Heightening Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity(7)

Heightening Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity

In other words, articles of the section will be like the MBA school lecture printed on the newspaper. The member selection process went through several steps and I was chosen as one of the final members of the section. Without EWKLP certificate, it would be highly unlikely that I would work for the department. 

Regardless of my willingness to join the section, it was a sure thing that Hawaiian experience provided me with another chance to show off what I studied at JAIMS and to devote my company with fresh and intriguing ideas. 

Heightening Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity(5)

Heightening Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity

And it is non other than catching up with the most recent trend of advanced MBA education in the world. If not staying in Hawaii, I probably can’t have this persuasive view. Not only for articles, but also for brainstorming and daily conversation at work, the role of EWKLP training means a lot and makes me to intellectually grow as time goes by. 

And needless to say, it distinguished me from other Korean journalists who covered similar area with me. After reading my unusual but sophisticated articles, colleagues both at my organization and other companies asked me what’s secret of my excellent coverage. 

Heightening Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity(4)

Heightening Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity

My column on MBA education will be a model example. In the column, I overlooked where Korean MBA schools are at this moment. And I emphasized the significance of timely MBA education, insisting "MBA schools should be places where students can learn what the society wants contemporary. MBA curriculums should reflect what the market eagerly demands, to name a few, green growth, NGO(Non-Governmental Organization) management." 

Honestly speaking, I got this idea thanks to the experience in Hawaii. Lectures and course works at JAIMS did stress what MBA education should be like. The lesson is that MBA education basically shouldn't be theory-oriented. But it’d better focus on practices and 'Genba', which implies the curriculum would be consist of subjects that can digest various interests from the outside world. This point of view can be supported by students' high remarks on some classes such as professor Kobayashi, professor Kotabe and Mr. Larry Smith.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(12)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

Starting Korea, our first action plan is to underscore the importance of Eastern-Western value integrated MBA education in the academic and corporate sector by all means. Then, we will propose the new MBA education model to schools, companies, Ministry of Education of each country and contact companies to join the new MBA curriculum launch and support the schools at the same time. 

Throughout all these efforts, if students will have more skills, expertise to increase productivity and will be more rounded globally and companies will also have greater competitive advantages, we can dare to say our model for innovation, the brand-new MBA education model, succeeds in adding values to the stakeholders of MBA education in Korea, Japan and China.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(11)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

If ideas suggested above come true, enormous synergy effects can be anticipated. Shown as a spiral in the SECI model, stakeholders of MBA education, students, schools and companies will be surely satisfied with the brand-new MBA education model. By exchanging human talent, financial support and further developing co-project and consulting, model for innovation will pave the new way for the future of MBA education in Korea, Japan and China. 

Against this background, it will not be a wishful thinking anymore for Asian MBA schools to list their names on the top of the global MBA rankings. For that, we will not just sit idle. No matter how difficult it would be, we are going to try our best to realize our suggestions in all three countries.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(10)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

In this regard, MBA schools should listen to corporate voices and be ready to adapt to changes. Master of Business and Engineering Program of Steinbeis University in Germany can be a good role model for Asian MBA schools. 

At Steinbeis University, students are admitted to school upon the corporate requests and sponsoring companies pay the student’s tuition in return for comprehensive study on specific projects of importance to them. As a result, after a one year intense curriculum and additional focus on the above specific projects, the student would return to the company armed with practical knowledge especially on those targeted projects.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(9)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

In that Korea, Japan and China is located close to each other, MBA schools in three countries have great advantage to provide comprehensive curriculum.

In this sense, BESETO program, a North-East Asian university belt for strengthening relationship among Beijing (Peking) University, Seoul National University and Tokyo National University, is required to be more activated. Nobody will dispute that MBA schools primarily exist for practical education.

Enhancing the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(7)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

Last but not least, inducing western applications to Korean, Japanese and Chinese MBA schools is of great significance. It is basically because Asian value needs be passed to Western students so that they can broaden or deepen their horizon in Asian context. However, it is also true that we still need Western value in many ways. 

Thus, the ideal model of Asian MBA education can be achieved by balancing Western curriculum with newly-introduced Eastern curriculum. For example, existing subjects such as international strategy, management information system and new subjects such as Confucianism and Buddhism, both of them should make their presence.

Enhancing the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(6)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

Under this circumstance, integrating Eastern & Western values into MBA education through active Asian-value reflection should be done in no time. First of all, Asia-specific classes such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Asian language and history need be opened. In doing so, Asian MBA schools can deliver values such as social responsibility, ethics and community spirit. 

In addition, more case studies, especially about new and joint ventures that are so prevalent as China develops, are powerfully required. Students can learn Korean IT industry, Japanese management style and Chinese manufacturing sector in depth. Furthermore, faculty members with Asian backgrounds should be recruited to some extent. Without Asian Ph.D. professors, active Asian value reflection will be a wishful thinking.

