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The ubiquitous MBA
The Ubiquitous
MBA
Havoc reigns in the MBA mlarket in Europe. The recent inva&m of MBA “schools” has created a free-for-all in management education, Bath business students and companies recruiting business graduates are at pains tf3 separate real value from what is just hoax.
lXvetsity is a boon to the buyer - the corporate remiteer or #he MBA candidate - provided quality is not mxificed. All stand to gain from a clearer understanding of the essential ingredients of high-quality MBA education and, in fact, cofnr~ll~n factors contribute to quality across the whole range of MBA offerings.
The Rise
of the
MBA
The seeds of &IBA confusion were so~rr in Rrrope ear& on with programs created by companies in response to industry needs. AXready in the l%Us and 70’s, two types of program were being offered the me-year MBA by reputabIe institutions such as IMEDE and IMI (then CEI) in Switzerland and
INSE4D in France and the two-year MBA by the well known London Business School and Manchester Business School, among others. Nobody paid mush attention, however, since the numbers of programs and graduates were low and the vast majority of new entrants to ~anage~~~t jobs continued to arrive via tradifionaf routes. Most managers emerged from educationaf backgrounds depending largely on their country origins. The French tended to come out of engineering and business Grandes Ecoles, the Cerrnans from university studies in economics, the Swiss from political and economic studies (and the army) and the British from just about anywhere, Then came the o&aught of MBA Pmgmrns in the WGQ’s. This time it was the students fuekg the demand for the MBA, The shift away frmp tradi-
tional paths towards the MBA route into the ranks of ~~~~~~~e~t stenuned from ~~~~t~sf~c~o~_ Some students, particuiarIy those e~~~~~g from strongly theo~~ca~ types of learning, felt iII-e~ui~~ to cope with the real world of business. Many felt unabk to control their own career paths vis-a-vis powerfur corporate employers. For the ambitious, the MBA appeared to lead to greater job possibilities. It offered the extra credential that attracts the attention of the best companies. It held out the promise of more interesting work. Just having it in hand boistered bargaining power, ensured mobility and, yes, assured higher salaries. In the e&y I9Ws European ~~~~i~at~~~sto MBA ~~~~~~~s surged beyond existing cc%pacity.Few of the twdition-bound universities of Europe were able to respond to the rising demand for MBA programs. More entrepreneurial organizations rushed in to fill the gap, offering a gaggle of diverse learning experiences which, willy-nilly, lead to the coveted MBA degree.
228
PHYLLIS ISELIN-TREMAINE
Making
Sense of the MBA Market
In these early days of the MBA invasion of Europe, a standard of what constitutes a quality MBA education has not yet been widely accepted. There is no accrediting body in Europe similar to the AACSB (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business) which puts its stamp of approval on some 250 of the 800 MBA programs in the U.S. In Europe any organization can award the MBA for any program it chases; no criteria governing the curriculum have been established; no uniform perception exists. Further complicating the market, three distinct types of student have spawned three categories of MBA program. These three segments of the MBA market consist of: l
l
l
the university-leaver with little or no business experience; the somewhat older manager who has had fourfive years in the working world; and the middle manager in his/her 30’s.
Because their backgrounds and circumstances are so different, these groups require education programs of different duration and intensity.
The University-leaver The young people just out of university, age 22-26, require a two-year business education comprising some 700-900 classroom hours. Particularly if they have not taken business as undergraduates, these students benefit from in-depth study, with the opportunity to gain practical experience in a summer job between the two nine-month “years“ and the possibility to develop a specialization through elective courses in the second year. Being inexperienced, they learn primarily from their teachers rather than their peers. Upon graduating they seek entry level positions in a function or other specialization. This segment of the market is served largely by schools which are part of university systems. The MBA program is often, but not always, top of the product line in these schools. The faculty of the twoyear MBA’s are mostly full-time professional teachers and, like their students, they are apt to be predominantly of the home nationality. The two-year MBA, patterned after the North American model, was first introduced in Europe by the London and Manchester Business Schools in the 1960’s and is now offered by quality institutions in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Scandinavia.
