Ambition is AMBA’s thought leadership magazine, offering regular insights into the challenges and trends that matter most in global management education
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Issue 45 JULY / AUGUST 2021
SEAS CHANGE of
Supporting Business Schools to meet the challenges of the future
CAN BEAUTY SAVE THE WORLD? Evolving luxury Business School programmes will address the changing needs of employers
TURNING TRASH TO TREASURE The MBA entrepreneur on a mission to transform waste into reusable raw materials
HAVE YOU BEEN GOOD THIS YEAR? Unveiling the categories and opening entries for the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022
Marketing to Prospective Business Students Align the admissions experience with student expectations
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Issue 45 | JULY/AUGUST 2021
STRATEGY
NEWS & INS IGHT
SEAS CHANGE of
08 | ROUNDUP Does taking a pause when answering a question make you seem untruthful? We reveal the (honest) answer as part of a wealth of updates on academic research, collaborations, and outreach from across the international AMBA network
12 | FUTURE CHALLENGES Expert commentators from around the world help Business Schools prepare for tomorrow’s trends
REGULARS
06 | EDITOR’S LETTER Empowering MBAs to ride the waves of uncertainty and be problem solvers, agents of change, and lifelong learners 42 | AWARDS Winning or being shortlisted for an AMBA & BGA Excellence Award is a great way to showcase your School’s innovations and achievements to the world. Find out how you can be a part of the proceedings
The ability to learn will be the most fundamental skill going forward
in 2022 42
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The monthly magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY Ambiti n
Issue 43 MAY 2021
AMBA’s Ambition magazine
offers thought leadership, insight, advice and analysis of key trends in business, and is tailored exclusively for Business School leaders.
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IMD on preparing managers for a future of continuous anticipation and adjustment
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LEARNING FROM LITERATURE: ‘Good leaders read a lot.’ The importance UPF Barcelona School of Management places in culture and the humanities
REIMAGINING THE ALUMNI CLUB: Mannheim Business School emphasises the value of continuity in clubs that have been going from strength to strength
RISK-TAKING TO ENGAGE STUDENTS: The value of humour and how TBS Education’s David Stolin struck up a partnership with a renowned comedian
Issue 45 | JULY/AUGUST 2021
INTERVIEW 30 | BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE In an exclusive interview, Carlo Mazzi, Chairman of Prada, and MIP’s Associate Dean Antonalla Moretto discuss how they are preparing the luxury leaders of tomorrow to approach diversity, sustainability, and strategy with solutions-driven mindsets
38 | TRASH OR TREASURE? MBA Startup of the Year 2021 Daniele Pes explains how AI can turn waste into useable raw material
OPINION
44 | BYO CULTURE? The post-pandemic workplace will prompt a range of ‘bring your own’. Neil Usher considers the options in terms of culture 46 | SHARING IDEAS Andrew Main Wilson announces the dates for our Business School Leaders Summit
OPINION
Riding the waves OF UNCERTAINTY
EDITORIAL Editor and Director of Marketing and Communications David Woods-Hale d.woods@associationofmbas.com @davidpaulwoods Art Editor Laura Tallon Content Editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@associationofmbas.com Insight and Communications Executive Ellen Buchan e.buchan@associationofmbas.com CORPORATE Head of Commercial Relations Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@associationofmbas.com Commercial Partnerships Manager Emily Wall e.wall@associationofmbas.com
‘Problem solvers, agents of change, and lifelong learners’
I n May, leading thinkers and practitioners from across the higher education and business arenas joined AMBA & BGA at its first ever virtual Global Conference to tackle the issues most prevalent to Business School strategy. I’m pleased to bring you some highlights from the conference programme in this month’s edition of Ambition . While speakers and panellists presented on a wealth of topics, from sustainability and diversity to student recruitment and employment – as well as igniting innovation in terms of lifelong learning –the common thread connecting all the sessions was that Covid-19 has taught us that we cannot predict the future. As a global community, we’re entering an era of sea changes; we will have to ride the waves and embrace the uncertainty. However, despite this unpredictability, there are some trends that are set to impact all aspects of life radically in the short term. Amy Brachio, EY Global Business Consulting Leader (featured on page 23), described a sense of optimism and opportunity. She addressed MBA cohorts directly, urging them to be ‘problem solvers’, ‘agents of change’ and ‘lifelong learners’. These points were echoed by Ignacio de la Vega, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Faculty and Internationalization at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Andrew Burke, Dean of Trinity College Business School, both of whom proposed that Business Schools have a role in reshaping market forces to put ethics at the heart of competition and innovation, teaching, researching and practising ethical leadership. They argued that business educators must have a purpose, in order to make an impact on societies and communities through technology, science and research, while keeping up to speed with trends, to build the leaders of the future. The challenge now is to keep this thirst for further change at the forefront of students’ minds and to infuse
