陈方若：中国商学院亟需改革-寻找穷理和务实之间的平衡

女士们，先生们，早上好！

      欢迎来到华人学者管理科学与工程协会第十一次国际年会!

      去年，我们在广州中山大学庆祝了协会成立十周年。今天，我们在宁波供应链创新学院步入协会的第二个十年。这是一件激动人心的事！

      建立协会和举办年度会议的主要动机之一是增强学术研究与管理实践之间的连接。我们的年会汇集了学界和业界的精英，他们之间的深层对话促进了学术界和企业界之间的交流。这件事我们已经做了十年，将来我们还会继续这样做。

      商学院正处在一个十字路口，尤其是中国的商学院。诸多挑战摆在我们的面前，比如优质生源的紧缩，对商业教育价值的讥讽，商学院在大学里的身份危机等等。商学院教育的价值越来越只是体现在一个强大的校友网络和一个知名度比较高的文凭。但是，获得一个商学院的文凭并不代表管理能力的提升。 我们在大学里的地位经常受到不同程度的质疑，许多其他院系的同事认为我们只会赚钱，很少其它贡献。我听到过的最严厉的批评是“商学院削弱了管理实践”。显然，我不一定同意所有这些观点。从个人情感来说，这些说法是很难接受的，毕竟我的全部职业生涯都花在了商学院。但不得不承认，话虽难听，却有它的道理。

       我们在追求学术的严谨性的同时常常忽略了与实践的相关性。我们暂且把追求学术的严谨性称作“穷理”，而把与实践的相关性叫做“务实”。在过去几十年的发展过程中，商学院的钟摆越来越靠近“穷理”，而离“务实”越走越远。我相信这是目前商学院面临的许多问题背后的根本原因。为了解决这个根本问题，我们需要改革商学院。这个改革不是在穷理和务实之间二选一，而是要做到两者兼而有之。具体如何才能够达到这个目标还需要不断地探索，但毫无疑问，这将是一项十分重要而艰巨的任务，因为我们需要冲破现有的种种约束。商学院改革需要我们大家的不懈努力。作为上海交通大学安泰经济与管理学院院长，我的主要工作目标将是重塑价值观，改革学院体制机制，最终回归商学院的本源，在穷理和务实之间找到一个恰当的平衡。我希望我们的协会，和每届年会累积发展起来的这个学科群体，将为商学院的改革起到积极的推动作用。

      最后，在接下来的两天里，我们将有很多值得期待的会议内容，包括精彩的主题演讲、圆桌讨论、青年学者论坛、女性学者午餐会、最佳论文奖和为数创历史新高的特邀分论坛。在此我要特别感谢本次会议的承办方，宁波供应链创新学院，也要感谢会议学术委员会、组委会、最佳论文评审委员会，感谢他们的指导，感谢演讲嘉宾、与会代表和众多的志愿者，谢谢他们的支持和付出。

      祝会议圆满成功！

谢谢大家！

Ladies and Gentlemen! Good morning.

    Welcome to the 11th annual international conference of the Chinese Scholars Association for Management Science and Engineering (CSAMSE) !

    Last year, we celebrated our 10th anniversary in Guangzhou. This year, we embark on our second decade in Ningbo. It's exciting!

    One of the key motivations for establishing the association and the annual conference is to improve the connection between academic research and practice. Our annual conference brings together scholars and practitioners to foster a meaningful dialogue between academia and industry. We have done it for ten years, and we will continue to do it in the future.

    Business schools are at a crossroads, especially those in China. There are a range of challenges. Shrinking pools of good applicants, cynicism about the value of business education, identity crisis within the university, to name a few. The value of business school education is increasingly associated only with establishing business connections and getting a diploma. But the credential is rarely associated with improvement in managerial performance. Our colleagues in other parts of the university think that all we do is to make money, not much else. The most damning comment I have heard is “Business schools weaken practice.” Obviously, I do not necessarily agree with all these comments. Emotionally, they are just very difficult to accept, after all, I have spent all my working life in a business school. But there is some truth in all this, you have to say.

    We pursue academic rigor, often at the cost of sacrificing relevance. In the spectrum between relevance and rigor, the pendulum has swung closer and closer to rigor (and specialization), but farther and farther away from relevance. I believe this is the root cause behind many of the problems now facing business schools. To address the root cause problem, we need a business school reform. It is not about either rigor or relevance. It is about achieving both rigor and relevance. Exactly how to do this is not entirely clear. It would undoubtedly be a monumental task, given all the constraints there are. Business school reform requires a lot of sustained effort from all of us. This is what I intend to do as the Dean of the Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which begins in a month. And I hope our association, and this community, will be an important and positive force in this effort.

    For the next two days, we have much to look forward to: outstanding keynote speeches, industry panel discussions, the Young Scholars Colloquium, the Female Scholars Luncheon, the Best Paper Award, a record number of invited sessions, etc. My gratitude to the Ningbo Supply Chain Innovation Institute China (NSCIIC) for making the conference possible. Thanks also to the Program Committee, the Organizing Committee, the Best Paper Award Committee for their leadership roles. Thanks to all the speakers, participants and volunteers for their support.

    Have an excellent conference!

Thank you!