Executive M.B.A. Is Hard-Sell in Germany
Ingrid Salamon has a full schedule these days. On top of her job as group manager for strategic planning at British American Tobacco PLC in Hamburg, Germany, she takes out five days every six weeks to participate in an executive M.B.A. program.
While U.S. and U.K. colleagues nodded approvingly when she told them of her decision to take part in the program, Ms. Salamon says German peers were perplexed: "'Why would you want to do that?' they asked.'"
Executive M.B.A.s still are a relatively new concept in Germany. New institutions such as the program that Ms. Salamon takes part in -- a joint effort between Germany's University of Mannheim and France's ESSEC Business School in Paris -- are leading the way. But cultural and financial obstacles make it a challenge for institutions trying to offer executive M.B.A. programs.
LIVE & LEARN
Issues facing executive education in Europe, from currency gains to obstacles plaguing M.B.A. programs.
PART II
? Currency Gains Pose Challenge to Schools
? Spanish School Seeks to Diversify Offerings
PART I
Executive education in Europe, from managing cultural diversity to global fundraising.
? Consultants Aim to Spin Fulfillment
? Insead Campaigns for Funds Globally
? Transferees Prep for Expatriate Life
? University's Next Project: 'Model' City
? Academics Tackle Issue of Diversity
The regular M.B.A. is gaining recognition in Germany, particularly since universities must offer bachelor's and master's degrees to fulfill European Union requirements. But the executive M.B.A. is still in its infancy.
"There is a lack of awareness of business education; of what it is and what it can do," says Eric Weber, associate dean of executive education and the global M.B.A. at IESE Business School of the University of Navarra in Spain.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland have seen the number of M.B.A.s on offer mushroom from a handful in 1990 to 182 today, but there are only 23 executive M.B.A. programs in the region, according to Detlev Kran, director of the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation in Bonn. Since the concept isn't homegrown, many accredited executive M.B.A. programs are cooperations between German and U.S. institutions, such as that between the private Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung in Cologne and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, or the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Graduate Business School of the University of Texas at Austin.
"Executive M.B.A.s are accepted by some large international companies, but within the German university community, they are still not seen as a real course of study," Mr. Kran says. "They do not fit into the German academic tradition."
The emphasis in a German business degree is more on gaining specialist knowledge rather than on broad management issues. The Betriebswirtschaftlehre, the master's of business, for example, branches off into areas such as finance, communications, media or even logistics.
There is also resistance from companies that worry that employees who take such courses will be more likely to leave the company in search of other opportunities. Another common attitude is that top managers already have proved themselves, so they don't need further education, Mr. Weber of IESE says.
IESE is testing the waters in Germany with an English-language seminar for high-level executives. A number of IESE's German participants urged it to set up something closer to home, Mr. Weber says. So far, 20 executives have signed up for the �22,000 course, which will look at how senior executives can manage people and companies more effectively. It starts in April and includes 10 days at IESE's Barcelona campus as well as 10 one-day sessions in Munich. So far, though, there are no concrete plans to build a campus or launch an executive M.B.A. program in Germany.
The caution with which IESE is proceeding isn't surprising, considering the financial issues that have plagued other German business schools. The privately funded Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology, funded by sponsors including Bosch AG, DaimlerChrysler AG and Siemens AG, has had severe financial problems. SIMT, which launched in 2003 and serves as the business school for the Universities of Stuttgart, Tübingen and Hohenheim, last year was unable to pay rent for some months on a lavish new building. The school is seeking ways to restructure so it can continue offering M.B.A. programs.
The European School of Management and Technology, a private Berlin-based initiative launched in 2003, has had to live with financial constraints. Although it has a corporate endowment of about �80 million and brings in roughly �5 million in annual revenue, the �35 million it will take to renovate the city's privy-council building that is to serve as a campus means it can't yet afford to hire a full staff of professors, school President Derek Abell says.
While, the school has been criticized for opening its doors without a full degree program, Mr. Abell says building up a world-class institution along the lines of Insead in France is at least a 10-year project. It will offer a full-time M.B.A. in 2006.
In the meantime, ESMT has hosted about 1,000 executives, either at seminars in its locations in Cologne and Munich or at in-house corporate programs. Although Mr. Abell notes strong demand for such in-house training, he says executive-education programs shouldn't rely too heavily on them.
"The danger is you get far too much training and not enough education," he says. "You need broad contrasting and comparing, and less internal looking."
Germany's public universities have fewer financial obstacles in setting up executive programs than private institutions, as they can piggyback on the facilities of the university. M.B.A. students at Mannheim, for example, can use the university's lecture halls and library, and the school can tap 24 full-time professors in business administration and 20 economics professors for lectures.
Although the business school must pay professors to lecture and the rent for a university villa, the investment isn't as large as at a privately funded university, according to Otto Jacobs, director of the Mannheim Business School.