Conference Producer Paul Thurston
Events Manager Abigail Burke
Marketing and Communications Executive Edward Holmes
Marketing Executive Edward Jacques Membership Manager Tariro Masukume
it into the DNA of Business Schools. David Woods-Hale , Editor, Ambition
Head of IT and Data Management Jack Villanueva HR and Employer Relations Manager Aarti Bhasin Finance and Commercial Director Catherine Walker
THE AMBITION PODCAST
joined us to help demystify the future. He took us though some of his predictions, as well as giving us some insights from his new book Future Tech. This episode is a must-listen for those who want to be prepared for the changing nature of work. The podcast is available on Amazon Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Google Podcasts, and Deezer. Just choose the platform you prefer, subscribe to the podcast, and never miss an episode. www.associationofmbas.com/podcast
Coming up with an organisational strategy in an economic climate characterised by disruption is challenging enough. But how can organisations ensure it is disseminated to all business areas? Costas Markides, a professor from London Business School, has written a book on just this: Organizing for the New Normal . Costas took part in our podcast to provide advice on ensuring people not only know your strategy, but actively work towards it, while creating a constant sense of urgency. Additionally, self-confessed ‘Jack of all trades’, author, entrepreneur and futurist Trond Undheim
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Copyright 2021 by Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association ISSN 2631-6382 All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, AMBA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of AMBA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. AMBA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
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Over the past 18 months, AMBA’s Research and Insight Centre has produced a wealth of groundbreaking new research and compiled reports citing views from MBA thinkers, practitioners, faculty, and leaders across the globe on the issues that matter most in business education. Recent AMBA research has investigated Business Schools’ attitudes to poverty, rankings, climate change, and education technology. We have analysed MBA career trajectories, graduate success in the new normal, application and enrolment figures across a spectrum of programmes, and employer and student perceptions of lifelong learning. We also seek to collaborate with Business Schools and corporate partners in order to further enhance AMBA’s research offering. RESEARCH AND INSIGHT: STAY AHEAD OF THE TRENDS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
If you are interested in partnering on research, joining one of our roundtables or focus groups to delve into the findings, or even sharing your thoughts on what topics you would like AMBA to explore, then please contact research@associationofmbas.com
NEWS & INSIGHT
NEWS & RESEARCH
from across AMBA’s Global Network
In this month’s round-up, we highlight an international collaboraton of eight AMBA-accredited Schools, and the role of Business Schools in supporting the B Corp movement. Compiled by Ellen Buchan and Tim Banerjee Dhoul
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LIAR, LIAR, PAUSE... ON FIRE
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION IN A NEW ERA COUNTRY: Finland SCHOOL: Aalto University School of Business
COUNTRY: France SCHOOL: Grenoble Ecole de Management
Aalto University School of Business is one of eight AMBA-accredited European institutions behind the launch of the European Common Online Learning (ECOL) network. The network will provide credited elective courses at undergraduate level, designed for online synchronous delivery. In this way, it hopes to provide another path through which students can gain an international classroom experience from their own homes. ECOL is a response to the impact of education of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a primary aim is to further processes of digitalisation and innovation in business education. As the name suggests, its goal is also to develop a common European online curriculum that can be expanded and developed over time. ‘This is an exciting new way for our students to get international exposure,’ said Timo Korkeamäki, Dean of Aalto University School of Business. ‘Through ECOL, even those students who are unable or unwilling to spend a semester abroad on student exchange have an opportunity to gain foreign study experience, with faculty and classmates from another renowned European Business School.’ The other members of the ECOL network – all of which also belong to the Partnership in International Management (PIM) and Global Alliance in Management Education (CEMS) alliances – are Bocconi University, Copenhagen Business School, Rotterdam School of Management, HEC Paris, University of St. Gallen and Vienna University of Economics and Business, and ESADE Business School. Dean of ESADE Josep Franch said: ‘Covid-19 forced us to adapt and reinvent ourselves. Some of these changes are here to stay. Our aim is to offer an outstanding remote learning experience, which can be compared with the excellence of campus-based international experiences and make us more competitive in the global arena.’ Electives are available from autumn 2021 and each comes with details of the credits available to students through the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). Courses on offer through the network include ‘Global Virtual Teams’ at RSM, ‘International Business in the Era of Disruptions’ at Aalto and ‘Poverty Alleviation’ at St.Gallen. / Tim Banerjee Dhoul (TBD)
