University challengeEric Cornuel says Europe’s business schools face a testing future

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INSIDE THIS ISSUEOpen futureJordi Canals, IESE, urges contact with society

Corporate learningRichard Straub reports on CLIP

Frank BrownINSEAD’s new dean makes an impact

EQUIS decadeJulio Urgel on 10 years of accreditation

China viewJan Borgonjon looks at management education in China

Wise words Louise Lunnon and Sharon Turnbull ask what wisdom is

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Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Editorial page 01

Volume 01_Issue 01 2007

In focus...

Welcome to the first edition of EFMD’s new magazine, Global Focus. We hope that with its exciting new design and stimulating articles it reflects the dynamism of our organisation and the international EFMD network. We aim to use this new platform to communicate and share news and views from academic and corporate members of the network and we hope you will all take the opportunity to use it as a means of connecting with others. This issue addresses some of the current concerns facing the world of management education.

EFMD Director General and CEO Eric Cornuel, looks at the complex issues faced by the higher-education sector and business schools in particular in Europe and sets out a series of initiatives that need to be taken.

In a similar vein, Jordi Canals, Dean of IESE business school in Spain, says in an interview that business schools must avoid the pitfall of becoming too internally obsessed and instead need to increase their contacts with the business sector and society at large.

A new EFMD partner, Frank Brown, the recently appointed dean of INSEAD in France, also gives his views on the future of management education while a long-established EFMD stalwart, Jan Borgonjon, looks at the short but dramatic history of management education in China, particularly the role of CEIBS, and offers some views on what the future may hold. And Louise Lunnon and Dr Sharon Turnbull examine the role of wisdom in leadership.

This issue of Global Focus also includes news and details of EFMD programmes and projects including the CLIP corporate learning initiative, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, and the EFMD Programme Accreditation System (EPAS). And with the EQUIS accreditation system celebrating its 10th anniversary, EFMD’s Julio Urgel assesses its success and dynamism.

We hope you enjoy it! The editorial team especially welcomes suggestions for articles and ideas.

Martine Plompen Editor E: globalfocus@efmd.org

EFMD

Contents

01 In focus...

04 Talking shop Peter Lorange and IMD’s roots of success

EFMD quality improvement services Strategic choices for executive education Africa Open for business The planet we want

10 University challenge Eric Cornuel, Director General & CEO of EFMD,

analyses the complex issues faced by Europe’s higher education sector, particularly business schools

16 Open future Jordi Canals, Dean of IESE, says business schools

must look outwards to companies and society. Interview by George Bickerstaffe

20 CLIP spreads its wings Richard Straub, CLIP Programme Director,

explains how the corporate learning initiative is developing

24 Frank Brown: making an impact Frank Brown, six months into his role as Dean

of INSEAD, talks to George Bickerstaffe

28 Shaping responsible leaders for an interconnected world

2006 marked a new stage in the development of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative

32 EQUIS accreditation: value and benefits for international business schools

The EQUIS accreditation system is 10 years old this year. EFMD’s Julio Urgel looks at how the system works and what business schools can gain

38 EPAS comes of age Chris Greensted reflects on the lessons learned

from the early phases of the EFMD Programme Accreditation System (EPAS)

Volume 01_Issue 01 2007

Executive Editors & Advisory BoardEric Cornuel, Jim Herbolich, Matthew Wood

EditorMartine Plompen martine.plompen@efmd.org

Consultant EditorGeorge Bickerstaffe bickerstaffe@btinternet.com

Contributing EditorsAnders Aspling, Jan Borgonjon, Eric Cornuel, Chris Greensted, Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Louise Lunnon, Richard Straub, Martine Torfs, Sharon Turnbull, Julio Urgel

Design & art directionJebens Design www.jebensdesign.co.uk

Photographs & Illustrations©Jebens Design Ltd/EFMD unless otherwise stated

EditorialPhone: +32 2 629 0810 globalfocus@efmd.org

AdvertisingPhone: +32 2 629 0810 globalfocus@efmd.org

EFMDRue Gachard 88 – Box 3 1050 Brussels, Belgiumwww.efmd.org/globalfocus

©EFMD

42 Observations on the past – and future – of management education in China

Jan Borgonjon looks at the short and dramatic history of management education in China, particularly the role of CEIBS, and offers some views on what the future may hold

48 2006 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards

Award winners and Highly Commended entries

50 The wisdom of leaders Wisdom is seen as an important component of

leadership. But what exactly is it? Louise Lunnon and Dr Sharon Turnbull find out

54 Upcoming events at EFMD

56 The business of branding Andrew Crisp of education brand consultants

CarringtonCrisp, analyses the results of the most recent joint survey with EFMD, The Business of Branding

The short and dramatic history of management education in China » page 42

42

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Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Contents pages 02_03

Peter Lorange and IMD’s roots of successPeter Lorange, Dean of IMD, will step down in Spring 2008.

“When I arrived in 1993, the institute already had a very strongly business-oriented culture. For example, in contrast to other academic institutions IMD has never had tenure, there is no hierarchy of titles, there are no academic departments and the institute bases all its research on actual business issues,” says Prof Lorange, reflecting on 13 years in charge.

”There have been several shifts in the management development landscape in general and at IMD in particular during that time. Today we see that customers are more and more interested in tailored in-company programmes – we call them partnership programmes. Currently the balance at IMD is 50/50 for open and partnership. We are quite happy with this and foresee that it will stay this way, as the two formats have their own benefits both for the companies as well as for IMD.”

Companies, he says, seem to be less interested in training in functional skills such as finance or marketing programmes. Compared to a decade ago, today almost all IMD’s programmes cover interdisciplinary topics such as leadership, board issues, change, innovation or managing the value chain.

“We do not talk about teaching anymore,” he comments. “We feel that both the practitioner and the academic learn when they engage in a programme, of whatever type. IMD’s faculty bring in their latest research findings and participants respond with their own experience-based reflections. This leads to a rich exchange of viewpoints.”

The school’s origins go back to two institutes created by international companies – IMI, founded by Alcan Aluminium in Geneva in 1946, and IMEDE, founded in Lausanne in 1957 by Nestlé. In 1990 the two institutes merged to create IMD, based on the old IMEDE campus in Lausanne. And Lorange emphasises that for him Lausanne is and will be the only IMD campus.

“We provide a global meeting place in a wonderful setting by Lac Leman (Lake Geneva),” he says. “Here, executives from all over the world come together to discuss their business dilemmas. Creating satellite campuses would only compromise on the great diversity you will find here.”

As to the future, Lorange does not foresee anything dramatically different for IMD or for himself.

“I think IMD will keep building on its strengths,” he says. “We just received a SFR. 15 million donation from the AP Møller and Chastine McKinney Møller Foundation for the construction of a new centre for executive learning, which will completed in June 2008 and will mean IMD will be even better positioned to meet the growing demand for programmes. And as for myself, I will simply keep doing my research [on internally generated growth] and will stay in touch with real-life business issues as a board member of several international corporations.”

An IMD search committee expects to be able to announce news on the appointment of a new president by early 2008.

For more information on IMD see: www.imd.ch.

EFMD research reportsEuropean educational reforms widely misunderstood by studentsEFMD has undertaken a unique survey in partnership with Trendence, a leading European HR research group, and the international student body AIESEC to map undergraduate student intentions and behaviours in relation to the Bologna reforms. Over 11,000 respondents across 30 countries replied to the survey and the major findings are:› Slightly more than half of the students

surveyed have no in-depth knowledge of the Bologna reforms.

› “Overall reputation” is the deciding factor as to which foreign institution Bologna students will choose. The other key factor is future employment prospects.

› When finishing their bachelors degree, half of the students surveyed intend to study for a masters qualification immediately. One in four students plan to gain further experience and study for a masters qualification later.

› When completing their masters studies about one in every three students plans to work in their home country. Equally, about one in every three students plans to work abroad.

› Half of the students surveyed have no awareness about mobility scholarships.

More info : www.EFMD.org

Talking shopNews and events in brief from the business world

ENQA – the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher EducationEFMD has successfully applied for membership of ENQA – the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, which will give EFMD access to the major forum on the future of accreditation across Europe and, to some extent, its regulation. It will assist EFMD’s relations with national accreditation bodies and ensure that we can provide input into the debate on transnational accreditation. A key issue, in addition to obtaining full membership of ENQA, is to obtain inclusion in the European register of approved accrediting bodies.

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Talking shop pages 04_05

Sharing best practiceThe first CLIP “Sharing Best Practice” workshop was hosted by the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin and DaimlerChysler Financial Services in May. It focussed on “Integration of learning into HR processes”. The event was structured around experiences within CLIP with contributions from three companies that had been through the process.

The second best practice workshop was in Madrid in October, hosted by Union Fenosa on the theme “Measuring the impact of learning”. This event was also the occasion to attract several new companies to CLIP.

Richard Straub has taken over as Director of CLIP from Gordon Shenton, who will continue to provide assistance, especially on issues relating to quality assessment.

Two companies have formally applied for CLIP and another six companies have expressed a serious interest in CLIP. See CLIP spreads its wings, page 20.

European Affairs UnitAs a major step to ensure consistent focus on key subjects important for EFMD members, the EU Presidency Steering Committee has been formed. It will consist of Deans and Directors from

future EU Presidency countries. The first meeting was held in September 2006. The following topics have been defined as overarching focus-areas to be followed up with the upcoming EU Presidencies (Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and France):

› Quality measures and quality systems, with a focus on internationally accepted quality standards

› Public funding of research in management education and management development

› Governance of universities and business schools ensuring a high degree of autonomy

Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI)GRLI held its General Assembly on the campus of CEIBS in Shanghai from 23 to 26 November. It was attended by the pioneering group as well as the new partners that joined in 2006. The objectives were to report on actions, to ratify the statutes and appoint Board members in preparation for a formal structure (the Globally Responsible Leadership Foundation) and to become better acquainted with the local situation regarding global responsibility issues.

See Shaping responsible leaders for an interconnected global world, page 28.

Nigel Roome of Solvay Business School wins the Aspen Institute-EABIS 2006 European Faculty Pioneer AwardProf Nigel Roome, who works closely with EFMD as the Scientific Coordinator for the CSR research platform project, has won the Aspen Institute-EABIS 2006 European Faculty Pioneer Award. Prof Roome currently serves as the Daniel Janssen Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility at Solvay Business School in Brussels, Belgium, and has consistently generated an outstanding body of research, embodied excellence in leading curriculum development initiatives and shown a deep commitment to advancing corporate responsibility knowledge, learning and training.

SOUNDBITES

IMD’s faculty bring their latest research findings and participants respond with their own experience-based reflections. This leads to a rich exchange of viewpoints.Peter Lorange

Strategic choices for executive education The EFMD Executive Education Network meeting at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School (VLGMS), 24 – 26 September 2006 focussed on strategic choices for executive education. During the plenary sessions, speakers provided different stakeholder perspectives with the client point of view covered by companies such as LVMH and Fortis. Capgemini University focused on its approach to executive development as a corporate learning centre. Dirk Buyens of VLGMS gave the faculty point of view.

For the second year the EFMD network ran a survey on executive education centres, which included a number of questions related to strategic choices such as: Is executive education a core offering in the business school? Does the executive education unit have an international scope? Does it also offer consultancy services to clients? Is the focus on onsite education or on the use of technology? Survey results were discussed throughout the conference.

The interactive conference format gave participants the chance to discuss in depth a number of challenges with a small group of colleagues.

In the workshop on client expectations, for example, a recurring theme was the diversity of client types and expectations. Clients needs have changed and business schools are in the process of changing their approaches. The major challenges that the group identified were business schools that failed to translate academic theory into practice but also corporate clients that did not thoroughly investigate which school could meet their needs. The group expressed the hope that the EFMD online database of executive education provision could help companies in identifying the strengths of EFMD member schools.

Other workshops considered issues such as the demand for executive education courses that lead to academic qualifications, the need for flexibility and diversity in learning methods, how to show clients that a programme has the desired outcome, and assessing the strategic value of partnerships.

The issue of branding was of concern to all providers of executive education. The main challenges that the groups identified were how to differentiate institutions, how to move from product branding to corporate branding, and how to link the cultural identity of the faculty with the managerial vision for the business school.

The next EFMD Executive Education Network meeting will take place at Euromed Marseille in October 2007 and EFMD will improve the survey questions to provide even more valuable input to the discussions. For more info: delphine.hauspy@efmd.org

Africa Open for business“Africa Open for Business”, a documentary by award-winning journalist Carol Pineau, is being released for purchase on DVD.

The one-hour documentary is a radical departure from most films on Africa. It features 10 portraits of entrepreneurship throughout the continent, offers African solutions to African problems and has proved an extremely powerful tool in changing people’s perceptions on Africa and encouraging investment into the continent.

It is ideal for organisations, NGOs and businesses wanting to promote awareness of Africa’s economic potential as well as for classroom use, including international and African studies, international business and MBA programmes, and journalism and communications programmes.

The DVD version for institutional and educational markets features extras including a six-minute short that opened several conferences, conversations with producer/director Carol Pineau and director of photography Mark Thalman, and a teacher’s study guide.

The price is $179, plus tax and shipping, which includes public performance rights.

For more information, to view a trailer and purchase on line visit www.africaopenforbusiness.com.

Talking shopNews and events in brief from the business world

The European Case Clearing House Conference/EventTeaching Strategy & Entrepreneurship Through Cases (ECCH Workshop) Cranfield School of Management, UK 10-11 May 2007

This workshop will explore how effective cases can be in the teaching of strategy and entrepreneurship. Participants will examine how real stories and cases can help students make sense of theory and will focus on the importance of studying decision makers as well as analysing strategic decision making. The workshop will identify different types of relevant case materials and how to source them and will include time for participants to experiment with teaching materials they bring with them. www.ecch.com

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Talking shop pages 06_07

The planet we wantThe world is facing unprecedented opportunities but also unprecedented threats. The business community has focused on the former. However, for the opportunities to materialise, and especially to be sustained over the longer term, the threats need to be addressed. Business leaders need to be proactive and to approach the challenges in a holistic manner. Business educators must support them.

