Crossborder management education alliances:case study of the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration in Bangkok, Thailand.

Abstract

The Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok has celebrated a twenty-five year partnership with the graduate schools of business at Northwestern University (Kellogg) and the University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School) in the United States. The research question for this study is: "What factors have contributed to the success and sustainability of the crossborder management education alliance at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration?" The objective of this study is to understand and describe the intercultural working relationships between U.S. and Thai faculty and staff who work within the alliance. By incorporating the U.S. perspective as well as the Thai perspective, this research demonstrates how the national cultures of Thailand and the U.S. influence organizational effectiveness within the crossborder education alliances among these universities. Methods for data collection have involved major triangulation, including participant observation, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. Several months of fieldwork were undertaken in Bangkok interviewing key Thai faculty and staff as well as the U.S. visiting faculty and staff. There are three major implications of this study. First, the case demonstrates that organizations rooted in quite different cultures can collaborate effectively and successfully create a long-term sustainable relationship. A key factor related to this success is the cross-culturally sensitive leadership demonstrated by all parties and their abilities to negotiate significant cultural differences. Second, given the escalating costs of higher education associated with the Baumol Disease, alliances among universities can provide a cost-effective approach to providing high-quality and innovative education. Third, the alliance described in this study is an example of the effective internationalization of higher education in a multicultural transnational context. Abstract – Thai Version: available on-line