Gravy Training: Inside the Shadowy World of Business Schools

Stuart Crainer; Des Dearlove

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841120960 ISBN 13: 9781841120966

Publisher: Capstone, 2000

Are today's top business schools really crucibles of cutting-edge theory and management expertise? Or are they merely cash cows for universities and educators alike? In Gravy Training, two hard-hitting journalists uncover the inner workings of the world's top business schools, where the focus is often on generating huge enrollment fees and big-time consulting contracts for faculty. An intriguing mix of stories and hard data, Gravy Training clearly shows how many of our most revered business schools have reached a crucial crossroads in their development. The authors contAnd that, unsure of their role and facing intense competition, these schools must change dramatically if they are to survive. And they ask the hard questions these schools have so far failed to address.

Review:

While three of this century's most successful entrepreneurs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Anita Roddick may not have attended business school, more and more graduates are beating a path to the doors of the growing number of business schools worldwide. The business schools' "jewel in the crown"--the MBA--is now the fastest growing postgraduate qualification in the world. But, as Gravy Training authors Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove ask: Are the 800 or so business schools in the US and Europe currently producing over 100,000 MBA graduates a year really offering value for money?

There is no doubt that the millions now spent by companies and individuals on MBAs and a myriad of other executive training options (one estimate suggests that businesses worldwide annually spend more than $100 billion on employee training) has transformed what was a backwater of academia into a glamorous global industry worth billions. But, according to Gravy Training, business schools are fatally flawed and something must be done--fast. The sternest critics come not, as one might expect, from those who have succeeded in spite of a business school education, but from within. One MBA professor sums it up thus: "The idea that you can take smart but inexperienced 25-year-olds who have never managed anything or anybody and turn them into effective managers via two years of classroom training is ludicrous." A telecommunications CEO quips: "INSEAD graduates are like robots. Their brains seem to be disconnected from their bodies."

This thoroughly researched (as expected from two experienced business journalist/authors) and deeply disturbing book (to anyone paying to attend/send people to business school), may be the catalyst needed to persuade big businesses to force business schools to take a long, hard look at themselves and ask some painful, but necessary, questions about their effectiveness in a world that is changing so rapidly they are in danger of being left behind. --Carey Green

Review:

"Business schools have managed to create an aura of respectability to cover up what is otherwise a bloody brawl." -- Philip Kotler No