Building a business school in China: the case of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

Under the Chinese planned economy, there was no need for trained managers. Consequently, a huge skills shortage has arisen, focused in areas such as financial management, marketing and HRM. China’s Education Vice Minister estimates a need for 2.7m trained managers to meet the competitive challenges facing the country. In China’s universities, however, the requisite skills and experience are largely absent. Yet, imported training lacks the unique cultural context and suffers translation difficulties while the students lack the appropriate conceptual frameworks to interpret their new knowledge. Additionally, foreign programmes are forced to deliver within the context of a local university system which is usually inappropriate. The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) was set up to overcome these constraints and to establish a model for management education in China. This paper describes the issues and challenges in the establishment of the school, the implications for China and the achievements after the first five years of the school.