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BUSINESS_____________________________________________________ gt H_uman _~ita__ ____cap___
Raising capital the human kind Lebanons EMBA programs are growing but no one knows what value they add By Thomas Schellen
M anaging a top flight
business school program
in Beirut is like enjoying
Forrest Gumps box of chocolates Its
a life full of surprises where many
- but not all - are happy ones The
latest proof in the pudding was the
American University of Beiruts intake
of Executive MBA (EMBA) students
exactly a year ago
Recalling an experience that
still burns in his memory Riad
Dimechkie the executive director
of the EMBA program at AUBs
Olayan School of Business (OSB) was
expecting a class of 22 managers and
professionals from around the region
to embark on their EM BAs
They had applied been vetted and
accepted he explains And said they
were coming Then one week before
the start date [United States President
Barack) Obama was planning to
bomb Damascus So we lost half our
students in one week
In statistical terms over the
duration of the AUB EMBA program
since its inauguration 10 years
70 SEPTEMBER 2014 I wvwexeculive-mogozinecom
ago the unexpected drop in 2013
enrollment because of the sudden
elevation in security risk makes a
small but noticeable dent lowering
the average potential class size by
about one person for each calendar
year given that OSB statistics say the
program had 233 participants and 210
graduates from 16 intakes since 2004
with the 17th intake this summer
These totals are strikingly
diminutive whether seen by
themselves or when compared with
top name global providers such as
Paris based INSEAD where almost
200 EMBA students enrolled across
three locations in 2013 alone or on
a yet wider scale with a 10 year crop
of conventional MBA students at
Harvard in the United States where
cumulative class size from 2004 to
2013 was 9022
But according to Dimechkie the
headcount of OSBs EMBA enrollment
is perSistently small because it is
supposed to be The ideal size for
me is about 18 to 20 participants [per
class] and the next one [intake 17) is
probably going to be around 20 he
says We usually have two to three
times the number of applicants for
every participant that we accept and
of those whom we accept depending
on the times we usually see 90
percent enroll
Against the exceptional dip in the
2013 intake numbers the 90 percent
enrollment potentially suggests an
affirmative message on the validity
of the schools EMBA program when
one considers not only the political
and security circumstances but also
what the program comprises A certal
rate of cancellations is a given for a
program that demands participants to
invest upwards of 1200 hours of hard
intellectual and emotional labor over
one and a half years plus 700 hours of
class attendance and in plenty of cases
many weekends spent away from home - and all that on top of often still
carrying a workload in a company
At the Ecole Superieure des Affaires (ESA) which is situated
only a short walk away from the
AUB campus in Beiruts Hamra
district the message is also one of
an exuberant rationale for executive
education There is a huge demand
for EMBAs and other executive
education varieties in the Middle
East says Camille Moussa the
director of executive education at
the Lebanese-French ESA Huge
corporate entities [in the Middle
East] have told me We are in
desperate need Companies are more
and more becoming aware of their
need [for executive education] in
markets that I have seen and been
able to identify
ESAs EMBA program features
classes that are a bit larger - about
40 per cohort versus the 18 to 20
which Dimechkie names as his ideal
size - and baseline tuition costs of
$28800 look almost socialist when
BUSINESS gt Human capital
compared with AUBs $55650 (or
the six figure tuition at the worlds
priciest EMBA programs)
Those differences may go a good
way to explain why ESAs EMBA
according to its marketing manager
Cheryllvlatar experienced actually
an inverse effect of increased student
demand from the regional crisis shy
she says a growing number of recent
applicants came from Syria and were
motivated by having to acquire new
skills after their economic base at
home fell victim to the vicious conf1ict
over the countrys future
GROWTH IN CORPORATE TRAINING
AUB and ESA are both among
a small group of tertiary educatIOn
providers that spearheaded the
creation of EMBA programs in the
Middle East and North Africa and
also were pioneers in proliferating
other leadership training and skill
transfer programs for corporate and
individual managerial clients which
are subsumed under the header of
executive education
Internationally the main two
divisions of executive education
are tailored programs and mostly
short-burst open programs The
former are designed and delivered
to organizational clients such as
corporations and institutions while
the latter are offered to all qualified
business practitioners as intensive
72 SEPTEMBER 2014 I 0v execulive-mogozine com
studies that most commonly involve
on-campus program attendance
between two days and a week but
can also mean longer or online
programs Broken down to per
day costs attendance fees for a top
shelf open program are commonly
well above $1000 and a week long
immersion experience into something
like Columbia Business Schools
Emerging Leader Development
Program comes not much cheaper
than buying a small new Chevy or Kia
at the dealer nearest to the campus
This entire bracket of advanced
education has developed greatly over
relatively few years since business
schools in the US first started offering
