Purdue News
Purdue News
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December 11, 2002 Purdue management school dean, professor meet with German Chancellor SchroederWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (SHRO-der) met with two Purdue University management school leaders in Berlin on Thursday (12/5) to discuss business education in his country.
Richard A. Cosier (ko-SHUR), dean of Purdue's Krannert School of Management and Leeds Professor of Management, and Dan E. Schendel, professor of management and dean of the German International Graduate School of Management and Administration (GISMA), spent an hour conferring with the German leader. "Chancellor Schroeder has a visionary view that his nation's top business leaders need business education based on the United States' MBA model to compete well in the global economy," Cosier said. While Germany is the world's third-largest economy (behind the United States and Japan), it has been troubled for a number of years. According to The Wall Street Journal, German unemployment is 10 percent, economic growth is virtually non-existent, and bankruptcies of German corporations are expected to number 37,000 this year, the ninth increase in the last 10 years. Germany's economic troubles also are starting to spill beyond its borders, hurting the European Union and even raising concerns of affecting the global economy, according to the Journal. Schroeder was one of the driving forces in the 1999 creation of GISMA, a collaboration of the Krannert School of Management and a German foundation. Part of the discussion last Thursday concerned possible new collaborations between the Krannert School, GISMA and other German businesses and educational institutions. "Schroeder seems to feel that for Germany to right its economy, the leaders of its businesses and industries must be versed in the broad base of management issues that make up American-style MBA education," Cosier said. In contrast to German business education, which is theoretical and lecture based, American MBA education uses a practical, interactive, case-study approach to management education. Typically, teams of American MBA students will work to find and present the best business decisions for cases adapted from real business situations. For example, MBA students might evaluate a diversified manufacturer's production operation and recommend a new process that would improve product quality and reduce inventory. Or they might devise marketing plans for a innovative piece of technology just coming to market. Also involved in the meeting were Krannert School alumnus and German business leader Juergen Grossmann, owner and chief executive officer of Georgsmarienhutte Holding GmbH, and three GISMA officials. Grossmann, a friend of Schroeder, was influential in founding the GISMA partnership and has been a strong supporter of MBA education's importance for German competitiveness. Business education in Germany trails other European countries in the adoption of the American-style MBA educational programs. While in Germany, Cosier and Schendel also attended GISMA graduation ceremonies for the second class of executive MBA students on Friday (12/6). Since GISMA's inception, more than 100 students have received MBAs from the one-year, full-time program, and more than 40 have graduated from the part-time executive MBA program. Writer: Mike Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu Sources: Richard A. Cosier, (765) 494-4366, rcosier@mgmt.purdue.edu; Dan E. Schendel, (765) 494-4386, schendel@mgmt.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION: A publication-quality photograph is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/cosier.schroeder.jpeg.
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