Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts

AUTHOR: Chris Sheedy   DATE: 06.09.07   ISSUE 1, 2007

The speed of change in the business world is increasing exponentially. Organisations are becoming more fluid, responsive and flexible, meaning their staff members must share these traits by becoming increasingly innovative and entrepreneurial. This places new demands on institutions that are educating undergraduate and postgraduate students. It also places greater importance on those institutions' research capabilities.

It's a challenge that Professor Alec Cameron, Dean of the newly-formed Australian School of Business, is relishing, as the tools at his disposal are some of the most powerful in Australian business education.

What has been created is an entity that is stronger than its complementary parts.

Illustration: Gregory Baldwin

When the decision was made to bring together the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) and the University of New South Wales’ Faculty of Commerce and Economics, it represented a merging of two of Australia's benchmark educational and research institutions recognised for producing outstanding graduates, employing world-class academics, and as business thought leaders in the Asia Pacific region. As one entity, the Australian School of Business now harnesses the power of both institutions to deliver to business an unmatched range of resources.

"AGSM has long been recognised as Australia’s premier graduate business school. The Faculty of Commerce and Economics has always had a strong reputation for providing excellent business education and for having strong links with industry," Professor Cameron says. "Sometimes both competed internationally to attract the best business academics.

"We had a graduate school of business providing MBA programs and executive education, plus a comprehensive Faculty providing all the other elements of business education. We had outstanding academics in both institutions. Why wouldn't we naturally pool our resources – academic, physical and financial – and from the one capability deliver undergraduate programs, postgraduate coursework programs, executive education, and a common research-intensive culture? That's what we've done – pooled our resources to provide the best opportunities for business."

Educational depth and breadth
What has been created, Professor Cameron says, is an entity that is stronger than its two complementary parts as it offers business a greater depth and breadth of programs. It is also more resilient and stronger financially with more resources to leverage in its quest to better serve the needs of government and industry. The opportunity is now to create an institution that is truly world-class in terms of scale and quality.

"What we now offer our business partners is undergraduate and postgraduate business education, management development and research capabilities. As a single entity we can deal with the lifelong education of an organisation’s workforce, provide top-notch graduates, and post-graduate education for staff. We can also provide executive education (open and custom programs) and we can undertake research assignments and do consultancy. We're drawing on a significant stock of resources."

That's just what's on offer now, Professor Cameron says. The future is filled with possibilities. The MBA degree, for instance, has been constantly changing with the times since AGSM was established in 1977. But students have recently been seeking greater specialisation on top of the general management education offered by an MBA.

"To a large extent the MBA has been a one-size-fits-all product," Professor Cameron says. "That's now coming under challenge from a few areas. The aspirations of people who are taking MBAs are evolving and increasingly we're seeing students whose aim is not to work with a large corporation but instead to make wealth in some way via innovative entrepreneurship. Others want the general management qualification but they also want to specialise in a particular area such as finance or marketing. Having brought together the two educational entities we can now offer these options."

Greater specialisation
Further areas of specialisation are being developed within the Australian School of Business to anticipate and serve new demands from industry, students and academia. Certain academics, says Professor Cameron, have great knowledge in innovation and entrepreneurship, and external stakeholders are very interested in this area. The newly formed single entity has been able to act quickly to establish the School of Strategy & Entrepreneurship.

Even with the integration of the two institutions, Professor Cameron says there will always be gaps to fill or areas to build on as demands from industry and the culture of business change. He is keenly aware that in a sector where so many players are competing for the attention of business, for the most promising students and for the finest academic staff, constant change is vital.

"We're fortunate that we start from a position of great strength," he says, "but at the same time you can't be complacent. We need to ensure we always set the highest standard both in terms of students we're prepared to admit and the staff that we're actively seeking. I'd like to make sure that every time we make an appointment we improve the average capability that we have across the institution, and similarly with the students we accept to our programs."

One of the greatest strengths of the new School is its close integration with Asia, including links with industry and educational commitments in the region, says Professor Alec Cameron, Dean of the Australian School of Business.

Photo: Milk and Honey Photography

One of the greatest strengths of the new School is the fact that it is closely integrated with Asia, including links with industry and educational commitments in the region. As the world economy in the foreseeable future will be driven by this region, particularly with the exciting developments in China and India, Professor Cameron says the School's new and established regional links put it in a powerful position.

"This is a real opportunity for us," he says. "How do we take advantage of this? We need to invest in and continue to make further relationships in the region. We must remain known as the place people from across the Asia Pacific region come to enhance their business knowledge and skills. We already have a significant number of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the region and we also have people who come to us from Europe and North America because they see the bridge that we create, the proximity to Asia, as being to their advantage. Finally, we can continue to help business engage with and get a better understanding of markets in Asia.

"Our aspiration is to be recognised locally and globally as the pre-eminent business school in Australia and to be a peer in good standing with the best business schools in the world," he concludes. "We want students to see us as the destination of choice, the place to get the best business education. We want employers and recruiters to know that for the best graduates this is the business school to recruit from. Within the business community we want to be recognised as the institution that can best assist with ongoing development of staff and with research and consultancy. And within the global academic business community we want the top business schools in North America, Europe and Asia to naturally choose to partner with us in terms of collegiate academic exchange because we're recognised as having the best academics."