Asian business schools need local focus to succeed, says dean

Business schools in Asia should adopt a “local lens” and quit trying to replicate what their peers in the West do, according to the leader of an institution forged by a partnership between a bank and top US university.

Joseph Cherian, who assumed the role of chief executive and dean of the Asia School of Business (ASB) in Kuala Lumpur last year, said business schools “are shooting themselves in the foot” by failing to adapt to a changing world, and must modernise and transform their curricula and teaching for the digital age.

ASB was established in 2015 as a collaboration between Bank Negara, Malaysia’s central bank, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Sloan School of Management. Cherian said the relative novelty of ASB makes it “agile” and “able to come up with new innovative ideas”.

“That’s very important for curriculum development because business schools are becoming less relevant,” he said.

A native Malaysian, Cherian is the first local president of ASB. And yet is he also “a global player”, he said, having spent much of his life abroad, working in financial services in the US and teaching at top institutions such as Cornell University and Boston University.

It is “the local lens” that Cherian quickly identified as a missing ingredient in business schools in Asia, which often attempt to simply transplant Western or European experiences into an Asian context.

ASB “is contextualised for South-east Asia” but, at the same time, “if we put any of our faculty or students in a global context in New York, they’ll also be as successful”, Cherian argued.

“Graduates should be able to move between boundaries, between cultures. But [at ASB] they learn all about South-east Asia, which is the fastest growing region in the world.”

Cherian has adopted the same stance on research, too, explaining that research outcomes should benefit local communities. Some examples of current research at ASB include promoting the trade of sustainable palm oil and exploring how to elevate refugees and low-income groups in Malaysia using behavioural economics.

“We’re using world-class research that impacts local communities in Indonesia, Malaysia and neighbouring countries.”

This hyperlocal approach allows ASB to “differentiate” itself, in Cherian’s view, and to ensure that “what we teach in the classroom is relevant to what the industry needs”.

One example of how to make the curriculum relevant to industry needs is prioritising topics such as artificial intelligence and sustainability and integrating them across all teaching. “We have standalone courses in those areas, but that’s not enough.” Cherian said. “It should be embedded in every course.”

The task of retrofitting business schools to meet the demands of the modern age is ongoing, though.

“It’s not like everything we teach is perfect for the industry,” said Cherian. “There’s always some angle that we may not meet…Everything changes so fast.

“It’s a work in progress. But the question is, how quickly are you willing to adapt?”

rosalind.skillen@timeshighereducation.com