Roundtable on Business Education in Brazil

Paul Danos, Dean Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

For the second in a series of roundtables on the future of business management education, a group of business education leaders and journalists from the U.S. and Brazil recently came together to discuss the situation in Brazil. This is the summary of that session, The Nature of the MBA Program in Brazil, (also avaible in this post just below using the "Continue reading.. " link) along with the previous roundtable discussion—The Future of Management Education in Germany.

Some of the findings show that while both countries have many new MBA programs, in Brazil, most of the new programs are part-time and are offered by independent business schools that are not closely affiliated with universities. Also, the prediction for the growth of faculties is that in Germany schools seek to build a research culture akin to that in the U.S. while the Brazilian faculties are expected to be mostly part-time, with less emphasis on academic and refereed research.

The most recent roundtable discussion on the Future of Management Education in Europe was just held in Paris on April 23. The transcript of that conversation will be available soon.

A Discussion of Business Education in Brazil

Introduction
On November 18, 2005 a business education roundtable was held in São Paulo, Brazil and included the following participants:

Paul Danos, Dean of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the Laurence F. Whittemore Professor of Business Administration;

Elatia Abate, Executive Director at Fundação Estudar

Claudio Haddad, President of Ibmec SP

Heitor Penteado, President of BSP

Yoshiaka Nakano, Director at FGVSP-Economia

Antonio Batista, Associate Dean for Faculty at FDC

Ricardo Betti, education consultant

Journalists in attendance included:

Stela Campos, Valor Economico

David Marcus, former Latin American correspondent and education writer

Maria Tereza Gomes, Voce S.A.

The intent was to have knowledgeable participants in the Brazilian business school world share their views on business management education topics. Themes that were discussed during the dialogue included the definition of an MBA program, full-time versus part-time MBA programs, MBA employment, and the emphasis placed on faculty and faculty research. Dean Paul Danos of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth moderated the discussion. The following gives highlights of the roundtable.

Topic 1—The Nature of the MBA Program in Brazil

Executive Summary—Topic 1:

• There are no strict regulations as to what defines an MBA program.
• The number of companies funding students’ MBA educations has decreased.
• MBA programs are moving to include more soft skill training.
• It is difficult to get students to enroll in two-year, full-time programs. The majority of programs in Brazil are two-years, but are part-time and generally in the evenings.
• Part-time programs abound because they cost less and can provide specific training.

Questions and Comments:

Danos:
Can you describe the nature of the MBA programs in Brazil?

Haddad
I can give some facts about the Brazilian Business education system as I see it.
Most MBA programs in Brazil are “lato sensu,” that is, not strictly regulated by the Ministry of education. A few are “stricto sensu” and are more regulated and academic.
In the MBA world there is a dominance of the part-time format, mostly in the Executive MBA style.
In the past, MBA education was maybe 70% company supported. Now it is less than 50%.
Major reasons for the dominance of part-time programs are cost and need for specific training.
Those wanting full-time, more general management programs go abroad.
More soft-skills are being covered, whereas programs used to be finance and engineering oriented.
Brazilian MBA programs have very low tuition as compared to U.S. or European standards.
Some of the top schools would like to set up an accreditation system to ensure minimal standards.

Penteado
It is hard to get students to choose two-year, traditional full-time programs. One-year full-time programs will probably evolve.

Nakano
There has been an adverse selection in Universities where poor students selected the MBA.

Batista
Our MBA is not a “master’s degree,” in the formal sense of the phrase in Brazil. To teach you need to have a sanctioned degree, and the MBA is not a sanctioned degree. There is a proliferation of specialty programs. Anyone can use the term “MBA” and there are no regulations that say what that is.

Topic 2—Employment Opportunities for Business School Graduates

Executive Summary—Topic 2:
There is growing demand for increased quality and soft skills among managers.
In large part, Brazilian companies seem to prefer training their employees via in-house programs, or using customized MBA programs as opposed to sending employees to business school to acquire specific skill sets. The later is more unique to America.
Some companies however do make recruiting MBAs a part of their overall strategy.

Questions and Comments:

Danos:
What is the employment landscape for business graduates?

Batista
Companies now want a custom MBA for their employees, whereas before they would send people to general enrollment programs.

Haddad
Undergraduate programs are weak so companies support training for their workers and don’t rely that much on hiring undergraduate business students. Companies don’t seem to give differential rewards to those with MBAs. They “lock-in” their employees with in-house programs.

Batista
Companies don’t believe that the MBA makes a big difference.

Abate
But different companies have different attitudes about the value of the MBA.

Betti
I agree, some companies believe in the MBA and it is part of their strategy to hire MBAs.

Penteado
American companies are most willing to sponsor employees who work on the MBA.

Haddad
The market is slowly recognizing the need for more sophisticated MBA’s.

Batista
Most large companies have corporate universities and ask, “Why are we investing in the MBA degrees?”

Haddad
Yes, but there is growing demand for quality.

Abate
I believe that corporations are demanding more and more soft skills of their managers.

Nakano
The demand for real sophistication is limited. U.S.-educated MBAs here get finance sector jobs. Most Brazilian companies do not demand a lot of sophistication.

Topic 3— Growing Relations Between Employers and Institutions

Executive Summary—Topic 3:

• Over the years the gap between companies and institutions has closed, and now companies choose to create and maintain close relationships with business schools.
• Most Brazilian corporations are family-owned and value their relationships with institutions because they are looking for the top talent with international and leadership training.

