高管教育市場 競爭者層出不窮

Just when business school deans thought it was safe to step back into the executive education market, they are discovering demand for these short, non-degree programmes is not as straightforward as they had believed.

正當商學院院長們認爲可以放心重返高管教育市場時，他們發現，對這種無學位短期課程的需求不像他們之前所想的那麼直截了當。

Strategy consultancies such as Bain and Boston Consulting Group have long been executive education providers, but now publishing companies, technology start-ups and recruitment consultancies are circling in an attempt to land chunks of a global market worth in excess of $70bn a year.

貝恩諮詢(Bain & Co)和波士頓諮詢集團(BCG)等戰略諮詢公司一直以來都是高管教育的提供者，但現在出版公司、初創科技公司和招聘諮詢公司都在伺機進入這個每年價值超過700億美元的全球市場。

In some cases, the new entrants have arrived through acquisitions — LinkedIn, the professional networking site, for example, recently bought , the training company. Others have arisen through alliances, such as the Financial Times’ partnership with Spain’s IE Business School to deliver corporate programmes.

在某些情況下，新入行者是通過收購進入這個市場的——比如職業社交網站領英(LinkedIn)最近收購了在線培訓公司。其他新入行者則通過聯盟進入該市場，比如英國《金融時報》與西班牙企業商學院(IE Business School)合作推出企業項目。

For the educational technology companies, it is a case of building on their existing businesses. “We are beginning to see the emergence of edtech-driven, venture capital-funded start-ups that believe edtech [the use of technology in teaching] is the driver of executive education,” says Mike Malefakis, associate dean for executive education at Columbia Business School in New York.

對於教育科技公司來說，涉足高管教育意味着在現有業務的基礎上發展。“我們開始看到由教育科技（edtech，在教學中運用技術）驅動、風險投資資助的初創企業出現，這些企業相信教育科技是高管教育的驅動力，”紐約哥倫比亞商學院(Columbia Business School)主管高管教育的副院長邁克爾•馬萊法基斯(Michael Malefakis)表示。

The recruitment agencies too, faced with the erosion of their customer base by sites such as LinkedIn, are building assessment tools and skills training into their services to corporate clients.

客戶羣遭到領英等網站侵蝕的招聘機構，也正在他們爲企業客戶提供的服務中融入評估工具和技能培訓。

But the competition does not stop there, says MIT Sloan dean David Schmittlein. The number of business schools entering the executive education space is increasing, especially young, up-and-coming ones. “How much of it is because of a more stable economic environment and how much because of spare human capital as MBA numbers are down [is unclear].”

但麻省理工斯隆管理學院(MIT Sloan)院長戴維•施米特萊因(David Schmittlein)說，競爭還不止這些。進入高管教育領域的商學院數量正在上升，尤其是那些建立不久、正嶄露頭角的商學院。“就此而言，有多少是因爲經濟環境更爲穩定，有多少是因爲MBA課程入學人數減少所致的富餘人力資本，（尚不清楚）。”

There is even competition from closer to home — from universities’ continuing education divisions, law schools, medical schools and engineering schools, says Prof Schmittlein. As subjects such as leadership creep on to the agenda of engineering schools, for example, “these will [begin to] look even more like management education institutions”.

施米特萊因表示，甚至還有來自與商學院關係更近的機構的競爭——大學的繼續教育學院、法學院、醫學院和工程學院。比如，隨着領導力課程悄然提上工程學院的議程，“這些學院（會開始）更像管理教育機構”。

What is more, companies that traditionally have been the customers of business schools are setting up corporate universities, often with the help of schools and cherry-picked professors.

此外，傳統上一直是商學院客戶的企業也正在設立企業大學，往往藉助商學院的幫助，並且選擇性地聘請少數知名教授。

“More and more we are being asked to help companies build their internal capabilities,” says David Altman, executive vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the US-headquartered Center for Creative Leadership, a not-for-profit research organisation and education provider. “Big companies are calling them academies, while others are saying they want to build their own internal capabilities.”

“越來越多的企業請求我們幫助它們構建內部能力，”總部設在美國的非營利研究組織、教育提供者創新領導力中心(Center for Creative Leadership)主管歐洲、中東和非洲業務的執行副總裁戴維•奧爾特曼(David Altman)說，“大公司將其稱之爲學院，而其他公司則表示它們希望構建自身的內部能力。”

Trends that began before the financial crisis are continuing, such as corporate demand for shorter courses. The trend for companies to eschew open-enrolment courses in favour of ones designed for a single company has accelerated, as has the need for programmes that award a certificate or diploma, which can often be credited towards a degree.

始於金融危機前的趨勢正在繼續，比如企業對更短期課程的需求。企業摒棄開放招生課程，轉向專爲一家公司設計的課程的趨勢已經加快。對授予證書或文憑（往往可計入學位課程的學分）的課程的需求也已加大。

Demand for certification is very important in Asia, says Guy Saunders, associate dean for executive education at Melbourne Business School in Australia. He believes all schools could eventually allow short courses to be credited towards a degree. “My sense is that the wall is cracking in the big schools too.”

