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INTERNATIONAL & COMPARATIVE EDUCATION | RESEARCH ARTICLE
Understanding the pathways to business schools’excellence: Evidence
from 48 AACSB-accredited institutions’mission statements in
mainland China
Zhaoheng Xu
a
, Lei Liu
b
and Jie Yu
b
a
Center for International Education Research, College of International Education, Shanghai University, Shanghai,
China
b
SILC Business School, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
ABSTRACT
Developing a clear and applicable mission statement is essential for business schools
to obtain AACSB accreditation, and it is also a core embodiment of their ability to
achieve sustained excellence. By the end of 2023, a total of 48 business schools in
mainland China have been accredited by AACSB, which has a positive modelling
effect on the development of a larger number of business schools in the same cul-
tural context and also seeks transformational breakthroughs. This research explores
how these 48 AACSB-accredited business schools promote their own survival, growth
and profitability through high-frequency word counts and textual analyses of their
mission statements. It is found that these business schools have made the cultivation
of social leaders and business talents their foundation; they have made continuous
innovation, integration and dissemination of business knowledge their core objectives,
and have promoted social progress through active participation in regional and indus-
try development. These initiatives have been reinforced and improved by the business
schools’philosophy and practices of being ‘open to the world, rooted in China.’While
many business schools are mimetically isomorphic in the structural form of mission
statements, some have begun to adapt their mission with nuanced articulations. This
adaptation reflects their consideration of their development paths, though such col-
lective shifts still require time. As one of the few studies focusing on mission state-
ments of business schools in mainland China, this paper summarizes an ‘inverted
triangle’development model of Chinese business schools, and provides detailed infor-
mation and irreplaceable cases on this topic.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 26 April 2024
Revised 27 July 2024
Accepted 20 August 2024
KEYWORDS
Business school; AACSB-
accreditation; mission
statement; international
business education;
mainland China
SUBJECTS
Higher Education
Management; International
& Comparative Education;
School Leadership,
Management &
Administration
Introduction
International accreditation is seen as an effective mechanism to promote the continued development of
business schools globally and to establish high standards, although it may not be the only way for busi-
ness schools to achieve excellence. Among the three globally renowned non-governmental accreditation
organizations for business and accounting fields: AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA, the first of which, the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, 1916), has the longest history and is the
first choice for most business schools globally for international accreditation and quality assessment. It is
estimated that more than 1000 business schools covering 60 countries and territories have been accred-
ited by AACSB, representing approximately 6% of the total number of business schools in the world
(AACSB, 2023).
The continued participation of business schools in international accreditation reflects China’s advance-
ment in business education and its positive attitude towards globalization over the past decades. By the
end of 2023, more than one hundred business schools in mainland China (hereinafter referred to as
China) have joined AACSB, 48 of which have been accredited (hereinafter referred to as ‘accredited
CONTACT Lei Liu jenjen@shu.edu.cn SILC Business School, Shanghai University, No.20, Chengzhong Road, Jiading, Shanghai, 201899,
China
ß2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been
published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
COGENT EDUCATION
2024, VOL. 11, NO. 1, 2397191
https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2397191
business schools’). This is only a small portion compared with the current calibre of nearly 2000 business
schools in China, indicating China’s progression towards international accreditation is in its early stages.
Acquiring AACSB accreditation is considered to offer many benefits, such as improving education and
research quality and recruiting more qualified faculty and students (Ito, 2022), indicating that these busi-
ness schools have earned the privilege of being ranked among the world’s foremost business institu-
tions. These AACSB-accredited institutions are among the best business schools in China, and have
become important platforms for China’s business education community to attract and gain access to
more international opportunities and resources. The success of these business schools has a significant
guiding and exemplary role in the development of many other business schools, especially at this stage
when many business schools are in need of transformational development.
Developing a well-articulated mission statement and subsequently delivering on its tenets is the man-
datory component of achieving AACSB accreditation. A business school’s mission statement is seen as a
complex rhetorical package or set of signals that conveys credible performance-related information,
reduces information asymmetry between the institution and its stakeholders (Fiset and Al Hajj, 2022),
and serves as a guide and direction for these institutions to develop appropriate strategic plans. In a
sense, a ‘good’mission statement is the soul of business schools; it distils the essence of business
schools, guides their direction, and clarifies their paths (AACSB, 2020), helping the schools to articulate
themselves regarding ‘where they have seen, where they are going, and precisely how they intend to
get there’(McKelvie, 1986). While global scholars have provided a wealth of insights and case studies on
mission statements of business schools and their signalling effect on institutional performance, research
on this topic have so far been mainly conducted within the Anglo-American context (Kosm€
utzky &
Kr€
ucken, 2015), and relevant research for Chinese business schools is still at a beginning stage.
This study takes a total of 48 AACSB-accredited business schools in China as the object of research,
and conducts in-depth analyses of the information contained in their mission statements, mainly
through a combination of high-frequency word statistics and textual analysis. The purpose of this study
is to understand why these 48 business schools, as opposed to others, emerged as the pioneers in
achieving AACSB accreditation in China–or in more literal terms, what’s the ‘formula’hidden in the mis-
sion statements of these accredited business schools that leads them to properly address the challenges
related to their own survival, development and profitability? Therefore, two research questions are posed
in this study: What are the core elements that are featured in the mission statements of these 48 accred-
ited business schools? Based on the consistent message conveyed by these elements, what are the key
pathways or models through which these business schools are driving sustained institutional excellence?
Following this introduction, this paper sequentially presents the literature on mission statements and
strategic planning related to business schools. This is followed by a research design section focusing on
data collection and analysis, and finally the findings and discussion of the results. The academic value of
this study is that it provides special insights and case studies for global scholars to better understand
the development paths of Chinese business schools, and distils a model that can be used as a reference
for other business schools in development in the new era.
Literature review
Organizational mission: a review of relevant studies
A mission statement is a formal expression of an organization at its top design, which may be a state-
ment of direction, priorities and guideline (Lang & Lopers-Sweetman, 1991; Faisal et al., 2023); a standard
and expected instruments in an organization (Bali & Higgins, 2023), or it also acts as its vehicle for cul-
ture, ideology and ethos (Swales & Rogers, 1995). In short, it represents an important summary or distil-
lation of an organization’s core goals, designed to communicate broad themes in concise and simple
statements (Stemler et al., 2011). Research on mission statements has been ongoing for decades, with
an early focus on strategic management and corporate governance. For instance, during the 1990s,
more than half of the U.S. businesses had adopted mission or vision statements, this number doubled
from a decade earlier underpinned by one fact that, these statements are considered to allow the public
to capture the intrinsic nature of the company (Cady et al., 2011). As society has evolved, the trend has
2 Z. XU ET AL.
gradually expanded to the area of higher education, with an increasing number of universities and col-
leges globally devoting considerable effort into crafting proper mission statements (Lang & Lopers-
Sweetman, 1991), which is believed to help internalize the philosophy of the institutions and create a
common understanding of what it is that all members of the institutions are seeking (Gao & Zhang,
2009).