MBA degrees for working executives
- the EMBA - in the 1980s Other
executive education portfolios
advanced from being offered as the
last centurys community-oriented
sidebar projects to becoming
corporate clientele focused programs
of core reputational and financial
importance for their providers
Recently the immense need
for executive programs has been
penetrating every corner of the global
THE DEMAND FOR EXECUTIVE
EDUCATION IS VERY HIGH AND AWARENESS IS INCREASING A LOT
economy as demonstrated not only
by an increasing launch of satellite
programs from top providers - for
example INSEAD which started its
own EMBA program in Fontainebleau
near Paris in 2003 has since added
location offerings in Beijing Abu
Dhabi and Singapore - but also
by development of more and more
regional and local programs by
universities and also commercial
providers in Asia the Middle East
Africa and Latin America
One explanation for this trend is
the depreciation of knowledge in the
worlds fast-changing technological
scientific and economic environment
Your academic degree expires after a
few years and that is why you have to
keep educating yourself argues Imad
Zbib executive director in charge
of OSBs consulting and executive
education activities and a colleague
of Dimechkie This need has been
realized also by a growing number of
companies both in the Gulf region
and the Levant The demand for
executive education is very high and
awareness is increasing a lot he tells
EXECUTIVE adding that a top tier
of Arab corporations are becoming
clearer and clearer in formulating
their training needs and have recently
asked for specific new programs
on subjects such as innovation
experiential team building and
managing corporate change
HEDGING PRODUCTIVITY Besides individual and corporate
responses to market needs and
competitive pressures and beyond
desires to improve attractiveness and
performance of organizations the
growth of executive education seems
existentially linked also to the rise
of human capital as the knowledge
economys profit engine
The appreciation of human capital
first entered a new trajectory in the
aftermath of World War II when Ted
Schultz an American economist of
agrarian upbringing attributed the
fast post-war recovery of European
BUSINESS gt Human cap ~------------------------------------------------------------------~--
countries to the capital of knowledge and skill that working men and women could invest into these ravaged economies
Laborers have become cap italists not from a diffusion of the ownership of corporation stocks as folklore would have it but from the acquisition of knowledge and skill that have economic value Schultz told the American Economic Association in 1960
Ever since the human capital element in the economy has been two things it has been understood as a crucial ingredient for productivity and economic development and its value has alternatively been sought affirmed ideologically struggled over or denied perhaps because of the heritage of predatory thinking in business and (economic and corporate) politics
This debate notwithstanding the top Lebanese business schools experience of seeing growing demand for executive education and the willingness of Arab corporations to invest into replenishment of their human capital and development of their knowledge leaders appears undeniable
Corroboration of this demand growth experience from an external vantage point comes from an international business school that has a history of interacting with the region Corporate interest in tailored programs has developed greatly in the yea rs after the Midd le East was affected by the global financia l crisis wi th some time delay around 2009 says Hischam El-Agamy an executive director at IMD a Swiss business school that is at the top of the Financial Times list of providers of open programs
El-Agamy Nho among other duties heads IMDs outreach to the Middle East and Africa tells EXECUTIVE that up until about 10 years ago regional interest in executive education originated
74 SEPTEMBER 2014 I wwwexecutlVemagazlne cam
mainly from individuals seeking to advance their personal career opportunities In his observation Arab corporate interest in executive programs beginning from the early 2000s was mainly for the purpose of rewarding and retaining top employees Bu t in the past fo ur to five years he witnessed how companies in the Middle East and North Africa started to pursue invest ments in their human cap it al fo r the sake of their organizational development
He says For this transformation journey they wanted three things first [to develop] a pool of talent that supported the transformation second they wanted specific leaders who can manage this transformation and third they wanted to stimulate creation of a competitive culture
PENETRATION OF THE MARKET HAS BEEN GROWING WELL BUT I AM NEVER SATISFIED AND THEREFORE IT IS NOW TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE REGION
in their organization a culture of awarding and accountability and a sense of urgency
NO POWERPOINT BULIMIA According to ESAs Moussa great
market potentials for selling training and human capital development programs all around the region have also been found by global media and information firm Thomson Reuters with which ESA is collaborating to offer training programs in the Middle East and North Africa
Moreover Moussa says ESA has been able to cultivate a domestic niche with trans- Lebanese and trans-regional potential in executive education because of the business schools ability to meet regulator mandated training needs for employees in the Lebanese
financial sector This gives the impression that simply put ES- t s
