The Future of Business Education

THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION

SUBMITTED TO

PROF. SUBIR VERMA

COURSE: WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF CASES

DATE: MARCH 14, 2011

GROUP MEMBERS:

DEBJIT GHOSH 10P134

KANDARP SUCHAK 10P144

NAVEEN JINDAL 10P153

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We benefited from the support and assistance of a large number of people in developing and writing this report and would like to take this opportunity to offer our thanks.

We a indebted to Prof. Neera Jain of Management Development Institute, Gurgaon for her constant support and guidance right from the beginning to the final touches of this report.

We are also grateful to several other faculty members of Management Development Institute and other business schools of India and also to the executives and students who kindly consented to interviews and provided us with the raw material that lies at the heart of our analysis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page 1

Acknowledgements 2

1. Objective 4

2. Literature Review 5

3. Methodology 10

4. Analysis and Findings 13

The History Of MBA Education 13

Recent Developments in Management Education 16

Trends in Management Programs 19

Management Education : Indian Perspective 20

History 21

Emerging Issues 22

Research Findings 23

The Changing Face of MBA 26

The Indian Perspective 31

5. Conclusion and Recommendations 43

6. Limitations of the Research 45

7. Foundation for Future Research 46

8. References 47

9. Appendix 49

1. OBJECTIVE

The objective of the report is to study the shift occurring in the domain of business education the world over. The recent financial crisis and the changing demands of businesses have put business education at crossroads and have established the fact that we all need to take a closer look at what is being taught in the business schools of the world.

The report tests the hypothesis that business schools need to do two things to develop effective leaders and entrepreneurs: reassess the facts, frameworks and theories that they teach while at the same time rebalancing their curricula so that more attention is paid to developing the skills, capabilities and techniques that lie at the heart of the practice of management.

The report aims to understand how the future MBA would be different from the MBA of the past based on the corporate and academia's perception of the value added by the MBA degree as well as the current weaknesses, deficiencies or unmet needs. The research objective is to generate enough data through reports published on this topic through interviews with deans and faculty of top B-Schools, business executives and students.

Finally, it studies these changes in the context of MBA education in India by way of studying student preferences and attitudes through a questionnaire. It also tries to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of B-School faculty and business executives in India.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Business education has seen a sea change from the time it started to the present date. Initially, business schools resembled "trade schools". They attracted primarily undergraduate/college level students, were "descriptive" in teaching approach, were unlikely to attract the strongest students, did not encourage rigorous academic research nor did they seek to create new knowledge. However, in 1960, the Ford and Carnegie Foundations challenged the early business school model. Business schools responded to these criticisms by adopting scientific methods and modern statistics, pursuing interdisciplinary approaches (social and behavioural sciences), conducting empirical research and emphasizing knowledge creation and publication.

Times have changed again. The recent financial crisis has raised the voices of those questioning the value added by business education to an undergraduate student. In this context, we present our report on what lies ahead for business schools - the challenges and opportunities facing them and how various B-Schools are responding to the changing times and demands in their own unique way to differentiate themselves and sustain themselves in the long run.

The indirect good news of the global crisis has been, somehow, not only to challenge the pillars of the global financial system, but also to question the personal and collective action of those responsible for driving the system, i.e. bank, regulators, governments and, yes, business schools.

It is clear that schools are only an agent of the system, but an important agent by themselves, because these institutions educate the pilots who run the financial system. As stated above, schools are not to be blamed, but, at the same time, we need to call for a redefinition of the MBA as programme and degree.

In the words of Juanma Roca in the article "The future of the mba and the mba of the future" dated 22 January 2010, he says:

"From my point of view, it is desirable that issues such as financial risk, ethics or sustainability gain more prominence in the curriculum of the MBA."

Schools need a further and deeper reflection about the MBA itself as a programme, that is, how the MBA of the future should be, what kind of managers we want to educate for the 21st century, how schools can help to the prosperity worldwide, and, therefore, what the mission, identity