There are three inter-related threats that the business community and business schools must urgently address in an intelligent, strategic and creative manner:

› poverty and inequality

› the fragmentation of the global community

› protectionism

This is not to suggest that other threats – environmental degradation, the water crisis, terrorism and so on – should be minimised; but the three identified here are ones where business can make a difference and which could, if properly tackled, go a long way in helping to assuage the other threats.

Globalisation has failed to be inclusive, and especially to be seen to be inclusive,

while far more information circulates than ever before, even to remote parts of the planet.

Today about 20% of the world’s population consumes 85% of global goods and services. As rich countries’ populations age and stagnate, while developing countries are in full demographic boom, the 20% is expected, on the basis of current trends, to decrease to 15% within the next two decades. This is not sustainable.

Recent developments have witnessed an alarming fragmentation of the “global village”. There is a dramatic lack of understanding and trust between different communities. There can be no viable global market without a viable global village – without trust between communities and civilisations.

As business goes global and learns the tremendous advantages of diversity, secularism and tolerance, business leaders must establish their credentials as “global citizens” and work hard to diffuse the racial, ethnic, religious and other tensions that arise.

To that end, business schools must also draw on philosophy, history, anthropology and literature to ensure that the education of the business leader has the kind of mental, moral, intellectual,

cultural and emotional tools and compass necessary to constructively address the great challenges humanity will face in the 21st century.

Business leaders and business educators, far too frenetic in the pursuit of more immediate business goals, have done a terrible job of promoting the market economy; in fact it is questionable how much promotion has taken place at all. The market economy cannot function on autopilot. What is needed from business leaders and educators is a systemic and strategic approach to the promotion and constant improvement of the global market economy.

By proactively addressing these three major threats, business leaders and educators will be contributing to making a better and richer (in every sense of the word) world with improved long-term business prospects.

It is a matter of enlightened self-interest and of answering the question: what kind of planet do we want and that we wish to leave to our children and grandchildren?

Jean-Pierre Lehmann

ABOUT THE AUTHORJean-Pierre Lehmann is Professor of International Political Economy and Founding Director of The Evian Group at IMD.

SOUNDBITES

About 20% of the world’s population consumes 85% of global goods and services.Jean-Pierre Lehmann

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Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards 2007 The 3rd Annual EFMD/Emerald Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards seek to celebrate excellence in research. Award-winning entries will receive a cash prize of 11,500 (or currency equivalent), a certificate and an offer of publication in the sponsoring journal, as a full paper, or as an executive summary/research note, at the discretion of the Editor(s).

Ten prizes will be awarded to the winners across a variety of Journals. The closing date for receipt of applications is 1 October 2007 and full details on eligibility and submission criteria can be at www.emeraldinsight.com/awards The list of the 2006 winners can be found on page 48.

EAIE training courses in 2007“Make professional development your priority – join an EAIE training course in 2007!” exclaims the front cover of the most recent training course brochure. The European Association for International Education has launched its largest training course programme to date. With 19 training courses to be held in 15 cities across Europe the EAIE is making professional development its priority. According to Randall Martin, Executive Director at Simon Fraser University and course leader, “EAIE training courses offer a largely European and more cosmopolitan focus on current activities, issues, events and obstacles in international education, and are not as influenced by an American, market-based or single view point.” It would seem that participants agree – in 2006 many courses were fully booked. For more information: www.eaie.org/training

Newly accredited schools, EQUIS, EPAS, CELMid October 2006, 5 schools were accredited by EQUIS

Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

School of Business and Management (Tours – Poitiers), Groupe ESCEM, France

Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, UK

Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s University, Canada

Umeå School of Business, Umeå University, Sweden

In December 2006, the following 8 schools gained EPAS accreditation for the programmes listed.

BMI – Baltic Management Institute International Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme

Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) MBA Programme Master in Public Sector Management

Groupe ESC PAU Grande Ecole Programme in Management

MIB School of Management Master in Insurance & Risk Management

MIRBIS – Moscow International Higher Business School Bachelor of Arts in International Economics and Business, Marketing, Management & Finance

SIMI, Scandinavian International Management Institute Executive MBA programme

Wielkopolska Business School Executive MBA Programme

Warsaw University of Technology Business School Executive MBA, International MBA

EFMD is pleased to announce that the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Master’s Degree in Distance Education has been awarded EFMD CEL accreditation.

More information: www.efmd. org

EFMD new membersThe following new EFMD members are to be ratified in Brussels in June 2007 at the EFMD General Assembly Meeting.New Institutional MembersEducationalAnglia Ruskin University, Ashcroft International Business School, UKCardiff University, Cardiff Business School, UKCaucasus University, Caucasus School of Business, GeorgiaCITY Liberal Studies, CITY College, GreeceCorvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Business Administration, HungaryEcole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, School of International Management, FranceEuropean University VIADRINA, Faculty of Economics & Business Administration, GermanyHanze University of Applied Sciences, International Business School, The NetherlandsIAE Toulouse, Toulouse University Graduate School of Management, FranceISG – Institut Supérieur de Gestion, FranceSt Petersburg State University, School of Management, RussiaTallinn University of Technology, School of Economics & Business Administration, EstoniaUniversity of Nottingham, Nottingham University Business School, UKUniversity of Salford, Faculty of Business, Law & the Built Environment, UKCorporateBanesto-Banco Español de Crédito SA, SpainEuropean Commission, Unit of Learning & DevelopmentIntel, IrelandLa Poste, Université du Courrier, Université La Poste Grand Public, FranceToyota Motor Europe, Toyota Academy Europe, Belgium

New Non-European MembersEducationalHigher Institute of Business Administration, SyriaManagement Development Institute, IndiaMcMaster University, DeGroote School of Business, CanadaTsinghua University, School of Economics & Management, PR ChinaUniversidad EAN, ColombiaCorporateComisión Federal de Electricidad, Universidad Tecnológica CFE, Mexico

New Associate MembersEducationalEuropa-Institut, Saarland University, GermanyUniversity of Maryland University College, Graduate School of Management & Technology, USA

More information: www.efmd.org

Talking shopNews and events in brief from the business world

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 pages 08_09

Innovative books in the field ofManagement Development from

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These books are available to individual members of EFMDat a special 50% discount off the RRP. To claim enter reference

code WEFMD2006a at the checkout stage when ordering online at www.palgrave.com,

or by email: orders@palgrave.com.Offer only available in Europe. Expires 1st April 2007.

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University challengeERIC CORNUEL, DIRECTOR GENERAL & CEO OF EFMD, ANALYSESTHE COMPLEx ISSUES FACED BY EUROPE’S HIGHER EDUCATIONSECTOR, PARTICULARLY BUSINESS SCHOOLSThe main goal of any higher education institution should be to deliver (and continually enhance) excellence in teaching and learning and to combine the values of a liberal education with the professional qualifications required in a global economy.

To achieve this, the successful business schools of the future will need to ensure an adequate level of resources to realise their mission statements and recruit qualified faculty. They will need adequately funded doctoral research programmes and other incentives for academics. They will need to globalise not just their faculty and student body but also their curricula (which will have to be re-shaped to be both multicultural and multidisciplinary). And they will need to train students to become globally responsible leaders.

While these challenges are common to business schools worldwide, there is concern in Europe over the possible declining level of its higher education offerings. One element of worry comes from the great discrepancy in resources available to European universities when compared to those of their competitors. European business schools could quickly find themselves unable to recruit the same quality of

researchers and faculty as their counterparts in America and elsewhere, spending less on research programmes and struggling to provide attractive offerings in a competitive market.

The greatest obstacle to proper resourcing seems to be that most European universities remain largely state-funded rather than having diversified sources of revenue (student fees, business and donors). Everywhere in Europe, with the notable exception of Scandinavia, budgets for higher education and research appear to be falling. In many cases the state even prohibits charging tuition fees and creates obstacles to the use of other sources of revenue.

With its low levels of funding, Europe may be less able to adapt to the changing needs and demands of the market and to adopt appropriate solutions for the challenges that business schools will face in the future.

Where is the faculty?A large number of business schools are facing the problem of faculty shortages while demand for management education continues to grow. Customised programmes for companies, are one particular area where the customer is demanding a more personalised learning journey, while the provider is struggling to meet these expectations

The greatest obstacle to proper resourcing seems to be that most European universities remain largely state-funded rather than having diversified sources of revenue

which require the hiring of a considerable number of experienced faculty. Unless doctoral research and education in this field is encouraged, the level and perhaps even quality of business education offered worldwide will decrease and business schools will no longer be able to prepare future professionals and leaders for the global economy.

Within the next decade the US will have a predicted shortfall of 2,500 academics in management disciplines alone. Given the law of supply and demand, it becomes easy to see how this will translate into a significant acceleration in the movement of faculty westwards across the Atlantic.

This problem is even more acute in Europe, where it is again rooted in the lack of resources. European institutions will need to match the global salary levels of their competitors, particularly in America, if they are not to face serious problems. Young lecturers in quality business schools in America currently earn about €100,000 a year while in Europe the comparable figure is around €60,000.

It should, then, be of no surprise that of the 1,200 top scientists in the world, the great majority are in America, with only 80 in Britain, 65 in Germany and 30 in France. Furthermore, according to The Economist,

70% of the world’s Nobel prize-winners are working for American universities; 30% of articles published on science and engineering, and almost half of the world’s most-cited articles are produced there. Note that the greatest upcoming competitor in this field is China, which is attracting an increasing number of international faculty, and in particular American PhDs.

Some short-term solutions, such as hiring part-time faculty, academics from other disciplines, or retired business professionals, are open to business schools. But the problem needs be tackled at its roots: doctoral research in the management fields needs greater resources. Measures such as higher salaries and tax incentives should be provided to young students to encourage them to pursue an academic career in business and remain in the field.

One way to provide these extra resources might be the concept of academic clusters – cross-border alliances of academic institutions and business schools, a sort of academic Airbus. (It is frequently easier to be close friends with near neighbours than with immediate family!)

At present, many institutions are simply too small. Alliances – even mergers – would create the economies of scale necessary to fund the

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 University challenge by Eric Cornuel pages 10_11

changes that business schools and universities need, as well as raise cross-border and multicultural awareness.

In a way, of course, this is yet another example of the pervasive globalisation of the management education sector, yet another of the key challenges business schools face.

The world on our doorstepThe globalisation of management education has a number of implications.

First, business school faculty itself must have a relevant international dimension (not just a different passport) that will transmit the benefits of global learning and experiences to its students.

Second, schools need to respond positively to the fact that their students are increasingly drawn from an international pool – the market for management education is a global one. If their student body is not international, then they should try to make it so.

Third, they must adapt and develop their curricula to reflect the global nature of business and the global factors impacting managers, whether or not they are so-called “international managers”. The world is now so small and flat that every manager, whatever his or her role, is affected by the global nature of business.

Finally, they need to increase the global nature of their research. It is a sad fact that most research papers still focus on Western businesses. This can hinder the development of the international content of programmes and courses and, as a consequence, a global mindset in students. Research should also be more relevant, keeping in mind that the final goal is the improvement of management of an organisation.

Some business schools have made great strides in this area via, for example, the establishment of cross-cultural programme teams, regional and national campus days, exchange programmes with other

business schools around the world, student visits to other countries, and projects and internships in locations outside their own region.

Curricula also need to be made more international in scope to broaden students’ knowledge and awareness of non-Western business practices. The development and use of international case studies from around the world is one way to create familiarity with a wide range of countries and cultures. In addition, there needs to be a more equitable balance between the transfer of west-east and east-west knowledge, skills and attitudes.

In the corporate world, a number of businesses now offer business schools the opportunity for MBA and other students to visit or take up internships to build both a vision of corporate global responsibility and to gain international experience. Such opportunities should be encouraged – and increased.

In Europe, the Bologna process is proving an effective tool to promote and facilitate student mobility by harmonising academic degree standards and quality assurance standards throughout Europe. Schools need to be aware, though, that with students travelling across the continent in a more transparent system, competition will inevitably increase. Already 45 countries have signed the Bologna Accord, and many more are considering it. This is leading to the establishment of a common higher education area which was initiated and carried forward by Europe. This is a great step forward.

At the same time, curricula will have to be more “global” in the multidisciplinary sense. The job market will increasingly demand skills across a variety of fields and demand for joint studies such as business technology programmes will be high.

The reason is that managers in the future will not be able to compete just on the basis of a theoretical business degree, and this is because of many factors not just because of the influence of globalisation. They

Developing the competencies, capacities and attitudes required for the next generation of globally responsible leaders requires more than relying solely on the simple acquisition of knowledge

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 University challenge by Eric Cornuel pages 12_13

70%of the world’s Nobel prize-winners are working for American universities

will need to acquire practical skills that will allow them to become – and manage – the knowledge workers of the future. Learning processes will have to become more real-world focused.

Changing the curriculumOne of the problems of management education remains its continuing (though reduced) emphasis on the trappings of functional disciplines when in reality managers work in a cross-disciplinary, even multidisciplinary, world. So many different elements interact each with the other that managers must be capable of a broader view.

Developing the competencies, capacities and attitudes required for the next generation of globally responsible leaders requires more than relying solely on the simple acquisition of knowledge. Experiential, presentational, propositional and practical ways of learning must be integrated into the curriculum.

The top business schools of the future will train their students to meet the demands of an increasingly complex world and in doing so they will use challenging and innovative approaches to management education. They will implement substantial changes in the ways they prepare the next generation of leaders.

In particular, I believe they will, and should, put globally responsible leadership and corporate responsibility at the heart of the business school curriculum. This will also present the schools with an opportunity to expand and enrich their academic offering and to employ new pedagogical approaches.

While some schools are already employing multidisciplinary approaches to learning, the topic of corporate global responsibility presents a further opportunity for integrated learning and for co-operation between traditional business school subject areas. Corporate global responsibility requires both the knowledge and application of learning to a diverse set of business topics. Studies in this area provide an avenue whereby business schools can move beyond functional boundaries to holistic practice.