developed programs in co ll aborallo~
with the central bank which the Ian ~
then requires of bankers A huge aspect of our executi C
education is development of the banking sector where we are very deeply involved in providing qualifications and training for employees Moussa explains This training is required for banking employees by the Lebanese central bank as regulator and ESA has developed a portfolio of programs iil collaboration with the central bank spann ing topics from anti-mo neyshylaundering to risk The courses have been lucrative wi th delivery of about 2000 teaching hours per year he estimates annuall y reaching approxi mately 10 percent of the sector workforce Including repeat participants he en thuses 1 would S2
about 2000 to 2500 bankers per year come through the school and it has been like that effectively since 2010
Development of such programs according to Moussa is very time consuming and a new set of courses on retail banking and credit analysis will be offered from Janua ry 2015 after 30 months of development As these new qualifications come into the market a new group of bank employees will be mandated to acqUire them and be certified he says adding that ESAs engagement with the sec tor has created doors of partnerships on customized training with many banks for the school as well as recen t opportunities to provide consulting and eventually programs to regulators outside Penetration of the market has been growing well but I am never satisfied and therefore it is now time to take it to the region he tells EXECUTIVE
GROWING MINDS While ESA and OSB appear to
have their niches there have been growing sim ilarities on the practical
BUSINESS ~L____________________________________________________gt Human ~ ita____~__caLp___
side as both EMBA programs
presently apply a weekend schedule
for classes and deliver content in
English as the default language
ESA switched to this model four
years ago Practical relevancy of
all their education offerings and
responsiveness to market demand
were other key emphases espoused by
the executive education directors at
both schools
In their EMBA programs ESA
and OSB also still attract firstly
Lebanese participants residing in
country or abroad According to ESAs
Matar 60 percent of EMBA enro llees
are local 30 percen t are Lebanese
living abroad and 10 percent are
foreign nationals mainly from other
countries in the region According to
Dimechkie the OSB EMBA attracts 75
percent Lebanese of which over a third
live outside the country 23 percent
other Arabs and 2 percent non-Arabs
As far as OSBs executive
education 60 to 70 percent of
program delivery takes place outside
ofLebanon according to Zbib This is
driven in part by the sizeable training
budgets of large organizations in the
Gulf Cooperation Council but also
76 1SEPTEMBER 2014 I M1W8X8cuI1V8-magazmecam
by political circumstances Many
clients used to always come here but
now we are going to them he says
adding that regional corporations
appreciate the academic flavor that
the presentation of programs by OSB
faculty infuses into the trainings
Nonetheless Lebanese companies
are an important demand source for
executive education according to
Salim Chahine the acting dean of
OSB I think Lebanese organizations
are as aware as large regional
organizations about the importance
and relevancy of training They are
selective [in choosing providers] but
I dont think they have small training
budgets he tells EXECUTIVE
The somewhat uneven
distribution of demand for executive
education between regional and
local companies alludes however
to an anomaly in Lebanons position
in human capital development
In an inaugural report seeking to
THE IMPRESSION I FORMED OF THE MBA EXPERIENCE WAS THAT IT INVOLVED TAKING TWO YEARS OUT OF YOUR LIFE AND GOING DEEPLY INTO DEBT
measure human capital endowment
in the worlds countries the World
Economic Forum last year ranked
Lebanon overall in the lower middle
field 74th of 122 nations and at a
position commensurate with general
development indicators for the
country But in one of the rankings
four pillars - education - Lebanon
ranked not only 42 places higher
but it also was by far the one country
of all 122 with the highest upward
digression in the field of education
from its overa ll rank
SHARING THE CHOCOLATES While the directors homepages
and marketing materials not only
of AUB ESA and IMD but of every
executive education provider from
large to small and from super-price
to almost affordable trumpeted the
superb benefi ts that their programs
provide and while all business school
executives in our conversations
emphasized with conviction that
their programs are practice driven
hands on custom tailored and deephmiddot
invested in aligning the local culture
and specific Middle Eastern vi rtues ana
values with the content and delivery ot
programs some questions remain
The high potential in the Lebanese
executive education sector can be
confirmed from the way in which
the OSB and ESA programs have not
only attracted participants and found
loyal corporate clients However other
than being presented with participant
testimonials and anecdotes no
probing could produce answers to
the most interesting questions such
as what quantifiable positive impacts
companies see that buy a tailored
program or dispatch employees to
enroll in an EMBA degree
The answers are probably as
elusive as the quest to uncover how
the human capital development
and the distribution of wealth can
move globally from a recently highly
documented dichotomy to a more
amenable symbiosis or something
approaching mutual prosperity
development