Based on the nature of the research questions and design, related studies can be broadly divided
into two categories. One category examines mission statements in a descriptive manner, such as explor-
ing the roles and purposes of organizations’mission statements, or revealing the themes, contents and
types of certain mission statements (Cady et al., 2011; Lang & Lopers-Sweetman, 1991; Lu, 2012; Meng
et al., 2021; Rahman et al., 2020; Wei & Yang, 2022). The other is to study mission statements in a causal
or correlational manner, for instance, examining on the relationships with mission statements compo-
nents and the performance of organizations or certain stakeholder management actions (Amran, 2012;
Baetz & Bart, 1996; Bartkus & Glassman, 2008; Braun et al., 2012; Duygulu et al., 2016). Regardless of the
way it is presented, it is generally accepted that the more meaningful elements a mission statement
contains, the more valuable it is, as an effective mission is able to help an organization define its goals
and tasks, help its members to form an identity and consensus on its goals, and motivates all members
to contribute to the organizational development (Wei & Yang, 2022).
Mission as a distillation of organizational strategies
Mission statements are seen as organizations’symbolic representation, a prototypical identity narrative ,
as well as the genesis of organizations’strategic planning (Junqueira, 2021), or core elements related to
strategic management and the organization’s identity (Serra et al., 2022). Strategic management or plan-
ning identifies the institutions’major directions, and there seems to have certain features common to
every successful ‘model’(Taylor et al., 2008). From a new institutional perspective, organizational forms
are enforced by cultural, normative and regulatory elements (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Seeber et al.,
2017). In order to access a form’s base of legitimacy to ensure survival and growth, organizations may
adopt convergent behaviours corresponding to these three elements - coercive convergence, normative
convergence, and mimetic convergence, which lead to similarity in various aspects of the organizations,
i.e. the institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Glynn & D’aunno, 2023; Wang & He, 2019).
Accordingly, organizations need to signal membership to an organizational form by adopting claims
that define that form (Seeber et al., 2017).
While at the same time, the competitive imperative requires organizations to distinguish themselves
from other organizations in the same field, for instance, by highlighting organizational specificities and
brand unique images in their mission statements (Kosm€
utzky & Kr€
ucken, 2015), to reduce competitive
pressure (Deephouse, 1999). Consequently, organizations must carefully balance the need for similarity
to gain legitimacy with the need for uniqueness to achieve competitive advantage (Seeber et al., 2017)
when crafting their mission statements.
Key elements of business schools’mission statements
Relevant studies have provided a range of frameworks and indicators from different perspectives, that
offer different insights into the elements or contents that should be covered in a high-quality mission
statement, for instance, a four-category typology containing purpose; strategic objectives; quantified
planning targets and the business definition (Klemm et al., 1991); five elements of mission (Rahman
et al., 2020; Want, 1986); eight key components (Pearce & David, 1987; Wei & Yang, 2022); nine mission
components (David, 1989); ten contents (Baetz & Bart, 1996) or thematic categories (Stemler et al., 2011)
of mission statements, and even 25 components (Bart, 1997) that integrate most of the relevant ones
mentioned above. Despite some differences in wording, these categorizations or frameworks focus on
the following elements: stakeholders (customer/financial objective/users); products and services; market,
location, geographic domain; values, beliefs, philosophies; commitment to survival, growth and profit-
ability. Some studies also refer to other elements such as self-concept; public image; concern for
COGENT EDUCATION 3
employees. These summaries of mission elements are largely based on an analysis of the business cases,
of which the achievement of business revenue-driven profitability goals is an integral element.
Structures and processes of higher education institutions historically differ markedly from those
of other institutionalized organizations such as business organizations and state bureaucracies. Thus,
when crafting the mission statement, the university or college is necessary to embody broader insti-
tutional specificities, such as the general focus on research and teaching and related internal gov-
ernance structures (Hasse & Kr€
ucken, 2013). A study of leading universities’mission suggests that
different universities have particular focuses on elements such as research, technology, and leaders
(or leadership) (Bayrak, 2020;Tohetal.,2022). The core values and development philosophies
embodied in the mission statements of the world’s top business schools have also been found to be
highly relevant to ‘what kind of people to train’, involving key words such as social responsibility,
global impact, teamwork, and leadership (Meng et al., 2021). Another survey of California residents
side-steps these above arguments by emphasizing that the main purpose of higher education is to
produce people with a variety of talents and qualities (Immerwahl, 2000), which clearly constitutes a
core element of a university’s mission.
Business schools’identity is based on the nature of business education underpinned by
disciplines of economics and management (Meng et al., 2021). While possessing the functions char-
acteristic of general higher education institutions, business schools go beyond by being inherently
business-conscious and responsible, for instance, particularly focusing on entrepreneurship (Walsh
et al., 2021;Wrightetal.,2009) and entrepreneurship education (Binks et al., 2006). This heightened
awareness stems from their mission to maintains a closer connection with social development and
the external environment (Liu & Xu, 2021). This is perhaps one reason why business schools are seen
as more complex ecological organizations like entrepreneurial academic institutions, or professional
firms (Davies & Glaister, 1997).
Data and methods
Sample selection
The sample for this study is the 48 Chinese AACSB-accredited business schools, which represent the
highest level of business education in China. The main characteristics of these business schools are as
follows. First, in terms of institutional affiliation, most of them are second-tier colleges under high-level
universities in China, including three international business schools (S2, S17, and S27) jointly established
by overseas universities. The successful accreditation of these business schools reflects the diversity and
inclusiveness of AACSB standards.
Secondly, the majority of these business schools are located in metropolises or economically and cul-
turally developed coastal areas in China, with Beijing (n ¼12), the capital of China, having the largest
number of AACSB-accredited business schools, followed by Shanghai (n ¼11), the economic, financial,
trade and shipping centre of China, as well as Tianjin (n ¼3) and Guangzhou (n ¼3). The total number
of the accredited business schools in these four cities accounts for 60% of the nationwide total. Over
time, an increasing number of accredited institutions have expanded to other relatively economically
and culturally developed regions of China.