The Young Manager Managers (or would-be managers), aged 27-32 with four-five years of work experience, do not want or need a two-year MBA education. Many of them will have had extensive education, in the case of Germans, for example, lasting well into their late 20’s. Having had the opportunity to sample the working world and gain some proficiency in a specialization, they are usually looking for a change of direction. Because they have a basic knowledge of business and are not willing to forego a salary for very long (many already have families), they attend one-year MBA programs. The one-year MBA has become highly developed in Europe where students are apt to finish university studies four to five years later than in North America. Usually the one-year MBA program lasts 10-11 months and comprises about the same number of classroom hours, 700-900, as the “two-year” MBA spreads over 18 months. These programs do not as a rule offer the possibility to specialize. Rather they focus on the broader aspects of integrated management. Much of the learning transpires between the students as they contribute in the classroom and in group work. Project work and participative classroom methods are particularly effective in maximizing the learning process. Among these, the respected MBA programs are taught by permanent full-time professional teachers, most of whom publish in their areas of research and carry out private consulting for companies in their fields of expertise. Uniquely, in the international one-year MBA programs of Europe, the faculty, like the students, represent diverse nationalities and cultures. The product lines of these schools include extensive executive education rather than undergraduate studies. The Working
Adult
Middle managers in their 30’s seeking to broaden their outlook or change directions constitute the most recently developed segment of the MBA panoply. As a rule these “students” are fully employed and intend to remain so while taking an MBA. Either their employers are offering them additional business training (company-sponsored) or they are financing it themselves (self-sponsored). This is the group which has fueled the growth of part-time MBA programs, the most varied and fastest growing segment of the market.
The format may be evening classes, ~~day/Saturday classes, periods of school interspersed with work, or distance learning” Of necessity, these programs are fragmented, but they need not be ridiculously short. The quality programs in this group are sufficiently long to develop managerial attitudes and behavior. However, at best these students cannot acquire the same depth of learning as transpires in the full-time At a point which has not yet been experience. determined, the shorter of these programs belong to the category of executive education rather than the MBA. This burgeoning segment of the market is currently powering a rash of innovative programs in the UK, including distance learning and company or consortia of programs for the middle manager. But at present on the Continent, the part-time market is largely being ill-served by opportunistic ventures, often misleading aggressive, marketing based on tethniques.
to Europeans are, by and large, not accustomed differentiating among organizations providing widely differing education for the same degree. Traditionally, in Europe the degree speaks for itself, irregardless of the institution which has granted it. Within national university systems, each degree represents a known standard across institutions. The MBA degree, however, varies widely in quality depending on the institution where it was earned. Europeans will soon become accustomed to evaluating the quality of NBA degree programs. (Americans have been doing so for years. fn graduate business education, the U.S. market has determined, and everybody knows, which are the schools that have high quality MBA programs - in fact only some 30 out of almost 800.) Despite the variation in duration of European MBA programs across the three market segments, the same criteria for measuring quality broadly apply, The three key ingredients are the c~rr~~~~~~, the ~~~1~~~and the ~~r~~~i~~~~ &e&y. The ~~~jc~~u~ should be an integrated learning experience rather than a smorgasbord of laosely In the best programs, the currirelated subjects. culum will consist of a series of modules centering on general management topics as opposed to a collection of functionally oriented courses or, even worse, a series of disconnected lectures. Classroom
time in the one- and two-year
programs
ranges from 700 to 900 hours (including projects). Although part-time programs are invariably shorter, less than 400 hours in the classroom is insufficient for the learning level of a first-class MBA degree. An integrated curriculum implies a permanent faculty. In the good schools the faculty will consist of a cohesive team of professional teachers working together on a long-term basis to provide an integrated education. Most will have excellent academic credentials (Ph.D. or equivalent) as well as experience in industry. While seasoned executives make excellent visiting lecturers who provide valuable reality testing possibilities in the classroom, few have had the time to become first-rate teachers. Faculty is always a strong indicator of quality. Europe (like the U.S.) is currently experiencing an acute shortage of qualified business teachers. Thus the institutions which have been able to recruit and retain good faculty have a distinct advantage over many of which import the newer enterprises, teachers from the U.S. or rely heavily on the local business community. Faculty in the quality institutions are committed to extending the body of theory and knowledge of the business profession. They are “researchers” as well as teachers. They contribute to the state of the art in management and develop European teaching materials rather than relying solely on books and cases published by other schools. The quality of the learning experience is superior in those institutions which are investing in the development of new ideas Even in part-time programs, the quality of the ~~r~~~~~u~~ &a& is key to the learning experience, The top MEA programs attract the best students. Regardless of their age and experience, they have academic qualifications, good track records in their previous jobs, and sufficient maturity to contribute intelligently in the classroom. Former graduates will have gone on to the jobs of their choice. A substantial portion of alumni will have advanced to positions in top management in excellent companies. Once the market sorts itself out, the quality programs will stand out. As in the U.S., companies and students alike will be aware of the value of different institutions. Meanwhile, the buyer will be well advised to assess the degree of integration in the curriculum, the strength of the faculty and the level of the participant body, regardless of whether the program is a two-year, one-year or part-time MBA.
