1aking AIM

What to do when a prestigious business school starts to lose its edge? Sharpen its
focus.
By Heinz Bulos
October 2003

t might as well stand or Ancient
Institute o Management. lor one,
AIM, or the Asian Institute o
Management, is one o the oldest business
schools in Asia, and the irst in Southeast
Asia. Unortunately, it`s also perceied by
some as being behind the times. And not
leading edge.
But that`s not to say AIM has allen rom
grace. lar rom it. In the country, it
remains the most prominent B school. It`s
still highly regarded in the region and
ranks high in peer ratings and magazine
lists. lor instance, AIM is number our in
the ASLAN region, behind three
Singapore business schools, based on the
latest Asia Inc. magazine surey. And it
belongs to its Asia`s Best MBA Schools
2003 league-best o breed` schools that
are not just leaders in their own region,
but serious contenders ,i they`re not
already there, to join the ranks o top
business schools in the world.`
It`s one o only 61 business schools
worldwide that hae receied the
Luropean Quality Improement System
award. And accreditation to the
Association to Adance Collegiate
Schools o Business ,AACSB,, the largest
worldwide accreditation organization, is in
the works.
loweer, MBA programs rom the likes
o De La Salle Uniersity and Ateneo De
Manila Uniersity are aggressiely
attracting young manager wannabes with
their improing curricula, competent
aculty, and modern acilities.
MBA applicants are also looking at top-
notch business schools in the region, such
as the Australian Graduate School o
Management and the NUS Business
School o the National Uniersity o
Singapore.
And, o course, i they want a most
coeted Iy League education, there`s
always larard, \harton, and Stanord,
to name a ew. And i you can`t go to
them, they will come to you. An
increasing number o MBA programs
rom the US, UK, and Australia hae set
oot on Asian, including Philippine,
shores through ull-ledged campuses,
oshore programs, local tie-ups, and e-
learning acilities. 1here`s a booming
demand or MBA degrees in Asia. An
Indian School o Business ,ISB, report
notes a 30 percent annual growth in MBA
applications. Last year, there were 10,000
applicants or 11,000 MBA degrees in 4
Asia Paciic business schools.
But there`s also a surge in supply. So now,
candidates or management education
hae a plethora o choices. \hereas AIM
used to be choice in Asia, now it`s just
one o too many.
1o its credit, AIM has been undergoing a
transormation or the past ew years.
Roberto de Ocampo, who seres as
President or the past our years, has
continued pushing AIM higher.
1he approach: run the business school
like the business that it is. Be ocused on
market positioning. Protect brand equity.
lorge strategic partnerships. Bee up
product oerings. Improe capabilities.
Lnhance customer serice. And use
technology as an enabler.
I
Be focused on market positioning
there`s one criticism that De
Ocampo will concede to, it`s that
people elt that it might hae been a
little too inward-looking.` Case studies
and topics hae ocused too much on
Philippine economic and business issues,
which are not always releant to its
international students, who comprise a
high percentage o its student population
,currently 39 percent,.
And it certainly goes against AIM`s alue
proposition: that it deelops global
managers who can be assigned in
international management positions. De
Ocampo asserts, \e now want to
emphasize in our name Asian`, not just
the Philippines.`
le adds, \e`re emphasizing our
positioning as we put it in our motto
Asian business with a global
perspectie`.` 1his dierentiates AIM
rom \estern business schools. So or
instance, while the Uniersity o Chicago,
which has set up a campus in Singapore,
may sell itsel as a proider o irst-rate
\estern MBA education, AIM takes the
exact opposite approach: that it`s oering
an Asian-oriented curriculum, that it`s
the authority in Asian business.`
And it also dierentiates itsel rom local
and regional competitors. Leading
business schools rom Singapore, India,
and long Kong oer a strong glocal`
positioning, meaning global perspecties
taught in the local context. AIM, howeer,
emphasizes Asian` rather than
Philippine` context.
1his is clearly seen in AIM`s procliity
towards uniquely Asian subject matters,
such as amily corporations and the
transition o publicly-held entities to
priately-owned companies. De Ocampo
explains, See, in Asian business, most o
the companies continues to be amily-
owned. 1hat happens to be a unique
eature o Asian business. So, on the one
hand, we study the proper management o
the amily corporation. On the other
hand, the amily corporations are also
being encouraged to eole oer time to
much more widely-held corporations. But
at the same time, there are the areas now
o priatization o state enterprises and
how you transition rom their being state
enterprises into priately-owned. 1hat`s
another important element o the
structure o enterprise in transition
economies and in deeloping countries
like the Philippines.`
Another example is deelopment
management, a ield which introduces
proessional business thinking practices to
the public sector. \hich is important in
Asia,` De Ocampo points out. Because
as you know, a lot o public enterprises or
een local goernments do not practice
good business and that is the purpose.
