself modelled.—AdamPalin

Highest riser:Queen’sUniversity:SmithThe Ontario school’s EMBA programme is one ofsix offered by Canadian universities to make itinto this year’s top 100.

After a 32-place leap in ranking to number 67,the course is now only 14 places behind Queen’sjoint EMBA with US university Cornell. CostingC$98,000, it is a little less than C$32,000 cheaperthan the joint programme.

Students can attend classes during the16-month programme from anywhere inCanada, interacting through real-time videoconferencing. For those who cannot join peersin one of the “boardroom learning centres”, theycan log in from home, but all students mustattend some classes in Kingston, Ontario.—AP

FINANCIALTIMESEXECUTIVEMBA2015The top 100 executive MBA programmes (continued overleaf)

2015 2014 2013

Three-yearaverage Schoolname Country Programmename

35 29 28 31 Arizona State University: Carey China Carey/SNAI EMBA

36 - - - Singapore Management University: Lee Kong Chian Singapore EMBA

37 36 31 35 Georgetown University: McDonough US EMBA

38 38 33 36 Imperial College Business School UK EMBA

39 44 - - University of Maryland: Smith US Smith EMBA

40 31 39 37 Rice University: Jones US Rice MBA for Executives

41 51 64 52 University of St Gallen Switzerland EMBA HSG

42 41 42 42 UCLA: Anderson US EMBA

43 35 40 39 University of Michigan: Ross US EMBA

44 62 46 51 WU/University of Minnesota: Carlson Austria Global EMBA

45= 50 45 47 Essec/Mannheim France/Germany/Singapore Essec & Mannheim EMBA

45= 56 70 57 Yonsei University School of Business South Korea EMBA

47 45 36 43 University of Toronto: Rotman Canada Rotman EMBA

48 55 54 52 BI Norwegian Business School/Fudan University School of Management China BI-Fudan MBA

49 53 - - Henley Business School UK Henley EMBA

50 64 58 57 University of Strathclyde Business School UK/Switzerland/Greece/UAE/Bahrain/Oman Strathclyde EMBA

51 53 57 54 University of Pittsburgh: Katz US/Brazil/Czech Republic EMBA Worldwide

52 52 63 56 Centrum Católica Peru/Colombia Global MBA

53= 47 40 47 Cornell University: Johnson/Queen's University: Smith US/Canada EMBA Americas

53= 48 43 48 Western University: Ivey Canada/China Ivey EMBA

55 42 37 45 Cornell University: Johnson US Cornell EMBA

56 77 92 75 University of Zurich Switzerland Zurich EMBA

57 68 79 68 Tongji University/ENPC China Shanghai International MBA

58 49 51 53 University of Hong Kong China HKU-Fudan IMBA

59 78 - - Koç University Graduate School of Business Turkey EMBA

60 61 48 56 Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Netherlands EMBA

61 45 47 51 Kozminski University Poland EMBA

62 91 79 77 Copenhagen Business School Denmark CBS EMBA

63 57 49 56 Emory University: Goizueta US Weekend EMBA

64= 60 65 63 Texas A & M University: Mays US Texas A&M EMBA

64= 70 59 64 SDA Bocconi Italy EMBA

64= 83 68 72 National Sun Yat-sen University Taiwan EMBA

67= 59 55 60 Antwerp Management School Belgium/Russia EMBA

67= 99 89 85 Queen's University: Smith Canada Queen's EMBA

29F T. COM / BU S I N E S S - EDUC AT I ON

Keycontinued

Internationalstudents (5): thepercentage of current EMBAstudentswhose citizenship and country ofresidencediffers from the countryinwhich they study, aswell as theirdiversity by citizenship.Internationalboard (2):percentageof the boardwhose citizenship differsfrom the country inwhich the businessschool is situated.Internationalcourseexperience (5):percentage of classroom teachinghoursthat are conductedoutside the countryinwhich the business school is situated.Languages (1):number of languagesrequiredupon graduation.Facultywithdoctorates (5):percentage of full-time facultywith adoctoral degree.FTdoctoral rank(5): calculatedaccording to thenumber of doctoralgraduates fromeachbusiness schoolduring thepast three years. Additionalpoints are awarded if these graduatestookup faculty positions at oneof thetop 50 full-timeMBAschools of 2015.FTresearchrank(10): calculatedaccording to thenumber of articlespublishedby a school’s current fulltimefacultymembers in 45 academicandpractitioner journals betweenJanuary 2012 andAugust 2015. Therank combines the absolute number ofpublicationswith thenumberweightedrelative to the faculty’s size.

† Includes data for the current year andthe oneor twopreceding yearswhereavailable.

FootnoteAlthough theheadline rankingfigures showchanges in thedatayear toyear, thepatternof clusteringamong the schools is equallysignificant. Some235points separateTsinghuaUniversity/Inseadat the top fromthe twoschoolsranked99th. Thefirst 17 business schools, fromTsinghuaUniversity/Insead toDukeUniversity:Fuqua, form thefirst tier of schools. The secondtier is headedby IMD, about95points aboveFordhamUniversityGraduate School of Businessat thebottomof this group.RutgersBusinessSchoolheads the third tier.

TopSouthAmerican:CentrumCatólicaThePeruvianbusiness school is oneof twoSouthAmerican institutions represented in theFT’s 2015 ranking, and is ranked 52nd, the sameposition as last year.The 18-monthEMBA is based in Peru’s

capital, Lima,with three out of eightmodulestaught overseas. Aswell as visitingChina,students attend classes at IE Business Schoolin Spain andTulaneUniversity’s Freemanschool inNewOrleans—a strategic partner ofCentrumCatólica.Centrum is the graduate business school

of the Pontifical CatholicUniversity of Peru,the country’s oldest private university,whichcelebrates its 100th anniversary in 2017. —AP

Career progress School diversity Idea generation

Salarytoday

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Salaryincrease

(%)

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Femalefaculty

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onboard(%)

