Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/59966
It's imperative for schools to examine what they have to offer. Then they must isolate— and effectively communicate—what makes them special in the marketplace. partner with institutions in emerging markets such as China, taking advantage of both growing demand and less intense supply-side competition. This was our experience at the Simon School in the late 1980s and early 1990s when we partnered with programs in Switzerland andHolland to offer an American-styleMBA program to the European market. It must be said, however, that successful partnerships take considerable time and effort.Moreover, if successful, partner- ships invite competitors over time—a result that further heightens the need to differentiate one's offerings. Develop a true identity. It's imperative for schools to examine what they have to offer. Then they must isolate—and effec- tively communicate—what makes them special in the market- place. In our marketing and culture at the Simon School, we highlight several characteristics of our full-timeMBA program that we feel make us different. We promote its basis in eco- nomics and analysis, its position as one of the smallest and most personalized programs in the top tier, its high percentage of students from abroad, and its specializations in technology and healthcare. Increased competition will be a tremendous challenge to all business schools, but it's also a unique and rich opportu- nity. In the next decade and beyond, business schools have the chance to create new markets through differentiation and to expand the overall market for full-time MBA education. After all, a fundamental tenet of economics is that, in a dynamic setting, competition best serves the interests of con- sumers. Therefore, students will be better served as business schools better define their markets. In the process, the MBA will see more programmatic innovations than ever before, which will both benefit consumers of business education and reward those schools creative and disciplined enough to bring those innovations successfully to market. s z Mark Zupan is the dean of the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester in Rochester,New York. SUCCESS (suc*cess") U.S. News & World Report has ranked Babson #1 in Entrepreneurship for the 11th straight year. Our success has everything to do with our position as thought leaders who advance entrepreneurial management practice and theory. At Babson, we're defining the future of business education—today. WWW. BABSON . EDU / MBA I NNOVA TION I S O UR T RADITION BizEd MAY/JUNE 2005 39 [n. The accomplishment of goals necessary to achieve a particular task, realize a particular dream or satisfy a particular need or want. The outcome of effort. From the Latin successus— to succeed.]