申请MBA精彩文章汇总

thankceleste

啊，顶顶顶顶顶顶顶！

Shuzhen

一个海归MBA眼中的本土MBA
　　本网北京12月17日电 加拿大有一个用森林包裹起来的城市叫伦敦，在这个“只提供森林空气”的城市里，有一所被称为“小哈佛”的名叫Ｉｖｅｙ（毅伟）的商学院，它因为每年生产的教学案例仅排在哈佛之后，而成为当今世界上最好的商学院之一。

　　中国自费留学生杨翔就在这里享受了两年的森林空气、感受了两年的骄傲，也在这里学到了中国急需的工商管理知识。今年５月，刚获得毅伟商学院ＭＢＡ学位不久的杨翔，便毅然作出了一个令许多同学不解的决定－－回到广东的高校从事ＭＢＡ教学！

　　毅伟的毕业生因其实际案例的教学方法，一个个都已“泡”成了商场的操作能手，他们毕业后多是商界、企业界争抢的香饽饽，其年薪都在五六万加元（约合３０万元人民币左右）以上。而选择到国内高校教书，失去的不仅是在商场中搏杀的精彩生活，月薪更是不足挂齿。但杨翔却说，她的选择是作了经济学的分析的：她要用所学的知识培养一批批中国的商界精英，这个价值远远超过为某个企业服务的回报。她希望有一天，当她的学生在国际谈判桌上与她毅伟商学院的同学正面交锋时，她可以为他们的精彩表现而鼓掌！

　　中国最需要在管理层普及ＭＢＡ知识，但过高的考试门槛将相当部分需要这方面知识的人关在了门外

　　杨翔认为，ＷＴＯ之后的中国要成为国际经济交往的赢家，急需对管理层进行国际化的ＭＢＡ教育。－－不一定非常深入，但起码要能看懂决策方案的理由，具备正确的判断能力；了解国际资本市场的需求，了解国际资本市场对风险的评估标准。杨翔讲了这么一个故事：北方有一个电力企业想在国外上市，但在做上市前的路演推广时，没有突出企业的管理和技术上的优势、行业的经验优势，而是花大力气推广该企业的特殊行业优势和政府给予的保护优势。最后使上市计划流产，原因就是该企业大力推广的企业优势，在外国人看来恰恰是其劣势－－投资中最大的风险就来自于政府的保护。

　　ＷＴＯ后的中国，企业界和商业界都将与世界产生前所未有的“亲密接触”，也会遇到很多前所未遇的问题，ＭＢＡ教育就是一条很好的解决之道。但是，目前国内ＭＢＡ考试中过高的门槛将许多急需这方面知识的人群关在了门外！她认为，现在中国ＭＢＡ考试的科目太多，考生需要大量的时间来备考，而目前中国最急需ＭＢＡ知识的人士，往往又是公务太忙闲暇太少的一群。杨翔甚至认为，中国可以像国外的一些大学那样，有针对性地培养ＭＢＡ人才，比如未来做总经理的ＭＢＡ、未来做政府管理者的ＭＢＡ和未来从事高技术、高风险产业管理的ＭＢＡ以及偏重金融行业的ＭＢＡ等，不同的ＭＢＡ，教学内容就可以有所偏重，入学招生时考核的方面就可以由各学校根据自己的情况各有选择。

　　国外ＭＢＡ的严酷训练使杨翔感觉自己像变了一个人

　　在毅伟商学院杨翔感受了ＭＢＡ“海军陆战队培训营”式的严酷训练。

　　在ＭＢＡ学习的第一年课程完成时，每天考一门课连续考了７天，而每一门课的考试时间都是４个小时。在ＭＢＡ学习的两年中，她和她的同学每周都有为了完成某个项目而通宵达旦的经历。有一次，在老师规定的４８小时里，为了完成一个分析报告，她们小组５个成员都只睡了４个小时。而就是这种严酷的训练，使她和她的同学们不仅在专业上能做到拿起一个从不认识的公司的财务报表就能看穿这家公司的业务实情，而且她和她的同学们已经在这种严酷中训练出了坚强的意志力，毕业时，她们都做好了每周工作８０小时的准备。

　　杨翔欣赏国外ＭＢＡ教育的环境，也欣赏国外企业与商学院的密切关系。她希望国内企业不要把学校要求去企业做案例的愿望视作是找麻烦，而是将它作为一次为自身做宣传，并吸引优秀人才的机会。国外优秀企业和商学院的联系都非常紧密，企业把参与商学院的教学作为自己吸引人才的第一站。

Shuzhen

News And Features - The best B-schools.

