Regionally Relevant Business Education

• Business education increasingly demands regional relevance, with curricula, case studies, and examples grounded in the markets where students live and lead.
• Student expectations are reshaping programs, with a growing emphasis on practical insights that translate directly into professional contexts.
• Cross-regional collaboration strengthens schools by pairing established global reputations with deep, future-facing regional expertise.

Transcript

Ian Fenwick: [00:14] I think business schools are very often seen as Western ideas, which, of course, they were a few hundred years ago.

[00:24] A few hundred years ago, I think the world of business was primarily driven by the West and probably primarily driven by North America.

[00:34] And so the leading business schools were in North America, the leading businesses were in North America. It was taken for granted that North America was the leader.

[00:44] In fact, my own school, Sasin School of Management, for the first five years existed solely on visiting faculty, and they came 90 percent from the U.S. and Canada.

[00:57] In fact, I joined as a visiting professor initially. What they taught was exciting for students. It was new, it was cutting-edge. It was things they didn’t know before.

The student wants to hear something that resonates with them.

[01:08] But at the end of the sessions, they would say, ‘How does this relate to Southeast Asia?’

[01:15] That question, I think, has become louder and louder over the years, and now it’s drowning out everything else. That need for relevance is absolutely vital.

[01:29] The student wants to hear something that resonates with them, something they can say, ‘Yes, I believe in that. Yes, I think that’s true. Yes, I think that will help me.’

[01:39] And in fact, in my school, in the Executive MBA in particular, they want instant application.

[01:46] The student comes to school on Saturday, wants to know something they can use in their job on Monday. That relevance means we need case studies about the region where the students will be working.

The collaboration of business schools is absolutely vital.

[02:00] Increasingly, that region is Asia. And so we need more Asian case studies. We need more Asian examples. We need to talk in a language that resonates with the students.

[02:11] The brand names and business conditions we talk about have to be relevant and resonate with those students. The collaboration of business schools is absolutely vital.

[02:25] Where I think North America and Europe still lead is in the brand names, if you like, of the schools and the brand names of the country, what we call the country-of-origin effect.

[02:37] People, their mothers, and their grandmothers still want them to have a degree from the U.K. or the U.S., even though they know that those are yesterday’s regions. I think part of a collaboration is joint programs, joint degree programs.

[02:56] The Asian stores can lend relevance and future success, and the American and European schools—the traditional schools—can lend the brand name authority.

The value of [exchange programs] is to broaden their minds so they can see the old and the new.

[03:08] I think students need exposure to the entire spectrum. For example, we have a network of about 50 exchange programs, and two-thirds of our students take advantage of them.

[03:24] The value of that is to broaden their minds so they can see the old and the new. And if you don’t see the old and the new, you don’t see the opportunities.

[03:34] But I would urge all students to get exposure to Asia and Asian businesses because that’s what triggers the thought, that’s what triggers the ideas, and that’s what triggers the creativity.

[03:47] Our school’s slogan, if you like, is global reputation for regional expertise. It’s very important to have a global reputation. Tomorrow’s market, today’s market for business is global.

[04:04] But on the other hand, it’s also important to have some unique aspect. It’s a unique aspect that can be protectable, at least for a short time. Nothing will be defensible for a long time.

Taking that global knowledge and making it relevant in a regional context becomes extremely important.

[04:14] And for the short time, for us, that’s regional relevance. We will be the business school that teaches you how to do business in Southeast Asia and Asia.

[04:25] Global relevance comes from research output. It comes from taking part in global events. It comes from being on the stage, and somebody has to do that.

[04:36] I think the regional relevance comes from in-depth knowledge. For example, we’ve just launched a series called Turbo, and we bring in leading faculty from around the world.

[04:48] They come for just five days, face-to-face. But before that, and after that, we have one of our resident faculty provide what I call localization.

[05:00] The students are prepared for what they’re going to hear and for the questions to ask on regional relevance. So, taking that global knowledge and making it relevant in a regional context becomes extremely important.