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Languages

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FTdoctoralrank

FTresearch

rank

Rank20

15

200,144 74 84 54 75 24 25 8 96 97 100 86 1 91 44 34 35

270,447 28 88 6 71 23 29 17 58 34 44 21 1 94 86 47 36

190,675 54 36 60 76 30 42 16 35 59 19 40 1 100 94 22 37

130,104 64 18 90 78 31 24 45 89 20 64 55 1 100 49 45 38

177,861 41 6 46 83 30 23 22 35 86 12 86 1 97 25 20 39

223,307 49 64 43 81 26 15 19 16 25 0 73 1 93 90 41 40

159,327 47 4 20 82 9 27 50 77 63 50 35 2 100 83 61 41

187,862 37 68 40 77 19 27 19 40 56 14 48 1 100 17 17 42

203,326 42 78 57 74 31 19 20 35 74 9 86 1 87 5 12 43

168,022 35 54 7 78 35 15 30 46 17 92 17 1 91 34 56 44

138,107 45 25 22 77 29 35 10 36 23 39 13 1 99 30 67 45

237,864 62 81 96 72 14 15 30 11 97 50 48 1 100 48 76 45

136,270 31 57 34 73 22 29 55 73 38 27 28 1 99 15 5 47

172,984 83 38 81 72 28 53 17 17 95 34 39 1 79 46 77 48

142,037 60 24 50 78 44 37 40 46 39 33 86 1 88 23 92 49

152,953 63 43 63 72 36 24 35 97 13 47 86 1 83 41 85 50

192,391 42 61 44 71 28 25 11 61 44 4 22 1 92 50 39 51

211,812 36 50 25 71 18 29 31 68 40 77 7 2 82 92 97 52

164,027 53 40 61 75 27 19 23 41 37 41 60 1 93 72 28 53

174,456 41 74 37 74 25 25 50 53 46 75 62 1 99 61 26 53

208,058 41 94 47 72 21 26 21 37 54 36 69 1 89 81 21 55

127,961 34 8 21 79 15 26 50 83 49 67 58 2 100 19 38 56

149,743 86 80 76 71 37 42 17 7 82 58 86 1 86 27 91 57

128,390 88 66 94 71 31 53 17 35 97 17 86 2 96 51 59 58

157,096 58 46 72 72 42 23 20 29 77 80 83 1 100 66 80 59

121,885 45 60 66 71 25 28 32 47 30 34 59 2 100 22 23 60

144,509 70 49 80 73 36 39 15 21 67 69 62 2 88 57 98 61

121,752 35 13 38 74 34 23 36 40 48 9 35 1 90 3 52 62

164,676 40 33 74 74 23 37 17 17 58 3 81 1 92 64 35 63

183,076 36 35 23 75 30 16 28 21 69 0 86 1 79 58 29 64

141,858 51 79 62 70 37 23 25 30 93 67 75 2 92 37 44 64

161,504 61 71 93 77 26 30 38 7 90 23 86 1 96 47 95 64

149,590 42 77 52 78 29 34 20 48 73 90 20 2 86 91 94 67

130,543 45 70 78 72 32 36 24 49 53 44 60 1 96 62 46 67

RANKINGS

30

Methodology

The Financial Times’15th annual ranking ofexecutive MBA degreeslists the world’s top 100programmes for senior

working managers.EMBA programmes must meet

certain criteria in order to beconsidered for the ranking. The schoolsmust be accredited by either the US’sAssociation to Advance CollegiateSchools of Business or the EuropeanEquis accreditation bodies. Theirprogrammes must also have run for atleast four consecutive years.This year, 129 programmes took

part in the ranking process, including

16 delivered jointly by more than oneschool.Data for the ranking are collected

using two online surveys: onecompleted by participating schools andone by alumni who graduated fromtheir nominated programmes in 2012.For schools to be ranked, 20 per

cent of their alumni must respond tothe survey, and there must be 20 fullycompleted responses. A total of 4,610alumni completed the survey — 49 percent of participants.Alumni responses inform five

ranking criteria: “salary today”, “salaryincrease”, “career progress”, “workexperience” and “aims achieved”. They

Rank Business School

1 University of Pennsylvania:Wharton

2 Columbia Business School3 SMU: Cox4 University of Chicago: Booth5 Frankfurt School of Finance

and Management6 UniversityofRochester: Simon7 Tulane University: Freeman8 UCLA: Anderson9 Columbia/LondonBusinessSchool10 London Business School

Topforfinance*

*As ratedby2012 graduates

F T. C O M / B U S I N E S S - E D U C AT I O N

FINANCIALTIMESEXECUTIVEMBA2015The top 100executiveMBAprogrammes

2015 2014 2013

Three-yearaverage Schoolname Country Programmename

69 67 75 70 University of Washington: Foster US EMBA

70 - 67 - Vanderbilt University: Owen US Vanderbilt EMBA

71 63 77 70 SMU: Cox US SMU Cox EMBA

72 90 89 84 Michigan State University: Broad US EMBA

73= 82 86 80 Vlerick Business School Belgium EMBA

73= 97 93 88 Tias Business School Netherlands EMBA

75 74 56 68 University of Texas at Austin: McCombs US Texas EMBA

76= 83 85 81 Aalto University Finland/S. Korea/Singapore/Poland/Taiwan Aalto EMBA

76= 88 - - Tulane University: Freeman US EMBA

78 95 99 91 Stockholm School of Economics Sweden SSE MBA

79 76 66 74 Fordham University: Gabelli US Fordham EMBA

80 70 72 74 Rutgers Business School US Rutgers EMBA

81 81 69 77 HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management Germany Part-Time MBA

82 94 81 86 University College Dublin: Smurfit Ireland Smurfit EMBA

83= 93 87 88 HEC Lausanne Switzerland EMBA

83= - 93 - University of Georgia: Terry US Terry EMBA

83= 95 - - University of Utah: Eccles US EMBA

86 73 59 73 Cranfield School of Management UK Cranfield EMBA

87= 80 70 79 University of Pretoria, Gibs South Africa Modular & Part-Time MBA

87= 70 - - Grenoble Graduate School of Business Georgia/Russia Part-Time MBA

89= 75 51 72 Georgia State University: Robinson US EMBA

89= - - - Georgia Institute of Technology: Scheller US EMBA

91 87 81 86 University of Alberta/University of Calgary: Haskayne Canada Alberta/Haskayne EMBA

92 98 - - Sabanci University School of Management Turkey Sabanci EMBA

93= 86 96 92 University of Rochester: Simon US/Switzerland EMBA

93= - - - Frankfurt School of Finance and Management Germany EMBA

95 100 - - Coppead Brazil EMBA

96 91 84 90 EMLyon Business School France EMBA

97 - - - Toulouse Business School France/Morocco TBS EMBA

98 - - - BI Norwegian Business School Norway BI EMBA

99= - - - Bradford University School of Management UK/UAE EMBA

99= - - - The Lisbon MBA Portugal Lisbon Part-Time MBA

31F T. C O M / B U S I N E S S - E D U C AT I O N

each school according to the differencein average alumni salary before theEMBA to three years after graduation,a period of typically four to fiveyears. Half of this figure is calculatedaccording to the absolute increaseand half according to the percentageincrease relative to pre-MBA salaries.

Where available, data collated by theFT for the two previous rankings areused for all alumni-informed criteria.Responses from the 2015 surveycarry 50 per cent of the total weightand those from 2014 and 2013 eachaccount for 25 per cent. Excludingsalary-related criteria, if only two yearsof data are available, the weighting is

split 60:40 if data are from 2015 and2014, or 70:30 if from 2015 and 2013.For salary figures, the weighting is50:50 for two years’ data, to negate anyinflation-related distortions.

