How Business School Rises to International Challenges

An Essay in Business & Economics Study

Oleh: Mutiara

Since the early 1900s the existence of business schools has risen across
continental borders, starting from the first and only business school in the United
States to plenty of them can be found today in European, African or even Asian
countries. This upward trend is depicting a greater demand on business schools as
never before as a result of changing global business environment. However, how
could business school survives or better yet rises to international challenges when
number of alternative providers alike are currently available for free?
Before knowing how to rise to global challenges, a business school necessarily
requires to identify the four diverse challenges that may occur during the first
entrance to global market, namely globalization, modernization and innovation,
thenceforth, how to remain subsist.
Globalization is closely related to a state where people, organizations or
governments bodies can easily interact and integrate with one another globally. When
entering a business school, pupils no longer expect a conventional classroom filled
with pupils or professors from singular nationality. We, students, always come up
with greater pleasant idea that more multicultural and diverse environment will
empower us to yield creativity, open broader point of views and boost decision-
making process. We thought a well internationally acknowledged business school
should also have developed a way where hands-on business experience is well
delivered to the students by the global business experts. For instance, if only top e-
commerce leaders such as Pierre Omidyar, who founded E-bay in 1995, or Jack Ma,
who founded Alibaba group in 1999, could have been featured to be our guest
lectures, we could have discussed certain subjects more intense and excitedly.
Besides, we demand a greater access to internship networks with either small or
bigger multinational corporations. Thus, students will not suffer from boredom by
learning only from the hypothetical business cases or 5-inches textbooks yet also
encounter with real business experts and get involved in the real business world. In
short, business school should be sensitive to students’ identical shift pattern of needs
worldwide. The first task to rise to international challenges from globalization is for
them to propose multicultural and diverse environment within classrooms, provide
hands-on business experiences by global business professionals and open greater
internship accesses to multiple multinational corporations.
Secondly, when modernization hits 21st century with cutting-edge technology
and free Internet access, hundreds of companies collapsed due to the Internet use in
commercial ventures. The Internet and hi-tech revolution have altered the way
business conducted and supported the invention of new business models. As a result,
business school has to provide novel business major and courses that are relevant to
demand from the new business market. For instance, online business management
course is highly needed today as people are becoming more conveniently purchase
through online stores, which made new online businesses popped up in vast diverse
platforms. Based on the statistic data on e-commerce study in 2017, there were
approximately 1.66 billion people worldwide who bought online. This made a huge
transformation on customer’s lifestyle and way of living. Furthermore, digital skill
courses could be as well an effective breakthrough for students to manage their
business performance and website’s traffic online; nevertheless, it is yet available at
our curriculum. In addition, study suggested that today’s generations play a crucial
role in changing learning method that works. Millenials, for instance, enjoy the luxury
of learning in class with Laptops or Tablets. This is still a debatable issue that using
electronic devices could enhance student’s performance. To conclude, the Internet
and technological transformation is inevitable, for better, therefore in order for
business schools to excel in international challenges, I strongly believe that fancy
digital courses and the use of advance technology within school will be one of
competitive advantages to rise them among their global counterparts.
Thirdly, is Innovation; How does business school imagine ‘innovation’ at
school? What are those components involved in innovation? Is innovation at school
constantly linked to outdated curriculum system? Let’s briefly talk about this.
Innovation at school can be in vast variety forms of change. Of course innovation is
always identic with changes, but changes for the better. Either it is about cutting
MBA’s conventional study period to shorten years, restructuring program to global
integrated learning, which stimulate students to learn subject from diversified
perspectives, or opening new online classes for learners all over the world, which the
Wharton Business School has long time been developed, all of them are for the
purpose of conquering the global competitions. We ought to mirroring more advanced
business school from the West. However, the problem, which mostly happened in
Indonesia exclusively, is the slow progress in adapting innovative ideas due to its
complicated bureaucracy. When politics play significant role that made creativity,
knowledge, imagination or attitudes to move forward be caged, business school would
be difficult to spark among others. Therefore, I suppose, there should be a massive
mental revolution program that is purposely directed to staff from lower levels to
upper levels. Innovation could not be implemented successfully if human resources
within institution are mentally corrupt. In addition, a comparative program in
promoting environmental, social, business, education or economic development is
highly effective for upper levels management at business school, in generating for
example, more eco-friendly home campuses that are suitable for conducive learning
process. So business school will not only concern about economic issues but also
surrounding environmental circumstance. This will be a highlighted competitive
advantage that the world will admire. In conclusion, innovation must happen in all
layers of division or elements that generate the business school, namely staffs,
students and school’s system.
Overall, business school can spark internationally only if it can overcome three
distinctive global challenges, namely globalization, modernization and innovation.