We need to focus on leadership because too often today we encounter a management style that is somewhat harsh, that confronts people rather than supports them, that punishes them for mistakes and that focuses only on shareholder value. As a result, people are stressed and ill

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at ease in their work. I believe that we must encourage more human (and humane) values in management, especially forgiveness and health at work. Leadership training should aim at developing a style of management that promotes these values. If you do not forgive people for making mistakes, their confidence can easily be destroyed. If you forgive them, you give them a chance to learn and you earn legitimacy.

These values are very important if we wish to develop and retain people. Dedication and loyalty will be achieved only if this is done.

What next?I believe that the successful business schools of the future will offer to their students innovative programmes backed by the appropriate resources to guarantee an excellent faculty body, an international experience and a multicultural environment.

The top business schools of the future will not only implement changes to remain competitive but they will seek accreditation and quality improvement programmes to prove to the market that they are committed to excellence and innovation.

But as business schools struggle to increase funding and spending to achieve greater value propositions, they will also need to adopt strategies that will allow them to differentiate themselves from their competitors and prove that value.

Quality will become an ever-growing concern for business schools, in particular with regard to measures for determining and improving the quality of programmes. The most competitive schools are already looking for benchmarking opportunities as well as quality improvement programmes that will provide them with an opportunity to gain a thorough understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, to develop new and better programmes, and to prove the level of their offerings to the market through accreditation. Students

and faculty will also benefit greatly from having tools that aid them in their choice of institution and programme.

The link between the business and the academic worlds must also be strengthened and redesigned. It is clear that there is a need for a consultation process to discuss the definition of strategic objectives, the development of shared infrastructures, and the production of competencies. This means that greater mutual understanding must be achieved, not just in general terms but also in specific areas such as recognition of the necessity of fundamental research and its connection to a productive economy.

I believe European governments need to offer strong incentives for a sufficiently long period so that a true culture of co-operation can be developed. Nor should we forget the individual at the heart of this mechanism - the teacher/researcher. It is urgent that incentives be established both to increase the percentage of young Europeans committed to following an academic career and also to ensure that they stay in Europe. It is urgent that remuneration levels be adjusted, either directly or indirectly, through the creation of an exceptional status akin to a “public safety” measure. This would partially compensate for the enormous amount of social status that this profession has lost.

I believe that we know what has to be done. Now we must show the courage and resilience to do it.

AboveProfessor Eric Cornuel

innovative programmes backed by the appropriate resources to guarantee an excellent faculty body, an international experience and a multicultural environment

LEARNING IN THE COMPANY OF THE WORLD’SMOST INSPIRING MANAGEMENT THINKERSBenchmark for Business delivers unprecedented and thought-provoking experiences for today’s leaders bringingEFMD members face to face with the foremost authorities on a whole range of performance-critical issues.

EFMD members benefit from a special unpublished discount of 25% on the advertised rates.Visit www.benchmarkforbusiness.com for online registration. Please quote ‘EFMD’ when registering online.

TOM PETERS & CHARLES HANDYTRANSFORMING LIFE, WORK & ORGANISATIONS

Hilton Deansgate, Manchester7th March 2007

MICHAEL PORTERNEW INSIGHTS ON COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

QE2 Conference Centre, London24th January 2007

MALCOLM GLADWELL & STEVEN LEVITTTIPPING POINT STRATEGIES IN THE AGEOF FREAKONOMICS

ExCeL, London 17th September 2007

C.K. PRAHALAD & PHILIP KOTLERREDEFINING VALUE IN A COMMODITISED WORLD

Hilton Metropole, Birmingham21st May 2007

HOW TO REGISTERTo ensure the 25% discount is applied, members should quote ‘EFMD’ after their surname when registering.

ONLINE: www.benchmarkforbusiness.com TELEPHONE: +44 (0)1224 636200 EMAIL: team@benchmarkforbusiness.com

Full information on the Benchmark for Business conference series can be seen online at www.benchmarkforbusiness.com

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 pages 14_15

Open futureJORDI CANALS, DEAN OF IESE, SAYS BUSINESS SCHOOLS MUST LOOK OUTWARDS TO COMPANIES AND SOCIETY INTERVIEW BY GEORGE BICKERSTAFFE

The theme of the EFMD 2007 Annual Meeting for Deans and Directors is “Challenging the purpose of business schools”. But what do you think are the key challenges that business schools themselves will face over the next five to 10 years?

I think sometimes business schools focus too much on internal challenges. Obviously these are important but the most important challenge is that business schools have to become outward-looking institutions, both in terms of serving our clients better and in how we can have a bigger impact on society through management education. Otherwise, business schools become institutions that concentrate on having good students and good faculty. But in the end, what is the impact of that on society? I think the we have to focus more and more on these final objectives.

What will the needs of companies and societies be over the next few years?

I think that European societies will have to stimulate people’s sense of innovation and entrepreneurship because it’s the only way for us to survive.

You know the saying “necessity is the mother of invention”? With so many material needs already met, the requirement for innovation in Western society is very low. The need to fight in a positive way, to fight for the future, is very low. We live in a sort of comfort zone where most people can get along reasonably OK.

In addition, Western societies are becoming more individualistic. And while financial economists will say that companies are profit-maximising units, they are also groups of people. The problem is that you have a group of people who are all individualistic, all thinking about their own careers rather than what you might call the common good of the company. So the challenge is how to encourage those people to take risks knowing that they are perhaps not going to reap the benefits of those risk-taking decisions

When you speak to professional service firms – consultants, investment banks, law firms – they say that the commitment young people have to their firms is on average lower than it was 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

The problem is that with a lower sense of commitment then there is a smaller incentive to innovate, to do new things, to think about the long-term wellbeing of your clients or your customers.

European societies will have to stimulate people’s sense of innovation and entrepreneurship because it’s the only way for us to survive

And that is because we are all too comfortable and perhaps happy to be a little bit mediocre?

As I said, society now allows you to get along OK without fighting too much. The problem is that Western societies are getting into more complex problems, not just business problems but social problems like global warming, immigration, the future of the social security system, the explosion of health costs in society, ageing populations and so on. We really need to innovate, otherwise we are not going to solve these problems.

Because next door you have countries that are willing to fight for the future. A population of about three billion people who were once disconnected from the rest of the world is now becoming integrated. And they want to do things. You have Indian companies that five or 10 years ago no one had heard of that are now buying Western concerns.

So I think business schools have to think not only about how they teach marketing, logistics, communication skills and so on to their students – though that’s important and they have to keep doing it – but how to place those skills in the wider context of problems that companies are going to be facing over the next few years.

Perhaps another challenge is also that business education is becoming a commodity – everyone teaches the same marketing, operations courses and so on. Would you agree with that?

The spread of knowledge has become so rapid that there is a risk of management education becoming a commodity, particularly in MBA programmes where, in the early stages, you have to offer a set of basic courses.

But I think the risk is lower in executive education. There you have senior managers who have experience, in some cases many years, and some may already have an MBA degree. So they are looking for something different. Here, I think, you have the opportunity to create a different kind of model.

What has become a commodity in management education is the content, the concepts – the text books, cases and so on – but what has not become a commodity yet, and hopefully never will, is the process, the way you deliver the content. The content is becoming more standardised but the process is not.

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Open future: an interview with Jordi Canals by George Bickerstaffe pages 16_17

AboveJordi Canals: young people have lower commitment

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The process depends very much on the individual school. Each school is different – you can feel the atmosphere – and this allows you to make your offer unique and to personalise it. How you do it is something that goes back to your values, the corporate culture of the place.

Another way of responding to this commoditisation is through custom programmes because there is no universal recipe for them. If you want to work with companies and senior management teams and you want them to spend time and money with you then you really need to produce something different.

But I also I think that’s the reason why custom programmes and working with companies have become so tough. You really do have to offer something different.

Custom programmes are very like management consulting. Is this something that academic institutions such as business schools, often linked to universities, should be getting involved in?

That’s a good point. There is some risk here. Both business schools and companies are changing the nature of management education via custom programmes.

Both management educators and consultants are trying to help companies and their management teams to solve problems but the perspective that each tries to follow is different.

Consultants try to help with specific diagnoses such as which businesses companies should invest in, which they should divest, countries where they should have a stronger presence, product launches that they need to accelerate and so on. And they help companies implement those activities.

But consulting companies do not have a direct impact on managers themselves – how they think, how they manage, how they live, how they shape problems and generate solutions. This is what business schools do. So it’s a different type of process. The risk is if business schools try to do what management consultants already do – and the other way round

But you have also said that European business schools risk becoming less relevant to business. How do you square that circle of being more relevant and yet not having a conflict of interest that might arise from custom programmes?

You become relevant not by just solving problems. You become relevant when you help companies to think about what they are doing.

Say a management team plans to take their

company from point A to point B. In that situation, what business schools can do, I think, is make an assessment of the decision-making process within the company and the sort of leadership capabilities you need in the top management team. You can talk about what other companies have done in the past when they faced similar challenges. This is the way we can help open people’s minds and offer different alternatives and ways of looking at the world. If you do that, I think you are offering a real service to companies.

This is one area where I think business schools can – and are – making a great contribution. And by working with different companies you can develop new things because each company will need a different treatment. You can’t standardise the treatment because you are dealing with human beings. You have the joy of freedom but also the risk of freedom.

What you are describing sounds very different from what you might call the US model of business schools – though they are also now very much involved in custom programmes – of taking in lots of experienced graduates, training them as MBAs and then releasing them on to the market.

I think if you look 10 years down the road what you will see is US schools becoming

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more like European schools, more dependent on executive education than on MBA programmes. For US schools over the next few years the financial crunch is going to become very important. Many universities, both public and private, are resource constrained and they will expect more and more from their business schools, which will have to do more and more in executive education and custom programmes because they will have a financial need to do so.

My bet is this will be an interesting paradigm change. For 50 years business schools in Europe and the rest of the world have been trying to catch up with US business schools and imitate them. What we are going to see in the next few years is just the opposite. I don’t mean that US business schools will imitate European schools but that they will become more aware of the importance of being relevant to companies, not just pumping out MBAs every year, and that they will have to become more international, which in general is something that I think European business schools have been better at.

Does that mean the two will become more alike?

Large US universities are still able to sustain the level of research and innovation they need because they have huge endowments.

That’s a very strong position in the short term. But in the long term if you have an organisation that maybe doesn’t have to worry too much about a large percentage of its revenue perhaps that doesn’t create a sense of urgency.

I think US business schools will have to change the model. That doesn’t mean they have to forget about endowments; on the contrary they have to keep fighting for them.

In fact, I think we will see some convergence, with European schools continuing to look at the US, which is what we have been doing for many years, and US schools increasingly looking at what European schools have been doing in terms of custom programmes, internationalisation and diversity. There may also be convergence in financial models. European schools will have to start thinking more about endowments, though that’s likely to be a slow process, and US schools think more about tuition revenue.

In 10 yearsyou will see US schools becoming more like European schools...

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Open future: an interview with Jordi Canals by George Bickerstaffe pages 18_19

The spread of knowledge has become so rapid that there is a risk of management education becoming a commodity

CLIP spreads its wingsRICHARD STRAUB, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND CLIP PROGRAMME DIRECTOR, ExPLAINS HOW CORPORATE LEARNING CERTIFICATION IS GAINING MOMENTUM

Companies are under ever greater pressure to manage their learning and people development processes strategically. The issues they face include attracting and retaining the best managers, nurturing tomorrow’s leaders, aligning strategy, competencies and behaviours, disseminating. knowledge and expertise throughout the organisation, integrating the learning function into mainstream human resources processes such as management development, talent management, and succession planning, shifting the emphasis from training to learning, and generally improving company performance.

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 CLIP spreads its wings by Richard Straub pages 20_21

To face up to these challenges, many firms are re-engineering their learning and training function to give it a central strategic role. Often this has been signalled by giving the function a new name such as corporate universities, corporate business schools, academies, management institutes and so on.

Most of these are still relatively young organisations in Europe. However, they are beginning to reach a stage of maturity in which there is felt to be a need for a more sophisticated means of assessment than is currently available in order to measure their effectiveness and justify the investments made in them.

EFMD’s Corporate Learning Improvement Process (CLIP) has been created to provide such a tool. Drawing on the EQUIS quality assessment methodology, CLIP seeks to identify the key factors that determine quality in the design and functioning of corporate learning organisations.

CLIP is a mechanism for quality benchmarking, mutual learning and sharing of good practice. Internal self-assessment against a comprehensive set of rigorous criteria, defined and constantly updated by leading members of the Corporate Learning community is combined with external review by experienced peers.

One of the key benefits of CLIP is that it is

a community of peers. The CLIP scheme is monitored by a Steering Committee made up of leading Learning Executives in the field, including chief learning officers (CLOs) from major companies that have gone through the CLIP process, with input from executive education specialists from major European business schools. All have been deeply involved in developing the process with help from EFMD.

CLIP provides value externally and internally for those companies that are going through the process. It is a quality certificate and therefore has an external marketing value. For example, some companies highlight the award in their public sustainability reporting. Equally significantly, though, it has internal value because it helps to reposition the learning organisation in a strategic way and to give it credibility within the company itself.

Finally, CLIP is a highly effective system of peer networking. And since each additional member in a network increases the value of that network exponentially, EFMD and the CLIP steering committee have been working hard to broaden the CLIP offering. In 2007, for example, there will be two workshops on best practice drawing on the accumulated experience of the CLIP reviews. The first will be in Switzerland in May, hosted by Credit Suisse, and will debate the transfer of learning

into the workplace. The second will be in Munich in October hosted by Allianz on talent management.

Also in 2007 the CLIP team will launch a series of regional briefing sessions that allow CLIP companies to share their experience of going through the CLIP process (see box, “How CLIP works”, page 22) with interested companies from a region or city. The briefings will last only a few hours and the first will be in Madrid, hosted by Union Fenosa.

A final item of the CLIP agenda for 2007 will be an increased effort to forge common ground between companies and business schools on the subject of corporate learning, particularly to publicise academic research into corporate learning. EFMD has both a network of business schools and a network of companies and is ideally placed to build bridges between these two worlds.

