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Help to combat inbreeding

  • 1.  Help to combat inbreeding

    Posted 11-17-2010 14:20
    OB Colleagues,

    Not that I am in a position to address the issue, but I would like to understand better how to overcome it.

    In Brazil, and as I have read, also in some countries in Asia and Australia, the paucity of business schools constrains scholarly diversity.

    The schools offering PhD level training are few, so there is not much to choose from, and as usual, it is more comfortable to choose who you already know better. The result is that the existing teaching staff at business schools is perilously inbred.

    Hiring from abroad might be too expensive for most school. Language also may be a problem.

    So I am wondering whether a policy to stimulate hiring from different schools has been put into practice somewhere. Like for example, putting a cap on the share of teaching staff who have received their PhD from the same institution, or a cap on the share of those teaching at the same institution where they obtained their PhD from.

    I can see that restrictions can lead to sub-optimal decisions, but in this case I wonder whether the sub-optimal decision may be worse than no restriction at all. If we could get people moving among three business schools it might be better than no moving at all.

    Many thanks,

    Alfredo

    Alfredo Behrens