Business school rankings: the love‐hate relationship

Purpose – The paper seeks to describe the rationale behind the Financial Times business school rankings and some of the problems inherent in developing and publishing them. Design/methodology/approach – The rationale behind the Financial Times business school rankings is discussed, as are the ways in which business schools use the rankings. Findings – Business schools have an ambivalent relationship to business schools rankings, openly criticising them but using favourable aspects of the rankings in their schools' marketing. Originality/value – Business school rankings are probably here to stay. Most business schools are developing ways of using them for their own purposes.