1he other business schools don`t hae
that.`
But een in its core management
programs, the Masters in Business
Administration ,MBA, and Masters in
Management ,MM,, AIM is slowly
updating its content to be more Asian in
perspectie. De Ocampo explains, lor
example, we now hae case studies on
Jollibee. \e`re looking at speciic Asian
cases and we`re hoping we will be able to
get cases out o India, Indonesia. \e are
building up our intellectual capital,
meaning, case studies and research papers
on Asian business. 1hat`s another thing
you should expect to happen. It`s already
happening but we`re going to increase it.`
Protect brand equity
ne thing going or AIM is its
brand equity. As one o the
oldest business schools in Asia,
it`s well-known and highly respected in
the region. 1he name itsel-Asian
I
O
Institute o Management-is a clear
adantage rom a marketing point o iew.
De Ocampo saw that AIM needed to re-
emphasize its brand equity. \hen I came
in here, I noticed that, perhaps because
AIM or a long time was the only game in
town, they might not hae been as careul
in terms o brand equity as they otherwise
would hae been, because there was no
competition.` Len as minute a detail as
inconsistent logos or design o
publications has a signiicant impact on
market perception. De Ocampo says,
\ou can look at ten dierent AIM
publications, each o one has a dierent-
looking AIM insignia. So now we hae a
manual on brand equity and we try to
exercise a lot more quality control in
branding.`
Iorge strategic partnerships
n as much as AIM directly competes
with other B schools, it needs to
strike partnerships with some o
them. Ater all, the Asian Institute o
Management was established in 1968 in
partnership with larard Business School
and the lord loundation.
\e`re looking at haing partnerships
with \estern schools, reiing our
relations, or example, with larard,`
notes De Ocampo. \e do hae an
ongoing relationship with the oldest
business school in the US which is
Dartmouth`s 1uck School o Business.`
le adds, \ou should expect increased
partnerships or relationships with oreign
uniersities, multilateral entities, and
increases in aculty exchanges and student
exchanges.`
AIM is also working with the business
community. One important area is
executie education, through so-called
corporate uniersities-basic management
programs customized by AIM or local
and multinational clients like Meralco,
Citibank, Intel, and Pizer-a good
means by which we can connect to
international enterprises.`
lor instance, AIM is conducting the
regional training on leadership or
potential country managers o the regional
Citibank network. It`s also currently
running the regional basic management
program or Intel. On the day o the
interiew, the Insurance Industry
Association gae a donation in order or
AIM to ocus training on the insurance
industry. De Ocampo says, AIM has
been constantly ranked as the number one
school in Asia or executie education.`
Another area is corporate goernance,
where AIM is the acknowledged leader in
the region, partly because it`s the irst
one to hae an endowed center or the
study o corporate goernance`, namely
the Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center or
Corporate Responsibility. AIG, the
world`s largest insurance company, gae
the endowment. De Ocampo adds, A lot
o the research we are doing on corporate
goernance has to do with Asian practices
and how \estern iews on corporate
goernance can be adapted.`
De Ocampo has been instrumental in
orging an ongoing strategic partnership
with the \orld Bank, through its Global
Deelopment Learning Network
,GDLN,. \e hae become the irst
priate sector academic institution
worldwide that is the partner o \orld
Bank,` De Ocampo says.
1he \orld Bank proided the hardware
and technology, so we can lecture rom
here and beam it to the rest o the
network,` explains De Ocampo. And we
can get other network members and get
that lecture beamed in to the other
participants in the room here.` It has been
put to good use, with more than 0
distance learning conerences conducted
so ar.
I
\e are also inalizing a partnership with
ADB ,Asian Deelopment Bank,,` De
Ocampo adds. ADB is looking at AIM as
a center within the region through which
to course scholars that are unded by
ADB. 1hat would be both in the priate
sector and the public sector.`
And the other has to do with what we
call as the Mekong Delta Deelopment
Project. So that`s Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam, possibly Myanmar. And the role
o AIM is to be able to set up the priate
sector or business education.`
1hrough linkups with the \orld Bank,
ADB, and the like, AIM is getting
increasingly globalized. 1hat`s apart rom
its ongoing programs being run in-
country, like in India, Singapore, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
Beef up product offerings
IM has eoled into a multi-
school structure. Now, there`s the
\.SyCip Graduate School o
Business ,\SGSB,, the Asian Center or
Lntrepreneurship ,ACL,, the Center or
Deelopment Management ,CDM,, and
the Lxecutie Lducation or Lielong
Learning Center ,LXCLLL,.