"We want to have the means to finance ourselves, rather than being dependent on third parties," says Mr. Jacobs, who notes that the school needs 16 participants in its executive M.B.A. program to break-even on costs of the course.
Not all universities have it as good as Mannheim. For one, the university has a reputation that helps sell the concept. The state of Baden-Württemberg also changed its laws so the university could set up a private limited partnership, or GmbH, that gives it more flexibility than a university to set salaries, hire employees and allocate budgets.
Other universities want to copy this model, education officials say, but are stymied by a lack of understanding from government officials. Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and the Technical University of Munich have conducted talks with local officials to win their support for the two merging and offering a joint M.B.A. via a private institution, according to one academic. But so far the government hasn't backed the effort.
Despite these obstacles, most people believe executive-education offerings will grow in Germany as existing schools gain in reputation and companies see the need to internationalize. Ms. Salamon values the multicultural exposure in the ESSEC-Mannheim program, where participants come from companies across Europe and the courses are taught in English. "You learn to think out of the box and out of your functional background," she says.
Participants have taken part in a week-long visit to Brussels to learn about EU regulations and will go on a fact-finding mission to China this summer. In between sessions, the 43 participants do group work via telephone conferences and an online platform.
Christoph Ernsten, chief financial officer at Johann Borgers GmbH, a supplier of textiles and parts for automobiles, says German companies could benefit from cross-cultural business education.
"German firms must learn more openness and understanding of other cultures to remove barriers," says Mr. Ernsten, who took part in one of IESE's Barcelona Advanced Management Programs and says he will send some of his employees to the new Munich program.
Indeed, some say such programs are crucial for the German economy. "Germany needs this badly," says Mr. Abell of Berlin's EMST.
The school is offering a new six-week "executives in transition program," where middle managers learn to manage a company product line or function. So far, 15 people have signed up; the school had hoped for about 50.
高管MBA悄然风行德国
最近，英格利?萨拉蒙(Ingrid Salamon)的日程安排更紧张了。除了担任英美烟草(British American Tobacco PLC)驻德国汉堡战略规划的集团经理之外，她还要每6周抽出5天时间参加一个高管MBA课程。
萨拉蒙说，她告诉大家自己的这项决定时，英国和美国同事都表示赞成，但德国同事却大为不解。他们问道，“你为什么要这么做？”
高管MBA在德国还是一项新生事物。萨拉蒙参加的这个项目是由德国曼海姆大学(University of Mannheim)和法国巴黎的ESSEC商学院共同创办的，在德国居领先地位。对许多想推出高管MBA项目的机构来说，文化和财务问题都是障碍。
常规MBA课程正在德国逐渐普及，尤其是因为各大学为了满足欧盟的规定，必须提供相关专业的学士和硕士课程。但高管MBA仍在初步探索阶段。
西班牙Navarra大学IESE商学院国际MBA和高管MBA项目的副系主任埃里克?韦伯(Eric Weber)说，这里的商学教育意识不强；人们并不了解商学课程是什么，学了又能怎样。