230
PHYLLIS
ISELIN-TREMAINE
In Search of the Global Outlook Fiercer international competition and the countdown to 1992 are driving industry to better prepare managers to do business in a global context. The MBA is recognized by many as providing better training for operating internationally. Multinational companies in Europe were the first to hire MBA graduates, and good MBA programs tend to emphasize the international aspects of business. From the students’ viewpoint, the MBA is the only credential transferable across the national boundaries of disparate education systems. Europe has the edge in international business educaof the superior language tion - partly because abilities of the majority of its university graduates. Europe has a monopoly on international business schools. National schools such as London Business School, the Rotterdam School of Economics, Bocconi in Milan and IESE in Barcelona are moving towards becoming international. Europe is also the home of the three business schools - whose missions were international from the outset - INSEAD, IMI and IMEDE. (The two latter are merging and will offer one MBA program jointly next year.) of the best international The key characteristic schools is the multinational character of their boards of directors, faculty and student bodies. While many good business schools in Europe and America aspire to become international, they are finding it slowgoing, mainly because of the global competition for a small pool of good faculty and the challenge of attracting students from around the world. A mix of cultures in the classroom provides a context in which a global outlook develops. Where no nationality out-numbers others, no particular cultural bias will prevail and students learn to consider issues from many perspectives. They develop an understanding of how “foreigners” think. The curriculums of the best international schools use cases and learning tools based on cross-border issues and situations. Students emerge from these MBA programs with an understanding of global markets, regional financial practices and national attitudes to labor, advertising, etc. The U.S. Attraction seats available on truly international However, MBA programs are far fewer than numbers of applicants. Therefore many choose an alternative route to a career in international management via a high quality MBA abroad. Thus European students continue to cross the Atlantic in search of an inter-
national experience despite the overwhelming “American-ness” of U.S. MBA schools. Said one Scandinavian at a New England business school, “I wanted to go somewhere I couldn’t drive to.” These students, usually in their late 20’s, enroll in the top U.S. schools. They claim this strategy works in that it broadens their outlook, introduces them to one of the world’s major markets and makes them attractive to corporate recruiters in Europe. One caveat: they choose carefully among the top 30 U.S. schools and avoid the lesser ones - a relatively easy task thanks to the numerous MBA guides, advisory services and regularly published rankings of schools in the national press. The U.S. graduate business schools welcome these students from abroad. Increasing international enrollments is a major aim of a number of schools such as the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The best U.S. schools are also looking for ways to make their faculties and curriculums more international. The Tuck School, for example, has launched an MBA program in Tokyo, in a joint venture with a Japanese school. Tuck professors will go there for a term at a time to teach and do research. The intent is to broaden the faculty and internationalize the curriculum back home.
