What They DO Teach You in Business School

So, you may not have gotten that MBA like your parents wanted you to. Or, maybe you are a business expert who is interested in what contemporary business schools are teaching, discussing, or working on. With the shifting face of higher education, there may be more and more opportunities to “learn from the pros” via MOOCs (massive online open courses) and other innovative ways that modern business schools are reaching out to larger audiences.

Actually, for quite some time it has been possible to tap into the knowledge base of some of the world’s best business schools. You might not necessarily get access to actual coursework but, and this might be better, you can read and learn about ideas, theories, and research being done by leading professors (and often some of their star students) via online business school journals and magazines. Many of the top B schools have published print magazines for several years, and often these publications are also available electronically over the internet.

The most well-known and possibly the best of these periodicals is the Harvard Business Review. HBR has been published since 1922, and they produce a monthly magazine that is required reading in many executive suites. The print publication is a classy operation, and a full access subscription will deliver the magazine to your mailbox each month and will also give you access to their archives online. No subscription? You can still see the contents of each month’s current issue on the HBR website.

Don’t stop there, however. The list below will guide you to many more resources – from familiar business schools like Stanford, Wharton, Georgetown, and UCLA’s Anderson School, to some that are possible less familiar, like the Beedie School at Simon Fraser University, or the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Publications are not always monthly, and in some cases, not even predictable (Wake Forest Business Magazine seems quite intermittent), but a quick run through the list below on a more-or-less regular basis will bring some of the best thinking from some great business schools direct to your home or office.

Harvard                                                                Harvard Business Review

Ivey – Western University (CA)                     InTouch               

Stanford                                                               Stanford Business

Wharton                                                               Wharton Magazine

American Univ – Kogod School                   Kogod

U of Texas – McComb                                     McCombs Today

Chinese Univ of Hong Kong                          CU iBus

Univ of Washington                                         Foster Business Magazine

UCLA – Anderson School                             Assets Digital Magazine

UNC Kenan-Flagler                                         ROI

Georgetown/McDonough                           Georgetown Business

Wake Forest                                                      Wake Forest Business Mag

Simon Fraser University                               ideas@Beedie  

Fire up your computer, put on your learning hat, and get smart!