Understanding Value Creation in Business Schools

This paper develops definitions of value and discusses value creation in the context of Business Schools. By doing so it answers to calls both for precise definitions of the term value, as the lack of precision creates ambiguity and impairs theoretical and empirical developments, and to how Business Schools create value for their stakeholders. Basing our argument on the distinction between use value and exchange value we explore what value means for buyers of management education, namely self-funded students, parents or sponsoring organizations and we highlight the role of perceptions and conclude that consumer surplus is the most appropriate definition of buyers’ value. This allows us to discuss the value creating strategies Business Schools may consider and the implications for each of them.