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china’s
b-schools
By Byline Here
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At Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Shanghai, students used to dig into case
studies from faraway places—of Southwest Airlines’ strategy, say, to overtake major U.S. air-
lines, or BMW’s product line in Germany. These days, though, they’re examining business
issues much closer to home—how beverage maker Wahaha grew to be a national brand in
China, for instance, or how PC maker Lenovo has successfully expanded overseas.
Foreign case studies haven’t been thrown out altogether, but the new emphasis on Chinese
business reflects the changing priorities of the mainland’s B-schools. As the curricula be-
come more relevant to Chinese students, the schools’ reputations are improving, and more
mainlanders are choosing to stay home rather than earn degrees abroad. In an exclusive poll of
253 recruiters from such companies as Haier, General Electric, and Nokia, 34% of respondents
called the supply of high-quality talent from China’s MBA programs “excellent” or “good,”
up from 19% last year, according to BusinessWeek China’s third annual survey of Chinese
B-schools. The quality of MBAs “is becoming better and better,” says Mike Wang, human
resources manager at Morgan Stanley in Beijing.

BUSINESSWEEK I nove m b e r 16, 2007

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34%
of recruiters called
the supply of high
quality MBA talent
in China “excellent”
or “good,” up from
18% in 2006
Data: Univerum
Communications Inc.

nove m b e r 16, 2007 I BUSINESSWEEK

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That means com- Aliquat ulput sparks the growth of both local and foreign
panies are hiring more dolore dolestrud businesses, demand for MBAs is high. Next
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B-school graduates and molor adigna um
year, the government plans to increase MBA
paying them higher sal- incilit enrollment by 24% and accredit an addi-
aries than ever before. tional 30 or so universities.
Recruiters offered jobs In the BusinessWeek China survey, corporate recruit-
to an average of nearly ers singled out a handful of schools for their highest praise.
five MBAs in 2007, up China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), a joint
from fewer than four venture of the Shanghai municipal government and the Eu-
in 2006, according to ropean Union, was named the top program by 38% of recruit-
BusinessWeek China’s ers. Beijing International MBA (BiMBA) at Peking University,
survey. Some 29% of run jointly with a consortium of U.S. colleges, was a close
respondents paid their second, with 31% of recruiters ranking it No. 1. Some 9% of
first-year MBA hires respondents said the top program was Tsinghua University’s
8,000 yuan or more a School of Economics and Management (SEM), a joint venture
month, up from 24% with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of
last year, and more than Management.
7% said they paid gradu- These schools are attracting top students who may have
ates of top schools more headed overseas for an MBA not long ago. With the Chinese
than 20,000 yuan a month, up from 3% in 2006. In the survey, economy so hot, many students worry that spending time
conducted for BusinessWeek China by employer branding outside China may hurt rather than enhance their job chanc-
consultant Universum Communications, respondents ranked es. “I have colleagues and friends who are finding it hard to
the “best overall” MBA program and the best in teaching in find a job after returning from overseas,” says 27-year-old Ra-
marketing, analytical, financial, and operational skills. chel Zhang, a student in the CEIBS MBA program. “I thought
Business education in China has come a long way. The first of going overseas to study, but I realized that in the long run
MBA programs at nine Chinese universities started accept- I wanted to come back to China. So I asked myself, ‘Why not
ing students only 16 years ago. Today, 96 universities offer choose a business school in China?’” Adds Rolf D. Cremer,
more than 230 MBA and executive MBA programs. Tuition CEIBS dean and vice-president: “If they go outside, they have
costs as much as 240,000 yuan for a one-year program, more a strong feeling they might miss the boat. There is a tremen-
than any other degree in China. As China’s red-hot economy dous buzz radiating out of China.”

TOP OF THE CLASS

Corporate recruiters gave these Chinese MBA programs high marks for the quality of their graduates:

Best Marketing Analytical Financial Operational

% of responses * Overall Skills Skills skills skills

China Europe International Business

School (CEIBS)
38 62 47 40 27
Beijing International MBA
at Peking University (BiMBA)
31 49 47 38 29
School of Economics &
Management, Tsinghua University
9 26 46 24 46
School of Management, Fudan University
6 24 27 30 21
Antai College of Economics & Management,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
4 15 10 12 24
School of Management,
Xiamen University
3 10 16 25 14
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
3 18 8 12 11
david hartung

