The graduate business school’s emphasis on research, as well as its quality teaching, global student mix and illustrious alumni, has helped it claim top spot in the Financial Times’ Global MBA Ranking 2016, says dean Ilian Mihov.

Walk into the Singapore campus of INSEAD and you cannot help but notice the many banners with the inscription “#1” strung around its grounds. It is almost as if there is a massive campaign to promote INSEAD as the crème de la crème of graduate business schools.

Indeed, that could well be true as INSEAD recently celebrated its achieve ment in reaching the pinnacle of business research and education.

Last month, it topped a list of prestigious graduate business schools from around the globe, under the Global MBA Ranking 2016 released by the Financial Times (FT), beating the likes of Ivy League schools and distinguished universities from the UK. This is the first time INSEAD has clinched the No 1 spot, up from fourth last year.

The latest rankings by FT also placed INSEAD as the first and only business school to have all three of its MBA programmes getting top listings. The INSEAD MBA was ranked first, while the Tsinghua-INSEAD EMBA was named the leading EMBA. And, INSEAD’s Global EMBA was the highest- ranked single-school programme.

“I think it is very rewarding to see INSEAD placed as No 1 [by] FT. It is quite an achieve ment. I think it reflects a lot of big changes [through the efforts of all the] deans in the past,” says Ilian Mihov, INSEAD dean since 2013.

Before assuming his role, Mihov was the deputy dean responsible for faculty recruitment and development for about two years. He has taught macroeconomics and econo metrics in the MBA, EMBA, PhD and other executive education programmes. He joined INSEAD in 1996 and has had research papers published in many renowned academic journals.

Mihov recently shared with Enterprise how the school has managed to haul in its latest accolades, saying achievements are a reflection of all that is outstanding about INSEAD and what it stands for.

‘Winning formula’
One of the main reasons INSEAD is the leading business graduate school today is the result of its emphasis on research, says Mihov. But that has not always been its driving force. When the school was founded in 1957 in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, it was known for its culture of excellent teaching and less for its research output.

Things began to change in the 1990s. With a far-sightedness that has come to fruition, a predecessor of Mihov’s insisted that for the school to be sustainable and impactful in the long run, it had to be research- focused. “So, it reoriented completely in the 1990s,” he says.

Mihov believes research is a vital impetus to produce quality teaching and learning. A research-based faculty that keeps close tabs on trends in the field is able to break down and translate any new phenomenon in a logical manner for the masses, given its expertise and systematic understanding of the subject matter. This is what it means to be at the “frontier of knowledge creation”, he says. “I think this is a winning formula.”

For the record, INSEAD published 48 research papers last year, the highest number among graduate business schools, he adds. Three of its professors made it to the top 10 of Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers in 2015. “Today, our faculty [members] are among the most prolific academics.”

Deeper insights
In fact, the research culture has enriched classroom discussions, enabling its professors to provide deeper insights into lessons via a coherent framework rather than “what is on the surface”.

“I think this is very important because if you just rely on professors going into the classroom and reciting from textbooks in an eloquent way, very soon, this kind of teaching will be substituted by books or online courses.”

Mihov reckons other schools have taken the same research approach as INSEAD, but often, their faculties forget about teaching quality. On the other hand, those that emphasise teaching quality may lack the required depth without research. “I think we are in the right direction,” he says.

Beyond this fine balance, INSEAD’s diverse student population is testament to its leading status. The school currently has students of 80 nationalities, thanks largely to its three campuses located in different regions.

Four decades after establishing itself in Europe, the school set up its Asia campus in Singapore in 2000. A decade after that, it unveiled a third campus in Abu Dhabi. Every year, about 75% of INSEAD’s students move between the Europe and Asia campuses as part of their curriculum.

“I think we have managed to attract really capable and smart people here to study. The big exchange is between Fontainebleau and Singapore. Abu Dhabi just started [its student exchange programme] a few weeks ago. For the first time, we have 45 students there. So, in addition to [studying] for an MBA, you also have exposure to very different places and cultures,” says Mihov.

INSEAD’s graduates are highly sought after by top companies, among them McKinsey & Co and Boston Consulting Group, he adds. According to FT’s rankings, eight of its alumni are CEOs at some of the world’s largest corporations.

