[商学院排名] Features of The best B-schools

hsWang

耐心读下去，会有收获的，如果你想进入top b-school.

Managing

Where you go for your MBA might depend on what you plan to do with it.

Do not tell John Selkrig that his MBA is useless. The former Sydney banker received job offers from four big United States investment banks after graduating from Dartmouth College's Tuck Business School in 2001. Selkrig, who is in his mid-thirties, was an intern with one organisation but eventually joined Morgan Stanley. He is now an associate for equity sales at the Hong Kong office. "Typically, you're an associate for the first couple of years after business school and then you move on to vice-president," he says.

The worldwide economic slowdown may be restricting recruitment of new MBA graduates, but the world's biggest companies still focus on brand names such as Tuck, in New Hampshire, which The Wall Street Journal rates as the world's number-one business school. Steven Lubrano, Tuck's MBA program director, says: "Certainly the numbers that corporations are sourcing are down a bit. But we are currently at 65% placement rate for interns, and fully expect to achieve 100%." He says experienced recruiters such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and UBS know that the best time to capture good graduates is during a downturn.

Gretchen Boehm, Tuck's associate director for admissions, says: "We would love to admit more students from Australia and New Zealand." Over at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, ranked best in the world by the Financial Times, more than 100 places went to applicants from Asia and Australia in 2002. Selkrig says: "Other things being equal, coming from another country is actually an advantage because schools are looking for international diversity. Every school now wants a more mixed student body." Selkrig had many Chinese, Indian and Japanese classmates at Tuck.

The study is mainly for people who plan to work overseas. Australian companies generally do not require an MBA. Ian Corley, a managing partner at the executive search firm MRI Worldwide in Sydney, says: "It might be on their wish list, but it is not a critical factor. Experience is much more important." He says Australian companies tend to give equal weight to an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management or the Macquarie Graduate School of Management as they do to one from Harvard. "I would also say Mt Eliza Business School," adds Erin Reagen, who also is an MRI managing partner.

It is difficult to say which business school (B-school) is the best. Take the latest US rankings. The Wall Street Journal has Tuck on top, the Financial Times honors the Wharton School, Forbes and US News & World Report name Harvard Business School, and BusinessWeek and The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) give the thumbs-up to Kellogg School of Management. The regional surveys also are puzzling. Asia Inc places the Chinese University of Hong Kong first, followed by the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. The Financial Times has Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Melbourne Business School as the top two. The EIU's choices are the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the China Europe Business School in Shanghai - with the Chinese University way behind at number 11.

The varied results perhaps say more about the surveys than the schools. How to bring order to the sprawl? What follows is a list of business schools that regularly appear in the top ranks of the various international and regional surveys. Whatever the disagreements about their actual placings, these B-schools are on the radar screens of recruiters and head-hunters.

The curriculums, program structure, faculty and facilities are assessed. There are interviews with leading companies and executive-search firms as well as school officials, students and alumni. Conventional surveys often analyse B-schools as "one size fits all" entities, but each has its own specialities, something that employers are beginning to realise. Nadia Pan, the regional human resources director at the advertising company Leo Burnett Asia Pacific, says: "Experience tells us that Harvard, Kellogg, Wharton and Columbia prepare people for senior executive [leadership] roles. European schools like Insead [in France] tend to focus more on cross-cultural management." Asia-Pacific schools have a natural edge in Asian and Chinese business.

The brand-name schools are arranged under 10 student groups, from the aspiring chief executive to the would-be management consultant, to the determined entrepreneur. Space restrictions preclude niche specialisations. (Hint: non-profit organisations, consider Harvard and Yale; health care, try the University of California at Berkeley; environmental management, look at Nimbas in the Netherlands.) Read on to find the top-ranked school that might be the best fit for you.

