Globalize the Cases, Not Just the Student Body
While the typical classroom of the top business schools is 35 to 40 percent international, the case studies and perspectives are not. U.S. business schools should showcase more innovations from developing countries in their classrooms.
Take Silicon Valley and Stanford. Most case studies (and their protagonists) about entrepreneurship and venture capital are centered around Silicon Valley innovation. Guest speakers from Silicon Valley, and students in awe of them, seldom recognize the world’s largest startup ecosystems outside the US or Europe: India, China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Journeys of founders and companies from developing economies that are solving challenges of billions (not millions) of people seldom find a place in primetime business courses.
As a result, the brightest minds graduate believing that Silicon Valley and the USA ecosystem are the foundational bedrock of innovation and growth. Is it time to discard these ‘‘Bay Area blinkers’’ and embrace the global narrative?
As an Indian and venture capital investor in South Asia, I meet daring entrepreneurs every day who innovate despite, not thanks to, their circumstances. Without a doubt, the US rules ‘‘Zero to One’’ innovation. But ‘‘One to Billion’’ is an art mastered by developing countries and deserves more spotlight.
Changes are coming: last year, the GSB developed 35 new cases featuring business leaders from diverse backgrounds of which 4 featured leaders or companies based outside the US. Diversity of founder backgrounds is a start; diversity in the countries represented in these case studies matters equally.
What can business schools do better?
First, begin at home. Every year, many graduates from the GSB return to found companies in their home countries. Bring more international alumni founders back as case studies and ambassadors of global innovation. Examples include the financial services pioneer Nubank (LatAm) and healthcare innovator 1mg (India), both delivering innovative services to millions of underserved people.
Second, globalize showstopper courses. Infuse international case studies into the best-seller courses on strategy, entrepreneurship and scaling innovation. This contrasts with the current approach of stacking international cases into sidecar electives on developing economies, which by design mostly attract international students and label these cases as “social impact”. It misses the point of mixing perspectives of American and international students in the same classroom for a global learning experience on successful international businesses. Founders in developing countries scale companies amidst complex and diverse ecosystems: there is a wealth of cross-border learning for students and faculty on scaling enterprises, managing diverse teams, and nimble business model strategies.
Finally, refresh case pipelines. Encourage faculty and case-writers to widen their global networks beyond the US and Europe. Game-changing events are unfolding in global innovation right now; not introducing students to this is like reading them only the local news without turning to the international pages. For example, Reliance Jio — a telecom enterprise whose leadership includes GSB alumni — achieved the unthinkable to bring 400 million Indians online in four years (more than the population of the US). Dubbed “the Jio Effect”, this is redefining how Google, Meta, Amazon and other big tech giants do business in the region. In Africa, look beyond M-Pesa. The “Big Four” countries of Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt have produced multiple unicorns and are changing the status quo on the continent. Jumia (pan-African tech marketplace listed on NYSE), Andela and Flutterwave (straddling USA and Africa based operations) are examples of companies that have demonstrated success on the global stage. Stronger collaborations with regional alumni and investor networks as well as student clubs would help source such content while helping the university live up to its global brand and infuse diverse learning experiences into the classroom.
The lack of diversity in case studies is not merely an academic metric. It is symptomatic of the larger problem of ‘‘West knows best.’’ Whether healthcare, financial services, or climate solutions, startup companies in developing countries navigate unparalleled chaos and complexity to scale; this forces unique creativity and nimbleness to innovation that has lessons for Silicon Valley and business schools worldwide.
Ultimately, representation matters. In today’s world of businesses across borders, a business school education that does not delve into multi-country experiences is a missed opportunity.