So far 10 leading corporate learning organisations from across Europe have gone through the CLIP process and have been awarded the quality certificate (see above box). With two more having recently started the process and a significant number of declarations of interest provided to EFMD during the last three months, CLIP is definitely gaining momentum and is set to establish itself as a unique quality label for corporate learning.

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So far 10 leading Corporate Universities from across Europe have gone through the CLIP process and have been awarded the quality certificate.

› Alcatel University, Alcatel

› Allianz Management Institute, Allianz Group

› Credit Suisse Business School

› DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Academy

› Deutsche Bank Learning & Development

› ERGO Management Akademie, ERGO Versicherungsgruppe

› Novartis Corporate Learning, Novartis AG

› Swiss Re Leadership Academy

› Universidad Corporativa Union Fenosa, Union Fenosa

› Volkswagen Coaching GmbH

One of the key benefits of CLIP is that it is a community of peers

How CLIP works

In order to apply for CLIP a company makes a formal application to EFMD including all relevant facts and figures describing its learning organisation within the company.

This is followed by a one day visit by a member of the EFMD CLIP team that formally launches the process.

The purpose of the visit is to make certain that the company is clear about the process and the nature of the outcomes that can be expected, provide full information to the company about the details of the process and answer any questions, establish an initial diagnosis of the main characteristics and key strengths and weaknesses of the corporate learning organisation, start an ongoing dialogue with the company regarding the strategic development of the learning and training provision, advise the company on the drafting of its Self-Assessment report using the EFMD’s Assessment Criteria Checklist, and finally, discuss any issues of confidentiality and internal sensitivity.

The visiting EFMD member generally meets the Chief Learning Officer and members of the management team of the company’s learning organisation. The purpose of this open forum, in addition to providing information and answering questions, is to help the management team launch the process internally by explaining the expected benefits. Following the visit the CLIP Steering Committee decides about the eligibility of the organisation, based on the report provided by the EFMD CLIP team member.

Following the confirmation of eligibility the company drafts a Self-Assessment Report using the Assessment Criteria Checklist, which will include the views of a broad spectrum of stakeholders concerned with the company’s learning and training provision. This phase is called “Guided Self-Assessment” because, in addition to the Criteria Checklist, the EFMD team will provide guidance and advice throughout the process.

Following the submission of the Self-Assessment Report, EFMD will organise an on-site Peer Review visit lasting between two and three days depending on the scope of the activities to be assessed. The Peer Review team is normally composed of four members – two of which are Chief Learning Officers, one a senior Business School manager with experience at the interface of academia and corporate learning, and one from EFMD.

The objectives of the Peer Review are to confirm the main findings of the company’s Self-Assessment Report and, where appropriate, to challenge these conclusions, to engage in a constructive dialogue with the company using the Self-Assessment Report as a starting point, to make an overall assessment of the company’s training institution and to provide recommendations for future development and quality improvement. Following the Peer Review a report is written up by the Peer Review team setting out their findings, assessment and recommendations for improvement. The report will also state whether, in the opinion of the Peer Review team, the quality certification should be awarded.

The Peer Review Report is intended to provide a strategic road map for the subsequent development of the company’s learning and training activities. EFMD will continue to give support and advice in the period after the Peer Review visit. Each company that has been through the process will become part of a benchmarking and standard-setting network.

The EFMD CLIP Team

Shanshan Ge Corporate Services ManagerE: shanshan.ge@efmd.org

Richard Straub Director of Development & former Chief Learning Officer of IBME: richard.straub@efmd.org

Gordon Shenton Quality Services Associate Director E: gordon.shenton@efmd.org

The Peer Review Report is intended to provide a strategic road map for the subsequent development

EFMD’s Learning Programme for Management Development and Organizational

Development Professionals

LINK

If you would like more information on LINK Cycle 6, please contact Robin Hartley at

robin.hartley@efmd.org or visit www.efmd.org/link

CYCLE 6

EFMD

Advance registrations for Cycle 6 of the LINK programme are now open!

LINK provides a fast-track learning experience for people who are new to the manage-ment development discipline. It is designed to improve professional competence in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of corporate learning.

More than 40 large companies and business schools that have participated in LINK include, among others: Allianz, DaimlerChrysler, Heineken, London Business School, ESADE, the Open University, Swiss Life, Alpha Bank, Natexis Banques Populaires, Deut-sche Bank, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Siemens Business Services, Janssen Pharmacutica, L’Oréal.

LINK

EFMD

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 pages 22_23

FRANK BROWN, SIx MONTHS INTO HIS ROLE AS DEAN OF INSEAD, TALKS TO GEORGE BICKERSTAFFE

Frank Brown: making an impact

Companies are looking for people who can function in a global environment; people who can communicate, interact and motivate – what I call worldly people

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Frank Brown: making an impact by George Bickerstaffe pages 24_25

Frank Brown, appointed Dean of INSEAD in summer 2006, appears to have a favourite word, “impact”, and a favourite phrase, “worldly people”. In the course of the interview he uses them frequently. One can’t but suspect that they, and Mr Brown, will have, well, a significant impact on the worldly people at one of the world’s leading business schools.

An affable American, Mr Brown’s agenda is fairly clear-cut: to build on INSEAD’s enormously successful MBA and executive education programmes, develop the school as a key player in leadership, particularly global management (his “worldly people”) and promote the school in new markets, notably America.

Though especially well known for its large MBA programme, INSEAD is in fact split quite considerably in terms of numbers and revenue between degree programmes and non-degree executive education courses. In numbers, there are around 900 MBA students each year and some 8,000 executive education participants – and the revenue split is about 35/65, according to Mr Brown. He says that in both areas he wants to grow in terms of quality rather than quantity.

The INSEAD MBA, for example, he characterises as a very rigorous programme both in terms of content and the toughness of the admissions process and says that he wouldn’t change things there “an iota” On executive education, he believes there needs to be a constant questioning of the school’s offerings – “are they working, are we focused on the right clients?”

“I think the links with business need to be very strong,” he says. That contact, he believes should cover a variety of relationships.

“For example, research informs teaching and develops faculty and impacts back to a company

through our MBA and executive education programmes. Companies sponsor a lot of our research in the first place. I am very supportive of our people getting close to business,” he says.

“I don’t have a problem with blue sky research – a lot of great things have happened because of that – but I also believe that research must be relevant to business. I am from a business back ground myself so it shouldn’t be hard to see where I’m coming from.”

INSEAD has an advisory body made up of some 80 companies and Mr Brown says he is rigorous about using them as a sounding board.

“We want to know how we are doing in terms of what they [business] need,” he says. “We have to make sure that what we are doing is correct in terms of relevance and impact – that’s of critical importance. So we go back and check-in with them and say ‘where could we improve’?”

The current trend in executive education is very much towards customised programmes, courses designed for specific companies that very often combine a strong element of consulting and change management. It is a development that Mr Brown regards perhaps a little equivocally.

“I welcome customised company-specific programmes. I think they are a great way to have a chance to really impact on a company,” he says. “But a business school’s relationship with business is a continuum, ranging from research, to recruiting MBA graduates, to custom programmes and open-enrolment programmes. In addition, I would not underestimate the latter; they are great way of exposing people to the global network we have on campus. Even when we have company-specific programmes on campus I encourage people to plug in to that global network.”

In his first six months in office Mr Brown has made it clear that he hopes to transform INSEAD into what he calls a “leadership institution,” not a producer of functional specialists. And, specifically, he wants it to be a centre of what he calls “transcultural leadership”.

However, as befits a trained accountant, Mr Brown takes a pragmatic view of who is a leader and how you can train them.

“When you say ‘leadership’ people think of the CEO. But you can have leaders in the mailroom as well as in the boardroom. There are leaders at every level,” he says.

He also argues that leadership is not as hard to teach as people suggest but more a “question of mindset”.

He gives the example of a fairly mundane event such as a course in cost accounting. In that context, he argues, leadership is not just about knowing and understanding the answers but about being able to communicate those answers to other people so that they understand them.

Getting people to do that, he says “is stuff you can teach. You need to get everyone in an organisation on that same mindset”.

He also stresses leadership in a global context. INSEAD already numbers faculty from 31 countries, MBA students from 71, executive education participants from 120 and PhD

I don’t have a problem with blue sky research – a lot of great things have happened because of that – but I also believe that research must be relevant to business

students from 21. As Mr Brown has said, to him the INSEAD brand represents diversity and stands for multicultural, global learning.

What he would like to do is build on that to create his ideal of the transcultural business executive, who he describes as innovative, entrepreneurial, well travelled, and independent of mind.

To do that, he would like to even further increase diversity at INSEAD through, for example, offering more scholarships to women and students from areas of the world such as Africa and South America that are currently not that well represented on INSEAD’s European and Asian campuses. The reason is plain:

“Companies are looking for people who can function in a global environment; people who can communicate, interact and motivate – what I call worldly people,” he says.

He recently told the Wall Street Journal that he thinks that while INSEAD does produce people with this kind of unique perspective on the world, able to work across different countries and cultures, and really have a significant impact on organizations, “I would like that to become part of the DNA of our brand”.

“I would like us to do more research into transcultural leadership and also to develop a leadership centre,” he went on to tell the

Journal. “We have lots of research and lots of people doing work on the subject of leadership but it’s not as well-organised or as well-funded as I would like it to be”.

Mr Brown believes he is well equipped to carry out the role of promoting INSEAD in new markets, particularly the US, where he believes its global focus, its sheer size (it graduates as many MBA each year as either Harvard or Wharton) and its research base and PhD programme are relatively unknown.

The key to doing this, he says, is not a glossy and expensive marketing promotion but simply going out and talking to people – but, as he says, “the right people”.

Mr Brown is equally well suited for that role. He may not have a doctoral degree or an MBA but he has a background that takes in 26 years’ experience of working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in international markets, building leadership programmes and latterly heading PwC’s $3.5 billion advisory services business. He knows the right people in the right markets.

A part of that promotional activity will inevitably involve fundraising. INSEAD has a current endowment of around €70 million, which reportedly generates an income of €3 million a year. Mr Brown

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would like to increase that significantly, though he has acknowledged that Europe (and other areas for that matter) is far different from America, where the tradition of giving to academic institutions is strong and entrenched.

Again, it will all come down to talking to people, alumni in this case. He has pointed out that INSEAD has centres of excellence in areas such as leadership, corporate social responsibility and strategy that he believes could be worthy of endowment. As mentioned earlier, at least part of the money raised would be used to create scholarships for women and minority groups.

Although his business background aroused interest when he joined INSEAD (it was something of a break in tradition), Mr Brown is no stranger to the academic world. He has been a member of the INSEAD US advisory council since 2000 and joined the main INSEAD board in 2005. And while at PwC he set up a leadership development programme called Genesis Park – something he thinks may have attracted INSEAD’s attention.

And though he has been based in America all his working life, he is himself the prototype transcultural business executive, having spent the last 20 years travelling constantly and extensively

in Europe and Asia, including helping to build a consulting business in China. He believes that INSEAD was looking for somebody with that kind of “worldly” perspective.

Still, it is early days yet and Mr Brown laughs off an invitation to speculate about what INSEAD might look like in five years, well into his tenure there.

What he does say, though, is that “I think me and my team will have an impact on INSEAD”. So, probably, do the rest of the “worldly people”.

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Frank Brown: making an impact by George Bickerstaffe pages 26_27

When you say ‘leadership’ people think of the CEO. But you can have leaders in the mailroom as well as in the boardroom. There are leaders at every level

FURTHER INFORMATION

Frank Brown will be speaking at the EFMD Annual Conference 10-12 June 2007 in Brussels on “Overcoming the barriers – new partnerships for business and academia”. More information on the conference programme and how to register at www.efmd.org

73m...income reportedly generated a year by INSEAD from an endowment of around 770 million

Shaping responsible leaders for an interconnected world2006 MARKED A NEW STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE – A GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE,ACTION AND LEARNING INITIATED BY EFMD

In 2004, leaders from 21 companies, business schools and leadership learning centres formed a unique working partnership, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI).

EFMD and the UN Global Compact have committed their support to GRLI, whose vision is to build a world where leaders contribute to the creation of economic and societal progress in a globally responsible and sustainable way. Its goal is to do this by developing the next generation of globally responsible leaders through a worldwide alliance of companies and learning institutions, networking, acting and learning together to implement and promote globally responsible leadership. Specifically, it intends to build a body of knowledge on globally responsible leadership, develop globally responsible learning initiatives and promote the goals of the Initiative.

So far, GRLI has built a unique and global platform for action and has accomplished a number of objectives. Most notably, perhaps, over the last 12 months it has expanded significantly, adding 20 new partners to make a total commitment of over 40 members. Uniquely, GRLI insists that partners join in pairs - a corporation plus a learning establishment such as a business school.

It is planned to recruit no more than 20 new partners each year and to induct and integrate them into the GRLI community. However, expansion is not without its difficulties and constraints. Already there has been a debate within GRLI about how best to grow without losing the spirit of entrepreneurship and bonding between partners that need to characterise the Initiative. Twenty leading organisations and champions will be selected for intake for 2007.

GRLI has also issued its first report – Globally Responsible Leadership – a Call for Engagement; set up regional champions in various countries and areas around the world; and achieved greatly enhanced global recognition.

Most notably, the second General Assembly in Shanghai in November 2006, hosted by a GRLI partner, the China Europe International Business School, set up statutes and a foundation and elected a board to establish the Initiative on a more formal basis, thereby establishing a unique and explicit governance structure.

GRLI is now emerging from its first, entrepreneurial phase and moving into a second, action, phase

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Shaping responsible leaders pages 28_29

Effectively, GRLI is now emerging from its first, entrepreneurial phase and moving into a second, action, phase. (See box, Next Actions, on page 31). Agreed key dimensions for the second phase are:› Cautious expansion with dedicated and determined partners› Pragmatism – action and results on the ground› Explicit progress and clear outcomes communicated professionally

The challenges facing humankind are large, undeniable and global. Economic, social and environmental inequalities abound and are increasing. Businesses are among the most influential institutions worldwide. They have a tremendous opportunity to shape a better world for existing and future generations. Business schools and centres for leadership learning can play a pivotal role, alongside business, in developing the present and future leaders required to ensure that business is a force for good.