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-12-9 0:21:17编辑过]

hsWang

The top gun

Melbourne lawyer Virginia Porter considered enrolling at the Melbourne Business School, but ended up at the Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne in 2001. "I was at an age where a 10-month program rather than a two-year one was attractive," she says. "I wanted to get a well-regarded qualification in a short period in an interesting and stimulating environment. My primary goal was to find a job outside law and within business in New York without prejudicing the quality of my experience as a lawyer." Porter also wants to make sure she gets a shot at being a CEO, if she chooses.

IMD may give her that chance. Its program director, Sean Meehan, says: "Top executives of leading multinational companies tell us clearly that they need leaders, not managers. Leaders who can address issues and problems and build networks between diverse groups of people across different cultures." Students are sent to Bosnia for a real-world lesson in rebuilding a country. Other activities include an eight-week stint working on strategic issues with an international company and sessions with business, political and activist leaders at the annual IMD International Leadership Conference.

Leadership is the emphasis at Harvard Business School, alma mater of US President George W. Bush. Brit Dewey, managing director for admissions, says in the school's Web site: "We look for candidates who have been leaders in their extracurricular activities at college, in their workplaces and in their communities." Like most US programs, the 17-month Harvard MBA first gives students a grounding in general management. Students then choose from an array of electives, including competition and strategy, negotiations and organisational behavior.
In Australia, Mt Eliza Business School follows the Harvard model for its 18-month full-time MBA program, but in the part-time executive version designed for experienced managers it dispenses with the foundation courses. There are intensive residential workshops on leadership and other subjects at a house with stunning views of Port Phillip Bay. Melbourne Business School has a similarly structured full-time MBA. Students complete core courses in the first half of the program. After that, they are free to choose from more than 30 electives designed to hone leadership and strategy skills.

At both schools the emphasis is international. Denise Hoi-yin Ho, who worked as a consultant with Unisys before enrolling at the Melbourne Business School, says: "I'm one of the very few from Australia - only about 40% of the students are from here. I'm meeting people with market experiences ranging from diamond extraction to chiropractic practice." The pace is more hectic than she expected - the program is a relatively short 16 months - but Ho has no regrets. "I've been extremely impressed by most of the teaching staff, and class interaction has been more than satisfying. Everyone is responsible for each other's learning here."

Internationalism is also a hallmark of France's Insead, which requires fluency in English and a working knowledge of a second language. Mastery of a third commercially useful language is required for graduation from the 11-month MBA program. Students at Insead in Fontainebleau and Singapore are encouraged to take classes at each other's campuses, and a stint at the Wharton School in the US can be arranged. Cross-cultural management is also a focus at Schulich School of Business, at York University in Canada and Thunderbird in Arizona. Only 40% of their students come from North America.

Other schools to consider: Ashridge (Britain), Asian Institute of Management (Philippines), Australian Graduate School of Management, Instituto de Empresa (Spain), London School of Business, University of Glasgow Business School, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

hsWang

The marketing guru

"For corporate management roles, the successful candidate's background is invariably in marketing or finance," says R. Suresh, the Mumbai-based chief executive of human resources consulting at the executive search firm Stanton Chase International. The art of selling products and services is what business is all about, and Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University in Chicago excels in teaching it as a science. One of its star professors is Phil Kotler, the author of the ground-breaking book Marketing Management.

The school's marketing prowess is one of the attractions for Jacqueline Chow, a business technology major from the University of New South Wales, who worked as a consultant with Accenture in Australia. She says: "My experience at Kellogg has been more fulfilling than I had anticipated. The faculty are highly esteemed in their field of research as well as actively involved in industry. Class debate is always highly interactive. Last week there was a lively debate about China's entry into the World Trade Organisation among students from the US, Britain, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany, Thailand, Turkey, China, Indonesia and the Philippines."