By Cesar Bacani.     
6,703 词
2003 年 6 月 12 日
Business Review Weekly
58
英文
(c) 2003 Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Limited. Not available for re-distribution.

Managing

Where you go for your MBA might depend on what you plan to do with it.

Do not tell John Selkrig that his MBA is useless. The former Sydney banker received job offers from four big United States investment banks after graduating from Dartmouth College's Tuck Business School in 2001. Selkrig, who is in his mid-thirties, was an intern with one organisation but eventually joined Morgan Stanley. He is now an associate for equity sales at the Hong Kong office. "Typically, you're an associate for the first couple of years after business school and then you move on to vice-president," he says.

The worldwide economic slowdown may be restricting recruitment of new MBA graduates, but the world's biggest companies still focus on brand names such as Tuck, in New Hampshire, which The Wall Street Journal rates as the world's number-one business school. Steven Lubrano, Tuck's MBA program director, says: "Certainly the numbers that corporations are sourcing are down a bit. But we are currently at 65% placement rate for interns, and fully expect to achieve 100%." He says experienced recruiters such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and UBS know that the best time to capture good graduates is during a downturn.

Gretchen Boehm, Tuck's associate director for admissions, says: "We would love to admit more students from Australia and New Zealand." Over at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, ranked best in the world by the Financial Times, more than 100 places went to applicants from Asia and Australia in 2002. Selkrig says: "Other things being equal, coming from another country is actually an advantage because schools are looking for international diversity. Every school now wants a more mixed student body." Selkrig had many Chinese, Indian and Japanese classmates at Tuck.

The study is mainly for people who plan to work overseas. Australian companies generally do not require an MBA. Ian Corley, a managing partner at the executive search firm MRI Worldwide in Sydney, says: "It might be on their wish list, but it is not a critical factor. Experience is much more important." He says Australian companies tend to give equal weight to an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management or the Macquarie Graduate School of Management as they do to one from Harvard. "I would also say Mt Eliza Business School," adds Erin Reagen, who also is an MRI managing partner.

It is difficult to say which business school (B-school) is the best. Take the latest US rankings. The Wall Street Journal has Tuck on top, the Financial Times honors the Wharton School, Forbes and US News & World Report name Harvard Business School, and BusinessWeek and The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) give the thumbs-up to Kellogg School of Management. The regional surveys also are puzzling. Asia Inc places the Chinese University of Hong Kong first, followed by the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. The Financial Times has Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Melbourne Business School as the top two. The EIU's choices are the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the China Europe Business School in Shanghai - with the Chinese University way behind at number 11.

The varied results perhaps say more about the surveys than the schools. How to bring order to the sprawl? What follows is a list of business schools that regularly appear in the top ranks of the various international and regional surveys. Whatever the disagreements about their actual placings, these B-schools are on the radar screens of recruiters and head-hunters.

The curriculums, program structure, faculty and facilities are assessed. There are interviews with leading companies and executive-search firms as well as school officials, students and alumni. Conventional surveys often analyse B-schools as "one size fits all" entities, but each has its own specialities, something that employers are beginning to realise. Nadia Pan, the regional human resources director at the advertising company Leo Burnett Asia Pacific, says: "Experience tells us that Harvard, Kellogg, Wharton and Columbia prepare people for senior executive [leadership] roles. European schools like Insead [in France] tend to focus more on cross-cultural management." Asia-Pacific schools have a natural edge in Asian and Chinese business.

The brand-name schools are arranged under 10 student groups, from the aspiring chief executive to the would-be management consultant, to the determined entrepreneur. Space restrictions preclude niche specialisations. (Hint: non-profit organisations, consider Harvard and Yale; health care, try the University of California at Berkeley; environmental management, look at Nimbas in the Netherlands.) Read on to find the top-ranked school that might be the best fit for you.

The top gun

Melbourne lawyer Virginia Porter considered enrolling at the Melbourne Business School, but ended up at the Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne in 2001. "I was at an age where a 10-month program rather than a two-year one was attractive," she says. "I wanted to get a well-regarded qualification in a short period in an interesting and stimulating environment. My primary goal was to find a job outside law and within business in New York without prejudicing the quality of my experience as a lawyer." Porter also wants to make sure she gets a shot at being a CEO, if she chooses.

IMD may give her that chance. Its program director, Sean Meehan, says: "Top executives of leading multinational companies tell us clearly that they need leaders, not managers. Leaders who can address issues and problems and build networks between diverse groups of people across different cultures." Students are sent to Bosnia for a real-world lesson in rebuilding a country. Other activities include an eight-week stint working on strategic issues with an international company and sessions with business, political and activist leaders at the annual IMD International Leadership Conference.