Questions and Comments:

Danos:
Do companies get what they want in business graduates?

Haddad
A large sector doesn’t care because they don’t need to be truly competitive.

Penteado
Schools are close to companies. Before this a big gap existed between businesses and academics. That gap is closing.

Abate
Human resource directors really want talent but can’t get it. Banking and consulting are different than domestic corporations in this regard.

Batista
I believe that Brazilian companies value custom solutions and long-term relationships with schools. 84% of Brazilian corporations are family-owned. Purely public sector, large companies are not that common. But we now see companies wanting to have more international and leadership orientations.

Topic 4—Hard Versus Soft Skills and Experiential Learning

Executive Summary—Topic 4:

Today’s business leaders need a more inclusive skill set, one that includes core quantitative skills, but incorporates soft skills.
Part-time Brazilian MBA programs tend not to involve experiential learning, while custom programs do.

Questions and Comments:

Danos:
Do companies say they want soft skills, as in the U.S., but tend to hire people with more quantitative and financial skills?

Batista
Academics value analytical skills and therefore the “best” students in their eyes are the ones with those skills. We should consider giving soft skills first in our curricula.

Nakano
I think that business leaders today need a new kind of analytical skill, a more creative kind.

Danos:
What form of experiential learning takes place in Brazilian programs?

Haddad
Undergraduate programs have internships, but the part-time MBA typically do not.

Batista
In custom, company-specific programs we do a lot of projects involving company issues.

Topic 5—The Emphasis on Faculty and Faculty Research in Brazil

Executive Summary—Topic 5:

Typically, Brazilian business schools do not have a formal research requirement. Established public schools seem to be the ones deeming research more important and as a requirement.
There was consensus on the panel that Brazilian business schools are moving toward emphasizing research, but today and historically this is more of an American-style faculty culture.
Named professors are not in high demand in Brazil, as they are in the U.S. Thus, there is less competition among them, and students who wish for prestigious faculty will travel to the U.S. for their education.
It is important for Brazilian faculty to relate to and work directly with companies.

Questions and Comments:

Danos:
What is the nature of the faculty workload and the research emphasis in Brazil?

Penteado
90% of the work is teaching, mostly executive education. We see some shifting to more research by some of the new faculty and some of the old for that matter. We are creating a not-for-profit organization, the BSP Research Institute, to concentrate our research activities.

Batista
We want applied research. We have two types of professors, the clinical who do not research and the academic who do applied research.

Penteado
We see executives who want to go from professional to teaching because they are retiring at a younger age. Some are going back to school for the PhD.

Haddad
There are only six PhD programs in business in Brazil. But there seems to be an adequate number for our purposes. We have a point system for evaluating publishing productivity. Eighteen of our faculty are full-time and some publishing is expected. Forty are part-time and no research is required.

Nakano
The normal for the new schools in Brazil is not to emphasis research and usually there is no formal requirement. In the established public schools, research is deemed more important and a requirement.

Batista
Our faculty need more practical skills. But we too are moving toward more research emphasis.

Haddad
Our reward structure does not reward good research except in the area of finance.

Nakano
I want to make sure that you understand that the public schools have are operated in the more standard, American-style, faculty culture.

Haddad
One problem with our faculty is that there is no real competition among them.

Penteado
We are launching an academic publication that would have Harvard Business Review-type articles.

Batista
We need to balance rigor and relevance.

Haddad
But we need to put rigor first. As general quality improves, there will be more demand for academically qualified faculty. Globalization will foster applied research that will be relevant to companies that compete internationally.

Danos:
What is the demand for highly recognized research leaders?

Haddad
One or two schools at most might be interested.

Abate
I don’t believe that named professors are in demand at Brazilian schools.

Penteado
Those who want prestigious faculty go to the USA for education.

Batista
I believe that a good professor is one who relates to and can dialogue with executives.

Penteado
The IMD model is interesting and has worked well in Brazil, where professors must relate to and work directly with companies.

Nakano
The research effort must be split away from the executive education programs.

Comments

[Richard Edelstein]

It is challenging to discuss the nature of MBA education outside the U.S. because there are inevitably problems defining what an MBA is in a particular country and how it is or is not integrated into executive recruitment practices. As the MBA is an American graduate level professional degree usually embedded in a university context, it is not surprising that significant adaptation to local conditions is required. In Europe where we think of the MBA as well established, the reality is that there is great variability by country in terms of number of degrees granted and in the acceptance of the degree by the national executive recruitment market. Most of the "leading" European MBA programs are purposefully creations of independent institutions outside the university and oriented toward an international market of transnational or global corporations not national labor markets. Mainstream business studies are actually found in applied economics departments of many European Universities.

The discussion of the Brazilian case suggests that the MBA remains a marginal qualificaton for Brazialian companies and begs the question of where senior managers come from, if not business studies. Often engineering, economics or legal training are more significant qualifications for entry into major firms outside the U.S. Another interesting issue is the curriculum and content of business studies. What is actually taught and what are the pedagocial methods used? It would then be easier to situate the MBA in terms of its prestige and significance in the selection of leaders of firms, organizations and even government. Focusing on the MBA degree tends to limit the discussion when it comes to understanding the patterns of leadership selection and executive recruitment in countries outside the U.S., Canada, UK and perhaps Australia.

That meetings are being held in numerous countries regarding education for business is a good thing. A little more rigor in the nature of the conversation would add even more value.