Hello everyone. John Branch here, professor of marketing from the University of Michigan. I also serve as Academic Director at Barcelona Management Institute (BMI). I enjoyed reading all your posts and wanted to add some comments from ?the other side?.

To begin, I was doing my Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge when it launched its MBA. Personally, I think that the programme was ill conceived, poorly delivered, and generally not worth 30 000GBP or whatever it cost at the time. However, it was the MBA at Cambridge and therefore, to all who considered it, it must have been absolutely fabulous. That ?halo effect? (as it is called in organisational studies) is at work at many M.B.A. programmes throughout the world. Of course, reputation is usually an indicator of quality, but it is not always true.

For me, the question is how do you really judge the quality of an M.B.A. programme. Research of services in general suggests that consumers use 4 things to evaluate a service: brand image, price, encounters with the company, and quality. Beginning with brand image. The challenge for any school is establishing a brand image (reputation). With respect to BMI, it is new, so it has not the established a reputation yet. However, it has attempted to mitigate this indirectly through its strategy to use leading professors from top business schools from around the world. So, if you were to attend BMI, you could say, ?I got my MBA from BMI.? Some people might scratch their heads. But you could add, ?Well, my professor for The World Economy module was John Branch, professor at Michigan, the #1 ranked school in the U.S. And my professor was from ZSEM, the leading school in the Balkans. And my Managing People professor was from CERAM, a top French school.? Another point to add here. Public universities by their virtue of being public, have a brand image as being supported by the government. But anybody who knows public institutions in Europe knows that in general they are not good (by international standards). They are poorly funded. The professors are not paid well. They are concerned only with research and not teaching. The facilities are not modern. Now of course, they are well known. But they are not good. So, do you want a brand? Or do you want an education? Or some combination?

As for price, public institutions have the benefit of being publicly funded. But as you probably know, in Europe, most business schools are private (or some public private combination). Why? Largely because of the history of higher education in Europe. Economics was researched and taught, but business was not deemed important. So, you will see lots of economics departments in universities, but not many business schools. So, private business schools were set up. And naturally, the price is higher in order to cover costs. Some of the more established schools have loads of money from donors and companies. But they usually charge even higher fees. . . because they can. People will pay what they think it is worth. This is the basic marketing notion of value. With respect to BMI, it is more than some, and less than others. It is certainly more than public university business schools. But there you get what you pay for. . . mostly professors from that country, who have little international experience, are mostly concerned with their research and not the students, etc.

Encounters. . . consumers tend to view the service company in terms of the encounters with people of the company. Because the service is intangible, it is easier to evaluate the people. So, when you have contact with anybody from an institution, ask yourself if the encounter meets or exceeds you expectations. I hope that the encounters which you have had with BMI, have demonstrated excellence. I know that the administration prides itself on this.

And finally quality. . . hmm. The thing is that the traditional definition of quality which might come to mind (meeting certain production standards) does not really apply in services, because services are intangible, and, therefore, provide no touch points for quality evaluation. In fact, (more) research shows that consumers in general assess the empathy, responsiveness, reliability, and assurance of the people, and the ?quality? of the tangible evidence. . . you see, 5 things which are not the quality of the service, specifically because a service is intangible and so they look to the cues which are tangible: the people and the physical environment of the service. So, very pointedly, what does quality mean in an M.B.A.? Recently, and increasingly, business schools are applying for accreditation from various 3rd party accreditation agencies, principally AMBA (U.K.-based), EQUIS (European), and AACSB (American). They each have a list of ?best practices? for M.B.A. programmes, which a school must meet, before it can be accredited. They are not so prescriptive, however. Indeed, they require things like ?Does the school demonstrate a concern for students? Does the school have adequate library facilities??. I was going to use egg or milk marketing board quality accreditation as an analogy. But I think with eggs, there are very specific metrics for identifying ?This egg is a Grade A?. . . moreso than with these accreditation agencies. Indeed, this is the definition of quality from manufacturing/operations. . . the reaching of certain production standards or specifications. But in education I believe, and especially in M.B.A. programmes where the whole idea of innovation and differentiation is not just the norm but the expectation, there is definitely not any generally accepted standards/specifications. Incidentally, B.M.I. is applying for accreditation, but for all three, there is a minimum existence period (usually 3 years) before you can be accredited. So, what is quality? At the end of the day, I suppose, quality is defined to a large extent by the customer. That is, if the student believes that the programme will meet his/her needs, then it is quality. Personally, I think the B.M.I. programme (the curriculum) is great and that is why I am affiliated with the school. It is focused, integrated, international, strategic, conceptual, theoretical and practical at the same time. B.M.I. was very innovative, creating a network of professors which, in my mind, are the three key things for M.B.A. programmes: teaching expertise (most are award-winning); international experience as expatriates, consultants, etc.; and branded (Ph.D. university, companies in which they work, and so on). Sure, B.M.I. does not have the brand, the tradition, the history, the gymnasium, the granite walled institutional feel. But, in additional to the curriculum and the professors, it has tonnes of other things: the city, the international students, the small class size with personal attention, the responsive administration, the paedagogy.