In addition, the road to international accreditation for these business schools has gone through
roughly three stages, based on the time of their initial accreditation (see Figure 1). From 2007 when the
School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University was first accredited, to July 2023 when
the School of Management at Tianjin University of Technology became the latest institution to be
accredited, the accreditation journey of China’s business schools has undergone a similar ‘from elite to
mass’transformation.
As shown in Table 1, the X-axis represents the number of AACSB-accredited business schools in main-
land China, the Y-axis represents the year in which they were first accredited, the dots represent when
each business school was first accredited and the order in which they were accredited, and the dotted
boxes represent three different stages of the overall participation of these business schools in AACSB
accreditation.
4 Z. XU ET AL.
Data collection and analysis
This paper examines all 48 accredited business schools in China that are listed on the official website of
AACSB. By browsing these business schools’homepages and related information, the researchers system-
atically compiling their mission statements texts for content analysis. It should be noted that all accred-
ited business schools invariably have mission statements in both Chinese and English. The two versions
of the mission statements are generally consistent in terms of content, but due to cultural and linguistic
differences, the English version is more concise, while the Chinese version contains some deeper mean-
ings that may only be understood in the Chinese context. For example, some business schools use pro-
found idioms or phrases with specific cultural meaning in Chinese, which are difficult to find exact
matches in English. To present the key messages in the mission statements of all these business schools,
this study analyses both the Chinese and English versions of the mission statement text separately, using
the principle of information maximization. Then the researchers extracted, integrated and sorted out the
keywords based on the analysis results of the English version by cross-comparing the analysis results
obtained from the two versions.
The analysis of these mission statements was conducted in two steps. Firstly, the researchers
developed a convenient word frequency analysis tool and used it to count the high-frequency words
Figure 1. Growth in the number of 48 accredited business schools in mainland China.
Table 1. High frequency words and their frequency in 48 mission statement texts.
Elements High-frequency words and their counts
stakeholders social (17), society (11), students (8), economy (4), economic (3), industry (3), progress (3),
community (2), faculty (2), societal (2), socially (2), executive (1), partner (1),
entrepreneur (1)
products/services knowledge (24), leader (18), talent (15), research (10), elite (8), practice (7), perspective
(6), vision (6), spirit (6), theory (5), wisdom (5), education (4), culture (4), professionals
(4), thinking (3), idea (3), capability (3), methods (3), think (2); learning (2), insight (2),
mindset (2), leadership (2), technology (2); impact (2), manager (2), expertise (1),
scholarship (1), theoretical (1), cultural (1), horizon (1), capable (1), ability (1), science
(1), scientific (1), impactful (1), specialist (1)
market/domain global (22), China (12), Chinese (7), world (7), national (3), East (1), domestic (1), regional
(3), Shanghai (2), globally (2); Western (2), West (1), western [China] (1), local (4),
locally (1), localize (1)
philosophy/values innovative (12), development (11), responsibility (10), new (6), sustainable (5), future (7),
innovation (5), responsible (3), first-class (3), high-quality (3), outstanding (3); cutting-
edge (3); leading (3); advanced (2); excellent (2), growth (2), academic (2), international
(3), entrepreneurial (2), ethical (2), practical (2), innovatively (1); ground-breaking (1),
internationalized (1), open-mined (1), applied (1); experiential (1); principled (1);
principle (1), diversity (1), diverse (1), critically (1), critical (1), world class (1), top (1),
responsibly (1)
concerns for survival, growth and profitability Management (33), business (31), cultivate (19), develop (16), contribute (15), advance
(10), create (9), educate (8), integrate (7), serve (4), promote (3), managerial (3), foster
(3), economics (2), accounting (2), finance (2), creation (2), disseminate (2), shape (2),
enable (2), refine (2), nurture (2), solve (2), bridge (2), act (2), maritime (1), logistics (1),
engineering (1), interdisciplinary (1), integration (1), integrative (1), dissemination (1)
This table presents the high-frequency words and their corresponding counts, which were grouped into five elements, as compiled by
researchers to analyse the mission statements of 48 AACSB-accredited business schools in mainland China.
COGENT EDUCATION 5
of the 48 texts. In order to improve the accuracy, the researchers examined each text one by one
after obtaining the preliminary analysis results, filtered and eliminated the words that could not
deliver valid information, such as some prepositions ‘to’,‘and’,‘of’,‘the’and so on, and finally
formed the high-frequency words list (in descending order of frequency) shown in Table 1.
Secondly, with reference to the analytical approach adopted by existing studies to distil elements in
mission statements, the researchers used a combination of qualitative text analysis software, MAXQDA
2022, and manual coding to code the aforementioned high-frequency words. Through the continuous
merging of the original codes, 15 secondary codes (marked as F1-F15 respectively) belonging to five ele-
ments (primary codes) as shown in Table 2 were finally summarized.
Elements in 48 accredited business schools’mission statements
This study analysed high-frequency words in the text of 48 accredited business schools’mission
statements from multiple perspectives, to explore the institutional development ideas embodied in
them. It is generally believed that the higher the frequency of a keyword, the more significant the
meanings and contents behind the word that is collectively emphasized by institutions. Through the
comparison of the frequency of keywords corresponding to each element, as shown in Figure 2,it
was found that the element of ‘concern for survival, growth and profitability’(referred to as
‘commitment/concerns’in Figure 2) was coded most frequently, suggesting that these business
schools often prioritize the demonstration of the schools’strategic planning in their mission state-
ments, particularly in response to the question ‘what do they intend to do’(McKelvie, 1986). This
element reflects three main aspects or features that are common to these business schools, that are:
focus on disciplinary characteristics (F13); alignment of industry needs for talent (F14), and emphasis
on business schools’impactsonsociety(F15),asshowninTable 2.
The second highest frequency of coded words was for the element of ‘products/services’, suggest-
ing that cultivating talents and developing skills needed by society and industry, as well as promot-
ing the production and dissemination of innovative knowledge and wisdoms, are key functions that
are always highly valued by Chinese business schools. Ranked third is the element of ‘philosophy’,
which is often used in conjunction with the words of ‘value’or ‘belief’(Baetz & Bart, 1996) to repre-
sent the principles, directions and goals pursued by organizations in their development, either at
the conscious or institutional level. As mentioned above, AACSB’s mission is to foster engagement,
accelerate innovation, and amplify impact in business education, which informs AACSB accreditation
standards for business schools around the world (AACSB, 2020). In the mission statements of the 48
Chinese business schools, we find that many of the values that AACSB emphasizes and models to
achieve its own mission and vision, for instance, quality (pursuit of excellence, F12), diversity and
inclusion (F11), and social responsibility (F9), are reflected to some degree. Additionally, these
schools also take ‘innovation’as a key competency (F10). In contrast, these business schools rarely
included in their mission statements how to promote the development of institutions’stakeholders
(particularly faculty members), corresponding to a low frequency of occurrence of terms correspond-
ing to the ‘stakeholder’element.
