Proliferation of the MBA: The case of New Zealand. James C. Lockhart Director Graduate School of Business

Transcription

1 Proliferation of the MBA: The case of New Zealand James C. Lockhart Director Graduate School of Business

2 Introduction The beginnings New Zealand joins Early university offerings Deregulation of the tertiary sector Appealing to the mass market Distance learning Market responses What the future may hold

3 The beginnings Professional management dates from the 1840s Businesses were single-site, owner-run organisations Training was gained (or not) OTJ Accounting and engineering lay claim to management training First B-school founded was Wharton in 1881 Followed by universities of California Berkeley and Chicago in 1898 Postgraduate education was first introduced by the Tuck School in 1900, followed by HBS in 1908

4 New Zealand joins Undergraduate business education in NZ grew largely out of accountancy programmes The MBA was first introduced by Otago University in 1976 Massey University offered a Masters in Agricultural Business and Administration from 1972, and the MBA from 1977 By the mid-1990s nearly all universities (5 of 7) offered an MBA in some form Either executive, fulltime and/or modular

5 Early university offerings in NZ The early MBAs reflected the inherent strengths of the host university Massey University s MBA developed out of the Department of Farm Management and Agricultural Economics graduate program [sic] Curriculum reflected the interests of faculty Strong emphasis on finance and accounting Relatively weak focus on strategy and human resources No executive skills

6 Massey University

7 Massey University?

8 Deregulation of the tertiary sector Consistent with governments belief for a free market economy the tertiary sector was effectively deregulated in the mid-1990s Rush to gain university status One polytechnic made the grade before the door closed again Regional polytechnics began offering degree courses in business Plus postgraduate qualifications in business

9 Deregulation anything goes?

10 Appealing to the mass market Two NZ polytechnics partnered with offshore tertiary providers Offered Australian MBAs under NZ tutors on the NZ market Direct competition with the universities, targeting second chance learners In 2006 there are now twelve (12) providers The three (3) traditional university providers The other universities The polytechnics Alone or in partnership with Australian b-schools Distance providers

11 Mass market appeal Conventional measures of quality Polytechnics Current domain of traditional universities Programme cost

12 Distance learning New entrants are distance learning providers Henley Management College Occasional (scheduled) classroom support Extramural offerings (distance education being considered by NZ providers) In excess of 1,000 students enrolled in MBA programmes in NZ But less than 400 graduate annually Until 2000, Massey University had >50% market share About 3,400 MBA grads in New Zealand Massey has 1860 MBA graduates

13 Distance education Executive education? Clear market demand

14 Market responses Market segmentation Traditional providers Strict entry criteria; age, experience and academic ability New entrants Entry criteria is different; young age, little experience Distance providers Significant instant market share (14-16%) Trading on offshore reputation Distance education untried provider of executive skills

15 Market responses Polytechnics Claimed nos enrolled students International distance providers Current domain of traditional universities Programme cost

16 What the future may hold Traditional providers Deliberately fracture the market Accreditation Distinguish themselves Embedded executive skills programmes In-house MBA programmes into corporates Continuation of offshore programmes Polytechnics will serve the discount market Distance providers?