Information provided by the businessschools themselves inform the next 10criteria that collectively account for35 per cent of the final ranking. Thesemeasure the diversity of teaching staff,board members and EMBA students,according to gender and nationality,as well as the international reach ofthe programme. For gender-relatedcriteria, schools that have a 50:50(male:female) composition receive thehighest possible score.

In addition to the percentage ofschools’ students and faculty thatare international, the composition ofthese groups by individual citizenshipinforms a diversity-measuring scorethat feeds into the calculation.

The final criterion, the FT researchrank, accounts for 10 per cent of theranking. It is calculated accordingto the number of articles publishedby schools’ full-time faculty in 45internationally recognised academicand practitioner journals. The rankcombines the absolute number ofpublications, between January 2012and August 2015, with the number ofpublications weighted relative to thefaculty’s size.

The FT ranking is a relativeranking. Schools are ranked againsteach other by calculating a Z-scorefor each criterion. Z-scores representthe number of standard deviationseach school’s data is away from themean. Z-scores allow the ranking tobe based on very different criteria(salary, percentages, points) since theyare unitless. These scores are thenweighted as outlined in the ranking keyand added together for a final score.

After removing the schools that didnot have a sufficient response rate fromthe alumni survey, a first version iscalculated using all remaining schools.The school at the bottom is removedand a second version is calculated. Thisaction is repeated until we reach thetop 100. The top 100 schools are rankedaccordingly to produce the 2015 list.Laurent Ortmans

Judith Pizer of Jeff Head Associatesacted as the FT’s database consultant

account together for 55 per cent of theranking’s weight. The first two criteriaabout alumni salaries are the mostheavily weighted, each counting for 20per cent.

Salaries of non-profit and publicsector workers, as well as full-timestudents, are removed. Remainingsalaries are converted to US dollarsusing the latest purchasing powerparity (PPP) rates supplied by theInternational Monetary Fund. Thevery highest and lowest salaries aresubsequently removed and the meanaverage “current salary” is calculatedfor each school.

“Salary increase” is calculated for

INTERACTIVErankings atwww.ft.com/rankings

Career progress School diversity Idea generation

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166,122 32 87 75 70 29 31 22 22 85 8 83 1 92 32 13 69

135,938 62 100 95 79 17 31 11 19 80 3 67 1 100 93 31 70

172,140 36 11 55 76 21 23 13 26 62 3 68 1 92 94 66 71

144,484 48 41 91 70 34 30 26 25 68 0 86 1 88 53 27 72

121,022 55 16 73 74 29 20 17 24 43 92 48 2 90 80 79 73

111,017 45 44 83 74 26 32 20 40 50 0 79 1 91 6 58 73

150,792 40 86 84 75 27 19 10 30 87 2 62 1 85 35 11 75

134,477 48 85 53 73 34 29 43 21 78 86 40 1 95 45 75 76

157,588 42 83 87 70 38 44 14 39 76 28 69 1 88 84 55 76

127,340 45 67 36 75 25 34 14 31 35 0 55 1 96 55 73 78

162,877 51 72 97 70 35 33 20 30 51 9 48 1 86 94 74 79

160,492 43 32 85 73 19 32 22 25 72 0 75 1 76 31 64 80

116,043 62 29 100 76 9 35 9 18 57 22 69 2 100 40 99 81

115,898 48 97 56 76 36 19 17 50 70 61 86 1 100 54 72 82

113,604 18 75 16 78 28 19 27 79 21 55 62 1 100 36 81 83

161,934 34 21 70 73 31 23 22 22 96 0 86 1 90 70 40 83

142,754 41 96 59 76 31 33 15 30 91 6 45 1 86 63 43 83

128,048 44 73 48 72 24 17 17 52 64 35 48 2 93 39 84 86

190,343 51 65 88 70 32 36 62 6 89 0 79 1 68 87 93 87

106,568 61 95 98 66 41 37 56 45 65 56 22 1 82 21 86 87

156,963 33 92 51 66 32 37 17 31 55 19 48 1 83 60 37 89

144,762 40 59 64 73 17 20 15 46 79 6 83 1 83 75 25 89

134,896 36 82 69 75 26 27 20 51 61 9 75 1 85 65 57 91

132,781 34 76 92 69 43 19 8 30 83 100 43 1 100 89 62 92

126,336 38 89 49 75 16 34 11 30 70 17 22 1 83 59 54 93

137,351 41 37 45 77 16 18 0 12 88 0 86 1 96 88 65 93

148,613 36 90 79 68 44 28 27 19 75 36 86 2 100 85 99 95

105,123 23 17 31 74 34 24 11 46 66 89 38 2 95 76 88 96

128,963 46 98 27 64 42 22 40 43 81 30 44 1 92 94 96 97

125,526 35 47 26 71 25 27 62 23 32 12 19 1 70 73 82 98

111,918 51 93 82 67 42 23 27 31 26 45 86 1 85 74 89 99

110,362 47 99 77 68 36 24 50 30 84 50 82 2 96 82 70 99

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Post-EMBA careers, p34

Gearing up forentrepreneurs

Meet the dean, p43

A perfect fit forDarden

Easydecision:ChristerHollomanquit his seniormanagement role togo it alone

Change of course

Christer Holloman found his true path four months into his EMBA , p38

Post-EMBA careers, p34

Gearing up for entrepreneurs

Meet the dean, p43

A perfect fi t for

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Christine Marcus didnot plan on choosingentrepreneurship from themenu when she enrolledon the MIt Sloan executive

MBA programme. “If someone had toldme I’d leave Sloan as CEo of a foodtech start-up, I would have assumedthey’d had one too many sangrias,” saysMarcus, who took the EMBA to giveher a broader perspective beyond herbackground as a chief financial officerat the US Department of Energy inWashington, DC.

But after graduating in 2013,Marcus and classmate Sal Lupoli co-founded Phoodeez (being rebranded asAlchemista), a tech-enabled corporatecatering start-up that helps peopleorder the correct amount of food fortheir number of guests, in a bid toavoid huge amounts of wasted cateredfood at meetings and events. “While Iloved my career in federal governmentand public service, I know now thatentrepreneurship is a part of my souland a very exciting way to impact theworld.”

Entrepreneurship education isan exploding, multi-billion dollarindustry. But amid the froth, hyperbole

Businessschoolsarebeginningtotakestart-upsmoreseriously.ByIanWyliePhotographbyScottNobles

Newdirection:ChristineMarcusmoved frombeingchief financial officerat theUSDepartmentof Energy toentrepreneur

Entrepreneurshipclasses growup

and excitement, business schools arebeginning to question the purpose ofentrepreneurship education on theirEMBA curriculums. Is it to incubate thenext hot-shot invention? or should theyequip graduates with proven knowledgeand skills to launch their own start-ups?or should they send executives back totheir employers to kick-start innovationas “intrapreneurs”?

Bill Aulet, one of Marcus’s seniorlecturers at MIt Sloan, believes it istime entrepreneurship education inbusiness schools grew up, underpinningclasses with greater academic researchand rigour.

