John J. Fernandes is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AACSB International

Citation

Fernandes, J.J. (2010), "John J. Fernandes is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AACSB International", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 17 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccm.2010.13617bab.001

John J. Fernandes is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AACSB International

Article Type: Executive corner From: Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Volume 17, Issue 3.

John J. Fernandes is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB International is the world's largest association of business schools from more than 70 countries and the primary global accrediting body for business schools and accounting programs.

John served prior to AACSB as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for The Institute of Internal Auditors and Vice President and General Auditor for New York City Transit. His experience includes staff and management positions with Exxon Company USA, Cameron Iron Works and Houston METRO.

Mr Fernandes has extensive corporate governance experience as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of a large health care system. He is also on the Board of Governors of Beta Gamma Sigma and the boards of directors of the Global Foundation for Management Education, the PhD Project, Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and Tampa Bay & Company.

John holds a bachelor's degree in business from Babson College and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Houston. He is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government, Harvard Kennedy School, and the University of Texas' Public Executive Institute. In 2006, John was recognized as the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship's Corporate Entrepreneur of the Year.

Context

AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – is a global association of high-quality business schools and organizations with nearly 1,200 member institutions in 74 countries, 570 of these are accredited schools in 33 countries. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, USA, and with a regional office in Singapore, AACSB International is the primary business school accreditor, association and collective voice for management education worldwide. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss AACSB International's role in addressing cross-cultural challenges in management and management education.

Cross-cultural management challenges

There is no “one size fits all,” in a discussion of management education throughout the world. Business school missions, priorities and operations are motivated by the state of development of the school's primary economic sector. While business disciplines are generally similar in content, all economies face different management needs as they progress through various stages of development. Moreover, in the highly diverse global economy, cultural, political and societal differences necessitate different managerial approaches and styles. Management educators must be responsive to business's requirements as they ensure that students learn the fundamentals of business. For example, accountants and auditors who are well-trained in the methods and regulations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are critical in developed countries but would not be the central need of developing economies where, entrepreneurship and family business are the foundations of economic growth. Therefore, student learning goals, curricula and pedagogy will vary.

One of AACSB International's toughest tests is implementing its global mission. Our mission is, to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation and thought leadership. It is a noble and appropriate mission that is well understood globally. But, in application of eligibility requirements and guidelines for implementing accreditation standards, AACSB is challenged in its efforts to achieve its mission. AACSB accreditation is built solidly for the well-resourced, high-income country business school. It relies heavily on world class faculty with the highest academic credentials and makes faculty members prove themselves again and again every five years to retain the vaunted appellation, “Academically-Qualified” (AQ).

The definition of an “AQ” faculty member is primarily an individual who has achieved a PhD, has a sound research background and demonstrates ongoing proof of competency through various forms of research and other professional development. In high-income countries like the USA, production of AQ faculty is the model. These well-tooled academicians are ready to publish and there are many widely accepted journals, periodicals and other publishing entities to display their work. But developing countries have fledgling doctoral programs in business, high teaching loads and few credible publications. Research and continued professional development are not part of the “priority equation” in many developing regions. This “AQ” shortcoming, coupled with the infancy of assurance of learning, are just two of several factors that inhibit business schools in the developing world in their efforts to seek the 93-year old “Gold Standard” in management education, AACSB accreditation.

University structures, program content and duration and student preparedness further separate AACSB accreditation seekers around the world. In 2003, AACSB made its standards global based on recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Accreditation Quality. In application, the changes in standards and eligibility requirements made AACSB accreditation less US centric; however, these positive actions were not sufficient to make AACSB accreditation globally achievable. More than 90 percent of business schools worldwide may not be accreditable under the current global standards. In summary, AACSB's mission fulfillment is hindered by its accreditation requirements. To be true to its mission, AACSB will have to find a way to include many more business schools in widely diverse economies in its titanic tent.

Cross-cultural challenges in the future

So long as the situation remains as stated above, AACSB will run the risk of decreasing relevance as a global management education leader. While still the King of the Hill, it is highly likely that other innovative accrediting bodies will emerge with standards better suited for the world's diversity. AACSB faces a difficult choice. It could either broaden inclusiveness within the accredited school family and potentially risk the accreditation's pre-eminence, or it could develop a second, high-quality accreditation that is not so dependent on the advantages of operating in the high income, mostly western world.

If AACSB stays with its “one size fits all” model, it could find itself in a position most notably described by Harvard Business School's Clay Christiansen. Dr Christiansen warns simply that industry leaders who do not keep an eye on the perceived lower quality providers and manage these markets face long-term business risk. Perhaps the best example is the Japanese assent in the automobile market from the 1960s to the present. General Motors and other US automakers, once the auto industry's unquestioned leaders, lost their way. This, too, could happen to management education's matriarch since 1916 if it does not pay attention to world needs. The next five to ten years will be telling for AACSB in its efforts to reach the twenty-second century still on top of the world of management education.

An interesting anecdote

AACSB and most of the western world places top notch faculty as the primary determining variable in excellent management education. Schools live and die in the accreditation process based on their faculties. AACSB is truly the guardian of “the best faculties in the world.” With respect to students, AACSB has fewer directives. Standards say that a school must follow its admission policies, but they do not say what these admission requirements should be. AACSB standards require degree program learning goals and student assessment to ensure that students learn; but standards do not require that admission to accredited business schools is based on the student's pre-admission performance.

In China and India, for example, with their massive student populations, schools achieve recognition and become highly regarded based on demonstrated aptitude and competitiveness of students admitted to the degree program. While faculty quality is important in these countries, the priority toward faculty achievement of AACSB-defined AQ status is not a focal point. Getting the best students who score the highest on national placement examinations is a key measure of higher education quality. The truth is that both variables (great students and highly effective faculty) are keys to excellence in management education and in the end, the economic development of the nation and region.

Potential cross-cultural research

One of the most critical areas of development that I see is the increasing need for cross-cultural research projects as well as cross-cultural research teams. We need to know more about attributes of business and management in different parts of the world, and academic researchers can tell us. We also need to learn more about the efficacy of varying faculty models in producing quality graduates of business schools. What causes the production of quality graduates? One global giant's former CEO told me following a discussion of the growth of management education worldwide, that he had not realized the likely impact of accreditation. Yet, it was clear to him that it had a big impact on the quality of graduates. He cited that in developed countries with accredited schools, his company was quite successful in recruiting and retaining excellent talent. However, in major developing regions, he advised that approximately half of the hires had to be dismissed and the other half had to be completely retrained. The world of management education is obviously not flat.

The wide world of business and business schools needs to know what factors tend to produce good business persons. Collaborative research by capable and diverse academics could find the answers. After over 100 years of experience in educating business leaders, AACSB recognizes that many educational models can work and we need to systematically analyze these different methods. Most likely this analysis would provide the basis for a diverse set of learning and teaching models that would be the foundation of a broader set of accreditation standards than now currently exist.

Other comments on cross-cultural aspects of management

Since the word “other” allows a lot of leeway, I want to take this opportunity to speak to the developed world about its obligation to the developing world. I believe that in developed countries, a large portion of the population has access to the potential tools to achieve a high quality of life. I also think that high-income countries do a lot of things very well and are mostly generous toward developing nations. However, the generosity of the “Haves” must be tempered by modesty. We must as leading nations be better team players and less directive. If countries such as the USA, its businesses, people and government can learn to be one of the leaders and support the developing world, then the USA and other developed nations are destined to be long-term world leaders. We, at AACSB, must be catalysts of this transformational journey.

John J. FernandesPresident and Chief Executive Officer, AACSB International