Guanghua School of Management,

Peking University
2 21 21 18 15
*Percent of 253 respondents that ranked the school No. 1 in these skills Data: Universum Communications

BUSINESSWEEK I nove m b e r 16, 2007


That buzz is also attracting international students to Chi-
na’s MBA programs. About 9% of BiMBA’s students come
from overseas. Cheung Kong GBS, which ranked seventh in
the survey, boasts international enrollment of 15%. Of 118
students admitted to Tsinghua University’s SEM last year, 34
were foreign. “China attracts lots of attention from students
who are looking for career opportunities or business oppor-
tunities,” says Pearl Mao, executive director of Tsinghua MBA
programs.
CEIBS is also wooing international students. About 30%
of this year’s class of 191 comes from 25 different countries,
including Italy, Russia, Malaysia, India, and the U.S. That’s
up from 10% five years ago. For Isard Serra Balague, a 27-year-
old Barcelona native, studying in China was an easy choice.
He applied to CEIBS after working as a telecom engineer in
Spain, where many of his clients wanted to set up business in
China. “For me it was clear—I wanted to come to China,” he
says. “A lot of people are now doing MBAs in Spain. So we have
to find the added value for our degree.”
As China’s student body has become more international,
so have the programs. About 60% of CEIBS’ full-time faculty
of 50 professors are foreigners, from 19 different countries,
while BiMBA’s professors are drawn from such top universi-
ties as Columbia, Stanford, and the University of California
at Berkeley. Tsinghua’s program now has an international ad-
visory board that includes such business luminaries as Wal-
Mart’s Lee Scott, former AIG chief Maurice Greenberg, and
former Goldman Sachs President and Chief Operating Officer
mark leong/redux
John L. Thornton.
Just as important as international connections, schools are
now tailoring their programs to serve the needs of managers
in China better. In late October, CEIBS, along with Shanghai
Lujiazui Development, opened a new research center that will
in depth
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provide consulting and educational programs for Chinese fi-
nancial bodies and government agencies. CEIBS also recently
set up a Research Center for International Entrepreneurship
with Zhejiang University School of Management.
Meantime, the use of Chinese case studies is on the rise.
At top MBA programs, students now analyze the operations
of Lenovo, Haier, Mengniu Dairy, and other mainland enter-
prises. In a course on competition strategy at BiMBA, read-
ings include Sun Tsu’s The Art of War and cases on battles
from ancient and modern China. “We are integrating Chinese
philosophy and realities with Western management theories,”
says BiMBA U.S. Dean John Z. Yang.
Perhaps no school has gone as far as Cheung Kong GBS,
which runs its MBA program from a 70-year-old villa in
Shanghai. Courses range from the globalization of Chinese
companies to Confucian humanism. And while its faculty is
drawn from top universities worldwide, the majority of pro-
fessors are of Chinese origin.
One of them is Zheng Yusheng, associate dean and a pro-
fessor of operations at Cheung Kong GSB. After spending
20 years in the U.S. and becoming the first tenured Chinese
professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of
Business, he returned to the mainland in 2002 to help set up
the school. His understanding of both Western and Chinese
business cultures has made a mark on the MBA program. “In
the U.S. there is almost no manufacturing, so what we teach
there is how to manage retailers,” notes Zheng. “China is a
center of manufacturing—so we focus on manufacturing
here. I say: You need to produce the right product, at the right
time, for the right customers. That’s exactly what we have
been doing.”
-With Chi-Chu Tsang
nove m b e r 16, 2007 I BUSINESSWEEK
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COMPANY INDEX
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DESK QUERIES: Please DO NOT return story to desk without confirming or correcting.
(Do not delete the sentence above)
Mike Want, human resources manager — query name & title Mike Wang
Tsinghua’s School of Economics & Management — pls confirm -School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua
University
27-year-old Rachel Zhang — pls confirm age & name-correct
co-president John L. Thorton — dotter shows President and Co-Chief Operating Officer -former
Research Center for International Entrepreneurship — show Centre of Entrepreneurship -The Research Center for Inter-
national Entrepreneurship
Three more fixes: Should be U.S. Dean John Z. Yang

Isard Serra Balague, A 27-YEAR-OLD bARCELONA NATIVE

Zheng Yusheng, associate dean of Cheung Kong GSB

possfurn
Mainland B-Schools
Expand their Horizons
As our latest survey shows, the quality of China’s MBA programs is climbing smartly