“This is the first time [our] one year MBA programme is No 1 in the history of the FT rankings. It is significant because there was scepticism among people: Can you [do it] in 10½ months compared with two years? The answer is obviously yes, given the success of our alumni,” Mihov proudly declares.

Importance of rankings
The FT rankings are also a clear “signal” of how well the school is doing in certain para meters. Mihov recalls that a few years ago, students were unhappy about the quality of the school’s career services, a grouse he became aware of through INSEAD’s internal review system. This was validated by findings revealed in the rankings.

When he took over as dean, the first thing he did was to improve the services of the career development centre. Advisers were on hand to guide students through their career progression the moment they stepped in, and to equip them with skills that needed to be accrued beyond classroom learning.

“Our thinking has changed dramatically. It is not about helping students find a job, but their [MBA] experience, from day one until the final day, and how we can help them develop skills that will be helpful in their career. I would say we are not there yet, but we’re very close to having the best career services,” he says.

Beyond the obvious benefit of attracting more students, Mihov says the rankings will also help INSEAD lure talents to its faculty. But, he emphasises, a “vibrant” intellectual environ ment is more important than how it ranks.

Now, even as the school basks in its achievement, it is not resting on its laurels. INSEAD is undergoing a curriculum review that is expected to be completed in March. One of the “significant changes” that will take place is the introduction of a personal development programme aimed at helping students in decision-making, function in diverse teams and be aware of blind spots.

It is also in talks to engage in “open and active connections” with start-up incubators here and in Paris as part of its investment in entrepreneurship. The school is considering building its own start-up incubator to enable it to exploit the expertise of its “entrepreneurs-in- residence”. That will accelerate the process of starting companies by its students and alumni.

“People say that when you are at the top, there is no place to go but down. I think there is really only one place [to be] — staying there. We are a non-profit organisation, so the only thing we want to do is ensure that the education we provide is of the highest quality and the knowledge we create is impactful,” says Mihov.

INSEAD partners US venture capital seed fund to research start-up engagements
Among the leading research conducted by INSEAD is how large corporations around the world deal with start-ups. Contrary to what many assume, such corporations are not “slow, dumb dinosaurs” waiting to be “disrupted” by start-ups. In fact, they are increasingly engaging the latter in many different ways.

These were findings made by INSEAD via its research collaboration with US-based 500 Startups, a venture capital seed fund from Silicon Valley. In a joint report entitled “How do the World’s Biggest Companies Deal with the Startup Revolution?”, they tell how 500 of the world’s largest public- listed companies have successfully engaged with start-ups. The report debunks some myths on such corporations and points out new areas of research.

“My hope is that finding and sharing these stories will make success less elusive and easier to replicate. And [it will] be a small step in getting more corporate resources into the new global engine of innovation known as start-ups, in ways where everyone wins, especially the corporations themselves,” 500 Startups managing partner Khailee Ng notes in the preamble of the report.

Almost all industries have been “challenged” by start-ups, according to the report. Disruption is not confined to technology companies, but also affects financial institutions, car manufacturers, logistics companies, fast-moving consumer goods operations and more.

In response, large corporations typically prefer to engage start-ups through three channels — corporate venture capital, start-up competitions, and accelerators and incubators. But these are by no means the best approaches, as different corporate objectives require different forms of engagement, the report notes.

It has also gathered fascinating facts. For example, 68% of the top 100 companies on the Forbes Global 500 list engage with start-ups. Interestingly, France has the highest percentage of top corporations engaging with start-ups — 23 out of 25 — and not the US.

Meanwhile, investing in start-ups is not the only way to collaborate. The report states that German-based mass media company ProSiebenSat. 1 Media SE provides advertising time in return for revenues or equity shares through its venture arm, SevenVentures.

Corporations do not invest only in their own vertical, as exemplified by online music streaming service Spotify, which has raised money from Coca-Cola. Even US intelligence agency CIA has a venture capital arm called In-Q-Tel, which invested in Facebook early on.

On home ground, the report highlights the example of DBS Group. The banking and finance giant has engaged with startups through three initiatives — the entrepreneur’s account for start-ups, DBS HotSpot Pre- accelerator and DBS Accelerator.

This article appeared in the Enterprise of Issue 717 (Feb 29) of The Edge Singapore.