“People say entrepreneurshipeducation is all practitioner based,but that’s like saying we don’t need toresearch medicine to train doctors,”says Aulet, who is managing directorof the Martin trust Center for MItEntrepreneurship and author ofDisciplined Entrepreneurship, a bookthat argues entrepreneurship canbe chunked into specific, teachablebehaviours and processes.

“Business schools are full ofentrepreneurs telling stories abouttheir experiences, but students needstrong pedagogy too,” argues Aulet, whorecently launched the EntrepreneurshipEducators Forum, an open-sourcecommunity for entrepreneurshipeducators to share information and bestpractices.

Steve Blank, a Silicon Valleyserial-entrepreneur and adjunctprofessor at Columbia, NYU Sternand Berkeley-haas, is another criticof the way business schools teachentrepreneurship. “Not every EMBA

‘If someone had told me I’dleave Sloan as CEO of a foodtech start-up, I would haveassumed they’d had one toomany sangrias’

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student wants to start their ownbusiness, but every student should belearning corporate entrepreneurship,”says Blank. “Large companies are beingcontinually disrupted and to respondthey need executives who understandhow start-ups innovate at speed.”

However, Blank, who developedthe “lean start-up” method, says moreresearch is needed to develop specifictools for corporate entrepreneurs andwarns EMBA students to examinecourse content carefully. “If the capstoneof the entrepreneurship class is still‘how to write a business plan’ or if thecurriculum looks the same as five yearsago, you’re probably joining the wrongschool,” he advises.

George Abe, faculty director at UCLAAnderson School of Management,says the tools and knowledge taughtto EMBA students must be applicableto all sectors. “Most schools emphasisea minimum viable product or leanstart-up approach, which is hip andapplicable for businesses like socialmedia, B2C and games,” he says. “But it’snot really suited to biotech, alternativeenergy or international businessservices. Also most schools don’t teachspin-offs, corporate venture capitalor family business and successionplanning.”

Local or regional context are alsoshaping how some schools now viewentrepreneurship. Bernard Garrette,strategy professor at HEC, believes theschool’s strength is in making managers,

not inventors. “Like all schools, wefound there was a strong appetite forentrepreneurship, but we also realisedthat in most cases students came upwith ideas that were just copies of thingsthey’d seen elsewhere.”

In response, HEC has redesignedits entrepreneurship specialisationto introduce students to engineers,scientists and researchers at otherinstitutions within the local Paris-Saclayresearch cluster.

“Instead of trying to transformbusiness people into inventors or viceversa, we allow each partner to dowhat they are very good at.”

The European School ofManagement and Technologyin Berlin has always hada core entrepreneurshipmodule on its EMBA. But Berlin’sflourishing reputation as a start-upcapital and the creation of a newGerman Tech EntrepreneurshipCenter on campus means theschool is attracting more entrepreneurs

to the EMBA who value the opportunityto spend time with like minds, explainsassociate dean Nick Barniville.

“Some students will start theirown businesses after they graduate,but not always to the detriment of thesponsoring company,” says Barnivillewho points to the example of AndréGlardon, a recent EMBA graduate fromSiemens who started his own chain ofMRI clinics leasing Siemens machines.

At EMLyon there is a new elective —the “European entrepreneurial journey”,which will link EMBA students withacademics in other countries to discussthe key entrepreneurship issues andchallenges in their respective locations.

A new EMBA course at Iéseg inParis’s La Défense business district maynot have a specific entrepreneurshipmodule, but associate professorCatherine Demangeot says theprogramme has been designedto integrate entrepreneurial andintrapreneurial thinking throughout.

While in China, Ceibs has addedentrepreneurship courses to its EMBAcurriculum. Its new MBA E-Lab maybe a modest space carved out of thecanteen, but Charles Chen, EMBAdirector, hopes it will create synergiesamong students and alumni.

“We’ve seen increasing interestamong our students and applicantsin launching their own business,” saysProf Chen. “There’s also been a strongsignal in that direction from the Chinesegovernment... Ceibs has always placedstrong emphasis on entrepreneurship.”

For students such as JevonLe Roux, the opportunitiespresented by being able to

study entrepreneurship whiledoing an EMBA were too goodto miss.

The former pro surfer whointroduced the Hurley fashion

brand to South Africa is nowenrolled on the EMBA at HEC Paris.

“To grow from strength to strengthrequires an intimate understanding ofthe various moving parts of business.”

With HEC’s help, Le Roux and fellowstudent François de Le Rue are workingwith the inventors of flying-cameraHexo+.

Together, they hope to develop astrategic sales and marketing plan thatwill help the inventors change the waywearable cameras, such as GoPro,capture action sports. B

‘Instead of trying totransform business peopleinto inventors or vice versa,we allow each partner to dowhat they are good at’

Historic: part of theEuropean School ofManagement andTechnology in Berlinis housed in theformer East Germanstate council building,left.The flying cameraHexo+, below

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The onus of paying six-figuretuition fees and the stressinvolved in balancing twoyears of studying withwork commitments are

enough to convince most executive MBAstudents to stick with their employers atleast until they have graduated, but notChrister Holloman. Just four monthsinto the EMBA programme at SaïdBusiness School at the University ofOxford, he left his job as senior businessdevelopment manager at the Europeanarm of Glassdoor, the jobs website, toco-found Divido, an online paymentsbusiness.

Striking out on his own in atech start-up was not as big a leapfor Holloman as it might be forother EMBA students since he hadalready spent a decade helping othercompanies build digital businesses. “Thetemptation to set-up my own venturewas always looming,” Holloman admits.“The strength of the Divido propositionmade the decision easy to make.”

The EMBA was the catalyst toconsider a career change, he adds.

Holloman is still completing the21-month programme, but claims thatwhat he learns in the classroom helpshim develop the skills he needs for hisnew life as a founder.

“Every EMBA week in Oxford islike a think-week where you are able todisconnect from work and the peoplein your day-to-day life to discover freshthinking,” he explains. “And you get 16of these opportunities over nearly twoyears.”

Divido enables retailers to allow theircustomers to gain zero per cent or verylow-cost finance on their purchasesonline and in store. One of the selling

points of the service is that merchantsoffering instant finance at the point ofsale increase average order values by15 to 25 per cent, according toHolloman.

Although it is still early days forDivido, which employs 10 people, thebusiness has secured £1m in fundingfrom early stage investors, includingSeedcamp, a pan-European incubatorprogramme created to help young techcompanies with promise.

Divido has also built an advisoryboard of experienced tech industryexecutives, including Kevin Dallas, chiefproduct officer at WorldPay, CarstenEgeriis, the chief risk officer for personaland corporate banking at Barclays, andJonathan Rogers, a partner at law firmTaylor Wessing.

