Three-quarters of MBA students say corporate reputation
plays a critical role in choosing jobs

Students in Asia care about companies'CSR contributions

Thursday 17 January 2008 – A global study of MBA students at top Asian, US and European  schools1 today reveals the winners and losers in the global war for talent.  Hill & Knowlton's eighth annual Corporate Reputation Watch study shows that certain industries and locations are losing the reputational battle in the global war for talent. MBA students surveyed in Asia also care more about companies' CSR performance – their impact on the environment, society and economy – than their peers in the US and Europe.

Glenn Schloss, Regional Director, Corporate Communications at Hill & Knowlton Asia Pacific said, "Six years post-Enron and 10 years after the Asian financial crisis, MBAs  now have a strong preference for companies with the best reputations. It is clear that recruiters of top talent will need more than just generous compensation and ample opportunity. The leaders of tomorrow are overwhelmingly seeking to associate themselves with industries, and specifically companies, with great reputations. Those with inferior reputations will find it very difficult to attract and retain the best and the brightest."

When asked to identify attributes that contribute to a company's reputation, MBA students overall are more likely to mention career opportunities and company/brand than they are to mention environmental and social responsibility.  But students in Asia seem to pay more attention to CSR – the top mention among Asian students for what contributes to corporate reputation is environmental and social responsibility, with 43% citing it as an attribute - ahead of career opportunity and company/brand.  Asian students are also slightly more likely than American or European students to say that corporate reputation is very important in assessing a company's reputation.

Further evidence of the emphasis of CSR in Asia is that 65% of students surveyed in the region have ranked social responsibility as extremely or very important in the assessment of the reputation of a company.
Mr. Schloss added, "The emphasis placed on the impact of companies on the environment and society in Asia demonstrates MBA students are aware that corporations in the region have much work to do to improve their CSR performance. They are sending a clear signal that companies which fail to address sustainability will suffer reputation loss in the eyes of this important group."

In examining MBA students' career aspirations, the study shows that the reputations of key emerging markets (Russia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and South Asia) discourage the best talent from working there. The same applies for multi-billion dollar industries such as alcohol, chemicals and tobacco with more than double the number of MBA students not interested in working in them than those who are: alcohol (51 per cent versus 20 per cent); chemicals (48 per cent versus 19 percent); and tobacco (67 per cent versus 13 per cent). Interestingly both the pharmaceutical industry and oil and gas industries also are in the situation where their reputations  deter slightly more students than they attract.

The study further reveals that in terms of company ownership, MBA students are dramatically swayed towards listed companies or venture-funded institutions. The following table shows those sectors, locations and companies whose reputations attract or deter the best talent:



Companies know that in the war for talent, they must do all they can to win and their external perception is possibly the most vital weapon in their armoury. The study confirms the importance of reputation with almost three quarters (73 per cent) of MBA students stating that corporate reputation plays an extremely or very important role when considering where to work after completing their MBA, with only one fifth (20 per cent) saying it is fairly important. In fact, only 4 per cent said that reputation was not important.

The results also show significant international mobility among business'most sought after talent with over three quarters (76 per cent) of those surveyed stating they are looking to change either industries or firms following graduation.  Only one fifth (19 per cent) said they are intending to return to the firm that they worked for prior to their MBA.  A fifth (20 per cent) of students surveyed want to move to another country from that which they are studying, while one quarter (25 per cent) are studying outside of their home country and plan on staying there.

Among the emerging markets North Asia, particularly China, emerges as the place where MBA students are most interested in working. Many other emerging markets are failing to communicate effectively with the talent that can promote further development. The following table shows the interest in working in various regions among the MBA students surveyed: 



So how can companies promote reputations that make them more attractive to MBA students? The key factors that drive reputation are perhaps unsurprising:

However, when asked what factors drive career choice, MBA students told a slightly different story. The factors listed split broadly into three tiers. The top tier is all about the people and the position: employment career opportunities; corporate culture and working environment; employee compensation and benefits package; and employee satisfaction.  In the second tier, come some of the basic issues about performance. While the third tier covers the messages that the company communicates about its ethics and social and environmental responsibility – its broader brand and values agenda: 

 According to The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)*, graduating MBAs and other graduate business students are the third major source of staffing for open positions amongst corporates. Furthermore, corporate recruiters planned to increase the numbers of graduate business student hires by 18 per cent in 2007, so it is clearly important that they are attracting the best from this pool of talent.

Corporate Reputation Watch – Reputation and the War for Talent is available from www.hillandknowlton.com/crw

-ENDS-

For further information please contact:

Glenn Schloss
Regional Director, Corporate Communications, Hill & Knowlton Asia Pacific
+ 852-2894-6328
gschloss@hillandknowlton.com.hk

Genevieve Loriant
Marketing and Business Development Manager, Hill & Knowlton Asia Pacific
+ 65-6390-3382
genevieve.loriant@hillandknowlton.com

Notes to editors:

1. The survey was conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates for Hill & Knowlton.
Interviews were carried out in May and from October to November 2007 with 527 current MBA students at 12 top ranked international business schools in the US, Europe and Asia - Columbia Business School, Harvard Business School, New York University: Stern, MIT: Sloan, London Business School, IESE Business School, HEC Paris, University of Oxford: Saïd, SDA Bocconi, TIAS, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Tsinghua University.  Students of 57 different nationalities took part in the study. 
 
2. The number of people interested minus the number of people not interested

* Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC®) sixth annual Corporate Recruiters survey of employers of graduate business students. The survey included 1,382 participants representing 1,029 companies worldwide, including 149 of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 109 of the global Fortune 500 companies.