Leadership is the emphasis at Harvard Business School, alma mater of US President George W. Bush. Brit Dewey, managing director for admissions, says in the school's Web site: "We look for candidates who have been leaders in their extracurricular activities at college, in their workplaces and in their communities." Like most US programs, the 17-month Harvard MBA first gives students a grounding in general management. Students then choose from an array of electives, including competition and strategy, negotiations and organisational behavior.

（待续）

Shuzhen

In Australia, Mt Eliza Business School follows the Harvard model for its 18-month full-time MBA program, but in the part-time executive version designed for experienced managers it dispenses with the foundation courses. There are intensive residential workshops on leadership and other subjects at a house with stunning views of Port Phillip Bay. Melbourne Business School has a similarly structured full-time MBA. Students complete core courses in the first half of the program. After that, they are free to choose from more than 30 electives designed to hone leadership and strategy skills.

At both schools the emphasis is international. Denise Hoi-yin Ho, who worked as a consultant with Unisys before enrolling at the Melbourne Business School, says: "I'm one of the very few from Australia - only about 40% of the students are from here. I'm meeting people with market experiences ranging from diamond extraction to chiropractic practice." The pace is more hectic than she expected - the program is a relatively short 16 months - but Ho has no regrets. "I've been extremely impressed by most of the teaching staff, and class interaction has been more than satisfying. Everyone is responsible for each other's learning here."

Internationalism is also a hallmark of France's Insead, which requires fluency in English and a working knowledge of a second language. Mastery of a third commercially useful language is required for graduation from the 11-month MBA program. Students at Insead in Fontainebleau and Singapore are encouraged to take classes at each other's campuses, and a stint at the Wharton School in the US can be arranged. Cross-cultural management is also a focus at Schulich School of Business, at York University in Canada and Thunderbird in Arizona. Only 40% of their students come from North America.

Other schools to consider: Ashridge (Britain), Asian Institute of Management (Philippines), Australian Graduate School of Management, Instituto de Empresa (Spain), London School of Business, University of Glasgow Business School, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

The operations chief

The hands-on, day-to-day manager/troubleshooter learns a lot from the school of hard knocks, but an MBA also helps, especially one that has covered production, logistics, supply chain and other operational issues. NUS Business School at the University of Singapore has a Department of Decision Sciences that sharpens generalist MBA skills with electives in linear and non-linear optimisation tools, forecast modelling and management of production and service operations. Recent student projects include a calendar delivery plan for Mobil Oil and a regression model to improve efficiency at the call-centre operator P&G (China).

The Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) goes further, with a separate one-year Master of Management program that allows for specialisation in operations management. Students embark on projects with actual companies. Operations management professor Willem Selen says: "Recent examples include a study of operations value creation at Honeywell and supply chain management at Southcorp Wines." These Sydney projects will be used as case studies, along with work conducted by MGSM students in Hong Kong and Singapore, and other operations materials from American and European B-schools.

In Perth, the Curtin Graduate School of Business has a slightly different approach. After completing the basic 12-month MBA program, students can study for one more trimester to acquire a specialist MBA degree. The Logistics Specialisation program offers courses such as distribution and transport, materials management, logistics information systems and strategic logistics management. The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad also has production and operations management among its strengths, but the school's MBA program is geared almost exclusively to local students.

Other schools to consider: Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University (US), Kellogg School of Management (US), MIT Sloan School of Management (US), Mendoza College of Business at University of Notre Dame (US), Stanford Business School (US), UBC Commerce (Canada), University of Bath School of Management (Britain), Wharton School (US)

（待续）

Shuzhen

The marketing guru

"For corporate management roles, the successful candidate's background is invariably in marketing or finance," says R. Suresh, the Mumbai-based chief executive of human resources consulting at the executive search firm Stanton Chase International. The art of selling products and services is what business is all about, and Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University in Chicago excels in teaching it as a science. One of its star professors is Phil Kotler, the author of the ground-breaking book Marketing Management.

The school's marketing prowess is one of the attractions for Jacqueline Chow, a business technology major from the University of New South Wales, who worked as a consultant with Accenture in Australia. She says: "My experience at Kellogg has been more fulfilling than I had anticipated. The faculty are highly esteemed in their field of research as well as actively involved in industry. Class debate is always highly interactive. Last week there was a lively debate about China's entry into the World Trade Organisation among students from the US, Britain, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany, Thailand, Turkey, China, Indonesia and the Philippines."

