Business Education Under the Microscope

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The market also speaks, because MBA employment is as strong as it has been even in these economic times. The fastest-growing segment of the education market in India and China is business schools. So if management education was that irrelevant, I don't think people would be voting with their feet as they are.

Has the mission of business schools changed since they were founded?

When they were founded years ago, they were trade schools and they were teaching people very narrow skills like managing or creating a balance sheet or being able to run an assembly line. They were also teaching people how to type and manage projects. Today, it's much more about strategic thinking and judgment. It is research-driven as opposed to anecdotally driven, and these practices have permeated the way business is conducted. I think business schools have changed in the way they think about management leadership and the role it plays in learning environments. The notion of relevancy to the marketplace is central to every mission statement that business schools have.

What stakeholders in the business school world and beyond will be interested in the results of this study?

Our primary audience is the business school community, which needs to be constantly evaluating and self-introspecting about what it is doing. The next audience is our constituencies in our community. We need to say, 'O.K., are we having enough of an impact?' If it turns out we're not, this will give us best practice clues on how to do it. A third audience will be policymakers, who will look at the role that management education should be playing in continuing growth, innovation, and leadership of economies.

Do you think the results of the study could cause business schools to reinvent themselves?

I don't know about reinvent, but it might be a bit of an awakening call. I may be a little self-confident here, but I think business schools do have an impact on the lives of our graduates. The reason I say that is I meet graduates all the time who tell me they are transformed by the experience and I don't think I'm meeting just a selected subset. But it is possible that if our societal or community impact is limited, we may choose to refocus our priorities.

What are business-school deans like you hoping to take away from this study?

If we find out there has been no impact, we are certainly going to reevaluate ourselves. But if you look at this through the lens of society, organizations, and individuals, I'd be surprised if there wasn't something that was traceable. Something like 39% of Fortune 500 CEOs are business graduates. This might be an expression of interest on the part of the individuals themselves, but it also tells you something about the impact of management education.