So, there you go. Some things to consider as you are evaluating M.B.A. programmes. I would welcome your comments. Take care and ebst wishes,

John Branch

Hi everyone ,

I am looking for a masters degree program ( esp MBA and marketing) in barcelona.
does anyone have any idea about Universitat de Barcelona.

According to what I know, Universitat de Barcelona only offers a distance learning MBA. Which other schools are considering?

I only did some research about MBA prog. in Spain, I can't tell you anything about other Master programs, sorry

University of Barcelona (MBA)
http://www.fbg.ub.es/buscador.htm?f=xml/buscadorTotsCursos.php?ambit=161&idioma=es,,topTit=MBA%20y%20Management

Mr Branch,

Thanks for your comments here. The fact that you teach at BMI give me a guarantee for an interesting lecture when assisting, but an MBA has more that 1.000 hours, so, what about the others? I mean, which percentge of this total is from top professors? Probably very small, why? very simple for the cost of your hour, the school would incurr in losses. But second, as you know, an MBA cannot be offered by putting a professor from Ross, then other from X, and then from Z, because it would be a mess (if it`s not correctly coordinated).

By the way, do you think that Cambirdge MBA is in the top 10 in Europe?

PS: SingleSpain is a Ross alumni.

JD Branch,

It suffices to have a look at the BMI web page to realize that almost no professor is a faculty member at a top school. Out of 22 professors, one is a lecturer at U. Michigan, and another one is an Assistant Prof at George Washington U. There is also an Associate Prof from Clemson, an Assistant Prof from Simon Fraser, and an Adjunct Prof from U Missouri. So how can you say that BMI faculty is composed of leading professors from top schools?

In addition, there is some really misleading information. You use the MIT Sloan logo to make people believe that BMI has MIT faculty, but there's no MIT professor teaching at BMI. If you check the BMI faculty web page,

http://www.barcelonami.org/professors/professor_profiles/?cat_id=2112&ew_3_r_f=1&ew_3_r_t=20&news_category_id=

you'll see that the only person with the MIT logo is Prof. Sharp, who does not teach at MIT. He has published one article in the MIT Sloan Review, that's all. I don't think the Sloan School would appreciate that you use their logo in that way.

Thanks for the comments and concerns. A few things:

The programme at BMI is well coordinated, just as you would expect any MBA with all in-house professors to be coordinated. I agree, it is probably easier with all professors in one single location to have meetings and 'get on the same page'. But as academic director I have direct control and direct contact with each professor, and work on making certain that their content matches the overall integrated curriculum design which I set at the start. I would also argue that because the BMI programme was designed by one person (me), is controlled by one person (me), and so on, there are not the usual politics of a traditional school to get in the way of curriculum design. For example, at another university where I taught, I would sit in meetings where decisions would be taken based on when the professor wanted to take his holiday to India, rather than when was the most appropriate time for the students to take the module. It was a top 25 school in the United States.

Cambridge MBA. . . according to the rankings, it is a very good business school. Now, again, following my logic in my last posting, I ask "What does quality in an MBA mean?" Clearly, Cambridge at 800 years old has a reputation. But is the curriculum actually what you want? Are the professors good teachers. Forget about research. Are they good in the classroom?

As for professors from top business schools. . . there are more than 2 000 business schools in the United States, so top tier means different things to different people. In Europe, there is also a huge number of schools, but a generally accepted view of which are the 'best' schools. I know where the BMI professors are located and where they teach, and so on. I developed the network and am in contact with them often. And many if not all are located at, currently teach at, or have taught at top business schools. University of Michigan is one yes. But there is also Ohio State, Clemson, Helsinki School of Economics, Moscow State University, Stockholm School of Economics, ZSEM in Croatia, Missouri, Washington University, University of Western Ontario, Adelaide, George Washington University, CERAM, even ESADE (a Barcelona competitor). Now admittedly, some professors are from lesser known schools. But they were chosen because of their teaching excellence (not research) and because they also have some other brand to bring to the school (Where they got their Ph.D. for example). Remember that not all professors when they get their Ph.D.s want to go to top tier schools, because those schools are largely research institutions. That is, those schools define themselves with a scientific purpose. Teaching is secondary. Look at the mission statement of any university in the Carnegie 1 or 2 designation in the United States, or pretty much any publically-funded university in Europe, and it will be mostly about science, creation of knowledge, etc. Teaching is always a secondary. Now to my mind, this is a bad thing for a business school or any other professional school, which is trying to teach an action-oriented and mostly practical vocation. I often say that b-schools are just glorified welding schools. And would you want someone who knows only the theory of welding and is not a good teacher to be teaching you welding?