It is not just the teaching on theEMBA course that helps when foundinga business, Holloman says. The alumnicommunity at Saïd is also a valuableresource for an entrepreneur in need ofcontacts — Oxford students share animmense amount of trust. Hollomanclaims, for example, that he was onlyable to get hold of the managingdirector of a chain of music shops, whopreviously had not returned his emails,because a fellow student he had metat an Oxford university event wasable to introduce them to each other.

“Some professors are also happy toget involved in student-run businessesthey believe in, offering equity foran advisory board role,” Hollomannotes.

He recently met Peter Thiel, thePayPal co-founder, during a week-long visit to Palo Alto, part of hisentrepreneurial finance elective module.This was a particular high point for

How an eMBA at saïd helped a senior corporatemanager quit his job to begin a start-upin technical finance. By Jonathan MoulesPhotographs by Charlie Bibby

Temptation: ChristerHolloman found

striking out onhisownaneasydecision

From the drawing board

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Holloman. “He is a hero for us atDivido,” he admits.

Another perk of studying at Saïdis the ability to access online the fullrange of periodicals and reports held byOxford’s libraries that otherwise wouldcost thousands of pounds to access.

Course assignments have providedan opportunity to research the Dividobusiness plan. “The entrepreneurialproject on the Oxford EMBA runsover several months and is a chance todevelop and test a complete businessplan with input and advice from expertfaculty,” Holloman says.

“It is done in groups of three to five

Jargonbuster:decacorns

The creators of business words have longshown themselves to be animal lovers.Stock markets are an enclosure for bullsand bears, industries are dominated by800-pound gorillas and company boardmeetings are made more difficult byelephants in the room. It is a jungle outthere.

In the upbeat world ofentrepreneurship, where anything ispossible, the limits of the actual animalkingdom are inadequate for the purposeof describing the most exciting newcompanies. This is why any venturecapitalist of note believes that there is arealistic prospect these days of trackingdown a unicorn.

This description, reserved forcompanies that quickly achieve a billion-dollar valuation, gained their monikerbecause they are considered magical andrare. Or rather they were when the termwas coined by Cowboy Ventures founderAileen Lee in 2013.

Now even unicorns are too common,so a new quest has begun to findcompanies capable of hitting a $10bnvaluation and a new term, decacorn, hasentered the small talk at tech industrygatherings in San Francisco and London.

In doing so the start-up communityhas moved beyond the realms of fantasyto spawn a creature that cannot even befound on a Dungeons & Dragons board.Far from reminding me of the multipliedworth of the company, however, it seemsto me only appropriate because utteringthe unnatural word decacorn is 10 timesmore irritating than saying unicorn. — JM

market, launch your MVP [minimumviable product] and perhaps even raisesome money.”

Holloman also found support fromthe Oxford Entrepreneurs studentsociety, with more than 10,000members, which runs events to helpinspire and develop business ideas.

Holloman praises Saïd’s incubatorprogramme, called The OxfordLaunchpad, which offers free officespace to student start-ups, and theSBS Seed Fund, which provides smallamounts of start-up capital.

Divido is now looking to enlarge itsteam, hiring sales and accountmanagement experts. B

students to sell your vision to somepeople you get on with and use thecollective intelligence of the group todefine your business case, validate the

Benefits: Hollomanfinds the alumni

at Saïd a valuableresource for an

entrepreneur

‘everyeMBAweekinOxfordis likeathink-weekwhereyouareable todisconnectfromwork ’Christer Holloman

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Partly ironic he may be, but it is notonly his international perspective thatmakes Prof Beardsley rare among USbusiness schools deans.

Low key and thoughtful, ProfBeardsley describes his move fromBelgium to Virginia as a “bit ofserendipity”. In reality, he planned hischange of career from managementconsultant to business academic withmeticulous intent.

It was his responsibility at McKinseyin Brussels to head up the learningand development functions worldwide,alongside his work with clients. “I began

Born in the US, but a fluentFrench speaker. Raised inAlaska, but based for 24years in Brussels. Of Britishancestry, but with dual

French-US nationality. It is a biographythat would be rare for any businessschool dean, but is perhaps particularlyso for one in the US.

It also probably explains why ScottBeardsley, former senior partner atMcKinsey, who became dean of theDarden school at the University ofVirginia in August, frequently refers tohimself as a “European dean”.

ScottBeardsleyseeshisconsultingbackgroundasagoodfitforDarden.ByDellaBradshaw

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Pleasant surpriseMeet the Dean VIDEO

Scott Beardsleyin conversationwith the FT’sDella Bradshaw.www.ft.com/bized-video

to think that this is something I wouldlike to do full-time,” he says. “I wantedto make an explicit set of choices in mylife. I realised I wanted to help peopleachieve their top potential.”

he therefore pursued an executivedoctoral degree in higher educationat the University of Pennsylvania,focusing on non-traditional leadersin higher education — something hehoped himself to become. With anMBA fromMIt Sloan and 26 years’management consultancy experience atMcKinsey, he says: “I just thought I’dlike to have another chapter.”

Europeanoutlook:Prof Beardsley’sexperiencemakeshima rarity amongdeans ofUSbusiness schools

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Seeking a blend:Prof Beardsleybelieves in acombinationofclassroomandonline learning

“academical village” that was founderthomas Jefferson’s original plan forthe university and was recognised byUnesco in 1987.

Some 200 years after Jeffersonmade his academic and architecturalaspirations a reality, students andteachers still live together, withstudents attending classes on theground floor of the professors’ homes.Jefferson’s aim was to bring teachers andstudents together, says Prof Beardsley, to“pursue the life of the mind”.

he now lives with a group of fivestudents on one side and five on theother. “I’ve had students over forbreakfast, I’ve had them over for dinner,”he reports, even though he has only beenin the job for a couple of months.

Although the university is steepedin tradition, the new dean believes itis always looking forward, citing itsteaching methods. “We use the Socraticcase method and believe very strongly inthat,” says Prof Beardsley. Nevertheless,the school has been experimentingwidely with technology-enhancedlearning and online delivery. this hasincluded the development of Moocs, themassive open online courses that attractthousands of students at a time.

technology is a tool that can reallyhelp globalise the school, says the dean,connecting students from around theworld. “I think new business models aregoing to emerge,” he adds.

Prof Beardsley believes there areclear advantages to combining classroomteaching and online experiences — oftenreferred to as blended learning. It issomething Darden does in both its MBAand its executive MBA programmes.

the business school has also beenco-operating with other universitydepartments in teaching joint degreesin law, medicine and public policy, forexample. Prof Beardsley reports that hehas already been talking to the dean ofthe undergraduate business school witha view to increasing collaboration.