Other top US schools also focus on marketing, among them Harvard, Wharton and Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. In Europe, the HEC School of Management in Paris and the University of Edinburgh Management School list marketing as a key strength. About 75% of HEC's students are from outside France (19% come from Asia and Australia). The MBA is taught in English, with French phased in halfway into the 16-month program. There is no second-language requirement at Edinburgh's one-year program, although training is offered in Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

Melbourne Business School (MBS) has a part-time two-year Master of Marketing program. Students learn from local case studies developed by MBS, and others from Harvard, London Business School, IESE in Spain and other schools. Would-be brand managers should also consider the 15-month full-time MBA program at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). One class project this year involves the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. "Students apply concepts learnt in the first term and offer perspectives on the marketing and management of the SSO," marketing professor Murali Chandrashekaran says.

A former regional manager at the public relations consultancy Burson-Marsteller in Hong Kong, Lisa Mabilangan, recently completed her first marketing class at AGSM. "There were a lot of case studies and we did a computer simulation, which was excellent," she says. "We put ourselves in the shoes of a brand manager who had to make decisions based on data on a mock market and industry. It felt really live and the teams really got into it." Mabilangan also likes the school's internationalism (more than half the students come from overseas) and its integrative approach.

Other schools to consider: Haas School of Business at University of California at Berkeley, Macquarie Graduate School of Management (Australia), Mendoza College of Business (US), Schulich School of Business (Canada), University of Michigan Business School

hsWang

The number cruncher

If numbers are your game, your best bet is to study at a B-school known for quantitative expertise. Tan Soo Jin, director and partner in Singapore for the executive search group Amrop Hever, says: "If the role is for finance, companies give greater weight to an MBA from Wharton or University of Chicago rather than from a school better known for entrepreneurship, for example." Other members of this Ivy League group include Kellogg (the alma mater of disgraced Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow), Columbia Business School, MIT Sloan, Stern School of Business at New York University and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Finance is the most popular major at the Wharton School, which admitted 802 students to its 18-month MBA program last year (130 of them from Asia). The school tops the US News & World Report rankings in finance and accounting. "I wake up every morning amazed at how lucky I am to be here," says Campbell Bethwaite, a 25-year-old Sydney IT entrepreneur who wants to work in investment banking in New York. "I've never met so many amazing people from all corners of the world and all possible backgrounds in one place. The case discussions draw interesting insights and the professors are generally excellent."

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has produced six Nobel Prize winners, including current professors Gary Becker and Robert Fogel. "The fact that you actually have people who invented the theories of finance is mind-blowing," says New Zealand student Michael North. Chemical engineer Prashant Agarwal, one of 21 students from India, says: "The faculty is great and I like the program's academic rigor." The full-time MBA takes two years to complete, with accounting and finance among the most sought-after of the 13 specialities. The University of Chicago's campus in Singapore offers a separate 20-month executive MBA.

If students intend to stay in Asia, they can choose not to spend US$100,000 on a US B-school. Half that can get you an MBA at AGSM in Australia. After completing two core financial courses, students can specialise by taking seven electives, among them financial modelling and accounting for planning and control. The school draws on the resources of its prestigious parents, the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. Its research is on par with the world's best. The Journal of Financial Economics, the finance field's premier publication, recently honored AGSM professor John Lyon with its All Star Paper award.

The Curtin Graduate School of Business in Perth and Mt Eliza Business School have tied up with CPA Australia, the professional organisation of certified practising accountants, to offer a specialist CPA MBA. After completing CPA Australia's five-course CPA program, students take up five foundation classes, an organisational in-house project and a personal-development module to earn an MBA from Curtin. Mt Eliza's more extensive program requires seven core courses, including one called The New CFO, and three electives. Two five-day residential leadership workshops book-end the program.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management (US), Fuqua School of Business at Duke University (US), HEC School of Management (France), London Business School, Manchester Business School, Melbourne Business School, Schulich School of Business (Canada), Yale School of Management (US)

hsWang

The operations chief

The hands-on, day-to-day manager/troubleshooter learns a lot from the school of hard knocks, but an MBA also helps, especially one that has covered production, logistics, supply chain and other operational issues. NUS Business School at the University of Singapore has a Department of Decision Sciences that sharpens generalist MBA skills with electives in linear and non-linear optimisation tools, forecast modelling and management of production and service operations. Recent student projects include a calendar delivery plan for Mobil Oil and a regression model to improve efficiency at the call-centre operator P&G (China).

The Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) goes further, with a separate one-year Master of Management program that allows for specialisation in operations management. Students embark on projects with actual companies. Operations management professor Willem Selen says: "Recent examples include a study of operations value creation at Honeywell and supply chain management at Southcorp Wines." These Sydney projects will be used as case studies, along with work conducted by MGSM students in Hong Kong and Singapore, and other operations materials from American and European B-schools.

In Perth, the Curtin Graduate School of Business has a slightly different approach. After completing the basic 12-month MBA program, students can study for one more trimester to acquire a specialist MBA degree. The Logistics Specialisation program offers courses such as distribution and transport, materials management, logistics information systems and strategic logistics management. The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad also has production and operations management among its strengths, but the school's MBA program is geared almost exclusively to local students.

Other schools to consider: Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University (US), Kellogg School of Management (US), MIT Sloan School of Management (US), Mendoza College of Business at University of Notre Dame (US), Stanford Business School (US), UBC Commerce (Canada), University of Bath School of Management (Britain), Wharton School (US)

hsWang

The management consultant

Andrew Tsui, the managing director of the executive recruiter Korn Ferry in Hong Kong, says consultancy firms are focused on getting students from the top-tier schools because they "figure they need that cachet if they're going to give advice to companies". His pool of top-tier B-schools includes the Anderson School at UCLA, Harvard, Insead, London Business School, Wharton and Yale. Wai-Chan Chan, the partner in charge of recruiting for McKinsey & Company's Greater China office, says: "We hire overwhelmingly from the most prestigious academic institutions. But we also identify outstanding candidates from other schools based on their strengths in key areas such as problem-solving, leadership and teamwork. We really focus on the individual, not the school."

Consulting is a common thread in MBA classes at America's Concord School of Management in Boston, and that is not surprising. The school was founded by the consulting group Arthur D. Little in 1964. Now operated by Kaplan Inc, the education arm of The Washington Post, Concord continues to draw on Little's expertise and resources. About half of the student population comes from Asia and Australia, although Concord's flagship Boston International one-year MBA program accommodates only 55 students. The school stresses "skill sessions in facilitation, interviewing, issues analysis, problem identification and structured communication" that each student is expected to apply in undertaking an intensive consultancy project during the program.

More than three-quarters of all the courses at Tuck Business School in New Hampshire require teamwork, an important component of consulting. MBA program director Steven Lubrano says: "Success in business is not defined by a zero-sum game. Tuck students are taught within a supportive and close environment to understand when to seek consensus and when to champion a new approach. They understand how to manage clients, conduct extensive research, assimilate and present data, and manage client interaction." Tuck's is usually a residential general management program, although it has recently increased its coverage of ethics, technology and entrepreneurship in its first-year core courses.

Students in the Company Consulting track at HEC in France undertake a team consulting project. The participating firms, including GE Medical Systems, Hugo Boss and Volvo, assign mentors to work with the students. A similar program, called the Lothian Project, is an option at the University of Edinburgh Management School. In Australia, students learn to internalise management consultancy skills through AGSM's integrative approach and expertise in organisational behavior and change management. Boston Consulting and LEK Consulting are among the school's leading recruiters. Deloitte Consulting hires from MGSM, while Booz Allen & Hamilton has scouted for talent at Melbourne Business School.

Other schools to consider: Columbia Business School (US), Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (US), Goizueta Business School (US), Kellogg School of Management (US), Stanford Graduate School of Business (US), University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, University of Michigan Business School

hsWang

The investment whiz

When he was considering studying for an MBA, Tuck alumnus John Selkrig looked at where the department heads at his then-employer, Bank of America, got their degrees. He says: "They typically went to Ivy League US schools, whether it was UCLA, Wharton, Columbia or Harvard." He applied at Tuck and a handful of other US schools because he wanted to join an American investment bank. "If I wanted to work for an Australian or a European company, that might not have been the best decision," Selkrig says. "But if you want to work for a leading US firm, they've all heard of Tuck."

