Gravy Training

Gravy Tales

At Wharton Business School, MBA students talk fondly of the 'Wharton Walk' a well-known drinking ritual — or bar crawl — that involves 20 bars in one night. "A great bonding experience," says one student. This is what happens at business schools. While most students simply get drunk; MBA students bond and network. If you read the books that promise 'inside stories' on business schools you read a lot about caffeine intake as students work through the night and how boring courses in international finance can be. Most people know that already. Similarly, if you read broschures about business schools and articles on them, there is a lot of sugare sentiments. "Do something to make the program better for those who follow you," advises one MBA student to his successors. Another adds: "You are in the prime of your life — look for a school that you can enjoy, not just edure, for two years." Noble thoughts, but there is more to business schools than the clean-cut ambitious young men and women absorbing the merits of strategic planning and networking deep into the night. There has to be.

Welcome to the real world of business schools.

Welcome to Gravy Training

• Welcome To Gravy Training
1. The Irresistible Rise Of Business Schools
• The corridors of power
• What do business schools do?
• Born in the USA
• Conquering the world
• The jewel in the crown
2. Broken Promises?
• Building competitiveness
• Inventing management
• Defending the case
• Icy hearts and shrunken souls
• Fashion slaves
• Missions accomplished?
3. Business or Ivory Tower?
• In search of a bottom line
• Glorious detachment
• The industrialization of the MBA
• Gilding the lily
• Pushing the brand
• The rise of the Custom MBA
• Practising what they preach
• International expansion
• Schools behaving badly
4. The War of Ideas
• Who is winning the war of ideas?
• Blurring the great divide
• Rent-a-quote
• Ghosts in the machine
5. Stellar Faculty
• High stakes
• Back to mediocrity
• Wiggling their butts
• Recruiting superstars
• The great PhD goldrush
• Show me the money
• The credibility gap
6. Strings Attached?
• Pay back time
• Banking on alumni
• Names on plates
• Strapped for cash?
7. Power Networks
• Door opening time
• The INSEAD way
• The golden graduates
• Career elevators
• Self-perpetuation
8. Reputations on the Line
• Reputations to die for
• The power of John Byrne
• Ranking the rankings
• Return on investment
• Quality control and self-regulation
• Empire building
9. The New Competition
• The competitive frenzy
• Universities get corporate
• Consultants turn teachers
• Gurus Incorporated
• Beauty pageants
• Tiger power
10. Uncertain Futures
• Welcome to the future
• Sleepwalking through a revolution
• No business is an island
• Wired for learning
• The medium is the message
• The three-tier business school system
• Where does this leave the MBA?
11. Where Now for Business Schools?
• Game up; or game on?
• Competition
• Philosophy
• Teaching methods
• Faculty issues
• Students and alumni
• Program content
• Types of programs
• MBA programs
• Funding
• Structure and organization

• Further Reading And Information

Interesting if you want to know how MBA schools really work.