But it is refreshing to know that
OSBs Dimechkie recommends his
visitors to read Matthew Stewart an
American business author who wrote
in one piece for The Atlantic The
impression I formed of the MBA
experience was that it involved taking
two years out of your life and going
deeply into debt all for the sake of
learning how to keep a straight face
while using phrases like o ut-of-theshy
box thinking win-win situation and
co re competencies
When eating a box of chocolates
be ready for surprises and dare to
stay humble [I
BUSINESS gt Human capital
compared with AUBs $55650 (or
the six figure tuition at the worlds
priciest EMBA programs)
Those differences may go a good
way to explain why ESAs EMBA
according to its marketing manager
Cheryllvlatar experienced actually
an inverse effect of increased student
demand from the regional crisis shy
she says a growing number of recent
applicants came from Syria and were
motivated by having to acquire new
skills after their economic base at
home fell victim to the vicious conf1ict
over the countrys future
GROWTH IN CORPORATE TRAINING
AUB and ESA are both among
a small group of tertiary educatIOn
providers that spearheaded the
creation of EMBA programs in the
Middle East and North Africa and
also were pioneers in proliferating
other leadership training and skill
transfer programs for corporate and
individual managerial clients which
are subsumed under the header of
executive education
Internationally the main two
divisions of executive education
are tailored programs and mostly
short-burst open programs The
former are designed and delivered
to organizational clients such as
corporations and institutions while
the latter are offered to all qualified
business practitioners as intensive
72 SEPTEMBER 2014 I 0v execulive-mogozine com
studies that most commonly involve
on-campus program attendance
between two days and a week but
can also mean longer or online
programs Broken down to per
day costs attendance fees for a top
shelf open program are commonly
well above $1000 and a week long
immersion experience into something
like Columbia Business Schools
Emerging Leader Development
Program comes not much cheaper
than buying a small new Chevy or Kia
at the dealer nearest to the campus
This entire bracket of advanced
education has developed greatly over
relatively few years since business
schools in the US first started offering
MBA degrees for working executives
- the EMBA - in the 1980s Other
executive education portfolios
advanced from being offered as the
last centurys community-oriented
sidebar projects to becoming
corporate clientele focused programs
of core reputational and financial
importance for their providers
Recently the immense need
for executive programs has been
penetrating every corner of the global
THE DEMAND FOR EXECUTIVE
EDUCATION IS VERY HIGH AND AWARENESS IS INCREASING A LOT
economy as demonstrated not only
by an increasing launch of satellite
programs from top providers - for
example INSEAD which started its
own EMBA program in Fontainebleau
near Paris in 2003 has since added
location offerings in Beijing Abu
Dhabi and Singapore - but also
by development of more and more
regional and local programs by
universities and also commercial
providers in Asia the Middle East
Africa and Latin America
One explanation for this trend is
the depreciation of knowledge in the
worlds fast-changing technological
scientific and economic environment
Your academic degree expires after a
few years and that is why you have to
keep educating yourself argues Imad
Zbib executive director in charge
of OSBs consulting and executive
education activities and a colleague
of Dimechkie This need has been
realized also by a growing number of
companies both in the Gulf region
and the Levant The demand for
executive education is very high and
awareness is increasing a lot he tells
EXECUTIVE adding that a top tier
of Arab corporations are becoming
clearer and clearer in formulating
their training needs and have recently
asked for specific new programs
on subjects such as innovation
experiential team building and
managing corporate change
HEDGING PRODUCTIVITY Besides individual and corporate
responses to market needs and
competitive pressures and beyond
desires to improve attractiveness and
performance of organizations the
growth of executive education seems
existentially linked also to the rise
of human capital as the knowledge
economys profit engine
The appreciation of human capital
first entered a new trajectory in the
aftermath of World War II when Ted
Schultz an American economist of
agrarian upbringing attributed the
fast post-war recovery of European
BUSINESS gt Human cap ~------------------------------------------------------------------~--
countries to the capital of knowledge and skill that working men and women could invest into these ravaged economies
Laborers have become cap italists not from a diffusion of the ownership of corporation stocks as folklore would have it but from the acquisition of knowledge and skill that have economic value Schultz told the American Economic Association in 1960
Ever since the human capital element in the economy has been two things it has been understood as a crucial ingredient for productivity and economic development and its value has alternatively been sought affirmed ideologically struggled over or denied perhaps because of the heritage of predatory thinking in business and (economic and corporate) politics
This debate notwithstanding the top Lebanese business schools experience of seeing growing demand for executive education and the willingness of Arab corporations to invest into replenishment of their human capital and development of their knowledge leaders appears undeniable