Although the university is inCharlottesville, a town with a populationof less than 50,000, Darden is lookingfurther afield for its activities. Many ofthem are in Washington DC, two hoursaway. Prof Beardsley dismisses thedistance: “Washington DC is our backyard. When Jefferson was president heused to ride to Washington DC andback on his horse.” B

Darden’s search for a dean was,as with all academic institutions, aprotracted one — some 15 months frominitial contact to the new dean’s arrival.Professors at the school were keen toquiz him above all on how someonefrom a professional services firm, ratherthan a tenure-track academic, could runa world-class business school. “All thefaculty had the chance to interview me,”he explains. the process culminatedin a face-to-face meeting in one of theschool’s impressive auditoriums. “It was70-something of them and me in the hotseat. In the US, faculty effectively have aveto over any dean.”

he clearly passed muster, and thatmay have been precisely because of hisexperience as an international consultant.“At any given time a school has a specificcontext,” he points out. his appointment,he believes, “was probably [because of]the desire [of Darden’s professors] to goglobal and to be close to practice.”

though the assessment period wasprotracted, Prof Beardsley’s move fromBelgium to the US was rapid. “Mybelongings arrived July 31, I beganAugust 1,” he relates. his dog was notso lucky: travel restrictions mean hisgolden retriever will only be able totravel to the US this month.

this aside, he has little negative tosay about the move. “the weather is

definitely on the positive side,” he smiles.Brussels is north of Montreal, he pointsout, whereas Charlottesville is on thesame latitude as Gibraltar.

the move has also given him theopportunity to live at the heart of aWorld heritage Site. his home is inone of the pavilions that make up the

CV

Born inMaineandgrewup inVermontandAlaska.

ReceivedaBSc inelectrical engineeringfromTuftsUniversityin theUS, followedbyanMBAfromMITSloan.

Spent 26years inmultiple rolesatMcKinsey,workingon theground in40countries. Based for 24years inBrussels.

AsMcKinsey’sheadoftalentdevelopment,helped launch thetechnology-enabledlearningplatformMcKinseyAcademy.Co-chaired thecommittees that electpartners andseniorpartners.

InMay2015, receivedanexecutivedoctorate inhighereducationmanagement fromtheUniversityofPennsylvania.

‘I was probably appointed becauseof the desire of Darden’s professorsto go global and be close to practice’

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review

Eco-unfriendly:following theBPoil spill in 2010manybirds, suchas these oiledpelicans, had tobe cleaned atspecialist centres

Hopes&Fears,p54

Worldviewanda globalmindset

Communities,p53

Whomwouldyoubring to ameeting?

Peoplearerethinkingtheirrelationshipwithcompanies.ByEmmaJacobs

Dream place to workbooks

When Rob Goffee and Gareth JoneswroteWhy should anyone be ledby you? it became a bestseller.The two authors argued thatauthenticity was integral to

leadership and unfortunately augured a fashionfor business executives spouting homespun hokumabout being yourself at work. This was unfortunatebecause the authors’ message was more nuanced andprofessional than that. In essence they had urgedreaders to “be yourself — more — with skill”.

This new book,Why Should Anyone WorkHere?, publishing on November 3, builds on thatprevious work. Prof Goffee, emeritus professorof organisational behaviour at London BusinessSchool, and Prof Jones, visiting professor at IEBusiness School, argue that creating an “authentic”organisation allows people to flourish and revealtheir true (or, the best form of their true) selves.

This is important, they write, because workersare rethinking their relationship with organisations.The death of the corporate man — someone who sawtheir entire career with one employer — has hastenedthis renegotiation. “They are not demanding less oforganisations, but more — more accountability, moreopportunities for self-expression and development,more transparency, more responsiveness — beyondthe basic demand to earn a living.”

They make no bones about asking: what might thebest workplace on earth look like? More specifically,they say, changing work conditions mean thatthe challenge is now how to create “strongidentification [to an organisation]within short bursts of employment”.Looking at examples fromvarious companies around theworld, the authors identifyfeatures of attractiveworkplace cultures. In theirresearch over four years they foundthat the answers fit in a neat mnemonic:D-r-e-a-m-s.

The letters stand for: difference —

people want to be themselves, able to express theirdifference; radical honesty — they really want toknow what is going on; extra value — an organisationthat magnifies their strengths and fosters personaldevelopment; authenticity — a desire to work fora company that stands for something; meaning —meaningful work; simple rules — dislike for rulesthat apply to some and not others. Putting aside thecheesiness of mnemonics, the ideals seem sensible.

The public relations industry comes in for somecriticism. Too many PR executives remain mired inspin, the authors write. “In a world of WikiLeaks,whistleblowing and freedom of information, their[PRs’] imperative should be to tell the truth beforesomeone else does. When they do, they will begin tobuild long-standing organisational trust, both insideand outside the organisation.”

They focus on the BP oil spill in 2010, as anexample of a company completely out of step withopenness. BP failed to share information with thoseaffected by the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and thepublic generally. It did not tweet, for example, untilsome time after the disaster happened. This meantthat a fake account was able to fill the vacuum. Incontrast, they cite the brewer Heineken. A Facebookposting of a dogfight in Mongolia in 2012 madethe fight appear to have been sponsored by thebeer maker, which was not the case. In response,Heineken replied to all complaints. However, I couldnot help feeling that the two examples were not reallycomparable. It is easier to distance yourself fromsomething for which you have no responsibility, than

something that you do.While a lot of this book is clear-

headed advice I worry that too muchhas been taken on face value and thatthe authors have listened too closely tosenior executives rather than thoselower down the company ladder. Icannot help but feel uneasy that

discontent may be lurking below thesurface of some of the happy workplaces

they describe. BPHOTOS:BLOOMBERG;ROBHART;GETTYIM

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REVIEW

Towards the end of August,Wileyfox, a UK start-up,unleashed two respectablebut unexceptional handsetsinto the low-budget end

of the market. Despite broadly goodreviews, I suspect Wileyfox will fail toget any meaningful market share andeventually fold. Let’s face it, if Microsoftcan’t build market share for WindowsPhone, a tiny start-up with just twohandsets is probably staring into theabyss.

However, what’s interesting aboutWileyfox, apart from the sheer brassneck of launching into a crowdedmarket, is its choice of operating system.

Both Wileyfox devices run Cyanogen,which is derived from a variant ofAndroid, Google’s open source mobile

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Comment Consumers lovecompatibility,butrarelyget it, saysKateBevan

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Mobile break outtechnology

OS. Wileyfox is betting that this willattract people who like the flexibilityof Android but who dislike how deeplyintegrated Google’s data-collecting,ad-serving services are into its version ofAndroid.

Cyanogen looks and behaves in muchthe same way as Android on devicesrunning the Google-led OS version,but with one key difference: the userhas much more control over what’sinstalled, how the interface looks andthe permissions that apps are given.

The key selling point for Cyanogenis that it is Android without Google —the bundled browser uses Microsoft’sBing as its search provider and Google’sservices, such as email, search, cloudand documents, are not enabled bydefault, although they are available ifyou want to use them.