Business schools’development approaches based on mission statements
By further integrating all the key information provided in these mission statement texts, including
the intra- and extra-linguistic ideas embodied in both English and Chinese expressions, and by
deeply unpacking the interconnections among the above-mentioned high-frequency words, the
researchers summarized the main paths taken by these business schools in their pursuit of sus-
tained development that is closely related to their own survival, growth and profitability: talents
cultivation, knowledge innovation, social engagement. In addition, more than half of the business
schools’mission statements involve ‘internationalization’to varying degrees in order to access
quality resources and achieve rapid advancement. As shown in Table 3,wheretherightmostcol-
umn counts the number of schools involved in the related contents, and some business schools
are counted multiple times in the same dimension because they express multiple proximate
6 Z. XU ET AL.
objectives in their mission statements. For example, some emphasize the need to develop mul-
tiple types of talents, not only for business leaders but also for industry elites, talents and profes-
sionals (e.g. S3, S5, S12).
Talent cultivation: fostering excellent business talents and future leaders
High-quality talent development is a strategic choice for the 48 accredited business schools to
strengthen their foundation. Diverging from businesses, the products and services of business
schools rely heavily on the intellectual contributions of their faculty, as shown in Table 2,which
are manifested in four main aspects: qualified graduates (f ¼50), knowledge-based intellectual
outputs (f ¼62), the cognitive abilities, for instance, perspective, vision, ideas and thinking, etc.
(f ¼25), as well as the transferable skills, for instance, spirit, practice and the capability, etc.
(f ¼24), the latter two of which, are primarily demonstrated through the output of outstanding
students from the business schools.
Table 2. Primary and secondary codes for mission statements of 48 business schools.
Primary code Secondary code High-frequency words and their counts
Reference
points
stakeholders F1: external stakeholders social (17), society (11), societal (2), socially (2);
economy (4), economic (3); industry (3);
progress (3); community (2)
47
F2: internal stakeholders students (8); faculty (2); executive (1); partner
(1); entrepreneur (1)
13
products/services F3: qualified graduates leader (18); talent (15); elite (8); professionals
(4); manager (2); specialist (1); leadership
[talent] (2)
50
F4: knowledge-based intellectual
outputs
knowledge (24), expertise (1); research (10),
scholarship (1); theory (5), theoretical (1);
wisdom (5); education (4); culture (4), cultural
(1); learning (2); technology (2); science (1),
scientific (1)
62
F5: cognitive abilities perspective (6), vision (6), horizon (1); ideas (3);
thinking (3), think (2); insight (2); mindset (2)
25
F6: transferable skills and others practice (7); spirit (6); methods (3); capability
(3), capable (1), ability (1); impact (2),
impactful (1)
24
markets/domain F7: world-oriented global (22), globally (2); world (7); Western (2),
West (1)
34
F8: China-based China (12), Chinese (7), national (3), East (1),
domestic (1); regional (3); local (4), locally (1),
localize (1); Shanghai (2), west [China] (1)
36
philosophy/values F9: social engagement and
responsibility
development (11); responsibility (10),
responsible (3), responsibly (1); future (7);
sustainable (5); growth (2)
39
F10: innovation and
breakthrough
innovative (12), innovation (5), innovatively (1);
new (6); ground-breaking (1)
25
F11: diversity and inclusion international (3), internationalized (1), open-
minded (1); academic (2); entrepreneurial (2);
ethical (2); practical (2); applied (1),
experiential (1); principled (1), principle (1);
diversity (1), diverse (1); critically (1),
critical (1)
21
F12: pursuit of excellence world/first-class (4), top (1); high-quality (3);
leading (3); outstanding (3); cutting-edge (3);
advanced (2); excellent (2)
21
concerns for survival, growth
and profitability
F13: focus on disciplinary
characteristics
management (33), managerial (3); business (31);
economics (2); accounting (2); finance (2);
logistics (1); engineering (1); interdisciplinary
(1); create (9), creation (2); disseminate (2),
dissemination (1); integrate (7), integration
(1), integrative (1); refine (2)
101
F14: alignment of industry’s
needs
cultivate (19); develop (16); educate (8); foster
(3); shape (2); enable (2); nurture (2); solve
(2); act (2)
56
F15: impacts on society contribute (15); advance (10); serve (4); promote
(3); bridge (2)
34
This table presents the categorization of the high-frequency words in Table 1 after the researchers further divided them into primary and
secondary codes.
COGENT EDUCATION 7
Figure 2 presents the categorization and statistics of the primary and secondary codes corresponding
to the high frequency words.
The qualified graduates expected by these business schools mainly include leaders in the business
and management field, as well as talents, elites and professionals in the relevant industries. There are
other alternative expressions, such as leadership, entrepreneur. With the exception of only one business
school (S23) (SEM-USTB) that uses the expression of ‘educate students’to refer to its talent cultivation
function, all business schools in this study explicitly use one or more of the above terms to express the
goals of outputting talents. Specifically, 19 of these business schools identify their goals as fostering
leaders in a broad range of fields, and 30 business schools propose development goals such as cultivat-
ing elites and talents needed by society and industry. There is an intersection between these two cate-
gories as individual business schools are dedicated to develop two broad categories of graduates at the
same time, for example, the School of Management at Fudan University proposes to ‘cultivate academic
specialists, business elites and social leaders with global perspectives and local insights’(S3); and The
School of Management at USTC aims to ‘develop talents and leaders’(S12).
As professional education institutions with distinct industry characteristics, these business schools
place particular emphasis on leading students not only to master certain knowledge, but more impor-
tantly, to acquire those above-mentioned cognitive abilities and transferable skills for future work and
life, which is quite similar to the aim to ‘encourage an exploratory mindset for all educators looking to
create supportive learning environment that allow every learner to thrive and be prepared life’as put
forward by Stanford University’s project ‘Stanford 2025’(Stanford University, 2024).
Overall, these business schools prioritize talent cultivation in their institutional development, exhibit-
ing the following key characteristics. In terms of the values associated with talent development, they
Figure 2. Frequency of primary codes for mission statements of 48 accredited business schools.
Table 3. The 48 business schools’development approaches based on mission statements.
