哈佛商学院:中国受追捧 印度遭冷遇

Harvard Business School is expanding its executive education offerings in China to meet growing demand for management instruction there, says David Yoffie, senior associate dean of executive education at Harvard.

The school has rapidly expanded overseas in the last four years, focusing on China, India and Europe. China has seen the quickest growth. Earlier this year, Harvard Business School formally opened a new center in Shanghai, complete with classrooms designed to mimic Harvard's Boston campus.

But Harvard has had a trickier time in India. It found strong demand at low price levels, but companies have resisted paying the same prices Harvard charges in the U.S.

At the same time, the university is planning an expansion back home. In October, the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate, said it would give Harvard $50 million to build a new residence hall to house executive education students.

Meanwhile, demand for Harvard's custom programs -- in which businesses hire Harvard to develop company-specific courses -- has come back after a dip last year, Mr. Yoffie says.

Mr. Yoffie, who has led the executive education department since 2006, is also on the boards of Intel Corp. and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He recently spoke to the Journal.

Excerpts:

WSJ: What's your strategy for international expansion?

Mr. Yoffie: Our strategy is to focus on key core markets and go deep in those. So we've focused on China, India and Europe.

WSJ: Does your content change much for international destinations?

Mr. Yoffie: If you don't offer content tailored to the geography, it doesn't work. We require that faculty have Chinese content if they're going to teach in China. So you'll see case studies of Chinese companies if you take classes there.

WSJ: How are the students there different?

Mr. Yoffie: Because we teach the Chinese courses in simultaneous translation, a very large percentage of students is Chinese-speaking with limited English, which leads to certain types of students.

The average amount of knowledge of basic accounting and finance in China is much lower than it is in the U.S. We do a program for CEOs in China where we teach those basic skills, which would never work here. CEOs in China just don't have a lot of the formalized training that's commonplace in the U.S.

WSJ: How have the international programs been received?

Mr. Yoffie: The demand for executive education in China is insatiable. They have a deep belief in education of all types.

India is different. Companies already have their own extensive internal training programs. There's a lot more skepticism of the value of outside education beyond a certain price point. When we entered India, we priced very aggressively and had great demand for our programs. But we found that as we raised the prices, we met resistance.

WSJ: What has that meant for your program offerings?

Mr. Yoffie: We've had to go through a little trial and error. The prices we can charge for programs in India are 50% to 60% below what we can charge in China, the U.S., and Europe. We hope that as the programs become more successful, we can move prices higher, but it's going to take a long time.

WSJ: What about Europe?

Mr. Yoffie: We're working on that strategy right now. It's still in its formative stages. At the moment we're hoping to expand our programming there to eight weeks over the next two years, up from the five to six weeks we have now.

WSJ: Have Harvard's programs come into competition with other American schools that are expanding internationally?

Mr. Yoffie: No matter where we are in the world, all of the major competitors are engaged in those marketplaces too, though some of them are in the Middle East, which we haven't entered. We're not stepping on each other's toes yet. The markets in China and India are too huge for that.

WSJ: What will you be able to accomplish with the Tata Group gift?

Mr. Yoffie: Our facilities are running at 90% occupancy, which makes it difficult to introduce new programs. We also need to refurbish our old buildings. We built these buildings thinking of the Holiday Inn as a model, when today, we need to think of the Four Seasons. That said, we've also committed to not increasing demands on the faculty. So we'd expect an extra 20 to 30 faculty members before delivering new programs.

WSJ: Are companies continuing to order customized programs for their employees?

Mr. Yoffie: Our custom business was down 20% in 2009, but our comprehensive leadership programs and short programs made up for the drop. For the custom business, money wasn't the issue. It's the symbolism of sending people to Harvard at a time when you're laying off people. It wasn't the same for individuals. If an individual decided to go to Harvard on his own, that doesn't have the same symbolism.