Other schools with a strong reputation are: Stern Business School, Cornell, Fuqua School of Business, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Stanford, University of Chicago and Yale. "Stern's outstanding reputation in finance is based on its first-rate finance curriculum and faculty, and its early location on Wall Street from 1914 until 1993 before moving to the Greenwich Village location," assistant dean Julia Min says. "Stern has more multicultural professors than any other university - currently 50% international." Australian CPA Tony Sherlock says the professors are approachable and willing to help with a problem. "It's not uncommon to e-mail a professor a question at 1 am and get a detailed response at 2 am."

The London Business School conducts its MBA classes in the financial heart of London. Merrill Lynch is a big recruiter, just as Barclays Capital is with Imperial College and Lehman Brothers is with the Oxford University's Said Business School. All three offer financial-services electives such as financial instruments, company valuations, initial public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, the London Business School has a separate Masters in Finance program designed for those planning to work in banking, investment management, security analysis, risk management and corporate finance. Full-time students earn their degree in 10 months and part-timers in 21 months.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's finance electives include investment banking strategies, portfolio management and innovations in the derivatives markets. A part-time, three-year dual-degree program is also available. Students earn an MBA and a Master of Science in Investment Management. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has an MBA in Finance in co-operation with Tsinghua University in Beijing. It is led by He Jia, who is a commissioner at the China Securities Regulatory Commission. In Singapore, NUS Business School teaches nine finance and banking electives, including bank management, futures and options, and risk management and insurance. The would-be investment manager can study five of these subjects for MBA specialisation.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Birmingham Business School, Haas School of Business (US), Manchester Business School, Nimbas Graduate School of Management (Netherlands)

hsWang

The technology specialist

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is known for a focus on leading-edge technology. MIT's Sloan School of Management has a good reputation in the management of technology. Sloan's full-time MBA program allots one semester for five core courses, leaving the rest of the two years for electives. Would-be chief technology officers sign up for the IT and Business Transformation (ITB) track and spend a semester on a team project. An American ITB major, Christina Cragholm, says on the Sloan Web site: "I worked with a Thai consultant, a Singaporean software developer, a Dutch venture capitalist and a marketer from Michigan. That will always stand out in my mind."

For those with 10 years' work experience, a science degree and college credits in calculus and economics, Sloan offers a one-year Management of Technology program. Its Web site quotes Edward Roberts, who co-founded the program in 1981: "The goal is to give a management education to people experienced in running the scientific and technological aspects of their organisations." The curriculum includes general management courses such as accounting and marketing, but most of the year is given over to topics such as leadership skills in research and engineering, and managing innovations in industry. The program requires thesis writing.

Technophiles can opt for a technology management concentration in the two-year full-time MBA program of the Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland. They are required to take three electives from an array ranging from multimedia systems to managing e-business technology. They can also apply for a place in an IS (information systems) scholarship program. Each awardee is matched with a chief technology officer or another IS executive as part of a mentoring scheme. Scholars embark on a team IS project instead of the conventional consultancy.

Britain's Imperial College Management School runs specialities in the bio-pharma and health technology sectors in its one-year MBA program. In Finland, the Helsinki School of Economics offers separate concentrations in biotechnology management and IT management as part of its one-year MBA. Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands has a 15-month MBA/MBI (Master of Business Informatics) that features courses in systems analysis and design, database management and decision-support systems.

The Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand has a 17-month MBA that includes a management of technology course. In addition to two required technology courses, students take six technology-related electives. Information Technology Management is a concentration in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School's full-time 18-month MBA program. The school has teamed with the parent university's Department of Information and Systems Management to offer a part-time three-year dual-degree program. Students graduate with an MBA and a Master of Science in Information Systems Management.