Globally responsible leaders at all organisational levels face four key challenges.› First, they should think and act in a global context. › Second, they should broaden their corporate purpose to reflect

accountability to society around the globe.

› Third, they should put ethics at the centre of their thoughts, words and deeds.

› Fourth, they – and all business schools and centres for leadership learning - should transform their

business education to give corporate global responsibility the centrality it deserves.

The new global business context requires a paradigm shift, meaning that new explanations and reasons will guide our behaviour as individuals and organisations. This shift requires a definition of business that encompasses corporate aspirations, responsibilities and activities in realistic and contemporary terms that go beyond purely financially focused explanations. The purpose of the globally responsible business is to create economic and societal progress in a globally responsible and sustainable way.

The leadership required now and in the future can be described as globally responsible leadership. This is the global exercise of ethical, values-based leadership in the pursuit of economic and societal progress and sustainable development. It is based on a fundamental understanding of the interconnectedness of the world and recognition of the need for economic, societal and environmental advancement. It also requires

Globally responsible leadership... this is the global exercise of ethical, values-based leadership in the pursuit of economic and societal progress and sustainable development

the vision and courage to place decision making and management practice in a global context. It requires the creation of a new “enlightenment” of students and leaders.

Decisions made by globally responsible leaders rely both on their awareness of principles and regulations and on the development of their inner dimension and their personal conscience. These characteristics can be informed and developed through dialogue and debate – and essentially through experiential and challenging confrontations. Guiding principles that establish a starting point for globally responsible leadership include: fairness; freedom; honesty; humanity; tolerance; transparency; responsibility and solidarity; and sustainability. These are not fixed ethical points but need to be constantly refined and developed.

All learning institutions need to make corporate global responsibility their responsibility. We offer a foundation for how to develop – in practice – the purpose of the organisation, the curriculum, specific programmes, faculty, alumni and the relation with the local community and society at large.

Change can be driven by inspiring, involving, influencing and interconnecting with internal and external stakeholders. Globally responsible behaviour must be internalised within

the conduct and activities of the people of the organisation.

Business education needs to be broadened to reflect the global business environment and the knowledge, skills and attributes required of the globally responsible business leader.

Last but not least, a range of innovative approaches to pedagogy and learning needs to be tested and utilised that engage more of the whole person in the learning experience.

Our vision of the future is of a world where leaders contribute to the creation of economic and societal progress in a globally responsible and sustainable way. Our goal is to develop the current and future generation of globally responsible leaders through a global network of companies and learning institutions. Partnership in the Initiative offers an opportunity to participate in creating a new generation of globally responsible leaders and to be a catalyst for changed values and practices regarding corporate global responsibility. What on earth could be more important?

Ask yourself if you are ready to come on board. GRLI’s entrepreneurial credo will become yours: think big, act small – and start now!

www.efmd.org/grli

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Shaping responsible leaders pages 30_31

GRLI has developed a number of concrete actions that will take place during 2007. Among them are:

ACTION ONEThe launch of a management development programme to develop leaders of the corporation of tomorrow. This is aimed at people, not necessarily just young people, who are rising in their careers. The programme will be launched during 2007. It will take groups of managers from partner organisations and be action-oriented and experimental with a large element of action learning. The current concept is that it will be arranged in four modules, each of which will be held at a different business school or learning centre around the world, moving from continent to continent. In parallel, GRLI is also creating a management development programme that can be used by individual partner companies for their own managers.

ACTION TWOTales of Globally Responsible Leadership.This is a plan to gather good examples from all parts of the world from GRLI partners and prepare them for publication as a compilation of inspiring stories and reflections on generic learning from experiences. Four partners have produced pilot material and this is now being assessed to see if there is a common format or template that can be developed. GRLI will then ask for contributions from all partners and expect to publish in 2007.

ACTION THREEDuring 2007 GRLI will work on developing a set of standards on training and education in the areas of global responsibility. The aim is to determine what it takes to be a good institution (academic or corporate) at doing this. GRLI has decided to undertake this work itself by “walking the talk” in the group as a whole, and that way underpin general principles with clear action, examples and evolving standards. GRLI partners are currently being enlisted to help with this and consultations are underway.

ACTION FOURFaculty development. Business schools, other learning institutions and corporate learning centres are working on developing a global faculty development network. The invitation and start is set for 2007.

ACTION FIVEFundraising. At the General Assembly in Shanghai it was recognised that a complementary and separate focus on fundraising is a fundamental issue in order to:

› Secure monitoring of – and reporting on – clear objectives and measures of success

› Enable collective action on experimental learning

› Drive ground-breaking thought leadership and new practices

› Secure the ability and obligation to develop genuine partnerships with organisations from all parts of the world

This process is now intended to be scaled up.

The creation of EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System), the international business schools accreditation scheme, by EFMD and a number of leading European business school in 1997 was prompted by the need to develop an accreditation system targeted to business schools anywhere in the world that were trying to make an impact beyond their domestic frontiers.

At the time of its creation, there were no established international management or business administration accreditation systems. However, a couple of national accreditation systems were taking the first steps towards internationalisation. The Association of MBAs (AMBA,) in Britain moved to accredit MBA programmes beyond the UK, until then its only territory. AACSB, for several decades the national accreditation system for business schools in

America, also decided to go international. Today EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA are the most recognised international accreditators in business education. Figure 1, show the countries in which EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA have accredited at least one school (AMBA accredits degree programmes rather than schools) as of the end of September 2006. The number of business schools accredited in each country is also indicated together with the percentage relative to the total number of schools accredited by each system.

In creating EQUIS, EFMD tried to provide a differential value with respect to other accreditators to a select number of business schools that strive for excellence in key aspects of what they do. This is not to underestimate the job done by other accreditation agencies. EQUIS was trying to do something different in a different way for a different type of school. Given that, there will be similarities, of course.

Most accreditation agencies follow comparable processes and share some quality dimensions (for example, students, programmes and academic staff ) although they may be labelled or grouped differently.

Sources of value addedThe sources of value added by accreditation systems can be classified into three different but related types:a) Assessment of the quality of a school according to a number of dimensions b) Enhanced brand recognition and appreciation derived from being granted accreditation c) Advice and actions contributing to the actual improvement of the school

Different accreditation systems will contribute different benefits or value in each of the following three areas.

EQUIS accreditation: value and benefits for international business schoolsThe eQUIS accredITaTIon SySTem IS 10 yearS old ThIS year. eFmd’S JUlIo UrgEl lookS aT how The SySTem workS and whaT bUSIneSS SchoolS can gaIn

US 442Canada 17

Others = 69Chile 2Belgium 2New Zealand 3Netherlands 3Mexico 3Korea 3Germany 3China 3Australia 4UK 10France 11Venezuela 1UAE 1Turkey 1Saudi Arabia 1Philppines 1Kuwait 1Israel 1Ireland 1Egypt 1Costa Rica 1Brazil 1Argentina 1Taiwan 2Switzerland 2Spain 2Singapore 2Japan 2

FIGURE 2

AACSB BY COUNTRY (528 schools in 30 countries)

FIGURE 1

EQUIS BY COUNTRY (92 schools in 28 countries)

Singapore 1Portugal 1Poland 1Philippines 1Mexico 1Italy 1Ireland 1Costa Rica 1Columbia 1Argentina 1US 2South Africa 2Norway 2Germany 2Finland 2Denmark 2Brazil 2Switzerland 3Sweden 3New Zealand 3Netherland 3China 3Belgium 3Spain 4Canada 4Australia 9France 15UK 18

Accreditation information in diagrams below correct as of September 2006

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 EQUIS accreditation by Julio Urgel pages 32_33

Quality assessment under the EQUIS quality dimensions and standardsAll higher education accreditation systems evaluate the quality of an institution or programme on the basis of their own set of quality dimensions. For example, the EQUIS Quality Framework includes the 10 dimensions shown in Figure 2.

Having a school formally assessed along a number of well described quality dimensions is probably the most obvious benefit that an accreditation provides. The value of such assessment to a school depends on two aspects:1) The value of the framework itself as a paradigm of business school qualityThe value of the quality framework depends on the choice of dimensions considered to be the main sources of quality of a school. Usually this choice is based on a more or less explicit model of what a good business school is.

Often the model restricts or determines the target of the accreditation scheme. In these situations, the model is frequently justified by cultural or historical reasons. A good example of this is provided by AACSB. The model behind the AACSB quality framework has been for decades based on the typical American business school structure. However, as AACSB gains more international weight, its background model will perhaps gradually shift towards a more diverse kind of business school, probably to the benefit of its domestic market too.

From its inception, EQUIS wanted to target top-quality international business schools. This target choice justifies the main features of the EQUIS model. One of these features is the emphasis on internationalisation as a key dimension. EQUIS-accredited schools have to demonstrate that they are actively trying to make an impact beyond their domestic frontiers.

Therefore the extent of internationalisation of a school is assessed along all the remaining nine dimensions of quality in the framework.

Certainly, the European origin of EQUIS meant that the first schools on which the model was tested were the top European business schools. The conviction that corporate connections were as important for business schools as hospital connections were for schools of medicine was found to be a key ingredient of the quality of these pioneer European schools.

Most of them were characterised by strong corporate connections that facilitated developing students and participants able to deal with the realities of their intended profession. This consolidated corporate connections as another pervasive quality dimension of EQUIS, which causes a balance between academic knowledge and managerial

STUDENTS EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

RESOURCES& ADMINISTRATION

CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAMMES

FACULTY

EQUIS FRAMEWORK

FIGURE 4

Personal Development

Context & Strategy

Internationalisation

Corporate ConnectionsVenezuela 1US 1Trinida & Tob. 1Slovenia 1Poland 1Monaco 1India 1Finland 1Cyprus 1Columbia 1China 1Switzerland 2South Africa 2Argentina 2Portugal 2Mexico 2Italy 2Belgium 2Peru 3Ireland 3Greece 3Chile 3Canada 3Brazil 3Australia 3Argentina 3New Zealand 4Spain 5Russia 5Netherlands 5France 12UK 39

FIGURE 3

AMBA BY COUNTRY (117 schools in 31 countries)

EQUIS also values highly the well balanced development of students and participants as future managers and entrepreneurs

skills to be sought in everything that an EQUIS-accredited school does. Furthermore, including the input of the corporate world applies also to all EQUIS committees and teams of reviewers.

Besides internationalisation and corporate connections, other salient quality dimensions of EQUIS are executive education and/or personal development. EQUIS does not require that a school be active in executive education but if it is at any significant level, the quality of its operations will be thoroughly evaluated.

EQUIS also values highly the well balanced development of students and participants as future managers and entrepreneurs. Therefore, the ways in which managerial skills and personal values are developed by a school is specifically assessed when dealing with the students and programmes quality dimensions.

A distinctive feature of EQUIS is closely related to its European origin: appreciation for diversity. While it might be thought the EQUIS model would be based on the typical European business school, there is in fact no such thing. Many of those that have looked for commonalities reach the conclusion that the basic common feature of Europeans is the ability to live with the idea that diversity is a source of richness and that, while there may be value in certain convergence, variety should be preserved. This idea is embedded in EQUIS and it has practical implications in the way EQUIS assesses schools.

Another implication of not basing the assessment on any single school model is that the EQUIS accreditation process is not based on objectively measured compliance with certain objectives or on a number of indicators. A consequence of this is that EQUIS does not flood a school with requests for a lot of specific data providedin a regulated way.

EQUIS is more like a consultant trying to assess the magnitude of a problem or an achievement. Its assessment is based on relatively open questions about a number of issues where the school is asked to provide evidence in the manner that it believes compelling and persuasive to its case, using the indicators that it deems convenient.

Therefore EQUIS believes that when information on a certain aspect of the school is not provided it simply indicates that this aspect is not relevant for the school. Of course, the EQUIS peer reviewers can and often will ask for additional evidence or for consistency checks but only after the school has been given an opportunity to make its case.

One very important concern of EQUIS is that a school realises that international accreditations may end up driving or highly influencing its strategy. EQUIS warns schools of this risk since it may move a school from a successful strategy to an impossible strategy given its resources. With no specific model of business school, EQUIS is probably the least harmful of all the international accreditations in this respect. However, deans and directors must be aware that the interpretation of the EQUIS Quality Framework may build a fictitious model in their mind that they mistakenly start pursuing under the belief that it is the EQUIS model that they need to mimic. This is certainly a dangerous mistake. A school should first choose its strategy and then look for accreditations that are compatible with it.

2) The extent to which the standard to be met along each quality dimension is demandingThe key role of national quality assurance agencies is to guarantee to the general public that a domestic educational institution has the minimum quality required to operate. However, due to political pressures, national accreditation agencies are often forced to look for a bare quality sufficiency that will allow an existing institution to continue operating rather than closing it or drastically restricting its educational activities.

Truly international accreditations are less subject to political pressures. As a consequence, the level of their standards of quality is only imposed by themselves and their own choice of target market. Obviously, the more demanding the quality standards are, the more value that a school will get from preparing and going through the accreditation process.

Because EQUIS has decided to focus on top international schools its focus is narrow.

EQUIS first discards those schools that are not international and then those that do not have at least a well developed domestic reputation. Domestic reputation is often gauged by peer opinion, presence in rankings and in the news and/or possession of an accreditation with widespread national recognition such as AACSB for American candidate schools or the Conference des Grandes Ecoles for French schools or the QAA in Britain.

With this target group, EQUIS continues to be demanding. Of the 92 schools accredited by EQUIS up to September 2006, less than two-thirds have managed to gain EQUIS accreditation for a five-year period. Thirty-two schools have been granted accreditation for a three-year period only. In addition, 44 schools that passed the initial preliminary screening to attempt to gain EQUIS accreditation failed to do it on their first attempt. Of those, 20 have managed to improve enough to finally gain EQUIS accreditation.

This means that EQUIS schools receive not just the value added of being challenged to fulfil basic expectations on EQUIS quality dimensions but that of being assessed against the standards of quality that prevail in the best international institutions all over the world.