Approaches Contents Representative keywords CountsCodes
Talent cultivation
(n ¼48; 100%)
cultivate leaders leaders; leadership 19 F2, F3
develop professionals talents; elites; professionals, etc 30
Knowledge innovation
(n ¼45; 93.75%)
advance knowledge and
research
knowledge; research; expertise,
scholarship
39 F4, F5, F6, F10, F13
promote other
intellectual outputs
wisdom; ideas; perspective;
vision; theory, etc
33
Social engagement
(n ¼41; 85.42%)
general statement of
“service to society”
advance social progress;
practice social responsibility
38 F1, F9, F14, F15
special emphasis on
"service industries"
promote business civilization;
maritime and logistics
industries
16
“Internationalization”
(optional)
(n ¼31; 64.58%)
introduce and equip with
global contents
a global vision/perspective;
a command of international
rules
24 F7, F8, F11, F12
integrate Chinese and
Western elements
integrate Chinese and Western
wisdom; China depth;
global breath
7
This table presents the keywords of the development paths of the 48 accredited business schools in mainland China based on the multiple
analysis of the high-frequency words and their contents, the “counts”indicates the number of business schools involved.
8 Z. XU ET AL.
generally emphasize training leaders and professionals who can make a positive impact on society and
the industry. For instance, the School of Management at XJTU aims to ‘develop innovative, principled,
and outstanding managerial leaders with a global perspective’(S5), while Tongji SEM focuses on
‘developing leading professionals for China and the world’(S15). In terms of the fields of talent cultiva-
tion, business, management, economics, accounting and finance are commonly emphasized areas. In
terms of the requirements for talents, many business schools propose to have sufficient global vision, a
strong sense of social responsibility and a keen sense of innovation and entrepreneurship. For example,
the School of Management at Zhejiang University proposes to ‘develop leaders with a global vision,
innovative capabilities, an entrepreneurial spirit, and genuine social responsibility’(S13), which reflects
the sensitivity of the business schools to keep abreast of the times and to meet the needs of the indus-
try in the context of globalization. Since these business schools are affiliated to universities with strong
comprehensive strength in China, and generally have abundant educational resources, a strong aca-
demic atmosphere, excellent faculty and highly qualified students who have gone through rigorous
selection, it is reasonable and feasible for them to set such ambitious talent cultivation goals.
Knowledge innovation and dissemination: upgrading business education with research excellence
Developing, applying and disseminating business management knowledge in a broader sense have become
a core competence for business schools to gain significant development. Social and economic improve-
ments drive the continuous development of business knowledge to a higher level, and the deepening of
business knowledge further contribute to economy and society. As suggested by Table 2 and Table 3,
knowledge-based intellectual outputs such as knowledge, research, insights, ideas, and theories are key
products and services of these business schools, alongside their qualified graduates. A key feature of these
products and services is their high degree of relevance to disciplines. Whether in terms of talent develop-
ment or knowledge innovation and dissemination, these business schools’mission statements have consist-
ently integrated disciplinary elements into their development plans. 40 of the 48 mission statements
explicitly use one or more than two of these discipline-related terms to emphasize the types of talent that
the business schools are committed to cultivating, or the specific areas that knowledge innovation serves,
which is an important feature that distinguishes business schools from many other higher education
institutions. For instance, it is found that the mission statements of the world’s leading education institutes
focus on their social function of maintaining education equity, but make less reference to pedagogical
methodology or to how the discipline of education should be developed (Wei & Yang, 2022).
These disciplinary elements reflect the importance that these business schools place on producing
knowledge that is required by the industry and is up-to-date, as well as other relevant forms of intellec-
tual products. In this study, 39 business schools have clearly stated innovation and dissemination of
business and/or management knowledge is as a core objective in their mission statements, such as
‘create business knowledge, transform business practice, and promote business civilization’(S20), and
‘integrate high-quality global management education resources, provide cutting-edge systemic manage-
ment knowledge’(S35). Some of these schools also emphasize the need to create and disseminate cut-
ting-edge knowledge through conducting research. For instance, SAIF is committed to ‘become a world
class institution of research and advanced learning in finance and management’(S18), and SILC advo-
cates to ‘undertake business research to contribute to the regional and national economic advancement’
(S27). In addition, there are 33 business schools in this sample using a number of other terms, either
alone or in addition to the word ‘knowledge’, for instance, wisdom; ideas; perspective; vision; and theory
and so on, to express their aim to develop and enhance their impact through the provision of various
intellectual outputs to society and industry.
Overall, these business schools generally highly value the production, dissemination and translation
of business and managerial knowledge in a broad sense, which may eventually become distinctive qual-
ities attached to the graduates of these schools, such as ‘global perspectives’(f ¼6), ‘a global vision’
(f ¼5), ‘innovative/innovation spirits’(f ¼5), and certain kinds of ‘thinking’(f ¼3). Business schools are
relatively permissive in their criteria for knowledge production; they can be ‘academic’(S27) or ‘applied’
(S38), depending largely on how different institutions position themselves for development. In addition,
the constant presence of the words ‘innovative’(f ¼12), ‘innovation’(f ¼5), and ‘new’(f ¼6) in these
COGENT EDUCATION 9
mission texts reflects the key ideas and initiatives of these business schools which aim to advance their
institutions by updating their business/management knowledge, theories, and wisdom.
The word ‘research’(f ¼10) appears slightly less frequently in the mission statements of these busi-
ness schools compared to ‘knowledge’(f ¼24). One possible explanation for this is that the primary
value of ‘research’for business schools is in its support of talent cultivation and knowledge innovation
rather than conducting research itself. Nonetheless, further analysis also reveals that more and more
business schools have made research a cornerstone of their sustainable development, as more business
educators have realized that traditional business schools that only serve a teaching function can no lon-
ger meet the needs of society and the industry for diverse business talents, and that these teaching
institutions have to be transformed into business education and research institutions with excellence
research capabilities in order to stand firm in the face of increasing competition. For instance, the
Nottingham University Business School China (NUBS) states that its mission is partially realized through
‘co-producing ground-breaking and impactful research that informs innovative and responsible business
and management’(S40).
Social engagement: promoting social and economic development and leading the industry
The social value and impact of a business schools is an important indicator of its success. Rooted in the
disciplines of business, management and economics, etc., the uniqueness of business schools lies in their
closer and more multidimensional links with the business community and society than other specialized
schools in universities. Business schools are born out of the needs for social progress, and their outputs
need to be reflected, to a large extent, through social engagement. Several key elements in the mission
statements of these business schools, including stakeholders (F1), philosophy/values (F9), as well as con-
cerns for survival, growth and profitability (F14, F15) reflect, to varying degrees, the importance and
affirmation that these schools place on engaging with and serving the community.
