Back to B-school: CEOs are turning to custom-designed programs at top schools to educate the senior ranks

Chief Executive, The, July, 2004 by Jodi Schneider

Companies like Sony and Volkswagen have opted for programs at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, which takes students on a whirlwind tour of the world's tech capitals, from Barcelona to Silicon Valley to Shanghai. (See sidebar, page 44.)

Pharmaceutical companies, which tend to have many sites around the world, are large users of custom global programs, said Bill Klepper, academic director of executive education at Columbia's business school. Often such firms bring executives together to coalesce a strategy for introducing new drugs. "The question is, what will it take to align the various functions of the business to make for a powerful launch of the product?" he says. "We bring together a team of executives from each of your function areas, and we develop a session focusing on the strategic priority of a successful launch."

Whatever the strategic purpose of executive MBA education, CEO involvement can help keep it on track.

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* Columbia University Graduate School of Business

Executive Education Program

New York, N.Y.

www.gsb.columbia.edu/execed

800-692-3932

* S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management

Executive Programs

Cornell University

Ithaca, N.Y.

www.johnson.cornell.edu/execed

607-255-4251

* Robert H. Smith School of Business

Executive Education Program

University of Maryland

College Park, Md.

www.umd.edu

301-405-9562

* Darden Graduate School of Business

Executive Education program

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, Va.

www.darden.virginia.edu/exed

877-833-3974 or 434-924-3000

* University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Business

Executive Education program

Madison, Wis.

www.bus.wisc.edu/graduateprograms

608-262-4000

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A few tips for making your custom executive MBA program work for you:

* Get involved. The CEO and/or other senior executives should be involved in the key aspects, such as the choice of school, design of the program and whether to hold it on campus or off-site. Be specific about your needs and goals, and help design the program.

* Negotiate price. Business schools need this income stream to replace lost income from open-enrollment executive education programs. To win your future business, they may be willing to make some deals.

* Shop around. Don't rely only on contacts with business schools with which you already have relationships. A business school's specific expertise could be critical to a specific project. Solicit contract proposals. Interview key faculty members to make sure they'll be a good fit with your management team.

* Be a student in the program. Or have your most senior executives participate if you cannot. Business schools are nearly unanimous on this point: If the CEO visibly supports the programs, they have a much greater chance of delivering results. "Without senior support, the returns of the program drop dramatically," says Ted Beck, associate dean for executive education at University of Wisconsin's business school.

* Follow up in measurable ways at regular intervals. Incorporate such follow-up and feedback from participants into the design of future sessions. If the business school is reluctant to make those changes, look for another program. After all, in this case, you're the customer.