德国MBA项目的数量从1990年的屈指可数迅速增加到现在的182个，但德国波恩非盈利团体国际工商管理认证基金会(Foundation for
International Business Administration Accreditation, 简称FIBAA)主管德特勒夫?克兰(Detlev Kran)说，这其中只有12个是真正的高管MBA项目。
高管MBA并非德国土生土长的概念，很多认证的高管MBA项目都是德国和美国的合作结果，比如私立的Wissenschaftliche Hochschule fur Unternehmensfuhrung和美国西北大学凯洛格商学院(Kellogg School of Management)的合作，以及Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz和美国得克萨斯大学商学院(Graduate Business School)的合作等。根据FIBAA的数据，2004年德国各商学院的入学人数约为5,400人。
“一些大型跨国公司能够接受高管MBA概念，但在德国的大学里仍未被看作一门真正的学问，”克兰说，“它与德国的学术传统格格不入。”
德国的商学教育著重强调掌握特定的专业技能，而非全面的管理技能。比如说，Betriebswirtschaftlehre就提供了金融、交流、媒体，甚至物流等多种专业的商学硕士学位。
IESE的韦伯还说，公司对此也有一种抵触情绪，担心接受了高管MBA培训的雇员会另觅高枝。另外，人们也有一种共识，认为已经升至高级管理职位的经理们已经用行动证明了自己的管理才能，所以无需为此接受更多培训。
IESE正在德国尝试推出一个英语授课的高管MBA项目。韦伯说，许多到IESE学习的德国学员都敦促学校赶紧在德国开课。到目前为止，已经有20名企业高管注册了学费22,000欧元(约29,000美元)的培训课程，学习如何更有效地管理员工和业务发展。这项培训下个月开始，在IESE巴塞罗那校区和慕尼黑各培训10天。但目前IESE还没有在德国建立分校，或者推出高管MBA项目的完整计划。
IESE的谨小慎微并不意外，看看德国其它商学院遭受的财务重负就知道了。由Bosch AG、戴姆勒克莱斯勒(DaimlerChrysler AG)和西门子(Siemens AG)等公司赞助成立的私立斯图加特管理和技术学院(Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology, 简称SIMT)就陷入了严重的财务困境。SIMT始创于2003年，是斯图加特大学、Tubingen大学和Hohenheim大学的商学院，有一幢以该校命名的漂亮的新教学楼，但去年有好几个月都付不起租金。学校管理人士称，他们正在考虑制定重组方案，以便继续提供MBA教育。
而2003年在柏林创立的European School of Management and Technology (简称ESMT)也不得不压缩开支。校长德雷克?埃布尔(Derek Abell)说，虽然有企业捐赠的大约8,000万欧元，每年还能获得大约500万欧元的收入，但要为一处市政大厦的装修支付3,500万欧元，将这里修葺成校园，所以学校至今还没有将教授职位全数招聘到位。该校尚未筹备好一套完整的学位计划就开堂授课，为此备受批评，不过校长埃布尔说，要筹建一所能与枫丹白露Insead商学院相媲美的世界级学院，至少是十年之功。该校将于明年推出全日制MBA课程。
不过，ESMT已经为大约1,000名高管提供了培训，有些是在该校的科隆和慕尼黑校区举办的讨论会，有些是在企业内部举办的培训项目。虽然埃布尔指出企业内部培训需求旺盛，但也表示高管MBA培训不能太依赖这部分市场。
他说，这样做的危险是培训过多，但教育不够。学员们需要的是大范围比较和对照，减少一些内部考察。
与私立学校相比，德国的公立大学开设高管MBA项目较少受到财务方面的制约，因为它们可以借助现有的教学设施。例如Mannheim商学院的MBA学生就可以使用学校的报告厅和图书馆，学校还可以安排24名全职的商业管理学科教授和20名经济学教授前来授课。
虽然商学院要为教授演讲和租用大学校舍付费，但Mannheim商学院主任奥托?雅各布斯(Otto Jacobs)说，与私立学校相比，这笔投资并不高。
雅各布斯说，“我们想找到自力更生的办法，不再依赖第三方。”他还说，该校的高管MBA项目必须招收到16名学员才能做到盈亏平衡。
并不是每所大学都能做到Mannheim这么好的程度。原因之一是该校声誉卓著，有助于吸引学员前来。另外，Baden-Wurttemberg还修订了相关法律，允许公立大学设立一个私立有限责任的合伙机构，在制定教职员工薪资、招聘员工和分配预算方面享有一定的灵活性。
教育机构管理人士称，其他大学开始纷纷效仿这种模式，但政府官员对此缺乏理解仍然是个障碍。慕尼黑Ludwig Maximilians University，和Technical University of Munich两所大学一直在与当地政府协商，两所大学合作，并通过一家私立机构共同推出MBA培训课程，但迄今为止政府都未施以援手。
虽然障碍重重，但很多人都相信，随著现有商学院逐步赢得声誉，企业慢慢认识到与国际接轨的必要性，高管MBA培训会逐步在德国大行其道。萨拉蒙女士非常看重ESSEC-Mannheim项目的跨文化特点，学员来自欧洲各国，用英语授课。她说，在这里大家学习跳出窠臼开拓思维，不仅仅局限于各自的职业背景。
学员们已经在布鲁塞尔进行了为期一周的参观，了解欧盟的法律条文。今年夏天还将前往中国进行一场“发现事实”的实习。除了在慕尼黑和巴黎参加定期的5天培训之外，学员们还通过电话会议和网络平台进行小组合作。
Johann Borgers Gmb是一家纺织和汽车器材供应商，该公司首席财务长克里斯多弗?恩斯滕(Christoph Ernsten)表示，跨文化的商学教育会让德国企业受益匪浅。“德国公司必须学会在其他文化面前更加开放，更多了解对方，这样才能跨越障碍。”他报名参加了IESE在巴塞罗那举办的高级管理培训班(Advanced Management Programs)，还说会送其他员工前去学习。
实际上，有人认为这些培训项目对德国经济来说至关重要。
柏林EMST的埃布尔说，德国非常需要这些。许多企业都在大声抱怨说自己无法实现更快速的增长，但实际上它们缺乏的是具有商业视角的管理人才。
慕尼黑Ludwig-Maximilians University的管理学教授迪特马尔?哈霍夫(Dietmar Harhoff)说，这会给德国经济带来很大好处。他不禁问道：由于被只懂技术而不懂管理的工程师掌管，有多少企业已经走向破产？
该校还提供一项为期6周的中层管理人员培训课程，学员们学习如何管理公司产品，或者某项部门职能。但到目前为止，只有15人报名，而学校希望能招到大约50名学员。