And its curriculum continues to eole.
\e always take a look at what are the
needs o the priate sector,` notes De
Ocampo. 1here`s quite a bit o emphasis
now on globalization issues and o course
on goernance issues as well as I1 issues.
Now we`re probably going to be looking
as well at the enironmental issues as they
pertain to the conduct o business
enterprise.`
And, o course, entrepreneurship. AIM`s
Asian Center or Lntrepreneurship has
become one o our astest rising programs
in terms o enrollment and which is being
iewed as probably the most innoatie
entrepreneurship program in Asia. \e`re
the strongest now in terms o
entrepreneurship,` says De Ocampo.
AIM is also breaking new ground with the
introduction o business programs or
speciic sectors. De Ocampo explains, In
the past two years, we started looking at
other areas o management, particularly in
those ields that are usually looked at as,
you might say, sot sectors or socially-
oriented sectors. 1hese are health
management, education management, and
arts management. So we introduce short-
term courses in these three.`
le adds, 1he important thing is there are
ew management schools that deote their
time to sectors like health, arts, and
education. 1hat`s a gap because a lot o
hospitals should not be run by doctors.
And a lot o schools need neertheless
this kind o business orientation so that
when they`re looking at igures or the
bottom line, they`re much more attuned
to the business aspects o it.`
Improve capabilities
ight now, there are some 30 MBA
teaching sta, 80 o whom hae
PhDs and all with at least 10 years
o work experience. But AIM needs
management thought leaders who do
ground-breaking work. Dean Niees
Conesor, in a speech last year, admitted
as much: Our aculty should be
perceied as thought leaders and research
trailblazers recognized by regional
institutions, multi-media networks,
journals, and major international
conerences.` 1he business books that
inluence management thinking are
predominantly \estern, and De Ocampo
acknowledges the act.
Apart rom a ew AIM proessors, such as
Dr. Ned Roberto, who hae published
lilipino-centric books on marketing, there
are hardly any publications by AIM
proessors o note. Conesor, in her
A
R
speech, noted: \hile we hae published
Dr. Ned Roberto`s latest books on social
marketing, we now must ensure that they
are made aailable as widely as possible,
beyond AIM`s present campus and to a
readership beyond our own students. 1his
will require collaboration with other
publication proiders to bring AIM
intellectual capital into the mainstream
and into the arious knowledge loops in
the Asian region.`
Neertheless, inside the classroom, De
Ocampo emphasizes that AIM likes to
think o itsel as a practitioner-oriented
school.` 1hat means the aculty o AIM
are asked as a matter o AIM policy to
deote 30 percent o their actual teaching
time to consulting work, to hae a better
eel o where the markets are going`.
At the same time, De Ocampo says that
they hae re-positioned to
internationalize the aculty, to
internationalize their outlook, to reach
out, to utilize tools like global business
learning so that our intellectual capital
here can be utilized and heard about een
outside the Philippines.`
Lnhance customer service
he Asia Inc. report notes, In an
MBA education, the measurement
o alue-added has always been in
placements. 1hat`s why, compared with
other students, many MBA prospects are
willing to pack their bags and, passport in
hand, head or the biggest growth
markets. 1oday, that`s China, but i long
Kong and Chinese uniersities are too
expensie or not up to academic
standards, many will also consider
Lnglish-speaking Southeast Asia,
particularly Singapore.`
Alumni relations are the latest emphases
and inestments o Southeast Asian
business schools today. 1hrough word-o-
mouth to peers or their inluence in the
company, alumni make eectie reerrals
or the business schools. Alumni also
adise schools on course content. In
addition, they can proide temporary
internships or permanent careers or
MBA students.`
It`s no wonder that AIM has been
working erently on this. De Ocampo
points out, 1he other thing that we`e
done oer the past our years is put a lot
more emphasis on alumni relations.
Unortunately in the past, that might not
hae been as strong as it should hae been
or all kinds o reasons. But now, we are
completing our database on our alumni.
