# London Business School

London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is "To have a profound impact on the way the world does business".
The main campus is located at Sussex Place in London, adjacent to Regent's Park. In 2012, the school acquired the Marylebone Town Hall and spent £60 million to refurbish it with the objective of expanding its teaching facilities by 70% - the new building is called The Sammy Ofer Centre. In 2017, it was announced that LBS had also acquired the site of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who vacated the building in November 2019. LBS has a secondary campus in Dubai that is dedicated to Executive Education and the Dubai EMBA.

## History
### Foundation

London Business School was founded in 1964 under the name of the 'London Graduate School of Business Studies', with Dr. Arthur Earle as Dean. In 1965, the school was registered as a company and was designated by the University of London as an institution having recognised teachers. In 1966, the first Executive Development Programme was launched, followed by the Senior Executive Programme. The same year, a full-time MSc degree was also launched, with Sheila Cross enrolling as the School's first female student. In 1968, the School inaugurated the Sloan Fellowship MSc programme, which was the first one outside of the US. 17 students were enrolled and the programme was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan foundation. The first doctoral programme was established in 1969 and in 1970 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opened the School's Regent's Park campus. The first PhD was awarded in 1974, and that year women made up over 15% of the student body for the first time. In 1983, the first part-time MBA programme was held under the direction of Sir Andrew Likierman, a former Dean of the School. In 1986, the school officially became the London Business School and was incorporated by Royal Charter, which gave LBS the right to confer and grant degrees. In 1992, the School was given the Queen's Award for Export in recognition of providing educational services to managers and companies worldwide. The following year, the school started its first Masters in Finance programme and in 2001, the EMBA-Global degree programme in partnership with the Columbia Business School.
In 2007 a new campus was opened in Dubai to offer both Executive MBA and Executive Education Programmes. In 2009, the school started two new programmes: The EMBA-Global Asia, in partnership with the University of Hong Kong and Columbia Business School, and the Masters in Management (MiM). In 2012, the school acquired Marylebone Town Hall and restored it with the objective of expanding its teaching facilities by 70 per cent. The building was renamed "The Sammy Ofer Centre" in honour of a generous donor, the Ofer Family, who made a gift for the development of the building, which was opened in 2017. In 2016, LBS launched a new programme, the Masters in Financial Analysis, aimed at recent graduates who wish to pursue a career in finance, and acquired the lease of the neighbouring building of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaenocologists, which it will occupy in 2020.
With the objective of increasing its size, the school organised a £100 million funding campaign. By the beginning of 2016, it had raised £98 million, £40 million of which will be used to renovate the Marylebone Town Hall, with £28 million for research, £18 million in scholarships for students, £10 million to increase the school's endowment, and £4 million to improve technology across the school. By June 2016, the school had raised £125 million, including two £25 million gifts from alumni Jim Ratcliffe and Idan Ofer.
François Ortalo-Magné, the French-born former Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, succeeded Sir Andrew Likierman as Dean in August 2017. In January 2024, it was announced that the Russian economist Sergei Guriev, previously the provost of the Institut d’études politiques in Paris (Sciences Po) would take over from Ortalo-Magné at the beginning of the 2024/2025 academic year, also joining the university's faculty as a professor of Economics. Guriev took up his post on 1 August 2024.

## Campus

The campus is at Sussex Place in Marylebone, on the perimeter of Regent's Park.
The business school has redeveloped the Marylebone Town Hall into classrooms and offices at the Sammy Ofer Centre. It will further expand it in 2020 (see above).

## Organisation and administration
### List of the London Business School Deans

List of the Deans from 1965 to today:
| Starting year | Ending year | Name |
| 1965 | 1972 | Arthur Earle |
| 1972 | 1984 | Sir James Ball |
| 1984 | 1989 | Peter G. Moore |
| 1989 | 1997 | Sir George Bain |
| 1998 | 2001 | John Quelch |
| 2002 | 2006 | Laura Tyson |
| 2007 | 2008 | Robin Buchanan |
| 2009 | 2017 | Sir Andrew Likierman |
| 2017 | 2024 | François Ortalo-Magné |
| 2024 | Present | Sergei Guriev |

## Academics
### Master in Business Administration (MBA)

The school's flagship programme is its full-time 15–21-month Master of Business Administration degree. MBA students take a prescribed set of core courses then choose from roughly 70 different electives. Class size has been around 400 students in every annual cohort. These are broken into 5 streams of approximately 80 students who take all core courses together.
Beyond academics, the school puts an emphasis on personal and professional development including leadership, global awareness, and business skill building. These developments are facilitated via specialized workshops led by external consultants, students, and faculty. In addition to a range of elective courses at the London Business School, the school has partnerships with around 32 exchange schools around the world. Each academic year around 100 students spend a term at another leading business school.
The MBA Programme has one of the world's largest international exchange programmes. Each year approximately 35 per cent of second-year MBAs spend a term abroad at one of over 30 partner schools, including NYU Stern School of Business, IESE Business School, Booth School of Business of The University of Chicago, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA Anderson School of Management, the MIT Sloan School of Management, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Columbia Business School, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, Indian School of Business among others.