As author Mark Twain famously put it, ‘the right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause’. But what about the power of a wrongly timed pause? Research entitled Slow Lies: Response delays promote perceptions of insincerity , conducted by a team which included Ignazio Ziano, a professor and researcher in the marketing department at Grenoble Ecole de Management and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , found that a person comes across as less trustworthy when they take a pause before answering a question. In 14 studies undertaken in the US, UK, and France, 7,500 participants were asked to rate the sincerity of responses which were delayed by incremental pauses of up to 10 seconds. The findings revealed that taking a pause before answering a question reduces the credibility of the answer in the eyes of the recipient. Instead of being interpreted as a person taking a moment to gather their thoughts, it is seen as the person using the time to fabricate their response. This has implications for many different areas of business, including recruitment, in which candidates strive to be perceived as sincere but may require a little extra time to formulate answers to interview questions. Ziano suggests that verbal recruitmen t interviews should be discontinued with recruiters instead using written answers to avoid interviewers being influenced by pauses. However, the research also identified specific scenarios in which a pause does not change the perceived sincerity of response; for example, when the response is considered to be ‘socially undesirable’ (for example, telling a friend that you don’t like the cake they have made), or when it is judged to be ‘complicated’ (for example, admitting to stealing sweets 10 years ago). In these circumstances, the time frame for response did not have much of an effect on perceived sincerity, according to the research. / Ellen Buchan (EB)
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NEWS & INSIGHT
THE PERCEPTION OF WOMEN
SUPPORTING LATIN AMERICA’S B MOVEMENT COUNTRY: Chile SCHOOL: Universidad Adolfo Ibañez (UAI Business School) The Business School at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI Business School) has signed a collaborative agreement with Sistema B, an NGO that promotes the B Corps certification of the highest standards of social and environmental performance in Latin America. MBA students of UAI Business School will provide pro bono advice to B companies, and the Business School will offer scholarships for its postgraduate programmes to B company employees, in the terms of the agreement. ‘We are facing a paradigm shift, where we must develop different answers to the questions we are facing as a society,’ said Luciana Mitjavila, Director of the Executive MBA (EMBA) at UAI Business School. ‘Sistema B raises a convergence of three issues that must be addressed – economic growth added to social and environmental concerns. As a Business School, we firmly believe that these three variables have to be present in any leader’s decision making. These variables should not compete with each other; they must coexist.’ Mitjavila went on to explain that all students who choose to tackle the area of ‘Business Challenges’ in their thesis requirement on any of the School’s MBA programmes will be able to work on strategic problems for a B Corp company, starting with students of UAI Business School’s modular-format Advanced MBA in the final quarter of 2021. There are currently 699 B Corp companies across Latin America (of 4,000 worldwide) according to Sistema B. Since its creation in the 2012, the B Corps community in Latin America has grown to a combined value of $5 billion USD in annual revenue. Perhaps the world’s best-known example in the global community is French multinational food corporation Danone, which has multiple subsidiaries certified as B Corps. The first B Corp company in Chile – gaining registration as early as 2012 – was waste management company, TriCiclos. With regards to scholarship offering, Mitjavila advised that ‘all postgraduate degrees at the Business School have benefits and scholarships’ for members of B companies. ‘With this, we achieve a positive reinforcement of the model, allowing its leaders to acquire new tools to lead change,’ she added. / TBD
AND MONEY COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: Brunel University London
The way in which women are portrayed in stock images relating to money and finance varies considerably to the way in which men are portrayed. This is the finding of recent research from Brunel University London and Starling Bank. Brunel Business School’s Human Resource Management Professor Shireen Kanji and Divisional Lead and Reader in Marketing, Ana Canhoto scrutinised 600 of the most used stock photographs with the search term ‘people and finance’, and found the portrayal of women in these photos to be drastically different from the portrayal of men. Women were nearly four times more likely than men to be depicted as ‘childlike’ when handling money in images; for example, hugging piggy banks. This increased to more than half (52%) when the search term was ‘women and money’. Women in photos were also more likely than their male counterparts to be holding coins (25% compared to 13% of men), while men were more likely to be holding banknotes (53% versus 44% of women). The researchers argued this illuminated the perception that women have smaller amounts of money than men. In addition, people with disabilities were rarely represented in these photos, and there was little variation in characteristics such as sexual orientation or age. For example, women over 40 were rarely portrayed, with young models used for women 29% of the time compared to young models being used for men just 7% of the time. ‘Financial inequality doesn’t end with the wage gap – it’s all around us in the images we consume, often subconsciously, every day,’ said Starling Bank CEO and founder Anne Boden. ‘That needs to change. Too often women are pictured like children with tiny amounts of money. We need fewer piggy banks and pennies, more women taking the lead, and greater diversity overall.’ / EB