墨爾本商學院(Melbourne Business School)負責高管教育的副院長蓋伊•桑德斯(Guy Saunders)表示，在亞洲，對證書的需求非常重要。他認爲所有商學院最終都會允許將短期課程計入學位課程的學分。“我的感覺是，大牌商學院的高牆也在出現裂縫。”

The demand to prove return on investment — a thorny concept in the context of education — is also back on the agenda. Josep Valor, academic director of customised programmes at Iese Business School in Spain, which topped the FT’s customised executive education rankings this year, says there are ways to measure this through executive promotion.

對證明投資回報的要求——這在教育領域是一個棘手的問題——也重新提上了議程。領銜今年英國《金融時報》定製高管教育排行榜的西班牙Iese商學院(Iese Business School)定製課程教務主任何塞普•巴洛爾(Josep Valor)介紹說，有幾種通過高管的晉升來衡量投資回報的方式。

He cites the example of Oracle, the software group, where Iese runs a programme for senior managers with Michigan Ross business school. Oracle judges the success of the programme by the number of people who go on to become vice-presidents in the company.

巴洛爾引用了軟件集團甲骨文(Oracle)的例子。Iese商學院和密歇根大學羅斯商學院(Michigan Ross)合作爲甲骨文的高管舉辦了一個課程。甲骨文依據課程參與者晉升爲公司副總裁的數量來判斷該項目成功與否。

“Companies are looking for value for money and can see [we offer that] because we can prove we have successful programmes that address their challenges,” says Prof Valor. “We do not know how to solve their problems — they know how to solve their problems. We help them think about how to solve their problems better.”

“企業在尋找物有所值的課程，它們能看到（我們提供這種價值，）因爲我們能夠證明我們擁有應對他們的挑戰的成功課程，”巴洛爾教授說，“我們不知道如何解決他們的問題，他們知道如何解決他們的問題。我們幫助他們思考如何更好地解決他們的問題。”

Asia, Africa and the Middle East are proving to be the growth markets for executive education in 2015. Demand is biggest in Asia for cross-cultural leadership and for training managers to run subsidiaries outside the region.

亞洲、非洲和中東正被證明是2015年高管教育快速增長的市場。亞洲對跨文化領導力、對培訓管理者在亞洲以外運營子公司的需求最爲強勁。

Demand from China in particular for executive programmes has rebounded, says Kai Peters, chief executive of the UK’s Ashridge Business School, which along with other schools has trained Chinese government officials. In the Middle East and Africa, the demand is for developing younger leaders.

英國阿什裏奇商學院(Ashridge Business School)首席執行官卡伊•彼得斯(Kai Peters)表示，中國對高管課程項目的需求再度升溫。該校與其他商學院合作培訓中國的政府官員。中東和非洲的需求則是培養更年輕的領導者。

In the US and Europe, demand is increasingly sophisticated, says Mike Canning, chief executive of Duke Corporate Education, part of Duke University in the US. “It is no longer about filling knowledge gaps. It is about rewiring, [which] is not about knowing something, but making sense of things for which we have no model.”

在美國和歐洲，據美國杜克大學(Duke University)下屬杜克企業教育學院(Duke Corporate Education)的首席執行官邁克•坎寧(Mike Canning)介紹，需求正變得日益複雜。“不再僅僅是關於填補知識空白。也要‘重新佈線’，這意味着，與其說要了解某事物，不如說要弄清楚我們沒有現成模型的事物。”

The use of online technology is also on the rise. This year, half of Columbia’s executive education participants will be distance-learners. Although demand for campus-based programmes shows modest growth, “online has mushroomed into the growth engine of enrolment”, says Malefakis. Columbia’s two online programmes that replicate traditional programmes have not cannibalised their campus equivalents, he adds.

在線技術的應用也方興未艾。今年，哥倫比亞大學高管教育課程的一半學員將採用遠程學習模式。馬萊法基斯表示，儘管對校園課程的需求也出現一定的增長，但“在線課程已逐漸成長爲招生人數增長的引擎”。他補充道，哥大兩套複製傳統課程的在線課程沒有影響校園課程的招生。

“One of the real keys as to why online is growing is not just the price point but the opportunity cost for both learners and faculty.” Online students can study at their own convenience, in the evenings and at weekends, he points out. “Learning has become 24/7.”

“在線課程增長的真正關鍵之一不在於價格點，而在於學員與教員的機會成本。”他指出，在線課程學員可以在自己方便的時候學習，晚上和週末都可以。“學習成了一件每週7天、每天24小時內自由支配的事情。”

That said, the main challenge may not come from the rise of technology or increased competition from consulting and publishers, says Dominique Turpin, president of IMD business school in Switzerland. The dearth of academics who can teach executives is the biggest threat, he says.

話雖如此，瑞士國際管理髮展學院(IMD)院長多米尼克•圖爾平(Dominique Turpin)認爲，主要挑戰或許並不在於技術崛起，或者來自諮詢與出版機構的競爭加劇。他表示，最大的威脅是缺少能給高管講課的教員。

“The only way we can survive is to be innovative and relevant. You have to be close to the client,” he says. “If you ask the board members of IMD what worries them, it is where to get the faculty.”

“我們唯一的生存途徑，就是創新，保持自己的相關性。你必須接近客戶，”他說，“如果你問IMD的理事會成員，他們最擔心什麼問題，他們的回答將是到哪裏聘請教員。”