Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West
In fact, general analysis of 13 Korean, 29 Japanese, over 45 Chinese schools (defined as professional schools with full-time MBA programs) supports our idea. SWOT analysis indicates that western-oriented curriculum such as marketing, financial accounting, organizational behavior and insufficient globalization and lack of practical education constitutes the weakness of Asian MBA schools.
However, at the same time, Asian MBA schools also have a life-time chance. With the rapid growth of Eastern economy and subsequent highlights on Eastern value, they draw more and more attention from all over the world.
Brief story of how I became interested in Southeast Asia including Indonesia
This role gave me an opportunity to be hired by QS Asia, an Asia-Pacific branch of QS. As a marketing and PR director for the Korean and Japanese market, I went back and forth between Singapore and Seoul in 2011~2012.
In doing so, I could observe the situation of the contemporary higher education industry in Asia. Actually, this is when I was seriously linked to Southeast Asia first. The reason is that I stayed and worked in Singapore, the most-advanced country in the region.
It was Indonesia in which country I was involved after Singapore. Around the summer of 2013, I made up my mind to apply for a position at a newly-established company by my Indonesian friend and Korean friend in Bandung, Indonesia.
Reason for applying for EWKLP(East-West Knowledge Leaders Program)
In doing so, I learned how textbook theories, such as marketing, human resource management and global strategy are put into reality in the fierce business world.
Sometimes, professors are incorrect because they fail to catch up with fast-changing business trends. For example, most textbooks teach related diversification is good while non-related diversification is wrong.
However, based on my on-the-spot-experience, some companies succeeded in expanding their business into non-related field. TAIHAN electric wire in Korea is a proper example. Although wire and cable are its core products, TAIHAN electric wire managed to make profits in the leisure and textile field through aggressive M&As.
Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(2) - 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.
Against this background, it isn’t too much to say that this is the right time to improve the quality of MBA education especially in Korea, Japan and China. It is mainly because MBA schools in these countries have not met corporate expectation in spite of the countries' economic status in the global stage. Needless to say, integrating Eastern-Western value into MBA curriculums will be the most desirable and persuasive way to upgrade MBA education in three countries.
In fact, general analysis of 13 Korean, 29 Japanese, over 45 Chinese schools (defined as professional schools with full-time MBA programs) supports our idea. SWOT analysis indicates that western-oriented curriculum such as marketing, financial accounting, organizational behavior and insufficient globalization and lack of practical education constitutes the weakness of Asian MBA schools.
However, at the same time, Asian MBA schools also have a life-time chance. With the rapid growth of Eastern economy and subsequent highlights on Eastern value, they draw more and more attention from all over the world.
