Expert Magazine (Moscow), 24 March, 2008

School for General Managers

Sweden is exporting not only its goods and services. For the first glance the activities of the Stockholm School of Economics can be nominally considered as educational services. But only because of such wording as “knowledge export” does not appear in official papers – however the core of SSE activities can be explained only by these two words.

Stockholm School of Economics, Russia has been working in Russian Federation for more than ten years, it becomes more and more popular and it means that the knowledge, delivered to the participants is more than useful.  This education is not cheap. What for are businessmen, who know value of money, ready to pay? Expert magazine prepared an interview with the Dean of the Stockholm School of Economics, Russia Anders Liljenberg.

- How big is the difference between the general ideas of economics of Swedish and Russian professors and teaches? What are the main difference in their vision on theory and practice?

- I think here that it´s very important to make a distinction between the content and the delivery of an academic class, and I can here obviously only refer to our own experience mostly from executive MBA programs, as communicated to us by our program participants and our alumni.

As for the contents it´s obviously very much about staying “tuned” with what happens in a particular field of interest as mirrored in what academic schools are into. To be truly international, with a wide scope of student/faculty exchange, is a key component here where the history and the reputation of a school matters a lot. It goes without saying that the SSE has a different situation here than a Russian school that only during the last few years or so started to have an international exchange with other schools and the global business community. This also bestows upon us the advantage of being able to be more critical to “new” ideas, whether brought forward in business or in academia. At SSE we seldom “buy” new trends easily, until they have proven what they are worth. But in case something proves valuable we are on the other hand very well equipped, to make good use of it – to the benefit of ourselves and our program participants.

When it comes to the delivery what I perceive in Russia at times are either of two things; either the format becomes “too academic” with lots of substance, but substance that is of less direct applicability for program participants, and most often it is also communicated in a one-way manner without too much of interaction between faculty and participants; pure “traditional teaching” if you wish. At the other side the delivery becomes too much of “edutainment” which makes it easily digested but rather superficial thus not really providing any real value to participants.

At SSE the delivery takes more the form of “learning enabling” than pure teaching. It is very much based upon a direct interactive dialogue between faculty and participants. This is very demanding for both parties but it´s the only real way of making real learning come by. We use to say that in case the professor did not learn anything from a class it is very unlikely that the participants learned something either.

 - What goals does the Stockholm School of Economics set for Russian students? Is there any difference between education programs for Swedish, Western and Russian students?

- Our participants have all kinds of goals, from giving their careers a kick in the desired direction to turning their lives entirely all over – and both cases in fact do happen. A common saying is “to get some new skills, and to structure the knowledge I already have while networking with other professionals and top-of-the-line international faculty”. The programs that we provide in Stockholm are, more or less, identical to what we do in Russia as they draw on similar faculty and gives an identical internationally recognized diploma.  

 - After studying the Swedish theory Russian (and Swedes, who are going to establish their business in Russia) specialists will face with realities of our country, where the economy does not have traditions and clear rules and where the corruption occurs frequently. Are there any subjects in the educational program of your School that can help to understand and to overcome difficulties of the “young capitalism”?

- Very interesting question indeed and something that we try to shoulder even though we could always improve. First of all we use to say that we stand for a “capitalism with a human face” meaning that we realize the shortcomings of a market economy and that it needs rules, formal and informal, in order to work. We spend, as a case in point, a module devoted entirely to the “market system” and the legislative requirements as seen in market and antitrust law. We are also gradually introducing the notion of CSR, corporate social responsibility into our programs, an area where I feel that the interest is soaring in Russia (and at SSE we have got a few of the leading academicians world-wide in this field). We have, together with the Swedish consulate in StPetersburg organized a workshop on corruption and similar. To take a direct example from my own field of interest, marketing, I always stress the long-term focus need for doing business. You will most likely meet the customer of yours again and in case you do not care about long-term satisfaction you will be “out”, sooner or later.      

- There are a lot of Economic Universities in Russia. Why then the Stockholm School of Economics can be attractive and for what kind of audience?

- Sometimes this is what I ask myself to but given my answers of above I guess you realize that we provide something which is unique in Russia – our ideas stand out and by means of our faculty, and our brilliant alumni, we constitute a community with few if any equals. We have been in Russia for more than ten years and proved what we can do. And next year we celebrate our 100^th anniversary in Stockholm! We are certainly not for everyone but for those who are interested in a long-term impact, and who are ready to dedicate themselves in the process – that is simply the only way of getting something out from modern business education. Our programs are thus much more demanding (in an international sense) than what most others are, but they are also much more rewarding. This means we are extremely keen that our participants use their time with us in an as efficient and effective way as possible.  

- Are there any theoretical or other researches in the School data base, that distinguish the School itself from other Universities and that also “made the School’s face”?

- All faculty are also scientists, thus carrying out their research (and some of them, like myself, in addition have got a business background) but if to single someone out in particular I could mention Associate Professor Carl Fey whose work is accessible through our web-site. Dr Fey is one of the most internationally recognized characters in his field. Another illustrating example is Dr Igor Dukeov who, actually in these very days is launching his new book “Strategy of Business Development. Practical approach” on strategy. 

- How can you describe your Russian student and who can become your student? By the way, is your education expensive?

- Our programs are not for everyone and those who turn to us are ready to work hard thus being open to “provoke themselves”. As we are one of the most expensive institutions when it comes to the tuition fee it goes without saying that you have to be able to spend some money. But more than that you will have to spend your time and efforts (what we as economists would call the “opportunity cost”) so in the end I think we are very cheap when it comes to “value for money”. A typical participant of ours is someone who is already on an executive position or who is in the position to soon become an executive. We train general managers, not specialists! With some relevant experience in the backpack you are likely to contribute to the learning process but also to change and elaborate your own attitudes in a way which often is not easy to predict; so prepare for the unexpected when entering the world of Stockholm School of Economics!