Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/269179
24 March/April 2014 BizEd more about development projects funded by multilateral agencies. We also look for academically qualified and professionally quali- fied faculty who understand indus- try and publish research, and we bolster their credentials with our seven research centers. Our faculty receive lower salaries than faculty at Western schools, so to keep them content to stay at AIM, we give them ample time to do outside consulting—which also improves their understanding of industry. Given our limited funding, we also realize that the best way to innovate is to collaborate. We are engaging with nonbusiness schools and teaming up with a university in Manila to create new products that bring together engineering, design, and management. We are partner- ing with online education provid- ers and seeking out free-market online alternatives. For instance, I teach an introductory statistics course, in which I encourage stu- dents to access free videos of the Khan Academy, so I can flip my classroom and spend time helping students delve into the principles they've learned about online. Finally, though we are the "Asian" Institute of Management, we must focus on building knowl- edge in the ASEAN region. We recently opened the Dr. Stephen Zuellig School of Development Management to explore issues faced by developing countries, such as helping nonprofits build capac- ity, bridging social divides (such as between Muslims and Christians), promoting sustainable development and public-private partnerships, and tackling public finance and procurement. And, of course, we have many region-specific man- agement topics to study—ASEAN supply chains, cross-cultural management, diasporas and labor migration, outsourcing, family management and ownership, finan- cial markets, social marketing, social entrepreneurship, and disas- ter planning and management. Still Much to Learn Asia will continue to attract foreign schools to its huge markets, where there will continue to be variations in quality and cost, as well as a proliferation of new specialized master's degrees and online EMBA products delivered to a stratified, heterogeneous market. China will continue to dominate the economic scene, but pockets of management thought will emerge in the rest of Asia in topics such as sustainable profits, disaster management, entre- preneurship, and supply chains. I believe that the West can learn from our work in such small, con- centrated economies in the region's less-studied cities such as Leyte, Aceh, and Phuket. I revisit my original proposition: Can Asia influence business school thinking, given that we have a minority voice in AACSB, EFMD, and AMBA? I believe the answer is "yes," because our diversity and differences make for such a rich learning environment. Asia's chal- lenge is to produce new genera- tions of native scholars who will stay in Asia to build a local base of knowledge. But as its economies grow, Asia's strength is that it will continue to generate novel and compelling stories that advance management. And because local schools are the ones best equipped to listen to these stories, the best way for schools in other parts of the world to participate in Asia is to collaborate with us. It will be a rich mix, from which new ways of teaching and new management stories are certain to emerge. I hope that is enough to influence business school thinking. Ricardo A. Lim is dean of the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City in the Philippines. Asia's strength is that it will continue to generate novel and compelling stories that advance management. As part of AI M's course in Managing People in Organizations, the Walkabout project requires students to do something they've never done before. Lithuanian student Vaidas Sukys constructed a boat made out of plastic bottles to call attention to the irresponsible disposal of nonbiodegradable materials.