### Executive MBA

The school offers four Executive (part-time) MBA degrees, which are completed in 16–20 months. At an academic level, the school offers the same degree to both Executive (part-time) and full-time MBA students. The programmes involve very similar core courses to the full-time MBA, international field work and a wide range of elective courses. The course ends with a capstone together with company project or management report.
* Executive MBA (London).
* Executive MBA (Dubai). The programme begins with an orientation week in London. Following this, students take 10 core modules, which are taught in a four- or five-day block each month in Dubai. Students then undertake electives, which are primarily offered in London, and an international assignment. Two additional core modules take place in London.
* EMBA-Global Americas and Europe. A further 140 executives are enrolled in the dual-degree EMBA-Global Programme. It is taught in partnership with Columbia Business School. Graduates are awarded degrees from both universities. The first year involves week-long modules each month alternating between London and New York. In the second year, students select from the full range of electives available at the participating schools.
* EMBA-Global Asia. launched in 2008 jointly with Hong Kong University and Columbia. Teaching takes place at all three business schools. While the first year is modelled on the transatlantic EMBA-Global, the school states that because "EMBA-Global Asia is designed for people who have or will have significant trans-national responsibilities, all courses reflect a greater proportion of global material".

### Masters in Finance

The school offers a Master's in Finance ("MiF") programme on both a part- and full-time basis. Around 120 students attend the full-time programme, while 60 attend the part-time degree.

### Masters in Financial Analysis (MFA)

The Masters in Financial Analysis is the most recent programme offered by the London Business School, starting in September 2016 and consists of 12 months of courses. The programme targets recent graduates with less than a year of work experience who plan to start a career in finance, typically as an analyst in an investment bank or in consulting. The curriculum consists of 12 core courses based on 5 pillars (Accounting, Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Financial Markets, and Financial Econometrics). The 12 courses are:
* Corporate Finance
* Capital Structure
* Mergers & Acquisitions
* Investment Fundamentals
* Asset Management
* Analysis of Financial Statements
* Securities Valuation and Financial Modelling
* World Economy
* Financial Institutions
* Personal Finance
* Private Equity
* Data and Time Series Analytics
Students must also complete three electives of which a minimum of two must be related to finance. The programme includes a business immersion week within a company (Google, Deloitte, CNN, Accenture, Blackrock etc.) to work on case studies. Finally, students participate in a Field Trip (study trip) that lasts a week. This travel experience consists of many networking dinners, company visits, and company presentations. The following destinations are available: Silicon Valley, Paris, Milan and Munich, Mumbai and Bangalore, or Shanghai.

### Masters in Management (MiM)

The Masters in Management (MiM) is a one-year master's degree in management aimed at recent graduates who have less than one year of full-time postgraduate corporate work experience or less than two years of experience in a non-traditional business role.
The programme is structured in 3 terms, composed of the following core courses:
First term:
* Financial Accounting
* Data Analytics for Management
* Finance
* Performance in Organisations
Second term:
* The Global Macroeconomy
* Marketing
* Strategic Analysis
* Decision and Risk Analysis
Third term:
* Applied Microeconomics
* Introduction to Management Accounting
Students must also follow 2 electives and can choose among 30 different courses. The programme includes a business immersion week within a company (Google, Deloitte, CNN, Accenture, Blackrock etc.) to work on case studies. Finally, students have to participate in a Field Trip (study trip) that lasts a week. This travel experience consists of many networking dinners, company visits, and company presentations. The following destinations are available: Silicon Valley, Paris, Milan and Munich, Mumbai and Bangalore, or Shanghai.

## Rankings

2025 QS Global MBA Rankings
* MBA - 5th in world, 1st in Europe
* 2023 QS Global MBA by Career Specialisation Rankings
** Consulting - 6th in world
** Finance - 12th in world
** Entrepreneurship - 18th in world
** Information Management - 9th in world
** Technology - 7th in world
QS Business Master's Rankings
* Master's in Business Analytics - 5th in world
* Master's in Finance - 4th in world
* Master's in Management - 4th in world
2024 Financial Times Global MBA Rankings
* MBA - 8th in world, 4th in Europe
Financial Times Master's Rankings
* Master's in Management - 6th in world
* Master's in Finance - 10th in world
* Master's in Finance (post employment) - 1st in world

## Research

The school's 150 faculty work through 16 research centres or institutes. According to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, the school came as the third department in the UK for business and management research.

### PhD programme

The school offers a 5-year full-time PhD programme. It supports 60 fully funded PhD candidates in seven doctoral programmes: Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management Science & Operations, Marketing, Organisational Behaviour, and Strategic & International Management.