It’s a good attempt to break awayfrom the confines of the big providers’walled gardens. At first glance, walledgardens are no bad thing. Apple usersenjoy the way all their bits of kit workseamlessly together, for example. Butonce inside an ecosystem, it is easier tostay there, even if the devices availableno longer suit your needs. Apple’sstrategy to keep you in its embrace ishardware: only Apple devices run Applesoftware (with the exception of iTunes)and while you can integrate Apple kitwith a Windows environment, it’s atiresome bodge that doesn’t work well.

Google also aims to provide aseamless experience, with its cloud-based services including email,calendars and shared documentsworking well together. Those are ofcourse baked into, and arguably bestimplemented, in its version of Androidon its Nexus smartphones, tabletsand digital media players, but anymanufacturer can put Android on itsdevices.

I think most of us make our peacewith an ecosystem as consumers or asbusiness users, accepting compromises

‘MostofusacceptasacompromiseGoogle’saccess toouractivities forits freeemail services’

PHOTO:AFP/G

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Seminalmoment:KirkKoenigsbauer ofMicrosoftpresentingthe versionofOfficeforApple’s latestdevice in September(seenext page)

such as allowing Google access toyour activities so that it can serve you“relevant” advertisements in return forits free email and document services, ordeciding that the seamless compatibilitybetween Apple devices makes theirpremium price worthwhile.

However, the moment you want tomake choices, those walled gardens canbecome a prison.

Earlier this year, I started lookingat ways to get content from a widerrange of providers on to my television.I rejected the Apple TV right away as itonly plays nicely with other Apple kit:my kit at home is mostly Windows, plusa handful of Android devices. I likedthe look of the Fire TV Stick, Amazon’sstreaming media player, but that was nogood because there is no way to accessthe Google Play store. The NexusPlayer, Google’s digital media console,does not have Amazon’s film and TVstreaming service Prime Video, or,strangely, the BBC iPlayer. And nor doany of those devices have a browser —you have to use the approved apps, soyou can’t, for example, get around thelack of an iPlayer app by going to thewebsite.

I eventually ended up putting acompact PC under the TV because itfreed me from the annoyance of beinglimited only to the apps and servicesthe platform owners allowed in totheir walled gardens.

This decision was driven by the factthat the Windows platform sidestepslicensing issues such as Amazon not

As Google and Apple dominate themobile space, this means that mostpeople in key markets will be able tomake small touch-and-go paymentswith their phones, as well as managepayments with other businesses viaapps. For nerds, the way the two giantshave implemented that technology isinteresting. But consumers do not care:they just want it to work.

Microsoft has been taking the “makeit work regardless of the platform”approach since Satya Nadella took overas chief executive in 2014. This strategyhad a seminal moment at Apple’s iPadPro launch in September, when theassembled faithful gasped to see KirkKoenigsbauer, a Microsoft executive,come on stage to demonstrate theversion of Office created for Apple’slatest device.

Office is available for pretty muchevery platform, which means users canchoose the hardware that works best forthem, whether it’s an iPad Pro, anAndroid phone or a MacBook. Is thatthe right strategy for every techprovider? Clearly not: Apple is notgoing to license its operating systems toother manufacturers any time soon. Butfor users it is nice to have a choice. B

being able to offer Fire Stick usersaccess to Google Play or iTunes: if acontent provider I want to use has awebsite, then it’s available on Windows.

What’s important here is that as aconsumer, I don’t actually care how theunderlying technology and commercialdeals work. I simply want a good,comprehensive experience and thisis where technology providers couldserve users better. A good exampleof this is using a mobile phone forpayments. Apple Pay and Android Pay,Google’s mobile payments offering,are both available in the US and ApplePay arrived in the UK in July.

Short cuts: apps to smooth your progress

DreamifyiOS, Android, freehttp://dreamify.ioRunning your pictures through

Google’s DeepDreamalgorithmvia theDreamscopewebsite produces somegloriouslytrippy, surreal images. There are anumber ofmobile apps that do the same thing; Dreamifyis just one. And it is disappointing. Youhave tosign in; its authenticationprocess is flaky andthe interface is confusing. OnAndroid, youhavetowatch adverts to gain credits that allowyoutoprocess images. However, if you canput upwith all that on the app, it does createwonderfulimages. Iwill never look atmycat in the sameawayagain.

Alexi BooksiPhone, freewww.alexibooks.comThis is a lovely idea:well-

knownauthors offer shortlists of books theyrecommend; you can follow themandbuild alist of your favourites. However, it is still in beta,so it’s actually rather sparse. There is a smallhandful of authors including Sebastian Faulksand SarahHall, but their book choices only havethe official blurb rather thanwriters’ personalcomment. There is no link (yet) to a store tobuy the recommendedbooks, nor anyway toaddyour owncomments or create your owncollection to share.Worth keeping an eyeon, butit needswork.

Journeys & NotesAndroid, freewww.journeysandnotes.comAnoddlywhimsical app from the

MicrosoftGarageproject lab. The aim is tomakeeven themostmundaneof trips social. Createyour journey,whether on the bus toworkor ona global rail trip, tell the appwhat yourmodeoftransport is and then addyour thoughts about it,for example on theview from the trainwindowor ahandy tip. It looks lovely, but it is sorelylacking in users andyou cannot seenotes on anyjourneys until youhave created a trip yourself,so it is notmuchuse for planning. Anotherirritation is that you cannot interactwith otherusers. A sweet idea, but it is a let-down.

‘As a consumer, I do not care howthe technology works. I simplywant a good comprehensiveexperience ’

Sheer brass neck:Wileyfox’s StormandSwifthandsets aim tocompetewithestablishedbrands

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Read on, online

ft.comhasawealthofresources toenhanceyourknowledgeofbusinesseducationA live online discussion and advice aboutexecutive education is among a widerange of services and coverage available atft.com/business-education.

As well as Ask the Experts (see details,right) we offer news, features, videos,interactive rankings, a Mooc tracker witha large number of open online courses,student blogs, email alerts on relevantstories and much more.

interactiverankingsYoucan searchthe Financial Times rankings forprogrammes, includingMBA, EMBA,masters inmanagement, executiveeducation andEuropeanbusinessschools.ft.com/rankings

Lexicon Searching for thedefinitionof a business term?Browse thousandsofwords andphrases and suggest newterms for the glossary.ft.com/lexicon

mbaeditor’schoiceAdaily alertpicking fivemust-readnews stories forstudents and academics alike, plus arelevant business and feature video.Signup atft.com/nbe

asktheexperts:Areyouinterested in taking anEMBA?OnWednesdayOctober 21 2015, at 2-3pmBSTapanel of guest expertswillanswer readers’ queries. Submit yourquestions now:ft.com/emba

mbabloggersMore than 20 studentbloggers around theworld share theirexperiences.ft.com/mba-blog

VideoFTbusiness education editorDella Bradshaw interviews ScottBeardsley, deanof theDarden schoolat theUniversity ofVirginia.ft.com/bized-video

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$32,900University College

Dublin: Smurfitvs

dog houseSamsung this year unveiled itsdreamdogkennel, incorporating

a treadmill and ahot-tub. Itmaybe a little small for an Irish

wolfhound, however.$54,800

Cranfield Schoolof Management

vsflying in style

Hiring “TheResidence”, a three-roomsuite on theupper deckof airline Etihad’sAirbusA380,to travel fromLondon toBeijingandbackwould even grant you

abutler in the air

$186,900*University of Pennsylvania:

Wharton vs Jaguar E-TypeThe 1965British sports carwith60,000miles on the clock couldevenprove a sound investment— classic cars have toppedKnightFrank’s luxury investment index,beatingwine andart, for the

past decade

Whomwouldyou bring toameeting?