Corroboration of this demand growth experience from an external vantage point comes from an international business school that has a history of interacting with the region Corporate interest in tailored programs has developed greatly in the yea rs after the Midd le East was affected by the global financia l crisis wi th some time delay around 2009 says Hischam El-Agamy an executive director at IMD a Swiss business school that is at the top of the Financial Times list of providers of open programs
El-Agamy Nho among other duties heads IMDs outreach to the Middle East and Africa tells EXECUTIVE that up until about 10 years ago regional interest in executive education originated
74 SEPTEMBER 2014 I wwwexecutlVemagazlne cam
mainly from individuals seeking to advance their personal career opportunities In his observation Arab corporate interest in executive programs beginning from the early 2000s was mainly for the purpose of rewarding and retaining top employees Bu t in the past fo ur to five years he witnessed how companies in the Middle East and North Africa started to pursue invest ments in their human cap it al fo r the sake of their organizational development
He says For this transformation journey they wanted three things first [to develop] a pool of talent that supported the transformation second they wanted specific leaders who can manage this transformation and third they wanted to stimulate creation of a competitive culture
PENETRATION OF THE MARKET HAS BEEN GROWING WELL BUT I AM NEVER SATISFIED AND THEREFORE IT IS NOW TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE REGION
in their organization a culture of awarding and accountability and a sense of urgency
NO POWERPOINT BULIMIA According to ESAs Moussa great
market potentials for selling training and human capital development programs all around the region have also been found by global media and information firm Thomson Reuters with which ESA is collaborating to offer training programs in the Middle East and North Africa
Moreover Moussa says ESA has been able to cultivate a domestic niche with trans- Lebanese and trans-regional potential in executive education because of the business schools ability to meet regulator mandated training needs for employees in the Lebanese
financial sector This gives the impression that simply put ES- t s
developed programs in co ll aborallo~
with the central bank which the Ian ~
then requires of bankers A huge aspect of our executi C
education is development of the banking sector where we are very deeply involved in providing qualifications and training for employees Moussa explains This training is required for banking employees by the Lebanese central bank as regulator and ESA has developed a portfolio of programs iil collaboration with the central bank spann ing topics from anti-mo neyshylaundering to risk The courses have been lucrative wi th delivery of about 2000 teaching hours per year he estimates annuall y reaching approxi mately 10 percent of the sector workforce Including repeat participants he en thuses 1 would S2
about 2000 to 2500 bankers per year come through the school and it has been like that effectively since 2010
Development of such programs according to Moussa is very time consuming and a new set of courses on retail banking and credit analysis will be offered from Janua ry 2015 after 30 months of development As these new qualifications come into the market a new group of bank employees will be mandated to acqUire them and be certified he says adding that ESAs engagement with the sec tor has created doors of partnerships on customized training with many banks for the school as well as recen t opportunities to provide consulting and eventually programs to regulators outside Penetration of the market has been growing well but I am never satisfied and therefore it is now time to take it to the region he tells EXECUTIVE
GROWING MINDS While ESA and OSB appear to
have their niches there have been growing sim ilarities on the practical
BUSINESS ~L____________________________________________________gt Human ~ ita____~__caLp___
side as both EMBA programs
presently apply a weekend schedule
for classes and deliver content in
English as the default language
ESA switched to this model four
years ago Practical relevancy of
all their education offerings and
responsiveness to market demand
were other key emphases espoused by
the executive education directors at
both schools
In their EMBA programs ESA
and OSB also still attract firstly
Lebanese participants residing in
country or abroad According to ESAs
Matar 60 percent of EMBA enro llees
are local 30 percen t are Lebanese
living abroad and 10 percent are
foreign nationals mainly from other
countries in the region According to
Dimechkie the OSB EMBA attracts 75
percent Lebanese of which over a third
live outside the country 23 percent
other Arabs and 2 percent non-Arabs
As far as OSBs executive
education 60 to 70 percent of
program delivery takes place outside
ofLebanon according to Zbib This is
driven in part by the sizeable training
budgets of large organizations in the
Gulf Cooperation Council but also
76 1SEPTEMBER 2014 I M1W8X8cuI1V8-magazmecam
by political circumstances Many
clients used to always come here but
now we are going to them he says
adding that regional corporations
appreciate the academic flavor that
the presentation of programs by OSB
faculty infuses into the trainings
Nonetheless Lebanese companies
are an important demand source for
executive education according to
Salim Chahine the acting dean of