In terms of the stakeholders of business schools, two categories (internal and external) are recognized by
AACSB as important forces that contribute to schools’development. It is found in this study that these
accredited business schools pay more attention to external stakeholders, including the society (including
social/society/societal/socially, f ¼31), the economy (including economy/economic, f ¼8) and the industry
(f ¼3), than to internal stakeholders such as students (f ¼8) and faculty (f ¼2). 31 business schools explicitly
state in their mission statements that they are committed to advancing or contributing to the betterment
of society. While mission statements often include key terms directly related to students, such as ‘talent’
and ‘elite’, these terms are primarily viewed as outcomes and outputs of the business schools rather than
as customers of the institutions or participants in institutional development.
In terms of institutional philosophy/values, these accredited business schools attach great importance to
social participation and responsibility. Although not exhaustive, the vast majority of the business schools
have regarded the promotion of social ‘development’(f ¼11) and the cultivation of ‘future’oriented (f ¼7)
and socially responsible (including responsible/responsibility, f ¼13) human resources as their main goals,
and have actively participated in social and economic development through delivering business education.
In addition, the element of ‘concerns for survival, growth and profitability’reflects three main aspects
or characteristics common to these business schools, two of which are highly relevant to social service.
One is alignment of industry needs (F14), indicating that these schools place great emphasis on match-
ing and meeting the needs of the industry. As suggested by the contents of the mission statements, the
majority of the schools focus more on developing leaders or talents with excellent business manage-
ment capabilities and practical skills rather than cultivating research professionals in business, which
may be related to the self-positioning of the business school and the specificity of the business educa-
tion that are more application oriented. The other is impacts on society (F15), suggesting that these
business schools generally emphasize the significance of contributing to the social welfare and the busi-
ness civilization by contributing new knowledge, practice and methods in management, nurturing
socially-responsible business leaders and talents, integrating Chinese and Western cultures and wisdom,
etc., so as to achieve results that they can be an important force to promote and influence the progress
of society and the economy globally, nationally and regionally.
10 Z. XU ET AL.
In this study, 41 out of 48 business schools explicitly stated to serve, participate in the development
of the region and the industry, and thereby contribute to the advancement of society as their ultimate
goal, which also includes two categories. One category emphasizes on contributing to the overall devel-
opment of the society through talent cultivation with a sense of social responsibility, for instance, the
UIBE’s Business School declares to ‘serve social development and cultivate business elites with a sense
of social responsibility’(S16). The other category identifies specific disciplines, industry or regions to be
served, for example, NanKai Business School proposes to ‘serve the Chinese government, business com-
munity and non-profit organizations by sharing our knowledge in business management’(S14); the
School of Economics and Management at Shanghai Maritime University defines its mission as ‘to
develop future business leaders, with competitiveness in maritime and logistics industries’(S43), and the
School of Management at Lanzhou University, located in an important city in northwestern China, expli-
citly stated mission of ‘developing leaders with global perspective, local commitment and social respon-
sibility for western China and beyond’(S45).
‘Internationalization’: equipping with global perspectives and integrating Chinese elements
Internationalization is a prevalent strategy for Chinese higher education institutions to adapt to the evolving
global environment. Nearly 65% of the business schools in this study included elements related to inter-
nationalization in their mission statements. Both the elements of ‘market/domain’(F7, F8) and ‘philosophy’
(F11, F12) in their mission statements reflect these business schools’attitude towards ‘internationalization’.
‘Market’in this study refers primarily to the geographic domain that the business schools serve or cater to.
Among all accredited business schools, we can find two main tendencies in their mission statements: inter-
national oriented and national (including regional) oriented. By further searching for high-frequency key-
words involving in these two categories separately, it can be found that terms related to ‘global’(including
globally, world, Western, West) appear a total of 34 times, while terms related to ‘China’(including Chinese,
national, domestic, regional, local, Shanghai, etc.), appear a total of 36 times, indicating that both are not
negligible and indispensable to these business schools. In the ‘philosophy/values’element, the diversity and
inclusion (F11) emphasized by these business schools reflects their active pursuit of promoting the integra-
tion of Chinese and Western cultures, as well as the combination of theory and practice. The importance
they attach to the ‘pursuit of excellence’(F12) indicates their positive attitude towards benchmarking
against the world’s first-class standards and integrating into global competition.
Overall, the expressions on internationalization mainly reflect two developmental strategies of these
business schools. One is to enable the schools and their intellectual outputs to engage and integrate
into the global environment by adsorbing and introducing excellent global resources and wisdom, espe-
cially in the talent training process for the purpose of empowering students with a global perspective or
mindset. For instance, the School of Management at TUT (S48) is committed to ‘develop management
professionals with a global mindset’, and has made ‘think globally’(T) an integral part of its FAST
Strategy. The other is to combine Chinese wisdom and experience with Western civilization to produce
products and services that are rooted in China and oriented to the world. For instance, the mission of
CEIBS is condensed into a single sentence as ‘to educate responsible leaders versed in “China Depth,
Global Breadth‘“ (S2); the Business School of Hunan University (S34) states ‘to create new management
knowledge that integrates both Chinese and Western culture and with wide impact’in its mission.
In addition, the ‘philosophy’element of business schools’mission statements (F12) reflects the desire of
these institutions to be ‘world/first class’, leading and cutting-edge, the goals that are also largely achieved
through high-quality international exchange and integration. The case of PHBS (S21) illustrates this point,
and also explains why many business schools are committed to international exchanges and cooperation,
butnolongerusewordstoemphasize‘internationalization’. While this school used to state ‘to foster and
cultivate visionary international business leaders by offering a global education with in-depth Chinese and
Asian perspectives on business world’in its mission, the latest version no longer uses terms directly related
to internationalization. However, it is clear from the school’s self-summary of why it has been earned
accreditation from AACSB that internationalization, in particular PHBS’s extensive collaboration with institu-
tions around the world, is one of the five key enablers that have helped the school achieve sustainable
growth (PHBS, 2024). Its affiliation with Peking University, one of China’s top two universities, which boasts
COGENT EDUCATION 11
some of the best faculty and students in the world, and whose academic activities are inherently inter-
national in scope and purpose, has made a special emphasis on ‘internationalization’unnecessary. This is
also the case with some other business schools at a similar stage of development, such as the Antai
College of Economics and Management at SJTU (S4), whose mission is simple and concise, with a threefold
emphasis on ‘first-class’rather than just internationalization per se.