Logos. . .The logos help to make visual on the website the schools, insitutions, and organisations where the professors have experience.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions about MBA programmes in general or BMI specifically.

Best wishes,

John Branch

John,

Regarding the professors at BMI, who is from ESADE? I can't see it from BMI web.

Not all professors in the network are listed on the webpage at this time. The list is a good sample, but there are about 50 in the network. AS fo the ESADE folks, I don't know if they have asked our web administrator not to show their profiles, so I ought not to give their names.

John

University of Michigan is one yes. But there is also Ohio State, Clemson, Helsinki School of Economics, Moscow State University, Stockholm School of Economics, ZSEM in Croatia, Missouri, Washington University, University of Western Ontario, Adelaide, George Washington University, CERAM, even ESADE (a Barcelona competitor).

Well said Jaitego, with all the respect for the small schools, but it looks like that if you put few professors together than you have done a Business and an MBA.

There are so many schools in the world that are operating since a long time and still do not have an accreditation.

We apreciate the good will, but now especially in Barcelona it seems to be a cancer of Business schools offering excelent and international MBA. What about the alumni network, the career placement?

Hey guys,

I am a resident of Mumbai, India. I have been accepted into IE's International MBA Programme 2008 - 2009. I would definitely love to go, but I'm not sure of career opportunities after the programme. Coming from India, I would love to get some international work experience. What are the prospects? And how easy, or should I say difficult, is it for an Indian to get a job in Spain / Europe? Any other countries where job prospects are good for students graduating from IE?

Please advise.

Thanks,

Gaurav

Gaurav,

IE has a well regarded international MBA so I am sure you will have good opportunities in Europe, specially in big cities such London or Frankfurt. But it will be a bit difficult in Spain, unless you have a good command of Spanish. I encourage you to come to IE!
Which is your background?

Hi SingleSpain, Your post "I encourage you to come to IE!" gives the impression that you are affiliated with IE. Is this the case? If so, what is your affiliation? If not, why post "come to IE!"?

Full Disclosure: I am participating in the FIND MBA board as an excercise to provide an illustration for a segment I am teaching of the course "What the CEO wants you to know" at BMI www.barcelonami.org One of the readings for the segment is www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html??? Click on Post MBA for more biographical info.

I am not affiliate with IE. When I said that is beacuse of the fact that IE is at "my home country" and the place where I work.
I also consider that my opinion is very well supported by the fact that I know many MBAS from the various Spanish Bus. Schools and the pre and post MBA experience of them.

I don`t really understand your comment, PostMBA.
IE is an excellent school, I would count it among the best schools in Europe, and its probably the best in Spain. I can only encourage Gaurav, having been accepted, to go for it.
I think this is an opinion many people share with me, and I don`t understand why this makes you presume an affiliation with IE...?

Anyways, an IE MBA looks for me like a good introduction to the European job market, first of all to the Spanish market. But also in the rest of Europe IE is a name and has a good reputation.

I agree that knowledge of Spanish is necessary for working in Spain. But from my own experience of learning Spanish, I think its not such a big obstacle, and Gaurav will most likely be able to learn enough during the time living in Spain, while doing the MBA.

Hi Jona - by way of explanation, SingleSpain's comment appears to be an English as a Second Language (ESL) issue. An invitation to "come to X" implies shared community. I could say "Come to New York" if I live in New York - and only if I live in New York. In the same way I could say "Come to NYU" only if I am affiliated with NYU. Hope that helps.

I have been following the discussions on this forum and some people seem to have indepth knowledge of the MBA programmes in Spain. So, I would like to ask them to advice of a part-time programme from a top B-school in Barcelona which is taught in English.

Many thanks,
GD

You may look at their respective web pages and then you think about your preferences. Personally, I would prefer a program from IESE or ESADE but you may also find an interesting program at Eada. If you are thinking in a specific program, tell us about it.

www.iese.edu
www.esade.edu
www.eada.edu

I have been following the discussions on this forum and some people seem to have indepth knowledge of the MBA programmes in Spain. So, I would like to ask them to advice of a part-time programme from a top B-school in Barcelona which is taught in English.

Many thanks,
GD