Other top US schools also focus on marketing, among them Harvard, Wharton and Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. In Europe, the HEC School of Management in Paris and the University of Edinburgh Management School list marketing as a key strength. About 75% of HEC's students are from outside France (19% come from Asia and Australia). The MBA is taught in English, with French phased in halfway into the 16-month program. There is no second-language requirement at Edinburgh's one-year program, although training is offered in Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

Melbourne Business School (MBS) has a part-time two-year Master of Marketing program. Students learn from local case studies developed by MBS, and others from Harvard, London Business School, IESE in Spain and other schools. Would-be brand managers should also consider the 15-month full-time MBA program at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). One class project this year involves the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. "Students apply concepts learnt in the first term and offer perspectives on the marketing and management of the SSO," marketing professor Murali Chandrashekaran says.

A former regional manager at the public relations consultancy Burson-Marsteller in Hong Kong, Lisa Mabilangan, recently completed her first marketing class at AGSM. "There were a lot of case studies and we did a computer simulation, which was excellent," she says. "We put ourselves in the shoes of a brand manager who had to make decisions based on data on a mock market and industry. It felt really live and the teams really got into it." Mabilangan also likes the school's internationalism (more than half the students come from overseas) and its integrative approach.

Other schools to consider: Haas School of Business at University of California at Berkeley, Macquarie Graduate School of Management (Australia), Mendoza College of Business (US), Schulich School of Business (Canada), University of Michigan Business School

The number cruncher

If numbers are your game, your best bet is to study at a B-school known for quantitative expertise. Tan Soo Jin, director and partner in Singapore for the executive search group Amrop Hever, says: "If the role is for finance, companies give greater weight to an MBA from Wharton or University of Chicago rather than from a school better known for entrepreneurship, for example." Other members of this Ivy League group include Kellogg (the alma mater of disgraced Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow), Columbia Business School, MIT Sloan, Stern School of Business at New York University and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Finance is the most popular major at the Wharton School, which admitted 802 students to its 18-month MBA program last year (130 of them from Asia). The school tops the US News & World Report rankings in finance and accounting. "I wake up every morning amazed at how lucky I am to be here," says Campbell Bethwaite, a 25-year-old Sydney IT entrepreneur who wants to work in investment banking in New York. "I've never met so many amazing people from all corners of the world and all possible backgrounds in one place. The case discussions draw interesting insights and the professors are generally excellent."

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has produced six Nobel Prize winners, including current professors Gary Becker and Robert Fogel. "The fact that you actually have people who invented the theories of finance is mind-blowing," says New Zealand student Michael North. Chemical engineer Prashant Agarwal, one of 21 students from India, says: "The faculty is great and I like the program's academic rigor." The full-time MBA takes two years to complete, with accounting and finance among the most sought-after of the 13 specialities. The University of Chicago's campus in Singapore offers a separate 20-month executive MBA.

If students intend to stay in Asia, they can choose not to spend US$100,000 on a US B-school. Half that can get you an MBA at AGSM in Australia. After completing two core financial courses, students can specialise by taking seven electives, among them financial modelling and accounting for planning and control. The school draws on the resources of its prestigious parents, the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. Its research is on par with the world's best. The Journal of Financial Economics, the finance field's premier publication, recently honored AGSM professor John Lyon with its All Star Paper award.

The Curtin Graduate School of Business in Perth and Mt Eliza Business School have tied up with CPA Australia, the professional organisation of certified practising accountants, to offer a specialist CPA MBA. After completing CPA Australia's five-course CPA program, students take up five foundation classes, an organisational in-house project and a personal-development module to earn an MBA from Curtin. Mt Eliza's more extensive program requires seven core courses, including one called The New CFO, and three electives. Two five-day residential leadership workshops book-end the program.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management (US), Fuqua School of Business at Duke University (US), HEC School of Management (France), London Business School, Manchester Business School, Melbourne Business School, Schulich School of Business (Canada), Yale School of Management (US)

（待续）

Shuzhen

The technology specialist

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is known for a focus on leading-edge technology. MIT's Sloan School of Management has a good reputation in the management of technology. Sloan's full-time MBA program allots one semester for five core courses, leaving the rest of the two years for electives. Would-be chief technology officers sign up for the IT and Business Transformation (ITB) track and spend a semester on a team project. An American ITB major, Christina Cragholm, says on the Sloan Web site: "I worked with a Thai consultant, a Singaporean software developer, a Dutch venture capitalist and a marketer from Michigan. That will always stand out in my mind."