EQUIS schools [are] assessed against the standards of quality that prevail in the best international institutions all over the world

44The number of schools that passed the initial preliminary screening to gain EQUIS accreditation but failed to do so on their first attempt. From the 44, 20 have reapplied and successfully become accredited

Enhanced brand recognition and appreciationIn addition to the benefits provided to a school by a professional assessment through a meaningful quality framework against challenging standards, any accreditation provides a seal or label that differentiates the school from its peers at the national or international level. This differentiation, if adequate, drives the school to more widespread recognition and to greater appreciation of its brand name.

Certainly, the degree of awareness about such prestige among relevant constituents of a school is another measure of the benefit or value contributed by an accreditation system. In this respect, all international accreditations have done a similarly good or bad job. Other peer schools tend to be aware of the value of EQUIS, AACSB or AMBA accreditation.

This is very important because in higher education, unlike any other field of activity, peer recognition is an essential factor in a school firmly establishing its reputation. It is also very important because it facilitates the process of choosing a good partner school in other parts of the world where a school may have limited knowledge about the quality of potential partners. In fact, the number of partnerships between EQUIS accredited schools all over the world has increased almost exponentially.

The degree of awareness among business school students or participants of the merits of their own school enjoying one or several of these accreditations is slowly increasing due to schools’ own publicity. This contributes, for example, to students selecting exchange programmes with other similarly accredited schools.

However, very few applicants or candidates as well as very few companies are actually aware of the value of one of these labels. It is certainly a task for all international accreditation agencies to make these labels better known to those that could benefit the most from the distinctive signalling conveyed by them. Although to be fair, we have to acknowledge that some of the accreditations are beginning to be slightly better known by candidates and companies in those countries where they are more established.

It is, however, very difficult for an accreditation agency to do anything significant to make candidates or companies aware of the benefits of international accreditation unless the schools themselves actively and effectively disseminate this information among their candidates and corporate connections.

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 EQUIS accreditation by Julio Urgel pages 34_35

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5 yearsThe maximum length of accreditation a school can receive from EQUIS

Contribution to substantial improvementEQUIS’s main objective is to contribute to substantial improvement of the business schools involved in the process. By this it means not just significant improvement but improvement of the substance or essence of a school.

EQUIS is often seen as an instrument of institutional strategic development and one very effective way to force school management teams to establish a clear agenda for change and improvement.

Schools entering the EQUIS process recognise that there are lots of details about their performance, both good and bad, that they notice for the first time while preparing their Self-Assessment Report. Often as good academics we subject our own business schools to criticism. However, when we do it is often informally and on the basis of incomplete and involuntarily biased information. The self-assessment phase allows a school to go through this process in a coherent manner that facilitates detection of actual problems and facilitates the school itself developing a solution for many of them.

The Peer Review Visit, by three experienced deans and one member of the corporate world – all internationally diverse – provides another occasion for substantial improvement. First, it creates a sense in the school that quality assurance is a real concern to be shared by all. Second, by means of questions and suggestions, those interviewed get insights on ways to improve what they are responsible for. Finally, through an oral debriefing plus a written report, the Peer Review team provides a thorough assessment of the quality of the school as well as required or suggested actions for improvement.

When a school receives EQUIS accreditation for the maximum period of five years, it is expected to select three strategic development objectives on which it will be working during that time. EQUIS will approve the selected objectives on the basis of how challenging they actually are for the school, which is expected to report on progress made on them after 30 months. Therefore no school escapes the EQUIS expectation of improvement in clearly identifiable areas.

Of course, the expectation of improvement is more drastic and clear for schools that get EQUIS Accreditation for three years only. These schools must report annually on progress in a number of Required Areas of Improvement and show that enough progress has taken place if they want to continue to enjoy EQUIS accreditation. This sets the necessary pressure for a school to decisively pursue substantial improvement, while continuing to pay attention to everyday activities.

...no school escapes the EQUIS expectation of improvement in clearly identifiable areas

ABOUT THE AUTHORJulio Urgel is Director, Quality Services, EFMD

FURTHER INFORMATIONThis is an edited version of an article that first appeared in The Journal of Management Development

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DOUBLE RECOGNITION!AACSB INTERNATIONAL AND EQUIS

E S C E M J U S T K E E P S O NM OV I N G U P !

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT TOURS - POITIERS

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> With the prestigious AACSB International and EQUIS awards both secured in thesame year, ESCEM has reached the highest of international academic standards andhas become in turn a recognized institution on the global higher education scene.These two accreditations come as a reward for all the work carried out by the school overthe past few years providing worldwide recognition of its programs and diplomas.

AP MAG EFMD 5/12/06 16:19 Page 1Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 pages 36_37

EPAS comes of ageCHRIS GREENSTED REFLECTS ON THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE EARLY PHASES OF THE EFMD PROGRAMME ACCREDITATION SYSTEM (EPAS)

The impetus for the EFMD Programme Accreditation System (EPAS), which evaluates and accredits business and/or management degree programmes with an international perspective, came from concerns within EFMD that the Bologna process might create some confusion within European education systems and that EFMD ought to be a thought leadership organisation in this area.

In addition, over recent years EFMD had developed a belief that it should have a system which would assist with improvements to specific programmes in the same way that EQUIS has contributed to the improvement of schools evaluated as a whole entity. Indeed EQUIS only considers programmes as a part of the whole school activities and therefore does not consider individual programmes in depth.

With the pilot phases over and a range of initial programmes accredited (see box, “EPAS accredited programmes”, page 40), EPAS is now a finished product, though of course it will always be open to refinement. Undoubtedly, a lot has been learned from the pilot phases and changes have been made as a result, in particular to simplify the process and criteria. For example, the emphasis placed on institutional aspects may have been a little heavy when dealing with programme assessment, and the programme criteria have been reduced a little.

The EPAS process, which to an extent reflects the philosophy and methodology of the EQUIS approach, involves a review in depth of individual programmes through international comparison and benchmarking. It also includes an evaluation report with strategic advice on how a programme may

be improved so as to compete more effectively in international markets. Where it is appropriate, focus may also be put on the programme’s compatibility and/or conformance with the Bologna structure.

The EPAS accreditation process has a number of benefits including:› International market recognition

of a programme

› Potential for cross-border recognition by national quality agencies

› International benchmarking and comparison

› Advice on programme definition, particularly in the Bologna context

› Strategic development of the programme

› Facilitation of a process of reflection by the programme team on the key attributes of the programme

With the pilot phases over EPAS is now a finished product

› Advice on quality improvement through preparation of a Self Assessment Report on the programme, which ensures a thorough internal review of the programme and its resourcing, and through a visit by a Peer Review team to evaluate both the Self Assessment Report and the reality of the programme strategy and its operations

› Preparation of a Peer Review Report, which is both a formal evaluation of the programme and advice on how it may be improved. The report also includes a recommendation on accreditation.

› Once accredited for three or five years, there is a process for ensuring continuous improvement by setting and achieving development objectives.

EPAS differs from other existing accreditation systems (including EQUIS) in a number of ways:First, EPAS accredits individual programmes that lead to an academic degree or equivalent, both at bachelor and higher levels. It does not accredit non-degree short executive education courses. By contrast, for example, the Association of MBAs (AMBA) accredits only MBA programmes and pre-experience general management masters programmes (though only for schools already MBA accredited).

Second, because of the need for considerable time to look at programmes, EPAS assesses only one or two selected programmes offered by an institution. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), on the other hand, accredits all programmes offered and, by implication, the whole institution.

Finally, EPAS reviews wider aspects of an institution or business school only to the extent that they affect the quality of a programme under review. Unlike EQUIS, EPAS is not a whole-school accreditation and its criteria and standards are different in focus.

As mentioned above, because of time considerations, a maximum of two programme suites may be assessed in any one review cycle. Programme suites in any of the following categories are eligible for evaluation:

› Bachelors degrees or Licence (three or four years)

› Masters degrees (one or two years, often based on the Bologna model), including Generalist (eg MSc in Management) and Specialist (eg MSc in Marketing or in Finance)

› Masters degrees pre-Bologna (five or more years) – eg German Diplom Kaufmann or French grande école ESC programmes

› Master of Business Administration – MBA (post-experience)

› Doctorates (eg PhD or DBA) (not available until 2007)

Outcome of EPAS Review processThe Peer Review visit is carried out by a four-person team (as are similar EQUIS visits) made up of two business or management academics and one representative of the corporate world. These are led by an experienced senior business school dean.

The Peer Review visit and the whole EPAS review ends with a written report that contains an assessment of the programme, advice for potential improvement and a recommendation

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 EPAS comes of age by Chris Greensted pages 38_39

The EPAS process considers a wide range of programme aspects including:

› The market positioning of the programme nationally and internationally

› The strategic position of the programme within its institution

› The design process including assessment of stakeholder requirements – particularly students and employers

› The programme objectives and intended learning outcomes

› The curriculum content and delivery system

› The extent to which the programme has an international focus and a balance between academic and managerial dimensions

› The depth and rigour of the assessment processes (relative to the degree level of the programme)

› The quality of the student body and of the programme’s graduates

› The institution’s resources allocated to support the programme

› The appropriateness of the faculty that deliver the programme

› The quality of the alumni and their career progression

on accreditation, which is reviewed by the EPAS Accreditation Board.

The Board can decide on either: accreditation for five years; accreditation for three years but with specified conditions for improvements expected prior to the next accreditation cycle; non accreditation and a list of improvements required before re-submission for accreditation after a minimum mandatory period of two years.

Now that the EPAS system is fully tested, EFMD is formally launching it and welcomes applications from appropriate institutions wishing to have one or two programmes accredited for international markets.

Lesson from the early phases of EPAS

The early phases of EPAS provided useful insights into the quality of relevant programmes around Europe and also produced some concerns that validate the need for a procedure such as EPAS.

Some of the issues found were:

› Often the programme design was left to programme teams with no involvement of stakeholders such as corporates, other faculty, students or alumni

› Some programme were not as academically rigorous as might have been expected

› The academic depth of some masters programmes did not match the level expected of a masters qualification

› The degree of internationalisation of the student experience should often be strengthened

› Quality assurance processes were often informal and weak

› Teaching quality was too often only assessed by student feedback on “happy” sheets and the feedback loop to the students on actions taken was rarely closed

› Very often there was no formal annual or periodic five-year review with external input ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Greensted is Associate Director, Quality Services Department, EFMD. Previously he was Dean of the University of Plymouth Business School, UK, and before that Director of the University of Strathclyde Graduate Business School in Glasgow, UK. He has served as chair of the UK Association of Business Schools, chair of EQUAL, and has been a member of more than 20 EQUIS audit teams.

Now that the EPAS system is fully tested, EFMD is formally launching it and welcomes applications

EPAS accredited programmes

The following schools have gained EPAS accreditation for the programmes listed:

BMI – Baltic Management Institute International Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme

Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) MBA Programme Master in Public Sector Management

ESSCA (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Commerciales d’Angers) Master in Management (five-year grande école programme)

Groupe ESC PAU Grande école programme in management

MIB School of Management Master in Insurance & Risk Management

Moscow International Higher Business School – MIRBIS BA in International Economics and Business, Marketing, Management and Finance

Oxford Brookes Business School BA Business and Management programmes MSc International Hotel & Tourism programmes

SIMI Scandinavian International Management Institute Executive MBA programme

Universiteit van Amsterdam Business School Master in International Finance

Wielkopolska Business School Executive MBA Programme

Warsaw University of Technology Business School Executive MBA / International MBA

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 pages 40_41

International Teachers ProgrammeChallenging the Way Business Educators Teach

A Management Faculty-Development Programme organised by the International Schools of Business Management (ISBM), a group of 10

leading Business Schools located in Europe and North America

• HEC Paris• IAE Aix en Provence• IMD Lausanne• INSEAD Fontainebleau• Kellogg School of Management

• London Business School• Manchester Business School• SDA Bocconi School of Management• Stern School of Business, New York University• Stockholm School of Economics

SDA Bocconi. Knowledge and imagination.

http://www.sdabocconi.it/itp

ITP has been serving over 1,000 high calibre faculty and educators from many countries for more than 30 years. The SDA Bocconi School of Management hosts the Programme for the academic years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, according to a rotation process betweenISBM Schools.

http://www.itp-schools.org

Can you Face Challenges as Business Educators? We can.

• Teaching in a wide range of contexts, from small groups to large audiences.• Managing students' diversity in terms of educational background, culture, age, and experience.• Coping with an increasingly competitive business education environment, and related

expectations towards content quality, structure and delivery.• Using new technologies as a set of opportunities for innovative and cutting edge educational

solutions.

JAN BORGONJON LOOKS AT THE SHORT AND DRAMATIC HISTORY OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN CHINA, PARTICULARLY THE ROLE OF CEIBS, AND OFFERS SOME VIEWS ON WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD

Observations on the past, and future, of management education in China

When I arrived in 1988 at the China Europe Management Institute (CEMI), the predecessor of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), management education in China was in its infancy. China’s economy was dominated by the state-owned sector and both exports and foreign direct investment were still relatively small. Only a few years before, Deng Xiaoping had encouraged the introduction of “scientific management” to China. However, in practice, managers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had little interest in change and the focus remained on achieving objectives (many of them non-economic) set by the planning system and the political administration.

There was little or no job mobility, employees were linked to their employment “units” for life and changing jobs was not considered “acceptable”. At that time one of the key objectives of CEMI therefore was to train personnel for SOEs and some people even accused CEMI of channelling people away from SOEs.

On the demand side, China clearly needed “international managers” to become internationally competitive, to develop exports, to support the development of foreign investment and to develop competitive domestic enterprise

However, many CEMI graduates, once they went back to their companies, discovered that they had to do exactly the same job as before and would have to wait for their possible promotion until “their time had come” – often years. As a result, by the early 1990s more than one-third of all CEMI graduates worked in foreign companies and another third had left China, with the remainder in education and SOEs.

As a consequence of limited mobility and limited employment opportunity, there was also almost no market for management education: there were very few MBA applicants and no interest by companies in paying for management education.

