Xing Talk is a new column runs regularly by Xing Zong, a Chinese graduate student at Duke University pursuing a Ph.D. degree in physics, As a rocket scientist, Xing’s passion also lies in writing and interacting with people. He contributes to China.com regularly with his interesting interviews of Presidents in U.S. top universities, Nobel Laureates and business school deans. As Xing said, “my biggest discovery after arriving in U.S. was that my first name “Xing” had a nice interpretation of the on-road sign crossing. Indeed, I stand at the cross road of two different cultures and eager to connect Uncle Sam and Red Dragon.” Recently Xing held an exclusive interview with Dr. Schmalensee, Dean of MIT Sloan School of Management.
About Dr. Richard Schmalensee,
Richard Schmalensee is professor of economics and management and the John C Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research has centered on industrial organization economics and its application to managerial and public policy issues, with particular emphasis on antitrust, regulatory, and environmental policies. He is a director of the International Securities Exchange and of the International Data Group.
Interview Xing Zong: Dean Schmalensee, your MIT life started in 1961. Now 45 years have passed. You have been in MIT as an undergraduate, a graduate student, a faculty member then culminate as the dean of Sloan school. In retrospect, what are the main differences you have observed in terms of business education? Schmalensee: Research done at MIT Sloan and elsewhere has radically changed the content of business education. The Black-Scholes option pricing formula, discovered at MIT Sloan, for instance, kicked off enormous advances in financial economics, which have in turn had profound effects on financial markets and the firms that operate in them. In terms of the process of business education, there is more emphasis on teamwork and on real projects. In addition, our peers and we are much more international in makeup and global in orientation.
Xing Zong: The dean of a business school, in your own words is “a bridging job”. Why is that? Do you think an academician or a practitioner will be a better role for this job? Schmalensee: I think either an academic without business experience or a practitioner without academic experience would have a hard time doing the job well, and it is not clear which would have more to learn. Business schools should be in touch with the profession they were built to serve, and that must start at the top.
Xing Zong: MIT is renowned for its cutting edge science and technology research--a natural advantage for Sloan, who can take full advantage of this huge resource and facilitate transferring lab research to real industry products. How does Sloan achieve that? Schmalensee: We believe that being part of MIT is a great advantage for us, and our students generally share that belief. Many of our classes deal with the innovation process, some explicitly focused on MIT-developed technologies. All of these are open to students from all across MIT. In addition, there are a variety of clubs and activities that span the campus because students see the value of mixing science, technology, and management.
Xing Zong: A striking characteristic of U.S. leading business schools is, the research and teaching would focus heavily on real world issues. How does Sloan interact with the world outside ivory tower instead of just focusing on too much theoretical work? Schmalensee: We have a number of research centers that do research with business support. In addition, individual faculty members seek out both interesting problems and financial support from businesses. Custom executive education is often a useful vehicle for bringing faculty in contact with important real world problems.