For those with 10 years' work experience, a science degree and college credits in calculus and economics, Sloan offers a one-year Management of Technology program. Its Web site quotes Edward Roberts, who co-founded the program in 1981: "The goal is to give a management education to people experienced in running the scientific and technological aspects of their organisations." The curriculum includes general management courses such as accounting and marketing, but most of the year is given over to topics such as leadership skills in research and engineering, and managing innovations in industry. The program requires thesis writing.

Technophiles can opt for a technology management concentration in the two-year full-time MBA program of the Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland. They are required to take three electives from an array ranging from multimedia systems to managing e-business technology. They can also apply for a place in an IS (information systems) scholarship program. Each awardee is matched with a chief technology officer or another IS executive as part of a mentoring scheme. Scholars embark on a team IS project instead of the conventional consultancy.

Britain's Imperial College Management School runs specialities in the bio-pharma and health technology sectors in its one-year MBA program. In Finland, the Helsinki School of Economics offers separate concentrations in biotechnology management and IT management as part of its one-year MBA. Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands has a 15-month MBA/MBI (Master of Business Informatics) that features courses in systems analysis and design, database management and decision-support systems.

The Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand has a 17-month MBA that includes a management of technology course. In addition to two required technology courses, students take six technology-related electives. Information Technology Management is a concentration in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School's full-time 18-month MBA program. The school has teamed with the parent university's Department of Information and Systems Management to offer a part-time three-year dual-degree program. Students graduate with an MBA and a Master of Science in Information Systems Management.

The Monash Graduate School of Business benefits from its parent university's resources. MBA director Peter Reed says: "Monash has a very strong faculty of information technology that offers a range of IT courses few universities can match." The business school enlists the IT faculty in the teaching of core courses and electives in technology management. Students can choose a professional track in IT within the two-year MBA program, or study a bit longer for a dual MBA and MSc in Business Systems or an MBA and MSc in Information Management and Systems.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Aston Business School (Britain), Carnegie Mellon University (US), Instituto de Empresa (Spain), Haas School of Business (US), Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University (US), UBC Commerce (Canada)

The entrepreneur

Two out of 10 Harvard MBA students specialise in entrepreneurial management after they have spent a year completing the mandatory general management courses. They choose from 20 electives, including entrepreneurial finance, management of the family business, and business leadership in the social sector. Students also compete in the annual HBS Business Plan Contest, which carries a US$50,000 prize. The winners this year were FBC Systems, which proposed the development and marketing of design-to-cost software, and Gyaana Ventures, which drafted a scheme to eliminate functional illiteracy in India by helping families commit to investing in the education of their children.

Babson College's Franklin Olin Graduate School of Business is not as well known as Harvard, but its entrepreneurship program has been rated higher in some specialist surveys. In the Entrepreneurship Intensity Track, students become interns with start-up companies after the first year, take up entrepreneurship electives in the second year, and launch a company in their final semester. The MBA program takes two years, but those with a business degree can have some core courses waived and graduate in one year.

The Entrepreneurship Centre at Imperial College Management School in Britain is headed by the author and corporate star Sue Birley, an authority on international entrepreneurship. Graduates of the London Business School have access to the business incubator Gavron Business Centre. At the IESE Business School in Spain, students write business plans for the annual New Business Forum, which attracts many venture capitalists. The school has ties to the conservative Catholic movement Opus Dei, one reason for the focus on business ethics.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Cranfield School of Management (Britain), E.M. Lyon (France), Haas School of Business (US), Manchester Business School (Britain), Stanford Graduate School of Business (US), University of Cambridge Judge Institute of Management (Britain), MIT Sloan School of Management (US)

The management consultant

Andrew Tsui, the managing director of the executive recruiter Korn Ferry in Hong Kong, says consultancy firms are focused on getting students from the top-tier schools because they "figure they need that cachet if they're going to give advice to companies". His pool of top-tier B-schools includes the Anderson School at UCLA, Harvard, Insead, London Business School, Wharton and Yale. Wai-Chan Chan, the partner in charge of recruiting for McKinsey & Company's Greater China office, says: "We hire overwhelmingly from the most prestigious academic institutions. But we also identify outstanding candidates from other schools based on their strengths in key areas such as problem-solving, leadership and teamwork. We really focus on the individual, not the school."

Consulting is a common thread in MBA classes at America's Concord School of Management in Boston, and that is not surprising. The school was founded by the consulting group Arthur D. Little in 1964. Now operated by Kaplan Inc, the education arm of The Washington Post, Concord continues to draw on Little's expertise and resources. About half of the student population comes from Asia and Australia, although Concord's flagship Boston International one-year MBA program accommodates only 55 students. The school stresses "skill sessions in facilitation, interviewing, issues analysis, problem identification and structured communication" that each student is expected to apply in undertaking an intensive consultancy project during the program.

