Working towards a world class business school – A Deja Vu

World class business school

How to become world class business school

A world class business school should position itself as a leading institution in management. To provide a platform for its faculty members and industrialists to discuss, share, develop new management concepts and technique. To position itself as a prominent and professional body through developing its capability as a research-oriented institution. Always stay at the forefront (leading position) of management concepts and practices. In order to achieve that, it needs to publish its research in world class journal.

Publication in world class business school

Publication in world class journal is one of the important jobs in world class business school.

The standard of this job can be divided into five level.

Level 1            other publications*      One star

Level 2            non-CIJ**                   Two star

Level 3            CIJ***                       Three star

Level 4            ISI Thompson             Four star

Level 5            Top journal                  Five star

*other publication: chapters in books, conference papers, proceedings, etc.

**non-CIJ: non-citation index journal

***CIJ – Citation Index Journal

Industrial link in World class business school

Apart from publication, a real world class business school ought to focus on industrial-link. That means how industrially relevant are their research output. The following paragraphs justify why it is important to make sure industrial relevance of university research.

Activities of a world class business school

Conducting applied research instead of basic research. Research in management should be practically oriented. Management research needs a substantial fieldwork in the industries to ensure industrial-relevant of the knowledge produced. Research work should be more relevant to practices. The school should researching latest management concepts and techniques, getting more research funding from the government and international bodies/organizations, involving in joint-research projects, encouraging more academics-practitioners collaboration in research, and ensuring technology transfer (i.e. new knowledge is transferred from companies to/from the university).

Activities and networking: through collaboration between university and the industries, many activities could be organized such as seminars, talks, short courses, industrial visits, etc. which will enhance networking between academics and the industries.

Funding: Local companies will benefit from government research funding as well as other support

Improving publication – share research outputs with members and the public (to disseminate research output)

Developing expertise in specialized management methods/concepts

Study group (Interest group)

A world class business school should provide a focus for companies interested in latest management issues to share common problems and hear about new approaches being developed in industry and academia. Meetings and lectures provide an opportunity for participants to meet and question leading experts on management issues. A study (interest) group is appropriate for those owner/managers considering how to improve their business. Newsletter on latest development in new management concepts. Practitioners and academics share latest developments in management and discuss issues of strategic importance to the industries. The group enables faculty members to meet their peers from industries in an informal setting (usually over lunch, dinner, etc) to facilitate business relationships and networking. It will keep faculty members informed of key technical and management issues and industry developments.

Produce knowledge that can increase the competitiveness of the industries

One of the major aims to become world class business school is to conduct world class research that produce knowledge that can increase the competitiveness of our industries and businesses by enhancing their management capability in producing value-added products and services in today’s global market. In order to satisfy the above aim, world class business school ought to contribute to the development of manufacturing and service industry by:

·         Conducting leading edge research to support industry and community in the process of modernising and improving management  knowledge

·         Enhancing the knowledge in management from a practical point of view through collaboration  with the community and industry

·         Promoting high value-added management concepts and activities to facilitate a shift from labour-intensive to automation through efficient utilisation of human potential and capability

·         Increasing the number of able people in business and community through innovative industry-based/community-based programmes

·         Creating tools and techniques to improve the performance of businesses and industries.

Companies that working with world class business school, they will benefit from a range of activities. World class business school prepares to deliver its research outputs in accessible, useable formats so that industrial companies can gain practical benefits. The research outputs will be disseminated through publications, workbooks, software and consultation manual.

A world class business school prepares to work closely with companies to identify areas for improvement. It will work through the use of a quick ‘diagnostic’ method to identify key problems and opportunities. Its consultation teams have substantial industrial experience and will draw in expertise from external sources if necessary depending on the companies’ needs.

A world class business school will maintain close contact with the local academic community and industry, and establish and maintain extensive international networks, which engage industrialists, academics and policy makers. It draws together a range of human expertise in areas of strategy, operations, technology, and policy. It will support new ideas, and promote new ways of doing thing through local, national and international networking.

Local networking: maintain a strong link with other faculties or research centres within the university such as the engineering faculty and advanced technology research centre. Work with local governmental agencies and companies from regional industrial areas. 

National networking: maintain a strong link with other research centres, institutions, and universities in the country. Maintain a link with the policy maker and non-governmental organisation. Interest, support and challenge from industry will always be a fundamental part of world class business school’s national networking policy. Working with these professional bodies requires a professional mindset, confident, and competence back by our professors, lecturers, and research capability.

International networking: maintain a strong link with international academic communities from UK, USA, China, Japan, Korea, South East Asian countries, etc. Interact with multinational companies that have their operations in Malaysia. A world class business school prepares to work with many parts of the world and maintains the strong international presence. This will consists of a constant dialogue with researchers and industrialists around the world.

Industrialists and companies who work closely with a world class business school will benefit through enlarging their networking capability, interacting with academic and research communities from local and overseas, keeping track with the latest development in new management philosophy and technology, knowing the latest development in management researchenhancing knowledge in system, human and workplace interfaces, through a range of activities organised.

World class approach is very different to conventional consultancy, involving working collaboratively with industrialists, often based on applied research outputs, and focusing on transferring knowledge as well as delivering business results. We provide new ideas and approaches engage directly with industry, governments and other agencies via consultancy, executive education and events

Level of Industrial link in world class business school

Level 1            forum                                                                          One star

Level 2            knowledge transfer (from industries to universities)  Two star

Level 3            collaboration (industries help universities)                  Three star

Level 4            joint research (universities help industries)                 Four star

Level 5            knowledge transfer (from universities to industries) Five star

Typology of world class business school’s research

Combining with the level of publication within world class business school, the level of industrial link can build a typology of world class business school’s research.

(1,1)                 local king (domestic king)

(1,5)                 research dominant

(5,1)                 practice dominant

(3,3)                 middleman

(5,5)                 world class

Characteristics of different players within the typology

Characteristics of different players within the typology can be described using different objects or living creatures such as below:

(1,1)                 Monkey

(1,5)                 Frog

(5,1)                 Bear

(3,3)                 Puma

(5,5)                 Lion

Each creature reflects a different characteristic of its own.

MONKEY – like to act (very action attitude), neither good nor strong. But good in pretending

FROG – voice is loud. Body is small. Can talk very well, but cannot do it

BEAR – body is big but no brain

LION – the real king of the jungle, good in both aspects

PUMA – average in both aspects, need to put in more time and effort to improve both aspects