BizEd

JulyAugust2013

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from the editors Change in the Air o matter where you look, businesses are recognizing that their customers' preferences aren't the same as they were even a few years ago. In response, they're revising their underlying models significantly to ensure their survival in the years to come. Take the newspaper industry. After experiencing a first-quarter decline in revenue, The New York Times recently announced it would offer a lower-cost online subscription model, in which readers would pay for only the news or subject matter of their choice. The Times also plans to offer premium subscribers incentives, such as access to special events, and extend its brand into games, e-commerce, and conferences. Then there's the restaurant industry. In 2010, Chicago-based chef Grant Achatz, owner of the restaurant Next, made headlines when he began requiring patrons to purchase advance tickets, at prices that varied by the set menu or dining time. In fact, the restaurant now sells only season tickets—in 2012, Next received more than 6,600 requests to purchase 900 season ticket packages. Diners like the no-hassle system, says Achatz—there's no waiting for tables, menus to read, or bill to pay at meal's end. Even online retailers are, somewhat ironically, experimenting with "new" models. Some are actually opening brick-and-mortar stores to establish more personal connections with customers. Online eyewear retailer Warby Parker opened a physical store in New York's SoHo neighborhood in April, with another store in Boston soon to come. There are murmurs that online giants Amazon and Google are considering moves into retail as a way to blend e-commerce with traditional transactions. As students call for more convenient, affordable, and accessible educational options, business schools also are experimenting with new models: from blended learning and MOOCs to different structures of funding and tuition. Educators are grappling with a key question: How can they respond quickly to disruptive forces, especially if it means altering deeply entrenched educational traditions that date back hundreds of years? Several articles in this issue explore this very concern. In "Cornering the Market," Len Jessup of the University of Arizona and Angus Laing of Loughborough University recommend new models that could help business schools stay ahead of the curve. "Technology, Education, and the Developing World" examines how emerging markets are adopting mobile technology for educational delivery. Finally, in "What Makes a MOOC?" three professors describe what it's like to teach massive open online courses as they tackle the implications of this controversial and potentially gamechanging mode of delivery. Just like other industries, higher education seems to be rapidly transforming into something new. That means that business schools must be more willing than ever to experiment, innovate, and, yes, even fail, if they are to place themselves at the forefront of the changes that lie ahead. \ PI E R /G ETTY I MAG ES RAQU ITA H E N DE R SON N 6 July/August 2013 BizEd

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