More than three-quarters of all the courses at Tuck Business School in New Hampshire require teamwork, an important component of consulting. MBA program director Steven Lubrano says: "Success in business is not defined by a zero-sum game. Tuck students are taught within a supportive and close environment to understand when to seek consensus and when to champion a new approach. They understand how to manage clients, conduct extensive research, assimilate and present data, and manage client interaction." Tuck's is usually a residential general management program, although it has recently increased its coverage of ethics, technology and entrepreneurship in its first-year core courses.

Students in the Company Consulting track at HEC in France undertake a team consulting project. The participating firms, including GE Medical Systems, Hugo Boss and Volvo, assign mentors to work with the students. A similar program, called the Lothian Project, is an option at the University of Edinburgh Management School. In Australia, students learn to internalise management consultancy skills through AGSM's integrative approach and expertise in organisational behavior and change management. Boston Consulting and LEK Consulting are among the school's leading recruiters. Deloitte Consulting hires from MGSM, while Booz Allen & Hamilton has scouted for talent at Melbourne Business School.

Other schools to consider: Columbia Business School (US), Darden Graduate School of Business Administration (US), Goizueta Business School (US), Kellogg School of Management (US), Stanford Graduate School of Business (US), University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, University of Michigan Business School

（待续）

Shuzhen

The investment whiz

When he was considering studying for an MBA, Tuck alumnus John Selkrig looked at where the department heads at his then-employer, Bank of America, got their degrees. He says: "They typically went to Ivy League US schools, whether it was UCLA, Wharton, Columbia or Harvard." He applied at Tuck and a handful of other US schools because he wanted to join an American investment bank. "If I wanted to work for an Australian or a European company, that might not have been the best decision," Selkrig says. "But if you want to work for a leading US firm, they've all heard of Tuck."

Other schools with a strong reputation are: Stern Business School, Cornell, Fuqua School of Business, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Stanford, University of Chicago and Yale. "Stern's outstanding reputation in finance is based on its first-rate finance curriculum and faculty, and its early location on Wall Street from 1914 until 1993 before moving to the Greenwich Village location," assistant dean Julia Min says. "Stern has more multicultural professors than any other university - currently 50% international." Australian CPA Tony Sherlock says the professors are approachable and willing to help with a problem. "It's not uncommon to e-mail a professor a question at 1 am and get a detailed response at 2 am."

The London Business School conducts its MBA classes in the financial heart of London. Merrill Lynch is a big recruiter, just as Barclays Capital is with Imperial College and Lehman Brothers is with the Oxford University's Said Business School. All three offer financial-services electives such as financial instruments, company valuations, initial public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions. In addition, the London Business School has a separate Masters in Finance program designed for those planning to work in banking, investment management, security analysis, risk management and corporate finance. Full-time students earn their degree in 10 months and part-timers in 21 months.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's finance electives include investment banking strategies, portfolio management and innovations in the derivatives markets. A part-time, three-year dual-degree program is also available. Students earn an MBA and a Master of Science in Investment Management. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has an MBA in Finance in co-operation with Tsinghua University in Beijing. It is led by He Jia, who is a commissioner at the China Securities Regulatory Commission. In Singapore, NUS Business School teaches nine finance and banking electives, including bank management, futures and options, and risk management and insurance. The would-be investment manager can study five of these subjects for MBA specialisation.

Other schools to consider: Anderson School (US), Birmingham Business School, Haas School of Business (US), Manchester Business School, Nimbas Graduate School of Management (Netherlands)

The Asia specialist

If you intend to specialise in Asian business, it makes sense to attend a school that operates in the region, teaches from a constantly updated cache of Asian case studies and deploys Asian CEOs and other senior executives as professors and resources. Welcome to the Asian Institute of Management in Manila. AIM's two-year Master of Business Management program seeks to develop "professional, entrepreneurial and socially responsible leaders who are experts in Asian cultures and management styles". For experienced managers, the school has designed an 11-month Master of Management program. Executive recruiter R. Suresh says AIM is a magnet for companies in the region.