OSB I think Lebanese organizations
are as aware as large regional
organizations about the importance
and relevancy of training They are
selective [in choosing providers] but
I dont think they have small training
budgets he tells EXECUTIVE
The somewhat uneven
distribution of demand for executive
education between regional and
local companies alludes however
to an anomaly in Lebanons position
in human capital development
In an inaugural report seeking to
THE IMPRESSION I FORMED OF THE MBA EXPERIENCE WAS THAT IT INVOLVED TAKING TWO YEARS OUT OF YOUR LIFE AND GOING DEEPLY INTO DEBT
measure human capital endowment
in the worlds countries the World
Economic Forum last year ranked
Lebanon overall in the lower middle
field 74th of 122 nations and at a
position commensurate with general
development indicators for the
country But in one of the rankings
four pillars - education - Lebanon
ranked not only 42 places higher
but it also was by far the one country
of all 122 with the highest upward
digression in the field of education
from its overa ll rank
SHARING THE CHOCOLATES While the directors homepages
and marketing materials not only
of AUB ESA and IMD but of every
executive education provider from
large to small and from super-price
to almost affordable trumpeted the
superb benefi ts that their programs
provide and while all business school
executives in our conversations
emphasized with conviction that
their programs are practice driven
hands on custom tailored and deephmiddot
invested in aligning the local culture
and specific Middle Eastern vi rtues ana
values with the content and delivery ot
programs some questions remain
The high potential in the Lebanese
executive education sector can be
confirmed from the way in which
the OSB and ESA programs have not
only attracted participants and found
loyal corporate clients However other
than being presented with participant
testimonials and anecdotes no
probing could produce answers to
the most interesting questions such
as what quantifiable positive impacts
companies see that buy a tailored
program or dispatch employees to
enroll in an EMBA degree
The answers are probably as
elusive as the quest to uncover how
the human capital development
and the distribution of wealth can
move globally from a recently highly
documented dichotomy to a more
amenable symbiosis or something
approaching mutual prosperity
development
But it is refreshing to know that
OSBs Dimechkie recommends his
visitors to read Matthew Stewart an
American business author who wrote
in one piece for The Atlantic The
impression I formed of the MBA
experience was that it involved taking
two years out of your life and going
deeply into debt all for the sake of
learning how to keep a straight face
while using phrases like o ut-of-theshy
box thinking win-win situation and
co re competencies
When eating a box of chocolates
be ready for surprises and dare to
stay humble [I
BUSINESS gt Human cap ~------------------------------------------------------------------~--
countries to the capital of knowledge and skill that working men and women could invest into these ravaged economies
Laborers have become cap italists not from a diffusion of the ownership of corporation stocks as folklore would have it but from the acquisition of knowledge and skill that have economic value Schultz told the American Economic Association in 1960
Ever since the human capital element in the economy has been two things it has been understood as a crucial ingredient for productivity and economic development and its value has alternatively been sought affirmed ideologically struggled over or denied perhaps because of the heritage of predatory thinking in business and (economic and corporate) politics
This debate notwithstanding the top Lebanese business schools experience of seeing growing demand for executive education and the willingness of Arab corporations to invest into replenishment of their human capital and development of their knowledge leaders appears undeniable
Corroboration of this demand growth experience from an external vantage point comes from an international business school that has a history of interacting with the region Corporate interest in tailored programs has developed greatly in the yea rs after the Midd le East was affected by the global financia l crisis wi th some time delay around 2009 says Hischam El-Agamy an executive director at IMD a Swiss business school that is at the top of the Financial Times list of providers of open programs
El-Agamy Nho among other duties heads IMDs outreach to the Middle East and Africa tells EXECUTIVE that up until about 10 years ago regional interest in executive education originated
74 SEPTEMBER 2014 I wwwexecutlVemagazlne cam
mainly from individuals seeking to advance their personal career opportunities In his observation Arab corporate interest in executive programs beginning from the early 2000s was mainly for the purpose of rewarding and retaining top employees Bu t in the past fo ur to five years he witnessed how companies in the Middle East and North Africa started to pursue invest ments in their human cap it al fo r the sake of their organizational development
He says For this transformation journey they wanted three things first [to develop] a pool of talent that supported the transformation second they wanted specific leaders who can manage this transformation and third they wanted to stimulate creation of a competitive culture
PENETRATION OF THE MARKET HAS BEEN GROWING WELL BUT I AM NEVER SATISFIED AND THEREFORE IT IS NOW TIME TO TAKE IT TO THE REGION
in their organization a culture of awarding and accountability and a sense of urgency