The Monash Graduate School of Business benefits from its parent university's resources. MBA director Peter Reed says: "Monash has a very strong faculty of information technology that offers a range of IT courses few universities can match." The business school enlists the IT faculty in the teaching of core courses and electives in technology management. Students can choose a professional track in IT within the two-year MBA program, or study a bit longer for a dual MBA and MSc in Business Systems or an MBA and MSc in Information Management and Systems.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Aston Business School (Britain), Carnegie Mellon University (US), Instituto de Empresa (Spain), Haas School of Business (US), Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University (US), UBC Commerce (Canada)

hsWang

The entrepreneur

Two out of 10 Harvard MBA students specialise in entrepreneurial management after they have spent a year completing the mandatory general management courses. They choose from 20 electives, including entrepreneurial finance, management of the family business, and business leadership in the social sector. Students also compete in the annual HBS Business Plan Contest, which carries a US$50,000 prize. The winners this year were FBC Systems, which proposed the development and marketing of design-to-cost software, and Gyaana Ventures, which drafted a scheme to eliminate functional illiteracy in India by helping families commit to investing in the education of their children.

Babson College's Franklin Olin Graduate School of Business is not as well known as Harvard, but its entrepreneurship program has been rated higher in some specialist surveys. In the Entrepreneurship Intensity Track, students become interns with start-up companies after the first year, take up entrepreneurship electives in the second year, and launch a company in their final semester. The MBA program takes two years, but those with a business degree can have some core courses waived and graduate in one year.

The Entrepreneurship Centre at Imperial College Management School in Britain is headed by the author and corporate star Sue Birley, an authority on international entrepreneurship. Graduates of the London Business School have access to the business incubator Gavron Business Centre. At the IESE Business School in Spain, students write business plans for the annual New Business Forum, which attracts many venture capitalists. The school has ties to the conservative Catholic movement Opus Dei, one reason for the focus on business ethics.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Cranfield School of Management (Britain), E.M. Lyon (France), Haas School of Business (US), Manchester Business School (Britain), Stanford Graduate School of Business (US), University of Cambridge Judge Institute of Management (Britain), MIT Sloan School of Management (US)

hsWang

The China master

Brenda Chung, born in Hong Kong and educated in Singapore and Australia, set her sights initially on an American MBA degree. But she decided eventually to study at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. "China is where I'm going to be in the next 10 years," says the former KPMG Singapore auditor, who moved to Suzhou in 1997 to take charge of customer service at a real estate firm. "It's important for me to be here. If I left for two years, I might no longer be valuable. The changes in the past six years alone have been very rapid."

CEIBS, founded in 1994 with help from the European Union and the Chinese Government, has been criticised for being too European-centred. Most of the teaching is still done by visiting faculty from the West, but the local staff have been developing case studies on Chinese companies. The school, which recently moved to a new campus, is also strengthening ties with the 100-year-old Jiatong University. Nine out of 10 students in the 17-month MBA program, which has room for 130 participants, are mainland Chinese.

The 18-month MBA program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong admitted only 34 students last year, with five places going to applicants from China, three from India and four from North America. "We plan to recruit more heavily from China and other countries," says MBA director Vincent Lai. Courses include Business Strategies in the Chinese Context, Marketing in China and China Field Study, which involves a week in Beijing or Shanghai for seminars with government and business leaders and company visits. The school also arranges summer internships in China.

The University of Hong Kong offers a part-time MBA program in Hong Kong and an international version in Shanghai. The Hong Kong modules, which last from five to seven weeks and are held on weekday evenings or on Saturdays, can be completed in two years. The professors also teach in the Shanghai program, in partnership with Fudan University, which gives them ground-level exposure to trends in China's commercial heart and enriches their Hong Kong lectures. Foreign students made up a quarter of the 90 participants admitted to the Hong Kong program last year.