THESE ARE CHALLENGING times for the growing number of international business schools that offer executive MBA (EMBA) courses on the mainland. The competition is intense, with schools from the United States, Britain, Australia, continental Europe and Hong Kong, among others, striving to hold their own in a country that is developing schools of its own with international clout.
While there is clearly a demand for business management education to meet the needs of China's booming economy and increasing engagement in global markets, the success of these schools will depend in equal measure on a substantial investment in appropriate faculty and facilities, and their ability to adapt traditional western-style thinking to meet the needs of Chinese executives and business.
While full-time MBAs in China may attract people changing jobs, executive programmes - which are undertaken in addition to students' full-time jobs - need to be relevant to employees committed to a career with a single employer.
For this reason, an important growth area for the international school is the customised EMBA.
Buck Pei is associate dean and director of the China programme in Beijing for the WP Carey School of Business (Arizona State University), which offers a customised course for Motorola as well as open courses.
The school's relationship with Motorola goes back 40 years.