## Notable people
### Alumni

* Kaveh Alamouti – CEO of Citadel LLC Asset Management Europe
* Simon Borrows – CEO of 3i
* Ashley Almanza – CEO of G4S
* Prince Chad Al-Sherif Pasha of the Hijaz and Turkey
* Nigel Andrews, 1978 – former chairman of Old Mutual Asset Management
* Sir David Arculus – chairman, O2
* Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 12th Earl of Shaftesbury
* Sükhbaataryn Batbold, "a degree", 1991 – former Prime Minister of Mongolia
* Pablo Zalba Bidegain – Member of European Parliament (Spain)
* Kumar Birla, 1992 – Chairman, Aditya Birla Group
* Ronald Boire – Former President and CEO of Brookstone
* Vice Admiral Paul Boissier – Former CB Deputy Commander-in-Chief, British Navy Maritime Forces; CEO of Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
* Don Cowan – Former CEO and President of ABN AMRO Bank Canada
* Stephen Crabb – member of the British House of Commons and former Secretary of State for Wales and for the Department for Work and Pensions
* Tomáš Drucker – Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth and Former Minister of Health, Slovakia
* Sir John Egan – Former CEO of Jaguar Cars, Former CEO of BAA, Chairman of Severn Trent plc
* Philip Nevill Green – Chairman of Carillion
* Justine Greening – Secretary of State for Education and member of the British House of Commons
* Gillian Keegan – British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Chichester
* Sir Richard Greenbury – former Chairman and CEO, Marks & Spencer
* Illugi Gunnarsson – Minister of Education, Science, and Culture, Iceland
* Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein – Special Assistant to Chairman & Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jordanian Armed Forces
* Hassan Jameel, Saudi businessman
* Sir John Jennings (businessman) – former CEO, Shell
* Moez Kassam – Founder of Anson Group
* Maria Kiwanuka – Minister of Finance in Cabinet of Uganda
* Timothy Kopra – NASA astronaut
* Thomas Kwok – Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Sun Hung Kai Properties
* Alex Loudon – former professional cricketer
* Dame Mary Marsh – former CEO of NSPCC
* Stephen Martin – former CEO of Clugston Group, director general of the Institute of Directors
* Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, former Chairman and CEO of the Tata Group
* Nigel Morris – co-founder, Capital One Financial Services
* David Muir – Director of Political Strategy, to then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP
* Idan Ofer – Chairman of Israel Corporation / Principal of Quantum Pacific International Limited
* Paul Onwuanibe – CEO of Landmark Group
* Kenneth Ouriel – vascular surgeon and medical researcher
* Mike Parsons – CEO of Barchester Healthcare
* Ted Pietka – Supervisory Board Member of Boryszew
* Roys Poyiadjis – entrepreneur and financier
* David E.I. Pyott – former Chairman, President, and CEO of Allergan
* Ramji Raghavan – founder and Chairman of Agastya International Foundation
* Jim Ratcliffe – Chairman and CEO of Ineos Chemicals Group
* Omar Samra – first Egyptian and youngest Arab to climb Mount Everest
* Sir John Sunderland – former Chairman, Cadbury Schweppes plc
* Amina Taher – VP, Etihad Aviation
* Stewart Wallis – Executive Director of New Economics Foundation
* Tony Wheeler – founder, Lonely Planet
* Babajide Sanwo-Olu – Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria
* Ibrahim Sagna – Senegalese financier
* Anita Elberse – Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
* Nicholas Latifi – Former F1 driver
* Ilya Strebulaev – Professor of Private Equity and Finance, Stanford Graduate School of Business
* Soh Rui Yong – Singaporean marathon runner

### Alumni associations

The London Business School has 50,000 alumni in more than 150 countries. Many local clubs (Paris, New-York, Zurich, etc.) organise recurrent events in their city.

### Faculty and staff

* Sir James Ball – economist
* Süleyman Başak – financial economist
* Sir Alan Budd – professor of economics, director of the Centre for Economic Forecasting, economic advisor for Barclays Bank, and member of the Advisory Board for Research Councils
* Terence Burns, Baron Burns – Chairman of Abbey National plc, Non-Executive Chairman of Glas Cymru, and a Non-Executive Director of Pearson Group plc.
* Rajesh Chandy – Professor of Entrepreneurship and Marketing.
* Gary Hamel – originator (with C.K. Prahalad) of the concept of core competencies of an organization, and contributed to the theoretical development and evolution of the resource-based view
* Charles Handy – former professor – London Business School, rated among Thinkers 50 – a list of the most influential living management thinkers
* Michael Jacobides – Sir Donald Gordon Chair of Entrepreneurship & Innovation
* Jack Mahoney – Dixons Professor of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
* Constantinos C. Markides – Robert P. Bauman Professor of Strategic Leadership
* Kamalini Ramdas – Professor of Management Science and Operations and Deloitte Chair in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
* Hélène Rey – Professor of Economics
* Richard Portes – economist
* Herminia Ibarra – Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behavior
* Julian Birkinshaw - Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship
* Sumantra Goshal (until 2004) - Professor of Strategy & International Business. He gave his name to the annual Ghoshal conference.