NO POWERPOINT BULIMIA According to ESAs Moussa great
market potentials for selling training and human capital development programs all around the region have also been found by global media and information firm Thomson Reuters with which ESA is collaborating to offer training programs in the Middle East and North Africa
Moreover Moussa says ESA has been able to cultivate a domestic niche with trans- Lebanese and trans-regional potential in executive education because of the business schools ability to meet regulator mandated training needs for employees in the Lebanese
financial sector This gives the impression that simply put ES- t s
developed programs in co ll aborallo~
with the central bank which the Ian ~
then requires of bankers A huge aspect of our executi C
education is development of the banking sector where we are very deeply involved in providing qualifications and training for employees Moussa explains This training is required for banking employees by the Lebanese central bank as regulator and ESA has developed a portfolio of programs iil collaboration with the central bank spann ing topics from anti-mo neyshylaundering to risk The courses have been lucrative wi th delivery of about 2000 teaching hours per year he estimates annuall y reaching approxi mately 10 percent of the sector workforce Including repeat participants he en thuses 1 would S2
about 2000 to 2500 bankers per year come through the school and it has been like that effectively since 2010
Development of such programs according to Moussa is very time consuming and a new set of courses on retail banking and credit analysis will be offered from Janua ry 2015 after 30 months of development As these new qualifications come into the market a new group of bank employees will be mandated to acqUire them and be certified he says adding that ESAs engagement with the sec tor has created doors of partnerships on customized training with many banks for the school as well as recen t opportunities to provide consulting and eventually programs to regulators outside Penetration of the market has been growing well but I am never satisfied and therefore it is now time to take it to the region he tells EXECUTIVE
GROWING MINDS While ESA and OSB appear to
have their niches there have been growing sim ilarities on the practical
BUSINESS ~L____________________________________________________gt Human ~ ita____~__caLp___
side as both EMBA programs
presently apply a weekend schedule
for classes and deliver content in
English as the default language
ESA switched to this model four
years ago Practical relevancy of
all their education offerings and
responsiveness to market demand
were other key emphases espoused by
the executive education directors at
both schools
In their EMBA programs ESA
and OSB also still attract firstly
Lebanese participants residing in
country or abroad According to ESAs
Matar 60 percent of EMBA enro llees
are local 30 percen t are Lebanese
living abroad and 10 percent are
foreign nationals mainly from other
countries in the region According to
Dimechkie the OSB EMBA attracts 75
percent Lebanese of which over a third
live outside the country 23 percent
other Arabs and 2 percent non-Arabs
As far as OSBs executive
education 60 to 70 percent of
program delivery takes place outside
ofLebanon according to Zbib This is
driven in part by the sizeable training
budgets of large organizations in the
Gulf Cooperation Council but also
76 1SEPTEMBER 2014 I M1W8X8cuI1V8-magazmecam
by political circumstances Many
clients used to always come here but
now we are going to them he says
adding that regional corporations
appreciate the academic flavor that
the presentation of programs by OSB
faculty infuses into the trainings
Nonetheless Lebanese companies
are an important demand source for
executive education according to
Salim Chahine the acting dean of
OSB I think Lebanese organizations
are as aware as large regional
organizations about the importance
and relevancy of training They are
selective [in choosing providers] but
I dont think they have small training
budgets he tells EXECUTIVE
The somewhat uneven
distribution of demand for executive
education between regional and
local companies alludes however
to an anomaly in Lebanons position
in human capital development
In an inaugural report seeking to
THE IMPRESSION I FORMED OF THE MBA EXPERIENCE WAS THAT IT INVOLVED TAKING TWO YEARS OUT OF YOUR LIFE AND GOING DEEPLY INTO DEBT
measure human capital endowment
in the worlds countries the World
Economic Forum last year ranked
Lebanon overall in the lower middle
field 74th of 122 nations and at a
position commensurate with general
development indicators for the
country But in one of the rankings
four pillars - education - Lebanon
ranked not only 42 places higher
but it also was by far the one country
of all 122 with the highest upward
digression in the field of education
from its overa ll rank
SHARING THE CHOCOLATES While the directors homepages
and marketing materials not only
of AUB ESA and IMD but of every
executive education provider from
large to small and from super-price
to almost affordable trumpeted the
superb benefi ts that their programs
provide and while all business school
executives in our conversations
emphasized with conviction that
their programs are practice driven
hands on custom tailored and deephmiddot
invested in aligning the local culture
and specific Middle Eastern vi rtues ana
values with the content and delivery ot
programs some questions remain
The high potential in the Lebanese
executive education sector can be
confirmed from the way in which
the OSB and ESA programs have not
