The Economist - USA (2020-05-16)

54 Business The EconomistMay 16th 2020

2

Bartleby Teachable moment

L

ockdown hasdelivered a nasty

shock to academia, with universities

around the world closing for the summer

term, disrupting the plans of millions of

students. Business schools are suffering

along with the rest, but the shutdown has

occurred when the sector is already

facing a host of problems. A survey of the

deans of American business schools by

Eduvantis, a consultancy, found that

almost all thought the pandemic would

lead to permanent closures.

Bartleby contacted seven leading

schools in America, Britain and France to

see how they were coping with the crisis.

Unsurprisingly, the immediate reaction

has been to switch to teaching online.

Many are putting a brave face on the

issue. Christoph Loch, dean of the Judge

school at Cambridge, says: “If we do this

right, if we do it strategically, this is

going to stay beyond covid.” Meanwhile

the insead school in France maintains

that it is hard to imagine going back to a

world where the successes from online

learning will not be combined with

person-to-person exchanges.

The pandemic also presents a teach-

ing opportunity. The Wharton School at

the University of Pennsylvania has

launched a course called “Epidemics,

Natural Disasters and Geopolitics: Man-

aging Global Business and Financial

Uncertainty”. The London Business

School will shortly run a course on “The

Economics of a Pandemic”.

Online courses are all very well. But

part of the motivation for attending

business school is to take advantage of

networking opportunities that could last

for the rest of students’ careers. Some of

this can be done online. At the mitSloan

School of Management, virtual student

networking has included trivia nights,

hackathons and a programming boot

camp. In keeping with its location, activ-

ities at the Haas School in Berkeley, Cali-

fornia, have included remote yoga and

mindfulness classes. At insead, students

gather in virtual break-out rooms for

further discussions, with the groups

picked at random to ensure interaction

with a broader group of classmates.

Nevertheless, just as a friend you made

on Facebook is not the same as someone

you grew up with, virtual ties are unlikely

to be as strong as normal ones. That has led

to some dissatisfaction among students.

At Wharton, more than 1,000 mbastudents

have signed an online petition arguing

that the school should reduce fees, which

run to $150,000 for a two-year course. The

petition claims that virtual-classroom

technology is “unable to fully replicate”

the usual teaching environment, and that

other elements of the course, such as

foreign travel and extra-curricular activ-

ities, “have been essentially cancelled”.

The rapid economic downturn caused

by the pandemic is a complicating factor.

In the past, business schools have benefit-

ed from recessions, as young people have

chosen to continue their education

rather than risk entering a shaky jobs

market. But this time could be different.

First, it is not yet clear when business

schools can reopen for traditional teach-

ing. None of the schools had a firm time-

table for that to happen. And candidates

may wait until they do, rather than pay

top dollar for an online course. Another

survey, by Poets&Quants, a website for

news about business schools, found that

43% of prospective mbastudents

thought that fees should be lowered, and

that a third might defer their courses

until normal teaching can resume.

Second, the pandemic is likely further

to discourage students from applying to

business schools abroad. Around half of

all American business schools experi-

enced a decline in overseas applications

last year, thanks to anti-immigration

political rhetoric and the greater difficul-

ty in getting visas to work once a degree

was obtained.

Neither America nor Britain has

covered itself in glory in recent weeks. A

survey of international students by idp

Connect found that, among Anglophone

countries, Britain and America ranked

behind New Zealand, Canada and Austra-

lia in terms of how they have handled the

pandemic. The war of words between

America and China over the virus will

also have an effect. Students from the

People’s Republic may be more inclined

to study in their own country.

That is bad news for both universities

and business schools, as international

students are very lucrative. Things may

go back to normal in a few years’ time;

the virus may be conquered and interna-

tional relations may settle down. But as

with many other sectors of the economy,

there may be a big shakeout among

business schools before that happens.

The pandemic may result in some business schools closing for good

sters think Anta “lacks the cool factor”, says

Lu Ge of the Beijing Institute of Fashion

Technology—despite being the official kit

supplier for China’s Olympic athletes.

 That perception stems in part from

Anta’s customer base. Its shops are concen-

trated in medium-sized cities, to cater to

consumers that are less well off than those

in Beijing or Shanghai, the preferred

haunts of Nike and Adidas. A pair of Anta

shoes typically costs a third less than a sim-

ilar pair of Nikes, observes Dallas Cai of

Oriental Patron, a broker. Pricier and asso-

ciated with more global superstars, Nike

and Adidas have far more brand appeal.

 Mr Ding’s all-hands-on-deck strategy

and Anta’s clientele may have insulated the

firm from the worst of covid-19’s ravages.

Ms Cai observes that, as China began to re-

open in late February, residents of cities

where Anta is strong may have been less

fastidious about social distancing than

counterparts in richer locales. Revenues at

Anta fell by 20-25% in the first quarter year-

on-year, according to the firm’s latest fi-

nancial update. That looks rosy compared

with Adidas. It saw sales in China drop by

58% in the same period.

Relying on rivals’ bad luck is not a long-

term plan. Mr Ding recently wrote that

Anta aspires to make the leap from an “af-

fordable brand” to a “desirable” one. He has

some more upmarket trademarks at his

disposal. In 2009 Anta acquired the Chi-

nese operation of Fila, a sportswear firm

with Italian roots. Last year, in a $5.2bn

deal, the firm bought a majority stake in

Amer Sports, a Finnish outfit with assets

including Wilson tennis rackets and Salo-

mon skis. But that may not be enough to

take on and beat Nike and Adidas. Shifting

perceptions will be hard. 7