AMBITION | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
CAPTURING A BUSINESS SCHOOL’ S ESSENCE
COUNTRY: US SCHOOL: HULT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL
Music has long been used as a way to bring people together, whether it’s a stirring national anthem or a catchy song that makes a group of people nod their heads in unison. In a time of social isolation and travel bans, Hult International Business School has embraced the bonding experience of music to bring its stakeholders together. In collaboration with London-based artist, COTTON, it has released a song – entitled What About You? – that aims to capture the essence of the School, using both its melody and lyrics. COTTON used a diverse array of instruments, such as the koto and the tabla, as well as a mix of different musical styles, from jazz to electronic beats, in order to reflect the diversity of cultures within the student body at Hult International Business School and the upbeat energy of the institution. The song’s lyrics are intended to reflect the drive and ambition of Hult students, and their determination to be the best they can be. The title of the song, meanwhile, aims to encourage the listener to look inside and ask themselves how they can challenge themselves further, and how they can take on this Hult spirit. The lyrics also point to several important aspects of Business School life. In the line: ‘Look out for the leaders on the boulevard, watch out for the readers in the courtyard’, the word ‘leaders’ clearly references the fact that Business Schools are creating the future leaders of tomorrow’s business world, while the latter half of the line references the academic commitment needed for success. The song also mentions ‘rebels’ and the ‘avant garde’, perhaps referencing the different take on business needed to succeed in entrepreneurship and, indeed, Hult’s aim of being a new type of Business School, with added relevance in a changing business world? / EB
COLONIALISM’S LEGACY
COUNTRY: SWEDEN SCHOOL: LUND UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
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Historical data from the Dutch East India Company is to be used to unearth new insights into the economic and social development of South Africa. A new research project, led by Erik Green, Associate Professor of Economic History at Lund University School of Economics and Management, will also contribute to what we know about institutions and the legacy of colonialism. The project will look at three unique databases: the Cape of Good Hope Panel dataset, a registry of South African Families and the Slave Emancipation dataset, to study what is now South Africa and its population (settlers, slaves and indigenous population) at the individual level over a period of more than 150 years, from the establishment of the Cape Colony in 1652 until 1840. The idea is that this will shed light on how a colonial economy and its institutions develop gradually over time and are affected by – and affect – people’s behaviour and living conditions. ‘Currently, most people assume that South African society is unequal because of colonialism. But that is too simplistic. We want to know what factors gave rise to this unequal distribution and why it persisted for so long,’ said Green. Also involved in the project is Stellenbosch University Professor of Economics and History, Johan Fourie: ‘It was not Holland as a nation that founded the colony, but the Dutch East India Company. In other words, it was run as an enterprise. Because of that, they had better incentives to produce more detailed reports. That gives us detailed insight into the workings of a colonial economy and society and allows us to test our general theories of development against real-world evidence.’ ‘There is a preconception about not being able to study Africa because historical data is lacking in many cases. Here we have an exception, where we can probably build one of the world’s most detailed databases,’ Green added, in a news release for Lund University. / TBD
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