Jonee Bilasano's NU 6 paper

The AGSB's New Clothes: A Constructive Critique

An NU6 Paper submitted to Prof. Jorge Saguinsin

By

JCB

(Student No. R090209)

Once there was an emperor who cared only about his own self-image. And since the emperor thought too highly of himself, he felt that he deserved to wear the finest clothes. Knowing that there was an opportunity, two tailors promised the emperor that he will get what he wanted.

After some time, the two tailors presented to the monarch the fabric, which they claimed to be so fine that it turned out to be invisible. The emperor, of course, couldn't see anything, but pretended that he did for fear of being unfit for his position. His court did the same.

And so the time came when the emperor had to go on a lavish parade. He then put on his new invisible clothes and walked as if he was indeed wearing the finest thing every sewn. The emperor's subjects amazingly played along and intimated that they also saw their monarch's new clothes. After some time, a child saw the emperor and said: "He's wearing nothing at all!" Everyone laughed. The emperor was embarrassed and knew that what the child said was true. But, instead of stopping or doing anything, he proceeded with to walk and finish the parade.

The story above is from Hans Christian Andersen's short tale entitled The Emperor's New Clothes. The story indeed has regaled and entertained a lot of children. Many have laughed because of its humor. But, more important, it teaches an important lesson. It imparts how an obvious truth can be ignored. This lesson is significant. In fact, the author thinks it's apt to where he is studying. He feels that the Ateneo Graduate School of Business has long ignored an obvious truth.

The Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB) has long regarded itself as one of the best institutions of higher learning. In fact, it represents itself as one of the finest business schools around. Further scrutiny, however, reveals the truth.

The AGSB acts as if it is one of the best business schools in the world. Some of its professors walk the corridor as if they are sauntering through the halls of the Harvard Business School. Some AGSB's MBA students act as if they know everything about business simply because they attend the institution. These are all, of course, misguided. Because underneath all the glitter brought by carrying the Ateneo name, the AGSB actually does not rate well internationally. In fact, when perusing the ratings of MBA schools around the world, the only business school from the Philippines that registers is the Asian Institute of Management. With this realization, can the AGSB even claim that it is the best business school in the Philippines?

The author also laments the AGSB's failure to offer a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree or a PhD in a specialized field in business. This is saddening because the lack of a DBA or PhD program is indicative of the state of research in the AGSB. Indeed, for a school of higher learning to be known internationally, it must prove itself in the realm of academics. And this can be done by churning out research after research, or the school develops new and cutting edge business concepts. Of course, the business school, to be a major player in the field, must publish many books.

Another factor that is keeping the AGSB from piercing the list of the best schools internationally is its lack of professors without PhDs or DBAs. This of course does not mean to say that those AGSB teachers who do not have PhDs or DBAs are incompetent. They are not. Almost all of the author's teachers, both past and present, are extremely capable. They are masters in their fields; they're extremely knowledgeable about what they teach. But, these professors can offer more if they have PhDs or DBAs. The lessons that they can impart will be so much better if they have these degrees. And if this happens, then the state of teaching will improve tremendously. Hopefully, once most AGSB professors learn the value of research, then some of them can take their places beside Michael Porter or John P. Kotter.

This exercise, as one of the choices in the author's entrepreneurship class, was supposed to be an essay about what pisses him off about the AGSB. Piss off is such a strong term. And that is not how the author actually feels. The author of course wants, just like any other stakeholder, to improve the AGSB. After all, he can never deny that the school has taught him so much. The author, so as not to be misconstrued, does not want to cast aspersions against the institution that undoubtedly is helping him develop into becoming a better manager.

The author therefore hopes and prays that the time will come when the AGSB will be mentioned in the same breath as the Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, and University of Chicago Booth School of Business. But, this will only happen if the AGSB admits its shortcomings. By doing so, it can then evolve and move forward. Thus, the author hopes that the AGSB will finally shed its invisible clothes. They may be fine in the eyes of the school, but it isn't in the eyes of the author. And in this case, he apologizes for saying that the AGSB, while it strolls along, is actually naked.