\e proide students who come in here
with an e-mail address, and unlike beore
our time, when they graduate, they
retriee the e-mail address. Now we say,
let them keep them so we can track them
down, keep in touch. As a result we`e
gotten the alumni much more inoled in
AIM which is important or us not only in
terms o keeping the banner high but also
in terms o their continued support to the
institution.` le adds, More recently, the
alumni association has begun a und or
aculty deelopment. In the past, the
alumni wouldn`t be bothered with their
homecoming.`
Customer Relationship Management
,CRM, solutions proider Blastasia Inc.
custom-deeloped the CRM program that
AIM uses to build and manage its
database o students and graduates. Arup
Maity, a proessor at LXCLLL and
ounder and CLO o Blastasia Inc.,
explains that one reason people take up an
MBA is to build a good network.
le says, Most o our graduates are rom
all oer Asia. Now, how do you keep
them in touch 1hat`s the direction we are
going to in using technology to bring the
community o AIM alumni together. \e
built an alumni portal, which is targeted
towards interaction. It allows you to orm
your own interest groups, like inance
1
group, deriaties, entrepreneurial things.
It also gies us an idea what their needs
are.`
But there are other reasons or the
database, according to Armi Ruby Marie
Cortes, a member o the core aculty o
LXCLLL. One aspect is or them to
hae a grasp on what issues they are
currently acing and what solutions AIM
has. It`s also using it or customer
intelligence, which is to understand where
they are right now and what other
programs may be useul or them. 1hird is
we`re trying to acilitate enrollment online.
\e`re also using it as a way or our alumni
to get in touch with us in terms o
actiities they can participate in. \e hae
three centers o excellence. I they want to
attend a conerence on corporate
goernance, a conerence on inance, a
conerence on I1, we hae so many o
these actiities running eery year and it`s
a way or them to know what`s going on.`
Maity agrees: In a way, they are like our
customers. \e hae to sere them better
in inding their needs. Sometimes
customers don`t know what they need.
\e tell them maybe this is what you want
to look into.`
Use technology as an enabler
ortes explains that a ew years ago,
AIM`s Chairman \ashington
Sycip and the Board o Directors,
gae the direction to integrate I1 in all
AIM`s programs, in response to
competition rom the Iy League schools
in the world, like larard, \harton.
1hey`re all using technology as an enabler
or them as an academic institution and
also in the program oerings. I we are to
compete with the major schools in the
world, it`s an initiatie that we hae to
do.`
AIM has been beeing up its I1
inrastructure and approach. 1he AIM
strategy is what is called the blended
approach,` explains Cortes. It is
currently championed by Proessor
1ommy Lopez.` It`s structured in our
ways: an I1 department headed by Ld
Bonoan, an I1 aculty group that handles
the I1 programs or executie education,
an e-learning group which is championed
by Proessor 1ommy Lopez, and the
GLDN.
Cortes adds, \e use technology in three
ways. One is as an enabler or AIM as an
academic institution. Second is or us to
teach it as a competitie adantage or a
dierent clientele. And third is to use it as
an e-learning platorm.`
She continues, 1here is a acility there
which allows AIM as an academic
institution to sort the data or its decision-
making capability, which will help AIM
answer questions like \ho are the
inance guys in Bangladesh who are
graduates o AIM \ho are the marketing
guys who are in long Kong` 1he other
user is the student who is an alumnus o
AIM. le can also sort it out depending
what his requirements are. I you want to
ind out \hat were the programs I took
at AIM \hen did I take it low much
did I pay or it \hat are the programs
applicable or me``
Maity notes that I1 is already integrated
into the core MBA curriculum. 1he irst
year or instance includes sessions in I1-
related subjects, such as introduction to
project management and supply chain
management. It`s a compulsory course
because we beliee inormation
technology is not something you do i you
choose but has become part o doing
business today.` In the second year, there
are electies like e-marketing, project
management, and CRM.
\e already hae an e-learning platorm
now that allows us to do a irtual
classroom or a discussion board, so
C
students need not meet the aculty on a
one-on-one basis,` explains Cortes. AIM
is not only a lilipino institution, it`s really
an Asian institution. A lot o our
programs are run abroad. Sometimes you
need to hae interaction with the aculty
ater or beore the program. \e`re hoping
in the uture, we can hae the aculty
doing the lecture here and the students are
all oer Asia. 1hat soles the problem o
cost or i people are araid to come to the
Philippines, or access anytime and
anywhere whoeer is aailable.`
Not all these projects are complete. And
some o the eects o these initiaties
won`t be immediately elt. Now, i you`re
a B school student or MBA graduate, it
would be tempting to do a S\O1 analysis
or apply Michael Porter`s theories. Ask
yoursel: \hat would you hae done
low would you approach this problem
Better yet, gather a discussion group. One
thing`s or sure: AIM certainly makes an
case study.