only attracted participants and found
loyal corporate clients However other
than being presented with participant
testimonials and anecdotes no
probing could produce answers to
the most interesting questions such
as what quantifiable positive impacts
companies see that buy a tailored
program or dispatch employees to
enroll in an EMBA degree
The answers are probably as
elusive as the quest to uncover how
the human capital development
and the distribution of wealth can
move globally from a recently highly
documented dichotomy to a more
amenable symbiosis or something
approaching mutual prosperity
development
But it is refreshing to know that
OSBs Dimechkie recommends his
visitors to read Matthew Stewart an
American business author who wrote
in one piece for The Atlantic The
impression I formed of the MBA
experience was that it involved taking
two years out of your life and going
deeply into debt all for the sake of
learning how to keep a straight face
while using phrases like o ut-of-theshy
box thinking win-win situation and
co re competencies
When eating a box of chocolates
be ready for surprises and dare to
stay humble [I
BUSINESS ~L____________________________________________________gt Human ~ ita____~__caLp___
side as both EMBA programs
presently apply a weekend schedule
for classes and deliver content in
English as the default language
ESA switched to this model four
years ago Practical relevancy of
all their education offerings and
responsiveness to market demand
were other key emphases espoused by
the executive education directors at
both schools
In their EMBA programs ESA
and OSB also still attract firstly
Lebanese participants residing in
country or abroad According to ESAs
Matar 60 percent of EMBA enro llees
are local 30 percen t are Lebanese
living abroad and 10 percent are
foreign nationals mainly from other
countries in the region According to
Dimechkie the OSB EMBA attracts 75
percent Lebanese of which over a third
live outside the country 23 percent
other Arabs and 2 percent non-Arabs
As far as OSBs executive
education 60 to 70 percent of
program delivery takes place outside
ofLebanon according to Zbib This is
driven in part by the sizeable training
budgets of large organizations in the
Gulf Cooperation Council but also
76 1SEPTEMBER 2014 I M1W8X8cuI1V8-magazmecam
by political circumstances Many
clients used to always come here but
now we are going to them he says
adding that regional corporations
appreciate the academic flavor that
the presentation of programs by OSB
faculty infuses into the trainings
Nonetheless Lebanese companies
are an important demand source for
executive education according to
Salim Chahine the acting dean of
OSB I think Lebanese organizations
are as aware as large regional
organizations about the importance
and relevancy of training They are
selective [in choosing providers] but
I dont think they have small training
budgets he tells EXECUTIVE
The somewhat uneven
distribution of demand for executive
education between regional and
local companies alludes however
to an anomaly in Lebanons position
in human capital development
In an inaugural report seeking to
THE IMPRESSION I FORMED OF THE MBA EXPERIENCE WAS THAT IT INVOLVED TAKING TWO YEARS OUT OF YOUR LIFE AND GOING DEEPLY INTO DEBT
measure human capital endowment
in the worlds countries the World
Economic Forum last year ranked
Lebanon overall in the lower middle
field 74th of 122 nations and at a
position commensurate with general
development indicators for the
country But in one of the rankings
four pillars - education - Lebanon
ranked not only 42 places higher
but it also was by far the one country
of all 122 with the highest upward
digression in the field of education
from its overa ll rank
SHARING THE CHOCOLATES While the directors homepages
and marketing materials not only
of AUB ESA and IMD but of every
executive education provider from
large to small and from super-price
to almost affordable trumpeted the
superb benefi ts that their programs
provide and while all business school
executives in our conversations
emphasized with conviction that
their programs are practice driven
hands on custom tailored and deephmiddot
invested in aligning the local culture
and specific Middle Eastern vi rtues ana
values with the content and delivery ot
programs some questions remain
The high potential in the Lebanese
executive education sector can be
confirmed from the way in which
the OSB and ESA programs have not
only attracted participants and found
loyal corporate clients However other
than being presented with participant
testimonials and anecdotes no
probing could produce answers to
the most interesting questions such
as what quantifiable positive impacts
companies see that buy a tailored
program or dispatch employees to
enroll in an EMBA degree
The answers are probably as
elusive as the quest to uncover how
the human capital development
and the distribution of wealth can
move globally from a recently highly
documented dichotomy to a more
amenable symbiosis or something
approaching mutual prosperity
development
But it is refreshing to know that
OSBs Dimechkie recommends his
visitors to read Matthew Stewart an
American business author who wrote
in one piece for The Atlantic The
impression I formed of the MBA
experience was that it involved taking
two years out of your life and going
deeply into debt all for the sake of
learning how to keep a straight face
while using phrases like o ut-of-theshy
box thinking win-win situation and
co re competencies
When eating a box of chocolates
be ready for surprises and dare to
stay humble [I
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