Business school rankings: content and context

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Purpose: This paper sets out to examine the affect of rankings on business schools from the perspective of a business school director.Design/methodology/approach: The paper critiques the methodologies of ranking systems, their statistical validity, the factors used, and the weightings given to them.Findings: Rankings are significant drivers of a school's reputation. Good performance can double inquiries and applications and allow schools to charge prestige premiums. Financial Times top decile MBA programmes charge, on average, just below $80,000 for an MBA. Bottom decile schools charge only $37,000.Originality/value: This paper finds that it is impossible to challenge the criteria set out by a variety of rankings organisations and it is ill‐advised to boycott rankings. Schools are advised to consider which criteria reflect areas needing improvement and to continue “playing the game”.

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