Nonetheless, compared to the first three paths, we’d argue that internationalization may still be a ‘plus’
rather than a ‘must’for these accredited business schools. While internationalization may be a natural or easy
process for top business schools in the east coastal of China, this may not be the case for those in the central
and western regions that lack quality international resources. Internationalization can facilitate the integration
of business schools into the global marketplace, but it does not appear to be universally applicable.
Moreover, internationalization serves as a means to achieve broader goals rather than being a goal in
itself, which distinguishes it from the other three paths. Therefore, for the purpose of condensing and
disseminating practical experience, we prefer to define this path as ‘openness and integration’, indicat-
ing the actively preparation of business schools for global dialogue while maintaining a strong connec-
tion to China throughout the process.
Figure 3 summarizes the ‘secret’to sustained excellence of the 48-accredited business schools in
mainland China: through the coordinated development of knowledge innovation, talent cultivation,
social service, as well as keeping opening up while rooted in China, to promote the exchange and flow
of various resources and energies between themselves and external stakeholders.
In summary, business schools’pathways to excellence relies on responding effectively to the demands
from higher education sectors, the business community and society, and finding a self-consistent model
for ‘survival, growth and profitability’.Figure 3 illustrates the main ideas and logic of these accredited
business schools for development, in which the mutual support and promotion of the two strategies,
training business talents and creating business knowledge, serve as the prerequisites and key guarantees
for a business school transforming into ‘a world-class institution of research and advanced learning’in
economics and finance. Both of them provide key driving force and human resources for business
schools to engage in social governance and increase their social visibility and influence. In turn, they are
Figure 3. The ‘inverted triangle’development model of business schools in mainland China.
12 Z. XU ET AL.
driven by the demands of social development, which fosters iterative innovation in technology, know-
ledge, and other resources. Talent cultivation, knowledge innovation, and social service are the three
key pillars supporting these business schools in their pursuit of excellence. These elements are strength-
ened and refined through the deep and ongoing process of openness and integration (see Figure 3).
Conclusion and contributions
Over the past two decades, participating in international accreditation has become an almost indispensable
and essential strategy for Chinese business schools in their quest for development. This trend appears to
be ongoing, as evidenced by the fact that even during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were still
business schools that were actively preparing for and also successfully achieved AACSB accreditation (BFSU,
2023;SWJTU,2023). While participation in international accreditation is not the only way to excellence,
interviews with leaders at a number of business schools indicate that they generally use international
accreditation as a third-party and internationally comparable assessment tool to ‘identify gaps and fill in
shortcomings’, improving the internal governance of their institutions. However, only 48 out of thousands
of business schools in China have been accredited by AACBS during the period of 2007 2023 suggests
that there is still a lot of room for exploration on the road to international accreditation for Chinese busi-
ness schools. The pathways of the 48 business schools can be summarized into four strategies: talent culti-
vation, knowledge innovation and dissemination, social engagement, and ‘internationalization’-ormore
accurately, adherence to openness and integration. Although the latter strategy is less prominent than the
first three, it consistently aligns with several core elements of these business schools’mission statements.
However, it is worth noting that, when checking the information on the websites of these business
schools one by one, the researchers found that the mission statements developed by some of these
business schools are more like a mixture of institutional missions and visions. A related phenomenon is
that the mission statements of quite a few business schools tend to be homogenized and templated in
their structural form, generally demonstrating business schools’preferences and attributes by answering
specifically what kind of talents to train, what kind of intellectual innovations to makes and how to serve
society. These are essentially framed in terms of what the public believes business schools should be
doing in a few key areas (Wang & He, 2019). Although we were unable to obtain the exact time when
these business schools developed their current and updated mission statements, a comparison of our
team’s previous study (Liu & Xu, 2021) reveals that some business schools are already demonstrating
their uniqueness by continually refining the articulation of their mission statements. Overall, there is
mimetic isomorphism in the mission statements of many business schools (but not all), which basically
achieve the goal of ‘pursuing legitimacy amidst multiple and competing expectations’(Seeber et al.,
2017), but there is still room for improvement in highlighting institutional distinctiveness. On this point,
the view from Chinese scholars is that mimetic isomorphism is the dominant institutional isomorphism
emerging in Chinese business schools. As the degree of convergence of Chinese business schools further
deepens and reaches and breaks through the tipping point, business schools will actively seek their own
characteristics and create differentiation, but it will take time to promote this (He et al., 2012).
The mission statement is a brief yet informative summary of a business school’s operational pattern and
development potential. Based on the above analysis and discussion, this study proposes the following impli-
cations for the organizational management and development of the most business schools in China. Firstly,
business schools should further clarify the development positioning and highlight the characteristics of
organizations. Excellent cases at home and abroad have reflected distinctive individual characteristics, such
as Harvard Business School, which puts forward ‘Weeducateleaderswhomakeadifferenceintheworld’
(HBS, 2024), making its goals of talents cultivation is very clear and eye-catching. Secondly, business schools
should be rooted in China’s development process, integrating Chinese and Western cultures and wisdom,
and keep up with the needs of the times and industry development, so as to truly solve the serious chal-
lenge of ‘how to match the cultivated talents with the market demand’.Thirdly,thedevelopmentofasuc-
cessful business school is closely linked to the establishment of a strong institutional ecosystem. Business
schools should collaborate with internal and external resources (including human resources), to first
improve the level of institutional governance, which is the key to ensure the stability of a business school
to the future.
COGENT EDUCATION 13
Participation in international accreditation is only one strategic choice for Chinese business schools to
pursue excellence in recent decades, not the ultimate goal. The rapid development of China’s economy
has fuelled the demand for economic and managerial talents in many industries, which has created a
huge space for the development of business schools in China. And how to recognize and grasp their
own intrinsic value, and how to choose and interpret their ‘mission’are fundamental for these business
schools to settle down in an increasing competitive world. This paper is one of the few to focus specific-
ally on Chinese business schools’mission statements and their development planning. In addition to
constructing an ‘inverted triangle’development model based on Chinese business schools, this study
proposes several suggestions for business schools’development, partly as a response to the mimetic iso-
morphism in their mission statements.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work was supported by the China Association of Higher Education (CAHE) under Grant [22YZ0402]; Shanghai
Education Science Planning Office under Grant [C2024126].
About the authors
Dr. Zhaoheng Xu is a researcher of the Center for International Education Research at Shanghai University. She has
long been engaged in interdisciplinary research areas related to higher education policy and strategic management.
Lei Liu is a practical expert in international accreditation, and has been engaged in research on business education
evaluation and business schools’accreditation for many years.
Jie Yu is an educational administrator with extensive experience working within the higher education sector, includ-
ing roles involving international accreditation and global academic program development.
