Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62913
"No one knows what causes development, and all the aid pro- grams in the developing world have achieved mixed results," Pfeffer- mann says. "One factor no one has really tackled is poor management. Places like Uganda and Ghana not only deal with the problem of cor- ruption, but also with the problem of having a tiny talent pool in terms of management and leader- ship." With the help of GBSN, he believes, all that could change. While many business school deans would agree with the premise that well-trained managers are essential for the development of emerging nations, is there any research that supports the claim? There has been little empirical research about what impact a man- agement education has on business outcomes, but what evidence exists does show a relationship. For instance, Nick Bloom of Stanford University found that, in the U.K., there are much lower mortality rates at the hospitals where the managers have business degrees. He is also conducting a survey of Indian textile plants to measure the impact of skilled managers. Even though there's little empiri- cal evidence that better manage- ment leads to better outcomes, I believe it's intuitively obvious. Membership in your organization costs US$5,000 for schools in high-income countries and about half that for schools in emerging nations. How does it benefit a business school to become a member? At the conference we had last year in Mexico City, we asked the rep- 32 May/June 2012 BizEd What criteria do you look at when considering applications from schools that want to join the organization? Guy Pfeffermann has headed GBSN since its inception in 2003. resentatives of member schools what value they see in GBSN. The schools in advanced countries like Europe and the U.S. come for the networking. They want to find out how to run experiential student projects in developing countries, and they want to strike up relation- ships with schools that are trying new ideas. The ones from develop- ing countries want help with fac- ulty development. But there's another important member benefit: Whenever we have the funding, we advertise consult- ing possibilities to our members. For instance, we recently helped set up the Karachi School for Business and Leadership in Pakistan. We let our members know that we wanted ten or 12 gurus, one for distance learning, one for curriculum design, and so on, and these were paid consulting positions. We don't have a large number of these projects, but professors at our member schools know that there is the chance that one day they can sign on to a really intellectually satisfying assignment. Of course, they get paid far less than if they were consulting for a company like GE! My sense is that they're thrilled when GBSN opens the door to these opportunities. A professor from IMD recently did a case on an illegal bar in a slum in Nairobi. I mean, what could be more interesting? The official answer is that we want high-quality schools that are lead- ers in their countries. A school in Kenya will be nowhere near the level of a top school in Europe or the U.S., but it might be the best business school in its region. My own answer is, we want people who have their hearts in the right place. We want people who don't just talk, but who do things—who are interested in col- laborative research—who might want to team up with a professor in India to conduct research on microfinance. We want quality and engagement. Slightly more than half of your current members are from Westernized nations; the rest are from emerging nations in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Where would you like to see the most growth in membership? I think we need to increase the membership in parts of the world where we're thin on the ground, such as Asia and Latin America. At the same time, we want diversi- fication not just by geography, but by functional expertise. Ideally, I would say, we're looking for about 100 members. As the head of GBSN, you have an opportunity to visit business schools all over the world. What do you see as the real keys to creating a global program? So often, when I visit schools, they tell me how international they are. They show me the hall with the flags from 150 countries. They