In Singapore, the NUS Business School focuses on the region in core classes such as Asia in a Global Economy, case studies of companies such as Cathay Pacific Airways and Sony, and award-winning research such as Ishtiaq Mahmood's The Two Faces of Group Structure, an analysis of the effect of family-owned firms on innovation in Korea and Taiwan. The 18-month APEX-MBA program for senior executives holds two of its 12-day residential modules in China and India. Seventeen participants, seven of them from Singapore, were accepted in 2002. Companies that send managers to the program include Citibank, HBO Asia, NEC Solutions and Vivendi.

Also in Singapore, the Nanyang Business School adopts "a global perspectivewith a strong Asian focus," says Choo Teck Min, the director of the MBA program. Courses include Sun Tzu Business Warcraft, which looks at business strategy through the Chinese classic Art of War. Nanyang also has an Asian Business Case Centre. The regional focus was important to Malaysian actuary Joanne Chan, who says practical course work, diversity and reputation also were reasons for choosing Nanyang. "I was pleasantly surprised at the mix of classmates," she says. "The most valuable experience is the interaction with smart, dynamic individuals from all over the world."

The Monash Graduate School of Business has strong Asian credentials. The school's director of MBA operations, Peter Reed, says: "We have very close relationships with Asian businesses going back to the early days of the Colombo Plan." The regional initiative, created in 1950, granted scholarships to young people across the region to study at Monash and other schools. A partner at the Australian law firm Middletons, Cameron Abbott, says: "Monash has an excellent mix of nationalities. I recently hosted a delegation from Shanghai and my multicultural exposure helped make the event work seamlessly." The school's links with Monash University allowed him to cross-enrol in legal classes and graduate with an MBA and a Master of Laws.

Other schools to consider: Birmingham Business School, Curtin Graduate School of Business (Australia), International University of Japan, Melbourne Business School, Richard Ivey School of Business (Canada), Sasin Graduate Institute of Management Administration (Thailand), University of Hong Kong

The China master

Brenda Chung, born in Hong Kong and educated in Singapore and Australia, set her sights initially on an American MBA degree. But she decided eventually to study at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. "China is where I'm going to be in the next 10 years," says the former KPMG Singapore auditor, who moved to Suzhou in 1997 to take charge of customer service at a real estate firm. "It's important for me to be here. If I left for two years, I might no longer be valuable. The changes in the past six years alone have been very rapid."

CEIBS, founded in 1994 with help from the European Union and the Chinese Government, has been criticised for being too European-centred. Most of the teaching is still done by visiting faculty from the West, but the local staff have been developing case studies on Chinese companies. The school, which recently moved to a new campus, is also strengthening ties with the 100-year-old Jiatong University. Nine out of 10 students in the 17-month MBA program, which has room for 130 participants, are mainland Chinese.

The 18-month MBA program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong admitted only 34 students last year, with five places going to applicants from China, three from India and four from North America. "We plan to recruit more heavily from China and other countries," says MBA director Vincent Lai. Courses include Business Strategies in the Chinese Context, Marketing in China and China Field Study, which involves a week in Beijing or Shanghai for seminars with government and business leaders and company visits. The school also arranges summer internships in China.

The University of Hong Kong offers a part-time MBA program in Hong Kong and an international version in Shanghai. The Hong Kong modules, which last from five to seven weeks and are held on weekday evenings or on Saturdays, can be completed in two years. The professors also teach in the Shanghai program, in partnership with Fudan University, which gives them ground-level exposure to trends in China's commercial heart and enriches their Hong Kong lectures. Foreign students made up a quarter of the 90 participants admitted to the Hong Kong program last year. l

With additional reporting by Tim Healy

（待续）

Shuzhen

The perfect MBA

So you are clear in your mind which B-school is the best for you? Do not send off that application form (and pay the application fee) just yet. Make sure you have considered all the factors in your search for the perfect MBA. Here is a checklist to help you make the final decision.

Do you have the basic qualifications? As a rule, the top B-schools require a college (Graduate Management Admissions Test, or GMAT) score. You will also need two or more referees (typically your superiors or senior colleagues at work) to write confidential essays about your character, achievements, shortcomings and leadership qualities. You will be asked to submit essays about why you want to earn an MBA, what you want to do with your life, and what you expect from B-school. You will also be interviewed.

Is your GMAT score high enough? GMAT is supposed to be a standard test of your ability to handle graduate studies regardless of whether you attended college in Australia, Bangladesh, China or Zimbabwe. The closer your result is to the maximum score of 800 points, the more impressed the admissions panel will be. The average GMAT of MBA students at Stanford is 724, Kellogg and MIT Sloan 710, and Columbia 705. The average at France's Insead is 696 points, and that at NUS Business School in Singapore is 680. In Australia, the Australian Graduate School of Management average is 635, Melbourne Business School 620 and Curtin 610. For tips on how to prepare for the GMAT, check out  www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT , a Web site run by GMAC, the United States body that oversees the test.

