Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/55470
From the Editors Stairway to Reinvention Suppose you've taken the subway home after a long day at work, and when you exit the train, you can take either the escalator or the stairway up to the ground level. Which do you choose? Most people pick the escalator. But suppose the stairway has been magically made over to resemble a giant ascending piano keyboard, and each separate black or white key makes a different musical sound? Which option would you choose then? If you were in the subway in Stockholm, Sweden, late last year, you'd probably pick the stairs. That's where the folks at Volkswagen and their advertising agency, DDB Stockholm, constructed a melodious staircase, and droves of commuters skipped up the steps just to hear the music. The piano staircase was built as part of an experiment called "The Fun Theory," which aims to see if making certain actions fun will encourage people to engage in "good" behaviors, such as tak- ing the stairs, throwing away trash, or buying environmentally friendly cars. You can see a video of the piano staircase on YouTube and read more about the initiative at thefuntheory.com. While the Volkswagen and PR teams are talking about the musical stairs in terms of entertainment, what they're really doing is rede- fining the game. They're analyzing their audience, determining its needs, and supplying those needs in new formats. They're certainly redefining what it means to advertise. Links to the piano staircase flew around the Internet last October, and every single time someone viewed the video or clicked on the Web site, the name Volkswagen was imprinted on another pair of eyes. How much more effective were those exposures than a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl? In this issue of BizEd, we take a cue from Volkswagen and consider what happens when business schools—and businesses—redefine what they offer and how they provide it. We open by interviewing Build-A-Bear Workshop's Maxine Clark, who has changed the way people buy a certain kind of stuffed toy. In "Build-A-Business Basics," she discusses how she has made the shopping experience an entertaining and participatory outing that gives buyers personal connections to the items they design and purchase in her stores. We then visit with a handful of business schools that are redefining the way they deliver management education. One is transitioning to a model of all part-time fac- ulty, as detailed in "A New Model for Management Education." Six are revamping programs in response to the changing business environment, as described in "Manage- ment on a Mission." Another, profiled in this issue's Your Turn column, is refining its mission statement to present a more accurate picture of its approach to education. All of them are analyzing what they offer, comparing it to what their audience needs, and making the proper adjustments. In Stockholm, once those piano keys were layered over the subway steps, 66 percent more people took the stairs than climbed them on a normal day. In management education, how much more successful will business schools be if they recalibrate their curricula or redefine their missions to better meet the needs of their customers? There's only one way to find out. ■ z 6 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FUN THEORY RAQUITA HENDERSON