INTERVIEW
I n 2021, Audencia Business School in France launched its strategic plan. At the time, the School’s Dean, Christophe Germain, said the objective ‘wasn’t to become the best Business School in the world, but to be a better Business School for the world’. The plan, which is called ECOS 2025 in reference to the Greek word for ‘our Earth’, is organised around four main axes, with the overarching objective of having a positive impact on society and the planet. It includes the creation of Gaïa – Audencia’s School of Ecological and Social Transition. The strategic plan carries an ambitious global vision, strongly influenced by its values of environmental, economic and social responsibility. Audencia set itself the task of reinventing its very model: to develop more virtuous ‘citizens of the world’, who share humanistic values, with the conviction of sharing a common destiny. The plan is for alumni to use their hybrid skills and capacity to innovate in transforming both business and society, and by working towards the common good on a planetary scale. Ambition took the opportunity to meet with Professor Germain to find out more about the facets of the fresh strategy, and his hopes for his Business School at a global level. What are the biggest challenges currently facing international Business Schools? Schools’ biggest challenge is to train future managers for jobs which do not yet exist, and which will require skills
A Business School must contribute to the common good, whether directly through its research, and work with companies, or indirectly via the training of future managers. Business Schools can influence institutional contingencies, change organisational practices and commit to sustainability, and in doing so, define new ways of leadership that integrate economic, social, and environmental dimensions. At Audencia, for example, we have identified the following three challenges that will guide our strategic achievements over the next five years: • The creation and use of responsible information and technology. • The development and adoption of managerial approaches that promote inclusive organisations and societies. • The design and implementation of sustainable business models and growth (with a focus on carbon neutrality objectives). What underpins Audencia’s objective to invent a new Business School model, involving training ‘citizens of the world’, sharing humanistic values, with the conviction of sharing a common destiny? Audencia’s ambition is to accelerate the transformation of individuals, organisations and society for good, to contribute to the restoration of major balances (economic, social and environmental) which are essential to the preservation of our oikos (the Greek root of the ECOS prefix which is the name of Audencia’s 2025 strategic plan).
from several fields of expertise. This is why, at Audencia, we have developed numerous hybrid programmes. How did the Covid-19 pandemic change your School for the long term, and what have been the most important lessons? The main lesson learned from lockdown, since the start of the pandemic, is that students’ experience on campus is irreplaceable, in the same way that international study trips are the only way for students to experience intercultural immersion. Given the growing climate emergency, do you think businesses– and by extension, Business Schools – have a role to play in helping communities to respond to, and recover from, natural disasters? Yes, absolutely, because Business Schools train managers who, through the future decisions they make, will have an impact on major societal issues, including the ecological and climate emergency. It is the duty of Business Schools to ensure that these managers acquire the knowledge and skills that will enable them to grasp the complexity of these issues and act upon them. You feel strongly that Business Schools should not just strive to be the best in the world – but be the best for the world. Why is this worldview so important in the business education landscape?
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