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Erroneous Learning from the West? A Narrative Analysis of Chinese MBA Cases Published in 1992, 1999 and 2003

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Abstract and Key Results

  • The last two decades have witnessed an unprecedented transfer of Western management education theories and pedagogies into China and most Chinese MBA programs are now being modeled on their Western counterparts.

  • To gauge the impact of this infusion of Western methods and theories on China’s management educational system, we have conducted a narrative analysis of Chinese MBA teaching cases published before and after this transfer.

  • The holistic approach to management, prevalent in early Chinese MBA cases and typical of traditional Chinese culture, has largely disappeared and Chinese cases now exhibit many of the same weaknesses and deficiencies that have been documented in Harvard Business School cases.

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Notes

  1. This refers not to any geographic area, but rather to the cold-war period political and ideological entities. We adopted the definition of Tsui et al. (2004) and use the term “West” as shorthand for this group of developed, capitalist countries, most specifically, the United States, Canada and Western European countries.

  2. National Science Foundation (NSF) is a prestigious, semi-government agency in charge of natural- and social sciences research and development in China; applicants must meet very high standard to be considered for NSF funding.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions of mir editors and reviewers. Partial financial support from CEIBS Research Committee is gratefully acknowledged. All remaining errors are, of course, the responsibility of the authors.

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  1. China Europe International Business School, Shanghai, China

    Neng Liang (Professor)

  2. Peking University, China Center for Economic Research, Beijing, China

    Shu Lin

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Manuscript received January 2007, revised May 2007, final version received May 2008.

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Liang, N., Lin, S. Erroneous Learning from the West? A Narrative Analysis of Chinese MBA Cases Published in 1992, 1999 and 2003. MANAGE. INT. REV. 48, 603–638 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-008-0037-5

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