“Let More Chinese People Realize
Their Dream of Starting up a Business”
- An interview of Michael Fetters
Vice President of Academic Affairs at Babson College
Translation by, Huang Ting-hung, Li Tian, Wu Jianmin
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Can entrepreneurship be taught? If the answer is Yes, you should pay attention to Babson College from the U.S. In entrepreneurship education worldwide, Babson has a better reputation than Harvard and Wharton. Founded in 1919, this private school located in Boston, the east coast of the U.S., has more than 40 researchers and educators in the field of entrepreneurship. As early as 1967, it offered a masters-level entrepreneurship program. In the US News & World Report’s ‘America's Best Colleges’, Babson College has been ranked No. 1 in entrepreneurship for 11 consecutive years. In the entrepreneurship ranking of Financial Times and Business Week, Babson has been ranked at the top. As an outstanding school in entrepreneurship education, Babson has devoted itself to promoting the development of entrepreneurship education globally. Rapidly-developing China has attracted its attention. Babson hopes to promote entrepreneurship activities in China through training China’s entrepreneurship faculties. Recently, Michael Fetters, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Babson College, accepted an interview with Quanwei Li from Fortune (China).
Fortune (China) Question: There are not many independent business schools in U.S., and even fewer of the business schools possess distinctive specialties. How did you become a leader in entrepreneurship education?
Michael Fetters Answer: Yes, Babson has the distinctive reputation for entrepreneurship education. And this relates to our history. When Roger Babson founded Babson College in 1919, his goal was to train entrepreneurs for family businesses. The spirit of entrepreneurship has been the focus for a long time. Since we are a small-sized school, we focus on one area. Since 1970s, we have set our mission to develop entrepreneurship education and promote entrepreneurship activities globally.
Q: Has the entrepreneurship focus changed the way Babson teaches?
A: In order to realize our mission, we have been through many curriculum innovations and finally arrived at the module format. The modules integrate all the management courses, naturally connect real world practice with systematic frameworks, and significantly increase the students’ capability and skills to recognize, analysis and grasp opportunities. Our integrated undergraduate and MBA curriculums have won many domestic and international awards.
Every business school has to make sure that the instructions are related to the business world, improve productivity and increase employment opportunities. Babson was the earliest college to pay attention to starting up a business. With the changes in society, especially the development of IT, we found that new opportunities exist at any time and any place. Therefore, our education teaches students how to think and act creatively.
Q: Many people think that the entrepreneurship spirit can not be taught. You must disagree. How do you teach students to think creatively? A: I think entrepreneurship can be taught. We divide entrepreneurship activity and spirit into several parts and integrate them into curriculum. For example, the first year MBA curriculum is defined by four themes in entrepreneurship: creativity, analyzing opportunities, realizing opportunities and sustaining the business. I should make it clear that Babson focuses on entrepreneurship, but not every student will become an entrepreneur in the future. Thus, we also have many fundamental management courses and integrate them into those modules.
In our teaching practices, we closely connect entrepreneurs, faculties and students. Advice from the entrepreneurs’ own experiences enhances the students’ entrepreneurial thinking. For example, we have a visiting professor, who founded a company that had one-billion dollars in sales revenue; he teaches with another professor, who invented an electronic spreadsheet. Another example, in our franchising course, is our professor teaches with the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts. Our students can learn tools not only from professors, but also learn practical experience from entrepreneurs.
In addition, the whole Babson community encourages entrepreneurial activity and supports student start-ups on campus. Facts prove that these are great ways to train students’ entrepreneurship spirit.
Q: Could you tell me in detail about the student start-ups on campus? A: In the first year of our undergraduate curriculum, all students have to run a real business. They are divided into groups with 30 people. For each group, they have two professors to provide advice and help. They write a business plan, learn to predict the market and run a business. At the end of the project, the school will evaluate their outcomes. The school provides each group with 5,000 dollars of start-up funds. After one year, they have to return it back. If they have made a profit, they will donate it to local charities. In 2004, one project was to outsource from China and then sell to U.S. market.
Babson College focuses on entrepreneurship and builds up its reputation all over the world. Many media rank Babson No.1 in entrepreneurship.
Q: About the ranking, does the ranking have any influence on your school? A: Ranking has its influence; it is an indicator of the performance of a business school. When Babson started to emphasize entrepreneurial education, there was no such category in the media rankings, and not many people cared about it. But later, when this field of education got the attention of people, especially in the 1990s, for the first time, there was an entrepreneurship category in the media ranking. Since then, Babson has always ranked No.1 in this category, and the top ranking attracts close attention from all over the world; and it does help Babson to promote its global entrepreneurship education.
Q: No doubt that Babson is very successful, based on its high ranking and recognition. What standard do you think we can use to judge whether a business is successful or not, and what are the key factors of a successful business school? A: Firstly, an MBA program is the most important aspect of a successful business school. Secondly, its students and professors should pay attention to practical research, and this kind of research can continuously improve the decision-making process of management. Thirdly, the school must cooperate with other prominent schools in the world to help global economic development. Finally, it (success) is determined by the influence of its students in the world. For example, the new president of Toyota Motor, Akio Toyota, who has been in charge of Toyota China, is one of our graduates.
Q: Success comes with pressure. What pressure and challenges will Babson face in the future? A: As the business environment is changing swiftly due to the globalization trend and faster technology advancement, the challenges we face are to teach students how to effectively manage and operate their businesses in a diversified environment and culture, and how to integrate cutting-edge technologies into our curriculum. Furthermore, we also need to focus on cooperating with prominent international schools and effectively promote entrepreneurship education.
Q: Do you plan to expand cooperations with business schools in China during your visit to China? A: We have been cooperating with Tsinghua University on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM. This visit will expand the scale of cooperation. Additionally, Babson will cooperate with Nankai University Business School to develop entrepreneurship research and education activities in China. Together, we introduce the Symposium for Entrepreneurship Education (SyEE) in China. At the same time, Nankai University establishes the China Entrepreneurship Research and Education Association, and hosts the International Entrepreneurship Research Conference.
Q: Do you want to promote entrepreneurship by introducing the SyEE to China? A: Yes. Entrepreneurship in China has entered a dynamic phase. The China GEM report shows that there are currently more entrepreneurial opportunities in China, but the entrepreneurial level and abilities of Chinese are lower than the worldwide average level. There are more necessity-based entrepreneurial activities than opportunity-based entrepreneurial activities. Therefore, more and more higher education institutions would like to provide entrepreneurship education. However, they lack teachers in this field. Through cooperation between Nankai University and Babson, we are trying to develop new entrepreneurship instructors who will then promote entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial activities in China. We would like to help more Chinese to realize their dream of starting up their own business by introducing the SyEE.
