Panelist Maria Guadalupe

Maria Guadalupe

INSEAD

France

LinkedIn Website

Maria Guadalupe is a professor of economics at INSEAD and the academic director of the INSEAD Randomized Control Trials Lab. Professor Guadalupe is a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Research (CEPR) and the IZA Institute of Labor Economics.

Voting History

Statement	Response
Online education and specialized degrees will supplant the traditional two-year full-time MBA. Disagree	“Actually, the COVID experience, if anything, has taught us the importance of in-presence education. The fact that there are books where one can study concepts has never meant that in-person teaching is not important: What happens in an MBA classroom can only partially be replicated online, and short courses can only partially replicate the value of a full program. Connecting with the professor and other students both inside and outside the classroom are essential features of the life-changing experience of an MBA. Just like books contain information and are essential but could not supplant in-person teaching, online and specialized degrees can only go so far. What will happen, though, is that the winners of these changes are business schools that excel at the in-person experience.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed how companies should think about business strategy. Agree	“The recent social restrictions and confinements have made customers more used to technology and to interacting with the world through digital means: This will affect their demand from firms, and the level of service they expect will be benchmarked against the likes of Amazon and Netflix, who provide superb customer service—quick and adapted to the customer. Firms that do not provide this level of service will rapidly be shunned for a competitor. And it will be easier for companies outside the industry but with strong digital platforms to enter adjacent businesses. This was already happening prior to COVID-19 (Apple in payment systems, Google in the car business), but the pandemic has made more customers “elastic” to switching, which will put pressure on companies in all sectors.”

Statement

Response

Online education and specialized degrees will supplant the traditional two-year full-time MBA. Disagree

“Actually, the COVID experience, if anything, has taught us the importance of in-presence education. The fact that there are books where one can study concepts has never meant that in-person teaching is not important: What happens in an MBA classroom can only partially be replicated online, and short courses can only partially replicate the value of a full program. Connecting with the professor and other students both inside and outside the classroom are essential features of the life-changing experience of an MBA. Just like books contain information and are essential but could not supplant in-person teaching, online and specialized degrees can only go so far. What will happen, though, is that the winners of these changes are business schools that excel at the in-person experience.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed how companies should think about business strategy. Agree

“The recent social restrictions and confinements have made customers more used to technology and to interacting with the world through digital means: This will affect their demand from firms, and the level of service they expect will be benchmarked against the likes of Amazon and Netflix, who provide superb customer service—quick and adapted to the customer. Firms that do not provide this level of service will rapidly be shunned for a competitor. And it will be easier for companies outside the industry but with strong digital platforms to enter adjacent businesses. This was already happening prior to COVID-19 (Apple in payment systems, Google in the car business), but the pandemic has made more customers “elastic” to switching, which will put pressure on companies in all sectors.”