Enhancing the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(5)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

Thus, if timely and properly changed, Asian MBA schools can even suggest a new education model. Then, companies, one of the biggest stakeholders of MBA education, can place themselves in the high interest and high power square of Stakeholder analysis. In other words, corporate responses would be moved from the present 'Indifference' to the future 'Active Recruitment'. 

Contextual background of various countries by Geert Hofstede also implies that Korea, Japan and China, as the most high context nations which underline righteousness and strongly want their faces saved, desperately need different types of MBA education with remarkable emphasis on Asian value.

Enhancing the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(3)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

In fact, deans of top Korean and Japanese business schools shared this idea when they discussed the future of Asian MBA schools last August. Taeshik Ahn, dean of the College of Business at Seoul National University of Korea said the desirable MBA education is to highlight both talent and co-existence. 

He added that a MBA school must be a place where students can learn not only knowledge but also life. Hirotaka Takeuchi, dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University of Japan, showed similar opinions as well. 

He stressed that leaders should be equipped with ethics and cultural diversity. He further developed his argument that the core competitiveness of Asian business schools lies in delivering these values to students.

Enhancing the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(2)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

Negative point of view is also found out even inside the academic field. For example, Ikujiro Nonaka, a professor at JAIMS and one of the most influential scholars in the management academy, claims that professors do not know the real business world. He went on saying that professors tend to focus on abstract theories and models without enough hands-on experiences. 

However, we insist that an Eastern-Western value integrated MBA education would be a competitive advantage to companies, particularly in Asian context. And the integrated MBA education could raise their value within companies consequently.

Study with Nikkei Asian Review(1)

Asian schools itself in the art of business
Regional MBA programs shine as demand for education soars

What are the key factors lying behind the booming of Asian business schools?

Please name out major characteristics of Asian business schools. How are they different from those of Western business schools?

Neither South Korean nor Japanese business schools are listed in top 50 of FT’s global MBA rankings. Please let us know your opinion especially in the aspect of the economic clout of the two countries.

Have you ever thought about singing up for Asian business schools including Korean schools? If so, why? If not, why?

How do you see the future of Asian business schools? What would be your recommendation for MBA programs in the region?

How I became interested in Southeast Asia(2)

Brief story of how I became interested in Southeast Asia including Indonesia

I advanced to Graduate School of Law at Younsei University while I was still working for the newspaper company. Unlike my undergraduate course, I chose law as my major because I realized the necessity of legal mind. 

My topic for the dissertation was 'A Study on Territorialitatsprinzip and Lex loci Protectionis in the International Disputes over the Intellectual Property Rights(Focused on the Issue of the Governing Law in Von Dutch Case)'. 

This is because I wanted to deal with international issues and the international law in depth in which I had been much interested. I was also given a chance to take a short-term MBA program at JAIMS in Hawaii, America.

Current duties for EWKLP application

Current duties for EWKLP(East-West Knowledge Leaders Program) application

Since late 2008, I have been mainly covering educational field. Schools and private institutions from elementary to adult level are all my coverage. Among them, I spent most of my time by visiting and meeting university personnel and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. 

Like most Asian countries, Korean people pay great attention to education. I have wrote articles on many issues, establishment of two international middle schools in Seoul(capital of South Korea), shortfalls of Korean MBAs and globalization of Korean universities, to name a few. 

I am also interviewing people with interesting stories or influential achievement in the educational circle in particular. My experience says that timely and touching people stories can give the nation hopes for better tomorrow. 

Recently, I covered two Korean professors at KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) whose paper will be published in Marketing Science this year. They are highly regarded of doing excellent analysis on ‘Netizen Funding’ in the Korean film industry.

Enriching Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity(2)

Enriching Work Experience and Bringing New Opportunity(2)

Now let me explain why I can positively link 3 months stay in Hawaii and my work. More than anything else, I’d like to point out EWKLP definitely widens my horizon on various fields of the global society.

As a journalist, my main job is to provide high-quality articles for subscribers. In this globalized world, the importance of global contents can't be overemphasized. And it means that I have to produce more and more globally insightful contents. In this regard, EWKLP allows me to have worldwide views which, to some extent, I couldn't think of before flying to Hawaii. And it led me to develop fresh and up-to-date ideas when I wrote articles.

My column on MBA education will be a model example. In the column, I overlooked where Korean MBA schools are at this moment. And I emphasized the significance of timely MBA education, insisting "MBA schools should be places where students can learn what the society wants contemporary. MBA curriculums should reflect what the market eagerly demands, to name a few, green growth, NGO(Non-Governmental Organization) management."

Honestly speaking, I got this idea thanks to the experience in Hawaii. Lectures and course works at JAIMS did stress what MBA education should be like. The lesson is that MBA education basically shouldn't be theory-oriented. But it’d better focus on practices and 'Genba', which implies the curriculum would be consist of subjects that can digest various interests from the outside world. This point of view can be supported by students' high remarks on some classes such as professor Kobayashi, professor Kotabe and Mr. Larry Smith.

