Do not be lulled by today’s strong management education market, says Johan Roos. Business schools still need to find a grander vision of hope, change and community to counter emerging shadows

Business school deans are smiling and optimistic these days. Things have improved since the 2008 crisis. Applications are skyrocketing at most schools, enrolments are up and, with a few notable exceptions, the crucial role of business in economic affairs and global progress is recognised and respected. We can boast that there are over 10,000 business schools around the globe and about one-fifth of the world’s students are studying business and management.

THE INK ON AACSB’S 2016 Collective Vision is barely dry, but business schools already are striving to become the institutions described in its pages: catalysts for innovation, co-creators of knowledge, hubs of lifelong learning, leaders on the development of leadership, and enablers of global prosperity. At Hult International Business School, we have launched a variety of programs that align with these five roles, but we are putting special emphasis on three.

This paper examines the larger role that business education must begin playing in developing a generation of new leaders with the skills required to tackle the complex and increasingly serious challenges of sustainability. It posits a new framework for cultivating more responsible ways of thinking and acting in our current and future business students. The foundation of this framework seeks not just to complement, but to strengthen the two most common arguments for sustainability – the moral case and the economic case – with a third argument—the governance case based on Aristotle’s concept of practical wisdom (Gr. phronesis) as the ‘middle ground’ of thoughtful action. Practical wisdom stands between science (Gr. episteme) and cunning (Gr. metis) and is the habit of acting in ways that are both ethically and economically effective, but above all that support the common good. Practical wisdom strikes balances between individual and common interests, short-term and long-term perspectives as well as between adapting to and shaping the environment. The article notes how accreditation standards for business schools are now including sustainability issues and practices, but more must be done. The article proposes several fundamental changes in how we educate students to start leading businesses beyond the profit motive and corporate social responsibility (CSR) paradigms into responsible and sustainable practices that serve the common good

THE CHALLENGE: In the eyes of the public, academic research is not innovative or engaging, nor does it create an impact on society. One renowned 2007 study claimed that 50 percent of academic papers are read only by their authors and journal editors, and 90 percent are never cited, which signifies that no one finds them useful. At Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) in Sweden, we wanted to challenge this perception. We asked, “How can we translate our faculty’s research into information that’s relevant and valuable to the public discourse?” Our answer was to create a new blogging platform called Vertikals.

Science, technology, engineering and maths (the so-called STEM subjects) are the driving force behind the most promising and lucrative businesses of the future. But turning such developments into commercially successful innovations requires people who understand STEM as well as organisation and management.

Gone are the days when an MBA generalist with a strong marketing education could fathom the potential of new businesses creating products and services to utilise STEM advances. Today’s managers need a solid business background but also the knowledge of the innovative potential deriving from their company’s progress in STEM fields.

Almost daily, advances in STEM subjects capture our admiration and awe for what humanity can accomplish. Higg’s “God particle” is finally discovered; a microchip the size of a finger nail can contain several billion transistors and other electronics; architects can design buildings one-half mile high; one-atom thick “graphene,” the thinnest yet strongest material ever discovered, paves the way for bionic devices connected directly to neurons; entirely new organisms with DNA sequences created on a computer are used to produce food. These accomplishments and the associated “politico-academic” rhetoric about education and research around the globe give us the impression that the future of the world is dependent on the progress of everything STEM.

DURING the course of in 2013-2014, as the Dean of a Swedish business school I participated in three educational programs devoted to exploring and assessing the status of higher education and what university presidents, deans and senior-levels administrators can do to improve our future.  One conference was an 18-months-nine-weekend program offered by The Association of Swedish Higher Education. Another was a 1-weekend seminar at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education for experienced university presidents. The third was the week-long leadership in higher education program offered by the Oxford Academy for Education and Development. In reviewing these learning experiences as part of my preparation for the upcoming 2015 EFMD Conference for Deans & Directors General, I had three insights that may help many of us strategize for 2015 and beyond.

WHEN BUSINESS SCHOOLS DECIDE to internationalize their programs, they can do more than simply build campuses halfway across the globe—they can increase the potential of an entire region. At Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) in Sweden, that was our goal when we first began designing programs to train PhDs in two African nations. While many business schools recently have added global dimensions to their programs—through student and faculty exchanges, short- and long-term study abroad initiatives, and international student recruitment—we believe our model is somewhat different. At JIBS, we strive to build deep, long-term relationships between our school, our partner institutions, and all of our stakeholders. We don’t just disseminate our educational expertise; we function as both an advisor and a service provider to our partners. We believe that our model increases the long-term “economic complexity” in the nations where we operate and that we can be a critical factor in creating widespread prosperity. At JIBS we have been calling this the “Into Africa” strategic initiative. 

Economist Willian Foster Lloyd described the notion of “commons” in 1833 in reference to the open pastures being damaged by self-interested herdsmen. Biologist Garreth Hardin used the term in 1968 to describe how population growth spoils our shared atmosphere, oceans and rivers. It is the over-utilization of the commons that inevitably leads to the tragedy, causing unhappiness, conflicts and ultimately extinction.

Western society in the 21st century is clearly built on the notion of the commons – the very human right to be part of a prosperous culture that values intelligence, tolerance, peaceful lives, and progress. This commons makes up the foundation of our nations, as much as the air and the oceans, and it did not come easily. Philosopher Slavoj Zizek reminds us that all features we identify today with liberal democracies – like the freedom of speech, voting rights, gender equality, mass education and the right to a decent livelihood –  were gained through often violent popular struggles during the 19th century. In the 20th century, it took two World Wars and myriad local conflicts to arrive at a modicum of global peace and prosperity.