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years, some of the best-known business schools have set up shop in foreign countries: INSEAD of Fontainebleau, France, and the University of Chicago of Chicago, Illinois, both opened business school facilities in Singapore last year, extending their reach into the Asian market. Likewise, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia joined forces with INSEAD earlier this year, giving each school a foothold in Europe, Asia, and the United States. As a result, many regionally prominent schools must revise their marketing strategies now that their once-distant competitors are becoming their new next-door neighbors. Singapore has always been important for the made it possible for business schools to interact with students thousands of miles away, and, in effect, you have a market for education without boundaries. "These institutions find them- selves in a highly competitive sphere," says marketing consult- ant David Strauss, also with Arts and Sciences Group. "As competition continues to intensify, traditional promotional techniques have become somewhat secondary. Now, marketing based on how a school differs from its competitors is what makes the primary difference." Recent moves by some business schools may make niche development even more imperative. For example, in the last two 46 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 experienced a worldwide population boom. Communism fell in Eastern Europe, sparking an explosion in Western-style business practices. China entered the global economy with gusto, freeing its markets to world trade. And the European Union formed, creating a homogeneous market for management education in that region. By 1997, more than 1,000 new programs had opened in Eastern Europe, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Likewise, China went from having no MBA pro- grams in 1990, to having 26 business schools in operation by 1997, and 26 more in the planning stages. Add to the mix the technology boom of the '90s, which has Global Warming The increasing globalization of education has been a primary force driving business schools into niche specialties. Before 1990, MBA programs in the United States and Europe reigned, as the Western-style MBA attracted students whose countries had few, if any, choices in business education. Although competition among business schools in the United States was fierce as the number of enrollments swelled, markets in Western Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa were quiet by comparison. After 1990, however, management education institutions However, Vitale realizes that INSEAD and the University of Chicago have raised the stakes considerably, and he believes AGSM now must promote itself more aggressively to retain its market position in the Pacific Rim countries. "We have not seen much overseas competition until now. But Australian Graduate School of Management, locat- ed in Sydney, says its dean, Michael Vitale. it's starting, and there's no question that it will continue to increase," he says. To maintain AGSM's status in the Australian and Asian markets, the school is concentrating heavily on points that it believes will set it well apart from its competition. "We have just rewritten our MBA program for 2002, and we are promoting that very heavily as a program that is essential for the business practices of the new millennium," states Vitale. "Furthermore, we now see ourselves filling a niche that offers small class sizes and face-to-face education." AGSM also plans to forge into new markets where other schools have yet to explore. For the first time, the school will focus its marketing efforts in Indonesia. As the fourth-largest country in the world, Indonesia promises to be a substantial mar- ket for management education, in spite of its current political unrest, Vitale comments. "We will be getting into these markets, promoting our diversity, quality, and brand harder than ever." Great Expectations Some business schools aren't simply adding a niche program— they're becoming one. The City University of Hong Kong, for instance, is revamping its entire focus, transforming its programs into an e-business curriculum. Risky? Yes, especially when the Internet bonanza seems to be at least temporarily subdued. However, Richard Ho, dean of City University's business school, sees the shift to online commerce as almost inevitable. He wants his school to be among the first to offer businesses a supply of graduates savvy in all things "e."