In addition, the impact of leftist ideology was still strong and Western management education was sometimes viewed with a certain suspicion, as an “instrument of the West to peacefully transform China”. “Management” was also interpreted in a very narrow way, limited to quantitative methods, excluding the (ideologically more sensitive) soft skills.

Another obstacle to the development of management education was the near total lack of qualified faculty. China had few faculty with a practical understanding of enterprises (given the very academic focus of most universities) and even less with knowledge of how markets and the capitalist system function, given the very short history of the opening and reform policy. Also, there were at that time very few Chinese or people of Chinese origin among faculty in Europe and the US pursuing careers in management education. This further limited the potential sources of management faculty for China.

So management education in China seemed to be facing quite a bleak future in the early 1990s. On the demand side there was no market, no mobility, little interest from both individuals and companies, and ideological concerns about the appropriateness of Western-style management education. And on the supply side there were few channels for delivery and also no people to deliver.

However, the second half of the 1990s and also the first half of this decade saw a dramatic change and the current situation is totally different from 10 years ago: a vibrant market, strong interest from both individuals and companies in all types of management education and training, less ideological obstacles, plenty of institutions delivering management education and also a marked increase in the number of available faculty.

This dramatic change was brought about by two factors:› On the demand side, China clearly needed “international managers” to become

internationally competitive, to develop exports, to support the development of foreign investment and to develop competitive domestic enterprises. It was clear that China needed to establish a more formal management education system. It also had to bring in international experience. Apart from “Chinese management skills”, or knowing how to operate in China, international management skills would be a key element in China’s export and foreign investment boom of the last 10 years.

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Management education in China by Jan Borgonjon pages 42_43

33.3%...of CEMI graduates (by the early 1990s) worked in foreign companies and another 33.3% had left China altogether

› On the supply side, different stakeholders, mainly educational authorities and institutions, slowly adapted to the new demands of the economy. In this respect, the emergence of CEIBS was the main catalyst for change. The existence of CEIBS as an international benchmark within China speeded up the change process and also provided direction in terms of processes and products that competing management institutions offered to the market.

The current situation in management education has on the one hand greatly changed and improved compared to 10 years ago but on the other hand remains quite confusing.

First, the economic and corporate environment in China has completely changed. The state sector is no longer dominant and private enterprises have taken on a much stronger role in the economy. Also, the SOEs, many of which are now listed companies, can no longer rely on state support and have to take the market into account. Exports have boomed over the last 10 years and China has become the manufacturing centre of the world. Foreign investment has grown equally fast, and foreign companies are now an important presence in many sectors in China. Outbound investment by Chinese companies is still relatively small and limited to a few companies but it is gaining momentum and is bound to become very important within the next five to 10 years. As a consequence, although the Chinese competitive environment might still retain many of its local peculiarities (“the Chinese way of doing business”), international business rules are increasingly influencing the operational environment in China.

Second, the demand for business education in general and for international business education in particular has boomed beyond belief. Not only has there been a boom in demand from individuals for both MBA and executive MBA education, companies are increasingly willing to pay international fees for management education and training.

Third, the educational sector has undergone substantial changes. Educational institutions have become more market oriented in general and in terms of business education they have tried, in many different ways, to capture the wave of demand. Many initiatives have emerged over the last 10 years, sometimes with international partners, and in general there is now wider market choice . However, as in any incipient market, there are teething problems: the quality standards are not clearly defined and, where they are, not always respected, with many schools observing different standards across different types of programmes.

One other obstacle remains the availability of faculty. Obviously there is more faculty now – Chinese and non-Chinese – with international experience and/or education and also an understanding of business practices in China. But the number of qualified faculty is still way below the requirement. In my view this is a situation that will not improve rapidly.

The founding parties of CEIBS agreed that endowing the institution with a relatively autonomous status would be an absolute precondition for the success of the school

The reasons for the success of CEIBSThe current situation in China is one of a buoyant and rather developed market, with a less developed supply structure, within which CEIBS and a few other institutions are the lonely leaders. It might be interesting to look at the reasons for the success of CEIBS within this environment, since this provides an indication of what will be required for other institutions (including CEIBS itself ) to be successful in the future. The success of CEIBS can in my view mainly be attributed to:

› Its autonomous statusFrom the very beginning, the founding parties of CEIBS agreed that endowing the institution with a relatively autonomous status would be an absolute precondition for the success of the school. “Relative autonomy” did not mean the right to do whatever was in its interest: it meant a clear status, respecting China’s sovereignty over education, in which all parties would have clear responsibilities through a clear framework. In the case of CEIBS, this framework was modelled on the corporate joint-venture approach with its own board of directors. The school was itself responsible for strategy, activities, finance, faculty and so on and none of the founding parties ever interfered in the school’s operations.

› The vision and commitment of the founding parties

The founding parties of CEIBS had a clear vision of the future of management education in China and CEIBS’ role and were willing to stand up for this vision. This was the case not only with the people involved in the actual establishment and start-up but also with the different institutions involved, such as the Shanghai government, the European Union, Shanghai Jiaotong University and EFMD, who allowed CEIBS the room and autonomy to develop. In addition, the continuing commitment, in many cases going back more than 10 years, of a core group of people, both Chinese and European, has provided unity of purpose and continuity.

› Its academic credibilityDuring start-up, CEIBS faced an environment with little competition but without a well known brand. Once Chinese universities started to enter the fray by the end of the 1990s, the very strong brands of the top Chinese schools posed a considerable challenge. CEIBS has been able to build up its own brand, initially thanks to the support of a consortium of top European business schools together with the backing of the Shanghai Jiaotong university, and later through its international recognition (through the international rankings and EQUIS certification).

› Its faculty networkCEIBS’ ability to build a strong faculty group with international credibility, a commitment to the school and a good understanding of business practice in China has been another key element in its success. CEIBS benefited from the 10 years experience of its predecessor CEMI, which had developed a group of pioneering – largely European – faculty with a strong commitment to China and CEIBS. In the initial years after its establishment CEIBS enlarged this group with faculty of Chinese origin, and these faculty, many of which have been teaching on and off at CEIBS/CEMI for 15 years or more, still remain at the core of the large faculty body which CEIBS has built.

The success of CEIBS has exceeded even the wildest dreams of its founders, not just because of the growth of the institution itself and its international recognition but probably even more so because of the enormous impact the school has had on the way business education has developed in China over the last 10 years. Nearly all major innovations in business education in China during that period have been pioneered by CEIBS. Maintaining this leadership position and exerting a similar level of influence on the development of management education in China, will be the major challenge for CEIBS in the next decade.

Management education in China: the future?One would expect that China will develop a vibrant

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Management education in China by Jan Borgonjon pages 44_45

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business school community to match and support its development as an economic power with global influence in manufacturing, R&D and technology. One would also expect China to have a management education sector that is closely interlinked with the international management education community and has a strong influence beyond China’s borders.

However, in my view this will not happen as soon and as strongly as one would expect. Although a lot has changed, in particular on the demand side, on the supply side the structural challenges remain largely the same, although probably not as large. Any school wanting to establish a strong position in China’s business education market will have to overcome many of the challenges that CEIBS faced during its establishment and initial growth period plus a few more.

The Chinese authorities could further stimulate the growth of the management education sector in China and create the instruments for a faster and more beneficial development. However, many of the suggestions for change one could think of (such as free entry in education, freedom of schools to establish new institutes, full access to foreign competition and so on) go well beyond what is currently possible in China.

In my view, the main changes on the regulation side could be related to allowing a special status with a large degree of autonomy to business schools, allowing them to associate with non-university partners (corporate or private and/ or foreign schools), and provide tax allowances for sponsorship as is common in many other countries. One could also envisage an independent Chinese quality assessment system similar to EQUIS or AACSB. However, for such a system to be credible it would have to be perceived as truly independent. Changes will have to be gradual, and therefore it is unlikely that we will see a vibrant, highly competitive and internationally influential management education scene in China within the next 10 years.

As can be seen, the challenges remain big and the market will remain a lonely place for CEIBS. In my view, CEIBS’s main competition for the next 10 years will remain CEIBS itself: it will require discipline and dynamism to continue to strive for excellence in a market where there is limited head-on competition. The main aspects which CEIBS will have to address (most of these are already being addressed, incidentally) in order to maintain leadership in China and to continue to be a trend-setter will be:

› Innovation in terms of programmesCEIBS has many examples in its past in which it predicted the market and took a bet on innovation – in most cases, correctly. This spirit of continuous innovation and internal questioning will remain the basis of its future leadership.

› China focus and relevanceRelevance within China not only means China-focused research but also China-focused teaching and faculty who can bring these ideas to the public in its widest sense (not only the media but also companies, government and so on). Fully Chinese business schools have a natural advantage here and CEIBS will have to continue to make a concerted effort.

› Quality and academic integrityEthics were from the very beginning a focus area for CEIBS. It will be important to continue to lead the market in terms of teaching of business ethics and application of academic ethics in research and especially teaching.

› Faculty developmentThis is not only a necessity for CEIBS itself but could also be a major contribution to the development of management education in China.

› InternationalisationBeing truly international is probably the main differentiator for CEIBS and it makes sense to exploit this advantage fully through enhanced student exchange, more foreign students, and more exchange and collaboration with top international business schools.

Achieving the above objectives would not only allow CEIBS to maintain sector leadership but also to make a contribution to the further development of business education in China by continuing to be an example and a benchmark for the management education sector.

ABOUT THE AUTHORJan Borgonjon has lived and worked in China for over 20 years. He was the Director of the China Europe Management Institute (CEMI, Beijing), and later was one of the founders of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, of which he is now a board member.

From 2002 to 2006, he was first the Vice President and later an Executive Committee member of the European Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC). He is also the Vice-Chancellor of the International Academy of Management for Asia-Pacific.

Jan Borgonjon was one of the founding partners of InterChina Consulting in 1994.

Ethics were from the very beginning a focus area for CEIBS. It will be important to continue to lead the market in terms of teaching of business ethics and application of academic ethics in research and especially teaching

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Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 pages 46_47

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Enterprise applications of internet technology (sponsored byInternet Research)Winner: Daphne RabanTitle of research: “Ownership and subjective value in the tradingand sharing of information”Currently at: University of Haifa, IsraelDoctoral award conferred by: University of Haifa, Israel

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Marketing strategy (sponsored by the European Journal ofMarketing)Winner: Mark GlynnTitle of research: “The role of brands in manufacturer-resellerrelationships”Currently at: Auckland University of Technology, New ZealandDoctoral award conferred by: University of Auckland, NewZealand

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International service management (sponsored by theInternational Journal of Service Industry Management)Winner: Margaret HumeTitle of research: “Investigating re-purchase intention in anexperiential context using operations and marketingperspectives”Currently at: Griffith University, AustraliaDoctoral award conferred by: University of Queensland, Australia

Consumer marketing and consumer behaviour (sponsored bythe Journal of Consumer Marketing)Winner: Stefano PuntoniTitle of research: “The effect of social context on advertisingreception”Currently at: RSM Erasmus University, The NetherlandsDoctoral award conferred by: London Business School, UK

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2006 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding DThe 2006 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards promote and reward

high-quality research and we would like to congratulate all the Award winners and

Highly Commended winners and wish them every success in the future.

The Award winners are as follows (see www.efmd.org and www.emeraldinsight.com/awardsfor full details, including Highly Commended winners):

Emerald and EFMD doctoral research awards ad 2 pages.qxd 14/11/2006 09:38 Page 1

Professor Thomas Lange, Associate Dean (Research) at the AUTBusiness School says, “Receiving the awards is wonderful newsfor our researchers. It provides just the kind of encouragementand international recognition they rightly deserve. The globalEmerald/EFMD Awards are highly competitive and represent yetanother example of the growing strength of research excellencewithin AUT’s Faculty of Business.”

Professor Han G. van Dissel, Dean at RSM Erasmus University,says, “Congratulations and pride are in place with thisinternational recognition … There is no better advantage we canoffer our students as future business leaders than by ensuringthey learn from the best business thinkers.”

Associate Professor John Davies, Head of School, VictoriaManagement School, Victoria University of Wellington, says, “Iam delighted … to be able highlight the recognition and awardsthat have come the way of Victoria Management School inrecognition of the quality of their Doctoral research.”

Professor Ivar Langen, Rector of the University of Stavanger,says, “I am very delighted that one of our young researchers hasreceived such a prestigious Award. The Emerald/EFMD Awardprovides encouragement and international recognition for theresearcher and also for our university.”

Ann Ridley, Dean, University of Portsmouth Business School,says, “I am delighted that a member of our academic staff has

been acknowledged by an award by Emerald and the EFMD. TheUniversity of Portsmouth is a research-active university thatseeks focused international excellence in its research profile andrecognition for Dr Warren’s work is most welcome and very well-deserved.”

Professor Paul Teng, Head, Natural Sciences & ScienceEducation, National Institute of Education, an institute ofNanyang Technological University (NIE/NTU), says, “We arehonored by this recognition bestowed on Dr Lee Yew Jin, one ofour promising younger faculty members by the Emerald Groupfor his doctoral thesis. The line of research being recognised ishighly relevant to NIE’s mission of specialised adult education,i.e. of teachers, and will serve as encouragement for more workthat is oriented to the Singapore context.”

Prof Dr Felipe Pétriz Calvo, Rector of the Universidad deZaragoza, says, “The University of Zaragoza is very honoured bythe distinction awarded to our PhD student Ana Yetano byEmerald/EFMD within their ‘2nd Annual Outstanding DoctoralResearch Awards’. We hope this award will stimulate otherdepartments and postgraduate programmes to continue withtheir daily efforts to provide students at the University ofZaragoza with high-level knowledge and research tools, as wellas a positive motivation.”

Doctoral Research Award Winners

The Award winners will receive a cash prize of 1,500 euros (or othercurrency equivalent), a certificate and an offer of publication in an Emeraldjournal, as a full paper, or as an executive summary/research note, at thediscretion of the Editor.

More information on all this year’s winners, including the HighlyCommended winners, is available at www.efmd.org andwww.emeraldinsight.com/awards

Application and eligibility criteria for next year’s Awards will also appear onthese web sites at the end of September.

How does the international business researchcommunity view the Awards?