Meetings can seem as if they aregoing to last forever. We askedreaders which person, living ordead, they would like to invitealong. By Charlotte Clarke

JuliaMcInnis,Chicago Booth Blog commentI would invite the media executiveand investor Ken Lerer. I’d like tohear why some of his companiessucceeded more than othersand where he thinks the mediaindustry will be in five years.

StephenRobertMorse,OxfordSBSBlog commentI’d love to meet MalcolmPurcell McLean, inventorof the shipping container.He changed the worldfaster than anyoneelse on planet earth.McLean’s simpleinvention, so quicklyadopted around theworld, has transformedmillions of lives.

John D Rockefeller,from tough childhoodto oil monopoly andphilanthropy, he’sdone everything@julianthekid1

Bo Zhang, Columbia Business SchoolBlog commentI would like to invite Sir David Tang, KBE,and the founder of China Exchange forumin London. He has acute insights into thewest and the Far East and an extensivenetwork across Asia and Europe. In thisever globalised world, I would very muchappreciate his wisdom and experience.

OwenWoolcock, London BusinessSchool Blog commentI would invite 20th-century authorand essayist George Orwell to anypresent day business meeting, so hecan hear the ‘management speak’ thathas infiltrated the English language.We could use a satirical 1984 or AnimalFarm for today’s office life.

Augustus, Joe Frazier,Henry VII, MatthewBourne — long termvision, courage,ruthless focus, expertin collaboration,unbeatable @ipryce

Aliko Dangote. To knowhow he successfullysells common or gardencommodities to theso-called poor in Africa.No mean feat@AminataYKanu

David GoslingBilly Connolly, before he dried out.Because life’s just too short.

Mary GendronBilly Ralph Waldo Emerson, whowould reinforce to all in the room,the message of his essay, “SelfReliance”, which reinforces theintegrity of the individual mind,the value of non-conformity vsconformity. The individual mind iswhere brilliance lives.

$54,800Cranfi eld School

$107,300IMD

vsGreek holiday home

A two-bedroomdetachedhouse in theKefalonian

countrysidemaybe inneedofrenovation, but it is only fiveminutes from the beach

$186,900*

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EMBA ffeeeess oorr...

Fees andprices correct at timeof research

By Adam PalinPHOTO:GBPHOTO27/

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for the latest developments in business education follow us @ftbized

‘I learnt so much from myclassmates, who rangedfrom Cfos to doctors’Worth the journey

B

David Buckley ischief marketingofficer andvice-president ofmarketing andecommerce at SearsHometown & OutletStores, Chicago. Hegraduated fromDuke’s GlobalExecutive MBAprogramme in 2009.

appreciation of how businesses around the world work helped grow a global mindset

than our graduation ceremony. Manyof our children walked up with us toreceive our diplomas in recognition ofthe sacrifices they also made throughouttheir parents’ journeys.

However, the rewards have meantit was all worth it. I learnt so muchfrommy classmates, who ranged fromchief financial officers to doctors. Thediversity made the classroom discussionless theoretical. For example, in ourcorporate finance class, teams were giventhe assignment to report on a corporaterestructuring from a set of cases, buthad the option of presenting a differentscenario. One of our classmates wasan entrepreneur who had brought acompany public, so the class discussionon his presentation was significantlymore robust than that of a typical case.

When I saw the travel schedulefor the programme, I was excitedabout the interesting places we wouldvisit. In addition to Durham, NorthCarolina, where the school is located,our programme had us studying inBudapest, Istanbul, Dubai, Shanghai,Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Thebest understanding of global businessissues occurs when your discussions arewith people who are not only from aparticular part of the world but also areworking in those business environments.It is a different perspective to that ofsomeone who may be from a differentcountry but is working for a companyin the US. This global mindset andappreciation of how business worksdifferently around the world influencesthe way I think about challenges facingmy company each day.

The analytical skills and knowledgeI gained on the programme provideda bridge frommy pre-MBA experienceand allowed me to quickly adapt andprogress in a new career. There is no waythis would have occurred without thepursuit of my EMBA.

every day I am remindedhow fortunate I am whenI walk into the office atSears Hometown & OutletStores. My role as chief

marketing officer is extremely rewarding,challenging and fulfilling. I am doingmy dream job even though early on inmy career I would have thought it wasunattainable. In my office, however, I stillhave materials frommy time at DukeUniversity’s Fuqua School of Businessand when I see the logo it reminds meof my journey and how important mybusiness school experiences have been.

I vividly remember the day when ithit me that I needed to pursue an MBA.I was working as a sales manager at amedia corporation and looking at theforecasts of media use by consumers.My whole career up until that datehad been in the media but I couldsee the landscape was changing fast.The business model in an industrythat had once thrived, in part becauseof the barriers to entry, was quicklycrumbling. The speed of technologicalchange was promising to bring increasedcompetition from outside companies.I also realised that my industry wasprimarily led by people who, like me,had little out-of-industry experience orformal, higher-level academic businesstraining. Surviving in the media, Iconcluded, would require a diversityof thinking and knowledge of morestructured, analytical frameworks forsolving complex issues.

An important consideration for mein selecting Fuqua was that all of theschool’s executive MBA programmeshave the same core curriculum andwere taught by the same top-rankedfaculty as the full-time programme.This was extremely important in mydecision-making process, given the timeand money I was preparing to invest.Ultimately, I decided the best fit for me

was in Fuqua’s Global Executive MBAprogramme.

However, I knew balancing work andacademic demands would be difficult.Fuqua stresses its “Team Fuqua” concept,which emphasises working with otherpeople, rather than as individuals, toaccomplish great things. This idea wasconsistent throughout the programmeand it was clear once I started that myteam had to extend beyond my classcohorts into my work and personal life.In fact, Fuqua requires your employer tosend formal acknowledgement of thetime commitment you will have to make,even if it is not funding your studies.

My family also had to commit to mypursuit of an MBA. My kids understoodwhen Daddy was wearing his Fuquabaseball cap he was actually at school,even when he was at home. Most of myclassmates had to juggle with these sameissues and nothing made this clearer P

HOTO:ROBHART

David Buckley