Broadening Global Horizon and Building Up Rich Friendship(3)

Broadening Global Horizon and Building Up Rich Friendship(3)

Most of all, I want to give big applauds to diversity of instructors and subjects. Of course, it is true that majority instructors come from University of Hawaii. Taking the geographical characteristic of Hawaii into consideration, it is not something disappointing. In fact, class enjoyed quite a few instructors from different regions all over the world. From Switzerland, England, mainland America to Chinese, Japanese and South American backgrounds, faculty diversity gave the entire class a big hand to share different values and gain global perspectives. 

Just like the instructor profile, course work profile was also colorful. As a management institution, to some extent, business related subjects are mostly stressed over the whole curriculum inevitably. However, time to time, non-business subjects, to name a few, philosophy, anthropology, Buddhism and Confucianism, decently covered as well. 

In this time of economic downturns when CEOs (Chief Executive Officer) seek more business opportunities from liberal arts, non-business curriculums made EWKLP classes richer and richer. Moreover, the fact that not all instructors are full-time professors rings a big bell to me. Some instructors are involved in real business practices such as consulting, leadership and legal industries. Also, some of the guests run their own business globally.

In that even full-time MBA education pays more and more attention on real work experience these days, through non-academic instructors, delivering the hot issues of the outside world is remarkable merits of EWKLP. In doing so, not only EWKLP succeeded in differentiating itself from similar scholarship programs, but also students could balance between the 'Gemba' and textbook theories and models as a professor Ikujiro Nonaka pointed out during his class. These lessons approached me as something more global, timely and practical.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(6)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(6) - Integrating East & West

If ideas suggested above come true, enormous synergy effects can be anticipated. Shown as a spiral in the SECI model, stakeholders of MBA education, students, schools and companies will be surely satisfied with the brand-new MBA education model. By exchanging human talent, financial support and further developing co-project and consulting, model for innovation will pave the new way for the future of MBA education in Korea, Japan and China.

Against this background, it will not be a wishful thinking anymore for Asian MBA schools to list their names on the top of the global MBA rankings. For that, we will not just sit idle. No matter how difficult it would be, we are going to try our best to realize our suggestions in all three countries.

Starting Korea, our first action plan is to underscore the importance of Eastern-Western value integrated MBA education in the academic and corporate sector by all means. Then, we will propose the new MBA education model to schools, companies, Ministry of Education of each country and contact companies to join the new MBA curriculum launch and support the schools at the same time.

Throughout all these efforts, if students will have more skills, expertise to increase productivity and will be more rounded globally and companies will also have greater competitive advantages, we can dare to say our model for innovation, the brand-new MBA education model, succeeds in adding values to the stakeholders of MBA education in Korea, Japan and China.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(5)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(5) - Integrating East & West

In that Korea, Japan and China is located close to each other, MBA schools in three countries have great advantage to provide comprehensive curriculum.

In this sense, BESETO program, a North-East Asian university belt for strengthening relationship among Beijing (Peking) University, Seoul National University and Tokyo National University, is required to be more activated. Nobody will dispute that MBA schools primarily exist for practical education.

In this regard, MBA schools should listen to corporate voices and be ready to adapt to changes. Master of Business and Engineering Program of Steinbeis University in Germany can be a good role model for Asian MBA schools. At Steinbeis University, students are admitted to school upon the corporate requests and sponsoring companies pay the student’s tuition in return for comprehensive study on specific projects of importance to them.

As a result, after a one year intense curriculum and additional focus on the above specific projects, the student would return to the company armed with practical knowledge especially on those targeted projects.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(3)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(3) - Integrating East & West

Thus, if timely and properly changed, Asian MBA schools can even suggest a new education model. Then, companies, one of the biggest stakeholders of MBA education, can place themselves in the high interest and high power square of Stakeholder analysis. In other words, corporate responses would be moved from the present 'Indifference' to the future 'Active Recruitment'. 

Contextual background of various countries by Geert Hofstede also implies that Korea, Japan and China, as the most high context nations which underline righteousness and strongly want their faces saved, desperately need different types of MBA education with remarkable emphasis on Asian value.

Under this circumstance, integrating Eastern & Western values into MBA education through active Asian-value reflection should be done in no time. First of all, Asia-specific classes such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Asian language and history need be opened. In doing so, Asian MBA schools can deliver values such as social responsibility, ethics and community spirit. 

In addition, more case studies, especially about new and joint ventures that are so prevalent as China develops, are powerfully required. Students can learn Korean IT industry, Japanese management style and Chinese manufacturing sector in depth. Furthermore, faculty members with Asian backgrounds should be recruited to some extent. Without Asian Ph.D. professors, active Asian value reflection will be a wishful thinking.