Do you have a fighting chance of getting in? So your qualifications impress the admissions committee. But you still might not be admitted because B-schools lay out different-size welcome mats for Asia-Pacific candidates. Four out of 10 students at Thunderbird in Arizona come from the region. It admits more than 1000 students a year, which means there are 400 places for Asia-Pacific candidates. On the other hand, only 4% of the student population at IESE Business School in Spain is Australian and Asian. Its annual intake is 216 students, so the effective number of places for the Asia-Pacific region is just nine. But do not automatically reject a top school just because it has too few places or too many applicants. Even the smallest institution has room for a really outstanding student. To maximise your chances of snagging a place, however, make sure you have fallbacks. The table on page 61 lists well-regarded B-schools that accept at least 70 students from the Asia-Pacific region every year.

Are you comfortable with the culture? Some European schools expect students to design their own curriculum from a wide variety of electives. Most US institutes are more structured, with compulsory core courses in the first year and electives in the second. Manchester Business School puts emphasis on project work. Harvard Business School pioneered the case method. You need to write a 12,000-word dissertation for the University of Cambridge's Judge Institute of Management. You are expected to be fluent in English and Italian at SDA Bocconi. Find out how things are done in the B-school you are considering and decide whether it is a good fit for your work habits and your approach to learning. Interview alumni, or better still, visit the campus and sit in on some classes.

Can you afford not only the fees but also the living expenses? Not only do you need to fork out a lot of cash for a full-time MBA, you also forgo wages and bonuses you could have earned while you were in school. American B-schools tend to charge the highest fees and have the longest programs, at two years. Budget  at least $150,000 in total expenses if you intend to study at a top-notch institution there. Europeans do not place as strong an emphasis on core courses,  so their MBA programs typically last from 10 to 18 months. Set aside the equivalent of $105,000 for tuition, living expenses and other fees. Asian B-schools are the cheapest, from $33,000 (Asian Institute of Management in Manila) to $75,000 (AGSM in Sydney), about the same range as Canadian MBA providers (Richard Ivey School of Business, the equivalent of $67,000). If you intend to stay in Australia, there is really no point in paying so much to study in the US or Europe because local companies are generally happy with the quality of B-schools here. But if you want to work with a US investment bank, or move to New York, an American MBA is a must.  Cesar Bacani
worldwide campus  As the globalisation of business takes hold, the world's brand-name B-schools are making sure their classes reflect the diversity of races in the workplace.
Some B-schools, such as Columbia, Harvard and Wharton in the United States, accept more than 600 students a year, so they can allocate a large number of places to applicants from the Asia-Pacific region. Others such as Canada's Schulich are not as big, but still take as much as 40% of their annual intake from the region. Four out of 10 students at Thunderbird in the US, which admits more than 1000 MBA students annually, come from Asia and Australia. Insead in France, Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada and the University of Chicago have campuses in Hong Kong and Singapore, while Britain's Birmingham and America's Kellogg have teamed up with local partners. The schools below each admitted 70 or more full-time MBA students from Australasia in 2002.

  
international options for MBA study   Key Strengths    Tuition website
Birmingham Business School  Finance, manufacturing, marketing                               $28,300 mba.bham.ac.uk
Columbia Business School  Entrepreneurship, finance, int'l business
$103,500      www.gsb.columbia.edu
Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship, general mgt, leadership
$96,600  www.hbs.edu  
Insead    Consulting, general mgt, int'l business $74,600  www.insead.edu  
Kelley School of Business at Indiana University  Finance, marketing,
strategy    $68,000  www.bus.indiana.edu  
Kellogg School of Mgt at Northwestern University Finance, general mgt,
marketing    $104,250                                                         www.kellogg.northwestern.edu  
London Business School   Entrepreneurship, finance, int'l business
$98,250  www.london.edu
Richard Ivey School of Business      Entrepreneurship, general mgt, int'l
business     $56,000  www.ivey.uwo.ca  
Schulich School of Business at York University Finance, int'l business,
marketing    $41,400  www.schulich.yorku.ca  
Thunderbird (American Graduate School of Int'l Mgt) Finance, int'l business, marketing                                         $81,400  www.t-bird.edu  
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Entrepreneurship,
finance, strategy        $104,500     gsb.uchicago.edu
Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania Entrepreneurship, finance, strategy  $106,200   www.wharton.upenn.edu .

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-12-30 15:40:15编辑过]