ORCID
Zhaoheng Xu http://orcid.org/0009-0008-3984-7520
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Appendix
The attachment summarizes the mission statements of the 48 AACSB-accredited business schools in mainland
China, with the combination of the letter ‘S’and a number representing the business school’s ranked position
according to when it was first accredited.
Appendix A. The mission statements of 48 AACSB-accredited business schools in mainland China
Mission Statements
S1 To advance knowledge and cultivate leaders for China and the world.
S2 To educate responsible leaders versed in “China Depth, Global Breadth”.
S3 Setting roots in China in its progress, dedicating itself to innovative research, and cultivating academic specialists,
business elites and social leaders with global perspectives and local insights.
S4 Do first-class scholarship, shape first-class talents, enable first-class endeavors.
S5 Through advancing and disseminating business and management knowledge, we are committed to develop innovative,
principled, and outstanding managerial leaders challenged with a global perspective
S6 To advance management knowledge and develop business leaders for China and the global society.
S7 To contribute Chinese management wisdom and global leadership talents to the world.
S8 Integrating Chinese and Western management wisdom, fostering entrepreneurial and innovation spirits, practicing social
responsibility, and cultivating business elites.
S9 Create New Business Knowledge, Develop Students’Talent and Contribute to Future Society.
S10 We contribute to social development through creating and refining knowledge while cultivating outstanding
management talents rooted in practice.
S11 We educate leaders and advance knowledge to serve the future of China and the global society.
S12 To generate ideas and tools to enrich management theory and practice, to develop talents and leaders.
S13 We endeavor to advance management theories and methods, to offer general managerial wisdom, and to develop
leaders with a global vision, innovative capabilities, an entrepreneurial spirit, and genuine social responsibility.
S14 Lead knowledge creation in management theories and practice by active research.
Develop ethical professional managers and business leaders with integrative knowledge and management skills, social
responsibility, and capability in pursuing sustainable growth and development.
Serve the Chinese government, business community and non-profit organizations by sharing our knowledge in
business management
S15 To create management knowledge and develop leading professionals for China and the world who are capable of solving
practical problems while addressing the challenges of business and society with a global perspective, responsibility
and in a sustainable way.
(continued)
16 Z. XU ET AL.
Appendix A. Continued.
Mission Statements
S16 We commit to contributing to management knowledge and serving the community.
We aim to attract excellent students and foster business elites who bear social responsibility and master international
practices.
S17 To contribute to society through bridging East and West, delivering student-centred education, conducting impact-
oriented research, and acting as a catalyst of business education and sustainable development.
S18 To become a world class institution of research and advanced learning in finance and management. SAIF is committed to
developing top talent and cutting-edge knowledge, with a focus on Chinese markets and their global connections.
S19 To build a global vision with local relevance, to develop new management knowledge and cultivate outstanding talents.
S20 To develop business talent, create business knowledge, transform business practice, and promote business civilization.
S21 Engaging PHBS research community in providing cutting-edge knowledge;
Contributing to the development of local and global economy;
Educating students to think critically, innovatively, and act responsibly;
Cultivating leaders with attributes of vision, principle, and diversity for China and the world.
S22 The School of Accounting (SOA) strives to contribute new accounting and finance knowledge, to cultivate business
professionals by educating highly motivated students, and to practice innovative societal and cultural values in order
to advance social progress.
S23 To advance knowledge and educate students with innovation capability in fields of management and economics for the
betterment of the industry and society.
S24 Localizing on domestic practice, creating and disseminating management theories and methods with national features;
cultivating high-quality interdisciplinary management talents with systematic thinking, innovative spirit and global
perspective, and contributing to the prosperity and development of Shanghai, China and the global economy.
S25 To propel theoretical innovations, cultivate management elites, and serve social development by relaying strength in
science and technology.
S26 We develop innovative leaders, management theories and methods to advance the sustainable economic and societal
development of China.
S27 To integrate academic and experiential learning to develop business talents with an international horizon and undertake
business research to contribute to the regional and national economic advancement.
S28 To contribute to the frontiers of management and cultivate leaders with a global vision, an innovative spirit and a sense
of social responsibility.
S29 To bridge business with technology, and to nurture managerial talent with advanced knowledge and practical ability.
S30 To explore management expertise, educate management elites and promote social development with a global vision.
S31 Pioneer research, cultivate talent, propagate management culture and advance social progress.
S32 Construct global vision, create management knowledge, cultivate pillars of society, contribute to national development.
S33 Contribute Business Wisdom, Cultivate Leading Talents, and Benefit Economy and Society for China and the World.
S34 To cultivate innovative leadership (I)who can seize opportunity(O), drive change(C)and take social responsibility (R); To
create new management knowledge (K) the integrates both Chinese and Western culture and with wide impact (W);
To promote the sustainable development (S) of economy and society.
S35 Integrate high-quality global management education resources, provide cutting-edge systemic management knowledge
for senior executives, and cultivate a group of entrepreneurs in China with a comprehensive understanding of both
high-quality and a global perspective.
S36 Creating Ideas, Cultivating Elites, Contributing to Society, Influencing the Future.
S37 Conduct world-leading research, contribute new ideas, and educate future leaders for the benefit of society.
S38 To supply future core talent for business administration and to advance applied innovation and research, in fulfilling our
social responsibilities in regional social and economic development.
S39 SBA strive to nurture business talents for the industries in Shanghai and beyond. We inspire faculty and students to think
globally and act locally through internationalized, innovative and interactive business education.
S40 Our mission is to utilize our unique global footprint to enable our faculty, partners and students to shape the future of
business and management (through co-producing ground-breaking and impactful research, and through educating
leaders, managers and citizens).
S41 We develop leaders with fact-based thinking, innovative spirit and social awareness through the creation, application,
dissemination and integration of management, economics and engineering knowledge.
S42 The School of Management is committed to refining and integrating Chinese wisdom of management, and fostering
international business elites with excellent insights into Chinese culture.
S43 To develop future business leaders, with competitiveness in maritime and logistics industries.
S44 We are committed to cultivating open-minded, socially responsible, and globally competent business leaders by
integrating diverse cultures and inspiring continuous innovation.
S45 To develop leaders with global perspective, local commitment and social responsibility for western China and beyond.
S46 To cultivate socially responsible, ethical and innovative management professionals with the mindset of critical thinking
and problem solving in a global dynamic business environment.
S47 By integrating scientific essence and creating new business knowledge, we are devoted to cultivating business elites with
great virtue and innovative spirit.
S48 To contribute business knowledge and develop management professionals with social responsibility and a global mindset
for regional growth.
COGENT EDUCATION 17
