MBA in China, career or corruption

By Parker Barriball (JIN Magazine)
Updated: 2013-01-08

It’s said that the US Senate is the most exclusive men’s club in the world. That maybe true but a close second must be the elite business school’s of China. The main advantage there is that in addition to powerful male classmates, you will find beautiful female classmates in the mix. People pursue higher education for different reasons and depending on the kind of school you attend your experience and career path afterwards can be vastly different. So what does having an MBA from a Chinese business school mean versus being a Westerner coming into China with an MBA from a Western school?

If one was to make a shortlist of hot topics that both Westerners and Chinese are concerned about, education (and the careers available as a result) would have to be in the top five. As the world is trying to come out of the hangover that was and is the global economic slowdown many people, young and not so young, are looking around at what to do to advance their career. For many of my university classmates that answer came in the form of hiding out in grad school in the US until things pick back up, for me it meant coming to China to carve out my piece of the pie. While there are plenty of examples of successful entrepreneurs who never went to university, or obtained an advanced degree like an MBA from a prestigious University, education is important regardless of your home country. One staple of professionals the world over has been the MBA (Master’s of Business Administration). It represents a significant investment of both money and time, but what is the return on that investment? What many schools use in promoting their MBA programs is not the curriculum itself but the attractiveness of the degree to future employers, the network offered through alumni, and in some cases, the playboy atmosphere found in top tier schools, though the last bit may not make it into the brochure.

Let’s take a quick look at the numbers, which may give us one side of the equation. According to the US-based Executive MBA Council in 2011 the average global tuition fee for an EMBA (Executive MBA) program was $73,000. Some business schools, like Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing, can take it up to the $100k range. That’s not to mention the opportunity cost which could be as much as $140,000 if you choose to study for two years instead of working. But maybe you choose away from a full time degree at a top tier school, and go for a part time program. Then you are looking at very little opportunity cost because you can work and study simultaneously, but the prestige (which remember is a big selling point of an MBA) might be diminished by going to a mid-tier school, or choosing distance learning. And remember that there are plenty of employers who are willing to foot the bill for your education which drops the cost to zero. Each path has its own return based on a very specific set of conditions, so numbers may not be enough to really evaluate the utility of an MBA.

So what do you get from an MBA program. Knowledge, a new skill set, upward job mobility, and at least in theory a larger network of business contacts than you would otherwise not have. Another aspect of having an MBA on your CV is that it signals certain things to future employers, for example, that you can learn at a higher level, and that you are motivated to advance your own career. These signals may not always work in your favor. Some employers may see you as too expensive or even a threat to their own job if you look good enough on paper. Obviously you should not decide against an MBA because some HR director has an inferiority complex, but having an MBA could make certain companies see you as overqualified.

One of the biggest parts of the MBA debate is how valuable it is to your career versus years of experience in a given field. There is no hard and fast answer to this because it will depend highly upon your situation and your potential employer’s requirements. Western companies are more likely to focus on skill sets (regardless of where you pick them up) and experience over a piece of paper that says you are a businessman. In China credentials matter, to the point that if a high school grad can’t make it into one of the top nine Chinese universities, some families will regard the last 18 years as a failure. We spoke earlier of the high price of an EMBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business; the university boasts some impressive alumni, in fact over 75% of their enrollees held positions of Vice President in their respective companies before starting their MBA. Whether its high level government leaders or chairmen of large enterprises, alumni of China’s top business schools share one thing in common, they are all rich. Students at these institutions often bring many years of business experience with them and build on an existing skill set. But more often than not, curriculum is not a large selling point. Many students come to these institutions because of the prestige and networking (ie guanxi) that comes with the MBA of a top tier Chinese business school, but there are other benefits to attending such an exclusive club, like the coeds. Increasingly, scandal is being associated with schools like Cheung Kong because of the extracurricular activities of their high profile alumni.

If you follow the pulse of the Chinese blogosphere in regards to these schools, the impression is that they are less for education and more a rendezvous point of the beautiful, powerful, and rich of China. Cheung Kong came under scrutiny recently when Wang Shi, a 61 year old property developer, and alumnus eloped with actress Tian Pujun, a fellow classmate. If James Brown is to be believed, this is a man’s world, and when the Chinese see the high-powered men’s club of elite business schools, it does not play real well with the common man. There is already plenty of angst about the growing income gap in China. However, from the perspective of those attending these schools it’s a one stop shop, in two years you can gain prestige, an impressive network, and with a bit of charm (or money) find true love. So maybe an MBA means different things in different places. It’s certainly not a decision to be made without a bit of research and reflection about one’s career goals.

For most Westerners in China the top MBA and EMBA programs will be out of reach due to language barriers. However, long distance learning and part time online coursework is a very popular option for those seeking the skills more than the prestige of the MBA. There are plenty of options on the table and even if you aren’t one of the elite hobnobbing in Beijing, an MBA may be the right career move for you to advance yourself, either here in China or back home in the West.