| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 18, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| SPECIAL REPORT -- EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
Turning B-School into E-School Startups offering online MBA courses to corporations are acting like B-schools In the fall of 1998, Lawrence A. Weinbach, the new CEO of Unisys Corp. (UIS), decided that the information technology services provider needed to change its culture. But in a company bruised by layoffs, declining sales, and the resignation of the preceding CEO, that was easier said than done. So he created Unisys University, an in-house training facility, and charged it with establishing ''a highly people-oriented culture, not the autocratic one we had,'' says Ray Jackson, senior consultant to the university's leadership school. Jackson considered hiring consultants or sending his executives to business school, but decided not to. Instead, he created his own five-day course, and turned to tiny software startup Pensare Inc. to create an online program to supplement his face-to-face classes. ''When you want to change a culture, you want to do as much of it on your own as you can,'' says Jackson. ENERGIZED. Today, everyone from Unisys' senior execs to its younger fast-track stars logs on to tiny Pensare's Distinctive Leadership courses from their desktops. Customized materials were developed by Pensare and a former professor from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. To go along with Jackson's seminar on leadership, for example, Pensare produced case studies and interviews with famous leaders. By yearend, about 400 Unisys managers will have taken courses through Pensare. And although Jackson can't link Unisys' higher stock prices to the course work, ''we're seeing good things happen,'' he says. Jackson says executives are energized and communicating better. Pensare--the name means ''to think'' in Italian--is just one of a handful of private sector companies making a splash in the executive education market. Founded by Chairman and CEO Douglas E. Donzelli, an entrepreneur who sold a previous startup to Novell, Inc., Pensare aims to bring the best courses from top B-schools together in one place online. Companies will then be able to pick and choose from its offerings to create their own customized MBA programs. Moreover, universities that want to start selling their own courses online will also be able to turn to Pensare to provide the needed technology. ''We'd like to see 20% to 30% of MBAs granted in the U.S. on the Pensare platform within five years,'' Donzelli says. That's mighty ambitious--but so far, the B-school community doesn't sound too worried. ''Someday, distance learning will be a very important part of learning, but for now, it's in its pre-infancy,'' says Donald Jacobs, the dean of the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Jacobs scoffs at the notion that companies will turn to online programs for degrees. Still, a new deal with Duke University's Fuqua School of Business--ranked No. 7 in BUSINESS WEEK's 1998 survey of the best B-schools--could push Pensare into the big leagues. The software provider will upgrade the technology behind the Duke MBA-Global Executive program (GEMBA)--the online MBA launched in 1996 that is considered the Cadillac of online business degrees. Then Pensare plans to repackage and sell 12 Duke courses--the core of the MBA program--online. Down the road, more such deals with top schools are likely. Why would Duke give up a franchise that sets it apart--and that might ultimately become a direct competitor online? According to Blair H. Sheppard, Fuqua's senior associate dean for academic programs, the school didn't have the resources to expand the online program. ''We've got to share the wealth to make this happen,'' he says. Duke--which received a significant equity stake in Pensare--will receive royalties for its courses, and could earn a large financial return if Pensare goes public next year. Still, Pensare hardly has this lucrative arena to itself. Rival UNext.com is working with such B-schools as Columbia and the University of Chicago to create an online MBA soon. And University Access has just inked a deal with the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler B-school to build a global executive MBA program for five companies. Yet ambivalence remains as to whether sophisticated management concepts can really be taught over the Net. ''I still think in-class, physical learning is optimal,'' says Howard S. Kaufold, director of the Wharton Executive MBA Program. But as a teacher in Wharton's own satellite-delivered courses, Kaufold knows he has no choice but to experiment. By Mica Schneider in New York _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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