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One Accreditation Represents the Highest Standards in the World, and Has Since 1916: AACSB International. classroom experience with business laboratories that create opportuni- ties both on and off campus. In these environments, faculty, stu- dents, and executives can work col- laboratively on real-world, real-time business problems. Step 3: Fulfill graduates' career expectations. Students come to business schools to be put on a superior career trajectory and be made ready for the realities of business. Business schools have made significant efforts to spruce up their career placement operations, but they haven't gone far enough. Career placement is still, in essence, an add-on enterprise, not part of the "fabric." Business schools must do a better job of weaving employers into the educa- tional process. They must offer more opportunities for their students to work shoulder-to-shoulder with their future employers. Step 4: Study and improve on the competition. Business schools in Europe, China, and India have got- ten good enough to siphon off mar- ket share that once belonged exclu- sively to the United States. This is old news to thousands of American corporations who found themselves in that same situation years ago. What did those corporations that survived do? They competed with innovations in their product offer- ings. American business schools must do the same. They must offer "products" with which the schools overseas cannot compete. American business schools still command the advantage in talent and money, so they must leverage that now—not five years from now when overseas schools begin to attract American students in greater numbers. Step 5: Stop trying to compete with the top 10 or 15 business schools—dare to be different. Love'em or hate'em, the rankings of business schools in pop- ular publications have led to a busi- ness school beauty contest. Con- testants fall all over themselves try- ing to play up and manipulate the criteria dictated by the media who conduct the rankings in a "me too" effort to beat out other schools, all of which are doing the same thing. Big mistake. Stop trying to beat the top schools at their own game. It will not happen. The top business schools are untouchable in terms of money, prestige, and talent. Instead, each business school should find the things that it can do well and do them better than any other institution. Next year will continue to be bleak for most business schools. It will be a struggle to fill seats as schools in the top echelon of the market dig deeper into their wait lists of prospective students to fill programs that they expanded during the '90s MBA boom. In the process, these top-tier schools essen- tially will win students who other- wise would have attended second- tier schools, which will in turn struggle to find qualified students of their own. In five years, though, those schools that seize the oppor- tunity to change in the right ways and offer innovative curricula and experiences for students will thrive. The MBA is in jeopardy, and it provides a case study for strategy, intervention, and problem-solving. With the right prescription, howev- er, this case study can have a posi- tive outcome. s z Lawrence B. Pulley is the dean and T.C. and Elizabeth Clarke Professor of the School of Business at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. www.aacsb.edu EARNED EXCELLENCE C C . . THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD THE BEST ACCOUNTING PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD AACSB International business and accounting accreditation represents the highest standard of achievement for business schools, worldwide. For students seeking the finest education, and companies seeking high-caliber talent, AACSB International accreditation is one of the most important affirmations of the right choice of business school. BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 53 A A 6 T C A I S C D S E B R R A 9 9 C C 11 EE 1 I T E D D S S A 1 T T D A E B 6 E