Emerald and EFMD doctoral research awards ad 2 pages.qxd 14/11/2006 09:38 Page 2Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 Emerald / EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards pages 48_49

Wisdom is one of the most ancient, recurring and popular attributes credited to great leaders.

It is a word commonly found in both popular and scholarly leadership texts, yet it is rarely defined and appears to express a myriad of values, behaviours and ideals. While other leadership attributes become more or less fashionable over time, often visibly following social, political and economic trends, wisdom appears to endure in popularity. It crosses cultures, creeds and centuries as one of the most important elements of leadership.

We wanted to discover how leaders view the meaning of wisdom, its importance and its emphasis. And we wanted to ask whether a deeper understanding of the meanings of wisdom might inform our understanding of successful leadership.

To explore the concept of wisdom we conducted two focus groups with business leaders to investigate the idea of wisdom in relation to leadership theory and its implications for leadership development. The groups were asked open, non-leading questions about leadership and wisdom, focussing on their experience of wisdom in leaders known to them.

WISDOM IS SEEN AS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF LEADERSHIP. BUT WHAT ExACTLY IS IT? LOUISE LUNNON AND DR SHARON TURNBULL FIND OUT

The wisdom of leaders

So what is wisdom?There have been a range of studies into the various meanings given to wisdom and the behavioural characteristics associated with it. Our focus groups identified three main themes related to wisdom:

› First was its universality across cultures

› Second, the responses suggested that wisdom is subjective and that it depends on the individual’s perspective as to what traits he or she considers make up “wisdom”

› Third, one of the reasons that wisdom is so difficult to define is because it is made up of many different elements

In terms of wise leadership, our focus groups attributed many traits to the wise leader but the relevance and importance of them varied greatly among individuals. Among the traits were:

› Humility and benevolence

› Fallibility

› Communication

› Serenity

One of the reasons that wisdom is so difficult to define is because it is made up of many different elements

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 The wisdom of leaders by Louise Lunnon and Dr Sharon Turnbull pages 50_51

One of the most important attributes of a wise leader identified by the focus groups was experience. So, does interaction with the environment (experience) and its variations leads to learning and wisdom? Is it the nature of the experience that certain experiences lead more to wisdom than others?

A focus group member commented: “We can have all the experiences in the world. But you have to apply it, otherwise it’s not wisdom. You actively interpret and enact wisdom. Playing out wisdom for some kind of human benefit”.

An ever-increasing emphasis on the understanding and harnessing of knowledge has much outweighed any parallel interest in wisdom. But is knowledge enough for effective leadership. If leaders have knowledge, it does not necessarily follow that they will act upon this knowledge. And even if they do act, they may not act upon it in a way that draws on specific values or in ways that imply integrity. Our focus group agreed:

“A skill or knowledge can become wisdom when we know how to use it effectively and wisely. In politics, wisdom is the ability to use knowledge and skills in a way that is morally right, socially relevant and meaningful for improving lives,” said one member.

Wisdom was also often referred to in the focus groups as “goodness” or knowing what is “right”.

Wise leadership and action/practiceIn their article “Organisational learning, knowledge and wisdom” in the Journal of Organizational Change Management, Bierly, Kessler and Christensen discuss the relationship between learning, knowledge and wisdom. For them, organisational wisdom is the ability to “apply the appropriate knowledge in a given situation” and make best use of the knowledge that has been acquired.

Their article puts data, information, knowledge and wisdom into a framework: “data” is obtained and gives us the “raw facts”; “information” gives meaning to the obtained data; “knowledge” is the analysis and synthesis

of the derived information; and “wisdom” is the use of this knowledge to establish and achieve goals.

They argue that wisdom is both knowledge and action. “If a person is wise, then to the extent that he knows what is the highest good, he acts accordingly,” they write.

In his article in the International Journal of Social Economics, Jeannot suggests that Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is about the grasp of practical wisdom. Comparing practical wisdom with other forms of knowledge, he suggests practical wisdom is being “able to deliberate finely about what is good and beneficial for oneself ” and “about what promotes living well in general”. Practical wisdom is “a kind of expertise” as it requires “practice and experience”.

Again, our focus group agreed:

“I think it’s got to be applied otherwise it’s not wisdom. But I really do think that all the people we’ve cited as wise are not sitting reflecting on life passively. They’re all actively interpreting their wisdom. To me they have to be playing out their wisdom for some kind of human benefit. You’ve got to leave a mark.”

Wisdom and leadershipThere would seem to be an overlap between wisdom and leadership but is wisdom a function of leadership or leadership a function of wisdom? And is there a difference between them? If people are wise, it seems likely that they will be better leaders.

Cacioppe says that “a wise leader will know the mind of his/her followers and act precisely and wisely at the time”. The follower in turn is “able to recognise the superior wisdom of the leader” and “willing to place him/herself under the leader’s guidance to develop their own life and occupational skills”. This suggests that wisdom may be an attribution deriving from the followers. Our focus groups agreed:

“In terms of swapping wisdom for the word leader or leadership would you not want your leader to be intelligent, have sound judgement, be perceptive, have reason, common sense, awareness, understanding? So what’s the difference?”

Wisdom is one of the most ancient, recurring and popular attributes credited to great leaders

LeftDr Sharon Turnbull AboveLouise Lunnon

Global Focus Volume 01_Issue 01 2007 The wisdom of leaders by Louise Lunnon and Dr Sharon Turnbull pages 52_53

Bierly, Kessler and Christensen juxtapose “judgement and action” as “core elements of wisdom”, citing “experience, spirituality and passion” as “paths to individual wisdom”. For them, individual wisdom is diffused to organisational wisdom via transformational leadership, appropriate organisational culture and structure, and effective knowledge transfer mechanisms.

“The first thing about a good leader is a wise leader, is someone who analyses and communicates well. Clarity and focus are characteristics of wise leaders and self awareness, using leadership to the best advantage; in my book you’re a wise leader if you use the skills of other people effectively as well as your own skills,” said one focus group member.

Can we attain it, and if so, how?One response from our focus groups suggested that wisdom is a Holy Grail...“It appears almost as something which we are always seeking but that we don’t necessarily have or find.”...and that we can never really achieve true wisdom;

“Maybe there is this true wisdom state that’s actually not attainable, that someone can aspire to but we never achieve it because we can never be perfect anyway”.

And, of course, these different view points on the attainment of wisdom relate back to our initial three themes, namely that wisdom is an objective and multi-faceted phenomenon but also that it is universally relevant.

However, there was one theme that ran through the focus groups’ experiences of wisdom and this was the fact that it seems to equate closely to transformational leadership qualities. (According to Bass, transformational leadership is about the ability to motivate followers to perform beyond expectations by fostering a climate of trust. They develop in their followers common goals and beliefs and are able to formulate a compelling vision.)

So, to conclude, this paper argues that “judgement and action are the core elements of wisdom” that “experience, spirituality and passion provide the paths to individual wisdom” and that individual wisdom is connected to organisational wisdom via transformational leadership, appropriate organisational culture and structure, and effective knowledge transfer mechanisms.

The authors would like to acknowledge

the involvement of Professor Ged Watts from the University of Gloucester for his significant contribution to this research.

ABOUT THE AUTHORSLouise Lunnon joined The Leadership Trust in June 2005 as Assistant Researcher. She has a degree in Classics and a Masters in Medieval History, a diploma in Performance Coaching and has written a number of articles on personal development, women in leadership and leadership psychology.

Dr Sharon Turnbull, is former Deputy Director of the Research Centre for Leadership Studies, The Leadership Trust Foundation

FURTHER INFORMATIONSternberg, R.J. and Vroom, V. (2002), “Theoretical letters: the person versus the situation in leadership”. The Leadership Quarterly, 13.

Coles, M. (1998) “Vision is key to good leadership”. The Sunday Times, Oct 18. Section 7

Cacioppe, R. (1997) “Leadership Moment by Moment”. Leadership and Organisation Development Journal, vol 18, no 7.

Bierly, P.E., Kessler, E.H., and Christensen, E.W., (2000) “Organizational learning, knowledge and wisdom”, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol 13, No.6.

Jeannot, T.M., (1989) “Moral leadership and practical wisdom.” International Journal of Social Economics 16,6. pp 14-38

Bass, B.M. (1985) Leadership and Performance beyond Expectations (New York: Free Press).

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Sharing Best Practice: EFMD Advisory Services seminarTHEMEHow to internationalize your business school successfully DATES / VENUE9 – 10 July / Brussels, BelgiumHOSTEFMD

September 2007EVENT

37th EISB ConferenceTHEMEContributing to an entrepreneurial societyDATES / VENUE

12 – 14 September / Ljubljana, SloveniaHOSTFaculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

EVENT

Benchmark For Business conference: Malcolm Gladwell & Steven Levitt DATES17 September 2007ORGANISERBenchmark for Business (London)

Discount (35%) for EFMD members – www.benchmarkforbusiness.com

June 2007EVENT

EFMD Annual ConferenceTHEMEPartnership for innovation – Business and AcademiaDATES / VENUE10 – 12 June / Brussels, Belgium

EVENT

Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative – Introduction for new partnersDATES / VENUE18 – 21 June / Brussels, Belgium ( invitation only)

EVENT

EFMD Conference on Public Sector Management DevelopmentDATES / VENUEJune / Madrid, SpainHOSTEOI Business School

May 2007EVENT

Sharing Best Practice: CLIP Workshop III THEMETransfer of Corporate Learning to the Work place DATES / VENUE3 – 4 May / Zurich, SwitzerlandHOSTCredit Suisse

EVENT

EFMD Individual Members MeetingDATES / VENUE10 – 11 May / Brussels, BelgiumHOSTEFMD

EVENT

Benchmark For Business conference: CK Prahalad & Philip Kotler EVENT

21 May 2007ORGANISERBenchmark for Business (Birmingham)

Discount (35%) for EFMD members – www.benchmarkforbusiness.com

The business of branding

ANDREW CRISP OF EDUCATION BRAND CONSULTANTSCARRINGTONCRISP, ANALYSES THE RESULTS OF THE MOSTRECENT JOINT SURVEY WITH EFMD, THE BUSINESS OF BRANDING

Perception and perspective are everything when it comes to successful approaches to marketing and branding business schools. Understanding how perception develops and what perspectives students and others have can make the difference between getting the top students or facing falling numbers, misspent marketing money and a wavering reputation. A strong, clear brand can have a substantial impact on school finances, making marketing spend more effective and increasing revenues with more students.

For prospective and current students, the most important part of reputation seems to be what a school can do for their career. A new study by EFMD and CarringtonCrisp, The Business of Branding, has revealed that among MBAs 82% said they studied business to improve their earning potential while 47% of first degree students chose business to improve their career prospects. The study also questioned other business masters students and executive education participants and across all respondents 73% picked a school because it had a good record of enhancing career prospects. In the most recent study, 22 business schools from 11 countries took part with a total of 13,952 respondents. The study, now about to run for the fourth time, has so far collected data from almost 25,000 first degree students, MBAs, other business masters degree students, executive education participants, alumni, faculty

and administrative staff. A total of 50 business schools and 150 student nationalities have taken part in the survey.

Almost four out of every 10 respondents used a university website to find out about a business course and a similar number used search engines, web versions of published titles and specialist education sites. After the university website, the top five most influential media in choosing where to study were The Economist, Financial Times, Google and FT.com. For MBAs and alumni newspapers were almost as important as the Internet as sources of information, chosen by 27% of MBAs and 21% of alumni compared to 29% and 23% choosing the Internet.

The web plays a significant part in communicating a brand. Many school sites will open with a message from the dean, a mission statement or at the very least a snappy catch phrase that sums up the school. However, a quick examination of top school sites shows that almost all use the word “global” or “world” somewhere in the first few words used to set out their offer.

Undoubtedly, internationalism is important to prospective students, but this seems to suggest that the schools are using the same language in a very small and competitive market space instead of clearly differentiating themselves for their prospective customers.

Alumni are highly supportive of their former school with 96% prepared to recommend their school to students. However, only 23% of alumni have supported a financial appeal from their former school although there is a willingness to give support in the future. The three reasons given by alumni that would make them most likely to support a financial appeal were once personal income had reached a certain level, if it reduced a personal tax bill or to ensure wider access for future students.

The Business of Branding makes clear that students are reasonably rational consumers, making their decisions about where to study on how it will benefit them personally. The starting point for any school seeking a stronger, clearer brand and better returns from its marketing activity must be to ask, “Do you really know what people think about your business school?”

FURTHER INFORMATIONEFMD and CarringtonCrisp will be running ‘The Business of Branding’ study again in March 2007. Schools wanting to know more about taking part should contact Andrew Crisp at CarringtonCrisp or Matthew Wood at EFMD by email at andrew@carringtoncrisp.com or matthew.wood@efmd.org.

Copies of ‘The Business of Branding’ report are available for 1350 and can be ordered by calling 020 7229 7373, by email to andrew@carringtoncrisp.com or on the web at www.carringtoncrisp.com

The Economist provides Europe’s business leaders, current and future, with timely insightthat helps them to succeed in today’s complex global marketplace.

To advertise your courses to an audience of 3.7 million intelligent and affluent readers, please contact Philip Wrigley on +44 (0)20 7830 7000 or philipwrigley@economist.com.

EFMD v05.indd 1 12/21/06 3:02:44 PM

University challengeEric Cornuel says Europe’s business schools face a testing future

The EFMD Business MagazineEFMD

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INSIDE THIS ISSUEOpen futureJordi Canals, IESE, urges contact with society

Corporate learningRichard Straub reports on CLIP

Frank BrownINSEAD’s new dean makes an impact

EQUIS decadeJulio Urgel on 10 years of accreditation

China viewJan Borgonjon looks at management education in China

Wise words Louise Lunnon and Sharon Turnbull ask what wisdom is

www.efmd.org Volume 01_Issue 01 2007

International Business School Accreditation

www.efmd.org/equis

Celebrating 10 years of EQUIS excellence

97 schools, 29 countries, 1 goal – Raising the standards of

international business education

EFMD

G

lobal Focus Volum

e 01 _Issue 01 2007