The Corporate
Viewpoint
Initially at least, companies appeared to have little to gain from MBA graduates commanding high salaries and fast track careers. Better to hire young high school or university graduates, train them thoroughly in the industry and the corporate structure and only much later send them on executive education programs for systematic learning of management skills and techniques. Only a few large multinationals showed interest in the MBA graduates of Europe at the outset. Now, as global competition intensifies and Europe reaches towards 1992, more and more medium-sized companies are prepared to pay for the additional knowledge and skills which holders of first-class MBA degrees bring on board. The globalization of management education, as well as the ever-growing need for more highly educated is likely to favor the current people in business, trend towards MBA training. At present, the MBA is the only business degree which is more or less recognized internationally. It will continue to attract the best and the brightest with its promises of more
THE UBIQUITOUS
control over one’s career, more interesting work, greater mobility and a higher salary. Companies seeking competitive advantage will find ways of using this pool of talent and energy.
MBA
231
are most successful when they incorporate the practical assignments into the regular curriculum. The less successful projects differ little from normal work experience and have no special education value added.
Room for lmprovemen t Alongside a growing interest in MBA graduates, corporate criticism of MBA education has not ceased. The primary complaint is that MBA programs are too academic, not sufficiently practical. In other words they turn out graduates who are unable to put their knowledge to work to get the job done. European business schools tend to be more sensitive to such criticisms coming from industry than are the U.S. schools. Perhaps because they were first launched by industry rather than academe, European schools have traditionally been closer to the corporate world than to the universities (not the case across the Atlantic). Many are dependent on corporate support and sponsorship of executive education for their survival and therefore highly attuned to corporate concerns. Already, a number of Europe’s MBA schools are addressing the problem of practical application through the use of assignments in companies internships, complex group consulting projects or, for part-time programs, on-the-job assignments. These attempts to teach the skills of implementation
Future Directions European MBA education serves an expanding market which has not yet settled on an industry standard. However, already the European MBA is taking a different shape than the U.S. model. The best schools in Europe are working closely with corporations to develop a practice orientation, and they have a clear head start in terms of global outlook. As Derek Abell, Dean of IMEDE, has put it, “A few top European-based schools appear better able to develop what companies need - managers with a practical approach and international experience . ” But until confusion subsides in the market place and clear guidelines emerge, recruiting companies and would-be students will have to proceed with care. The best European schools are excellent. They can be identified by an integrated curriculum, qualified faculty and an elite participant body. But among the hoards of recent arrivals, many MBA programs do not stand up to scrutiny.
MBA
Havoc reigns in the MBA mlarket in Europe. The recent inva&m of MBA “schools” has created a free-for-all in management education, Bath business students and companies recruiting business graduates are at pains tf3 separate real value from what is just hoax.
lXvetsity is a boon to the buyer - the corporate remiteer or #he MBA candidate - provided quality is not mxificed. All stand to gain from a clearer understanding of the essential ingredients of high-quality MBA education and, in fact, cofnr~ll~n factors contribute to quality across the whole range of MBA offerings.
The Rise
of the
MBA
The seeds of &IBA confusion were so~rr in Rrrope ear& on with programs created by companies in response to industry needs. AXready in the l%Us and 70’s, two types of program were being offered the me-year MBA by reputabIe institutions such as IMEDE and IMI (then CEI) in Switzerland and
INSE4D in France and the two-year MBA by the well known London Business School and Manchester Business School, among others. Nobody paid mush attention, however, since the numbers of programs and graduates were low and the vast majority of new entrants to ~anage~~~t jobs continued to arrive via tradifionaf routes. Most managers emerged from educationaf backgrounds depending largely on their country origins. The French tended to come out of engineering and business Grandes Ecoles, the Cerrnans from university studies in economics, the Swiss from political and economic studies (and the army) and the British from just about anywhere, Then came the o&aught of MBA Pmgmrns in the WGQ’s. This time it was the students fuekg the demand for the MBA, The shift away frmp tradi-
tional paths towards the MBA route into the ranks of ~~~~~~~e~t stenuned from ~~~~t~sf~c~o~_ Some students, particuiarIy those e~~~~~g from strongly theo~~ca~ types of learning, felt iII-e~ui~~ to cope with the real world of business. Many felt unabk to control their own career paths vis-a-vis powerfur corporate employers. For the ambitious, the MBA appeared to lead to greater job possibilities. It offered the extra credential that attracts the attention of the best companies. It held out the promise of more interesting work. Just having it in hand boistered bargaining power, ensured mobility and, yes, assured higher salaries. In the e&y I9Ws European ~~~~i~at~~~sto MBA ~~~~~~~s surged beyond existing cc%pacity.Few of the twdition-bound universities of Europe were able to respond to the rising demand for MBA programs. More entrepreneurial organizations rushed in to fill the gap, offering a gaggle of diverse learning experiences which, willy-nilly, lead to the coveted MBA degree.
