The International Finance Corporation's MBA Survey : How Developing Country Firms Rate Local Business School Training

Chaudhry, Azam

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABILITY;    ATTENTION;    BUSINESS EDUCATION;    BUSINESS SCHOOLS;    BUSINESS STUDENTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3182
RP-ID  :  WPS3182

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Graduate education in businessadministration was developed in the U.S. around the turn ofthe twentieth century. MBA and similar graduate-levelbusiness programs took hold more slowly in other countries,but the number of such programs expanded more rapidly fromthe 1960s onward. In an effort to determine what firms fromthese countries require from business school graduates, theIFC used its extensive contacts with these firms to conducta survey of the quality of business education in thesecountries. The survey results imply that the strengths andweaknesses of developing and transition country MBAs seem tooverlap with those of MBAs from the U.S.: managers in theU.S. and in the developing countries find that the technicaland analytical skills of MBAs are well developed while thepractical training/skills and communication/language skillsof MBAs are significantly lacking. On the whole, only theAfrican and Middle Eastern firms were significantlydissatisfied with the quality of local MBA graduates. Thesurvey results show that MBAs worldwide are not fullysatisfying the needs of firms. Each of the other regions ofthe world has its own particular weaknesses, while at thesame time some common weaknesses (such as work experienceand communication skills) stand out. These results show thata cookie-cutter approach to training MBAs cannot work.Rather, MBA programs have to be tailored to suit the needsof the local business community while also teaching commonbusiness fundamentals.