Rethinking the MBA : Business Education at a Crossroads

"Business Schools Face Test of Faith." "Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?" As these headlines make clear, business education is at a major crossroads.

For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now the business world has changed, say the authors of Rethinking the MBA, and MBA programs must change with it. Increasingly, managers and recruiters are questioning conventional business education.

Their concerns? Among other things, MBA programs aren't giving students the heightened cultural awareness and global perspectives they need. Newly minted MBAs lack essential leadership skills. Creative and critical thinking demand far more attention.

In this compelling and authoritative new book, the authors:


· Document a rising chorus of concerns about business schools gleaned from extensive interviews with deans and executives, and from a detailed analysis of current curricula and emerging trends in graduate business education

· Provide case studies showing how leading MBA programs have begun reinventing themselves for the better

· Offer concrete ideas for how business schools can surmount the challenges that come with reinvention, including securing faculty with new skills and experimenting with new pedagogies

Rich with examples and thoroughly researched, Rethinking the MBA reveals why and how business schools must define a better pathway for the future.

Srikant M. Datar is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University. David A. Garvin is the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Patrick G. Cullen is a research associate at the Harvard Business School.