228
PHYLLIS ISELIN-TREMAINE
Making
Sense of the MBA Market
In these early days of the MBA invasion of Europe, a standard of what constitutes a quality MBA education has not yet been widely accepted. There is no accrediting body in Europe similar to the AACSB (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business) which puts its stamp of approval on some 250 of the 800 MBA programs in the U.S. In Europe any organization can award the MBA for any program it chases; no criteria governing the curriculum have been established; no uniform perception exists. Further complicating the market, three distinct types of student have spawned three categories of MBA program. These three segments of the MBA market consist of: l
l
l
the university-leaver with little or no business experience; the somewhat older manager who has had fourfive years in the working world; and the middle manager in his/her 30’s.
Because their backgrounds and circumstances are so different, these groups require education programs of different duration and intensity.
The University-leaver The young people just out of university, age 22-26, require a two-year business education comprising some 700-900 classroom hours. Particularly if they have not taken business as undergraduates, these students benefit from in-depth study, with the opportunity to gain practical experience in a summer job between the two nine-month “years“ and the possibility to develop a specialization through elective courses in the second year. Being inexperienced, they learn primarily from their teachers rather than their peers. Upon graduating they seek entry level positions in a function or other specialization. This segment of the market is served largely by schools which are part of university systems. The MBA program is often, but not always, top of the product line in these schools. The faculty of the twoyear MBA’s are mostly full-time professional teachers and, like their students, they are apt to be predominantly of the home nationality. The two-year MBA, patterned after the North American model, was first introduced in Europe by the London and Manchester Business Schools in the 1960’s and is now offered by quality institutions in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Scandinavia.
The Young Manager Managers (or would-be managers), aged 27-32 with four-five years of work experience, do not want or need a two-year MBA education. Many of them will have had extensive education, in the case of Germans, for example, lasting well into their late 20’s. Having had the opportunity to sample the working world and gain some proficiency in a specialization, they are usually looking for a change of direction. Because they have a basic knowledge of business and are not willing to forego a salary for very long (many already have families), they attend one-year MBA programs. The one-year MBA has become highly developed in Europe where students are apt to finish university studies four to five years later than in North America. Usually the one-year MBA program lasts 10-11 months and comprises about the same number of classroom hours, 700-900, as the “two-year” MBA spreads over 18 months. These programs do not as a rule offer the possibility to specialize. Rather they focus on the broader aspects of integrated management. Much of the learning transpires between the students as they contribute in the classroom and in group work. Project work and participative classroom methods are particularly effective in maximizing the learning process. Among these, the respected MBA programs are taught by permanent full-time professional teachers, most of whom publish in their areas of research and carry out private consulting for companies in their fields of expertise. Uniquely, in the international one-year MBA programs of Europe, the faculty, like the students, represent diverse nationalities and cultures. The product lines of these schools include extensive executive education rather than undergraduate studies. The Working
Adult
Middle managers in their 30’s seeking to broaden their outlook or change directions constitute the most recently developed segment of the MBA panoply. As a rule these “students” are fully employed and intend to remain so while taking an MBA. Either their employers are offering them additional business training (company-sponsored) or they are financing it themselves (self-sponsored). This is the group which has fueled the growth of part-time MBA programs, the most varied and fastest growing segment of the market.
