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B-SchoolsWit A C While it's imperative for business schools to globalize, going it alone can strain an institution's resources. Many schools are solving this problem by sharing the costs—and the benefits— of forming multilateral alliances with their international peers. Strategic bilateral partnerships are nothing new to business schools. But with the demand for comprehensively global programs on the rise, some believe that bilateral cooperation may no longer be enough to maintain a school's international reputation. As a result, many business schools are pursuing strength in greater numbers. After all, while one or two business schools may not have the resources to create a global cur- riculum, an alliance of several schools certainly can. The push for globalized manage- ment education has given rise to a new trend: globally distributed "super alliances." "No single institution, regardless of history and present position, may be omniscient by Tricia Bisoux illustration by J.W. Stewart to create a single educational experience across their culturally diverse campuses. (The American Council of Education has termed such alliances "curricular joint ventures.") Students who enroll in an alliance-based curriculum work through the program as part of a globally distributed cohort. They work as part of an international class, on a vari- ety of international topics, in a variety of international settings. In some cases, they even earn a single degree made official by the seals of all participating schools. Members of super alliances take advantage of all the new technologies that allow vir- about best business practices around the world," says Julie Yu, associate professor of marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the People's Republic of China. Yu is also the school's program director for OneMBA, an executive degree program that partners CUHK and four other schools. "For this reason, a number of super alliances have blossomed in order to take advantage of different schools' distinct strengths and knowledge about how business is conducted in their respective parts of the world." As members of super alliances, business schools choose to coor- dinate their services, not just to exchange students and faculty, but tual classrooms and distance learning. They then add to that technology a determina- tion to break down the cultural, governmental, and academic barriers that have imped- ed the creation of global degree programs in the past. As a result, they may be creating a new phase of management education that goes beyond the spirit of "co-opetition," in which competing schools cooperate only so far as it benefits individual reputation. Rather, schools are joining forces to co-brand their programs, overcome cultural barri- ers, and associate their reputations with the success—or failure—of the group as a whole. The Strength of Synergy During the last four years, several super alliances have been launched. They offer pro- grams in which students receive a single degree, multiple degrees, or special certificate upon completion. The primary motivation for schools to join such a collaborative effort is the ability to tap into a network of resources inarguably greater than their own, says David Ravenscraft, a professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the 28 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2003 L I N N T E • R S T O N U I F O A •