The format may be evening classes, ~~day/Saturday classes, periods of school interspersed with work, or distance learning” Of necessity, these programs are fragmented, but they need not be ridiculously short. The quality programs in this group are sufficiently long to develop managerial attitudes and behavior. However, at best these students cannot acquire the same depth of learning as transpires in the full-time At a point which has not yet been experience. determined, the shorter of these programs belong to the category of executive education rather than the MBA. This burgeoning segment of the market is currently powering a rash of innovative programs in the UK, including distance learning and company or consortia of programs for the middle manager. But at present on the Continent, the part-time market is largely being ill-served by opportunistic ventures, often misleading aggressive, marketing based on tethniques.
to Europeans are, by and large, not accustomed differentiating among organizations providing widely differing education for the same degree. Traditionally, in Europe the degree speaks for itself, irregardless of the institution which has granted it. Within national university systems, each degree represents a known standard across institutions. The MBA degree, however, varies widely in quality depending on the institution where it was earned. Europeans will soon become accustomed to evaluating the quality of NBA degree programs. (Americans have been doing so for years. fn graduate business education, the U.S. market has determined, and everybody knows, which are the schools that have high quality MBA programs - in fact only some 30 out of almost 800.) Despite the variation in duration of European MBA programs across the three market segments, the same criteria for measuring quality broadly apply, The three key ingredients are the c~rr~~~~~~, the ~~~1~~~and the ~~r~~~i~~~~ &e&y. The ~~~jc~~u~ should be an integrated learning experience rather than a smorgasbord of laosely In the best programs, the currirelated subjects. culum will consist of a series of modules centering on general management topics as opposed to a collection of functionally oriented courses or, even worse, a series of disconnected lectures. Classroom
time in the one- and two-year
programs
ranges from 700 to 900 hours (including projects). Although part-time programs are invariably shorter, less than 400 hours in the classroom is insufficient for the learning level of a first-class MBA degree. An integrated curriculum implies a permanent faculty. In the good schools the faculty will consist of a cohesive team of professional teachers working together on a long-term basis to provide an integrated education. Most will have excellent academic credentials (Ph.D. or equivalent) as well as experience in industry. While seasoned executives make excellent visiting lecturers who provide valuable reality testing possibilities in the classroom, few have had the time to become first-rate teachers. Faculty is always a strong indicator of quality. Europe (like the U.S.) is currently experiencing an acute shortage of qualified business teachers. Thus the institutions which have been able to recruit and retain good faculty have a distinct advantage over many of which import the newer enterprises, teachers from the U.S. or rely heavily on the local business community. Faculty in the quality institutions are committed to extending the body of theory and knowledge of the business profession. They are “researchers” as well as teachers. They contribute to the state of the art in management and develop European teaching materials rather than relying solely on books and cases published by other schools. The quality of the learning experience is superior in those institutions which are investing in the development of new ideas Even in part-time programs, the quality of the ~~r~~~~~u~~ &a& is key to the learning experience, The top MEA programs attract the best students. Regardless of their age and experience, they have academic qualifications, good track records in their previous jobs, and sufficient maturity to contribute intelligently in the classroom. Former graduates will have gone on to the jobs of their choice. A substantial portion of alumni will have advanced to positions in top management in excellent companies. Once the market sorts itself out, the quality programs will stand out. As in the U.S., companies and students alike will be aware of the value of different institutions. Meanwhile, the buyer will be well advised to assess the degree of integration in the curriculum, the strength of the faculty and the level of the participant body, regardless of whether the program is a two-year, one-year or part-time MBA.
230
PHYLLIS
ISELIN-TREMAINE
In Search of the Global Outlook Fiercer international competition and the countdown to 1992 are driving industry to better prepare managers to do business in a global context. The MBA is recognized by many as providing better training for operating internationally. Multinational companies in Europe were the first to hire MBA graduates, and good MBA programs tend to emphasize the international aspects of business. From the students’ viewpoint, the MBA is the only credential transferable across the national boundaries of disparate education systems. Europe has the edge in international business educaof the superior language tion - partly because abilities of the majority of its university graduates. Europe has a monopoly on international business schools. National schools such as London Business School, the Rotterdam School of Economics, Bocconi in Milan and IESE in Barcelona are moving towards becoming international. Europe is also the home of the three business schools - whose missions were international from the outset - INSEAD, IMI and IMEDE. (The two latter are merging and will offer one MBA program jointly next year.) of the best international The key characteristic schools is the multinational character of their boards of directors, faculty and student bodies. While many good business schools in Europe and America aspire to become international, they are finding it slowgoing, mainly because of the global competition for a small pool of good faculty and the challenge of attracting students from around the world. A mix of cultures in the classroom provides a context in which a global outlook develops. Where no nationality out-numbers others, no particular cultural bias will prevail and students learn to consider issues from many perspectives. They develop an understanding of how “foreigners” think. The curriculums of the best international schools use cases and learning tools based on cross-border issues and situations. Students emerge from these MBA programs with an understanding of global markets, regional financial practices and national attitudes to labor, advertising, etc. The U.S. Attraction seats available on truly international However, MBA programs are far fewer than numbers of applicants. Therefore many choose an alternative route to a career in international management via a high quality MBA abroad. Thus European students continue to cross the Atlantic in search of an inter-
national experience despite the overwhelming “American-ness” of U.S. MBA schools. Said one Scandinavian at a New England business school, “I wanted to go somewhere I couldn’t drive to.” These students, usually in their late 20’s, enroll in the top U.S. schools. They claim this strategy works in that it broadens their outlook, introduces them to one of the world’s major markets and makes them attractive to corporate recruiters in Europe. One caveat: they choose carefully among the top 30 U.S. schools and avoid the lesser ones - a relatively easy task thanks to the numerous MBA guides, advisory services and regularly published rankings of schools in the national press. The U.S. graduate business schools welcome these students from abroad. Increasing international enrollments is a major aim of a number of schools such as the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. The best U.S. schools are also looking for ways to make their faculties and curriculums more international. The Tuck School, for example, has launched an MBA program in Tokyo, in a joint venture with a Japanese school. Tuck professors will go there for a term at a time to teach and do research. The intent is to broaden the faculty and internationalize the curriculum back home.
The Corporate
Viewpoint
Initially at least, companies appeared to have little to gain from MBA graduates commanding high salaries and fast track careers. Better to hire young high school or university graduates, train them thoroughly in the industry and the corporate structure and only much later send them on executive education programs for systematic learning of management skills and techniques. Only a few large multinationals showed interest in the MBA graduates of Europe at the outset. Now, as global competition intensifies and Europe reaches towards 1992, more and more medium-sized companies are prepared to pay for the additional knowledge and skills which holders of first-class MBA degrees bring on board. The globalization of management education, as well as the ever-growing need for more highly educated is likely to favor the current people in business, trend towards MBA training. At present, the MBA is the only business degree which is more or less recognized internationally. It will continue to attract the best and the brightest with its promises of more
THE UBIQUITOUS
control over one’s career, more interesting work, greater mobility and a higher salary. Companies seeking competitive advantage will find ways of using this pool of talent and energy.
MBA
231
are most successful when they incorporate the practical assignments into the regular curriculum. The less successful projects differ little from normal work experience and have no special education value added.
Room for lmprovemen t Alongside a growing interest in MBA graduates, corporate criticism of MBA education has not ceased. The primary complaint is that MBA programs are too academic, not sufficiently practical. In other words they turn out graduates who are unable to put their knowledge to work to get the job done. European business schools tend to be more sensitive to such criticisms coming from industry than are the U.S. schools. Perhaps because they were first launched by industry rather than academe, European schools have traditionally been closer to the corporate world than to the universities (not the case across the Atlantic). Many are dependent on corporate support and sponsorship of executive education for their survival and therefore highly attuned to corporate concerns. Already, a number of Europe’s MBA schools are addressing the problem of practical application through the use of assignments in companies internships, complex group consulting projects or, for part-time programs, on-the-job assignments. These attempts to teach the skills of implementation
Future Directions European MBA education serves an expanding market which has not yet settled on an industry standard. However, already the European MBA is taking a different shape than the U.S. model. The best schools in Europe are working closely with corporations to develop a practice orientation, and they have a clear head start in terms of global outlook. As Derek Abell, Dean of IMEDE, has put it, “A few top European-based schools appear better able to develop what companies need - managers with a practical approach and international experience . ” But until confusion subsides in the market place and clear guidelines emerge, recruiting companies and would-be students will have to proceed with care. The best European schools are excellent. They can be identified by an integrated curriculum, qualified faculty and an elite participant body. But among the hoards of recent arrivals, many MBA programs do not stand up to scrutiny.