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TWO TOP SCHOOLS SIGN MONUMENTAL PARTNERSHIP COUNTRY: India/Australia
‘DIRTY CASH’ WIDENS
REACH OUTSIDE BUSINESS SCHOOL COUNTRY: France SCHOOL: EDHEC Business School
SCHOOL: Indian School of Business and the University of Sydney Business School
Since 2005, students at EDHEC Business School have been able to analyse organisations’ exposure to the crime business and the strategic measures required to limit the effects through its Criminal Risks Management Chair. Its rationale is that the business of crime – whether it relates to trafficking and money laundering or cybercrime and piracy – is a dangerous reality for many companies. This is true both for established multinationals and young startups, and warrants the attention of business and management students. The Chair’s Director, Bertrand Monnet, has now widened its reach by taking its lessons to streaming giant, Netflix, in the form a four-part documentary series. Entitled Dirty Cash (or Le Business du Crime in France, where it is broadcast by RMC Story), this kicks off with a look at Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel in May. Studying the cartel over a period of seven weeks, Monnet’s observations cover the cartel’s production of drugs, as well as its money-laundering techniques and sales strategy. The documentary switches between its on-the- ground survey of the infamous criminal enterprise and supply chain, and classroom-based analyses in the presence of EDHEC students. At the Business School, courses provided by the Criminal Risks Management Chair have combined academic presentations with those of large companies on the subject of risk management strategies, as well as field interviews filmed with characters in the crime business, such as hackers, pirates and counterfeiters. The potential of the chair’s output for public education has been clear to EDHEC for a while – Monnet has produced several in-depth reports for Le Monde since 2017, including a series on the Sinaloa cartel at the end of 2020. Monnet began his career as an officer in the French army, before becoming an advisor to numerous companies on criminal and terrorist risks. He lectured on criminal risks management at HEC Paris for a period of three years prior to joining EDHEC in 2005. / TBD
The Indian School of Business (ISB) and the University of Sydney Business School (USBS) have entered a five-year academic partnership. Representing ISB’s first extensive partnership with an Australian Business School, this was launched on a webinar on 9 June 2021. The two triple-crown institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which encompasses research, coursework education, corporate engagement and policy development for a post Covid-19 world. More specifically, a dual master’s degree is planned, as well as executive education programmes, and doctoral mobility. Dean of the University of Sydney Business School Professor Greg Whitwell said: ‘In the face of what seems an increasingly divided world since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we must seize opportunities to deepen our partnerships with international institutions. Despite the challenges of distance, we are delighted to celebrate this new partnership with such a prestigious institution and look forward to many more collaborations with the Indian School of Business.’ ISB, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is one of the largest providers of executive education in Asia and the most research productive Indian Management institution. The School has two campuses in India, located in Hyderabad and Mohali. USBS, is the oldest Business School in Australia and offers teaching and research in accounting, business analytics, business information systems, business law, finance, international business, marketing, strategy innovation and entrepreneurship and work and organisational studies. Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean of the Indian School of Business said: ‘I am confident that ISB’s comprehensive partnership with University of Sydney Business School will usher in new insights based on multidisciplinary research that will contribute to management thought leadership, and in designing new trajectories in management education globally.’ / EB
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA’s Content Editor, Tim Banerjee Dhoul, at t.dhoul@associationofmbas.com
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STRATEGY
SEAS of The AMBA & BGA Global Conference, hosted virtually from 10-12 May 2021, was designed to address the issues Business Schools face on a daily basis – as well as to help prepare and future-proof Schools for trends and challenges in the short to medium term. Expert speakers from around the world, including leading
corporate organisations and Business Schools, joined us in a film studio for live-streamed sessions to inspire collaboration, facilitate debate and share personal and professional experiences from the worlds of business and business education. This groundbreaking event brought together speakers, including some of the world’s most prolific Business School leaders and corporate CEOs, who tackled the issues most prevalent to Business School strategy. Each session was designed to ensure delegates left the conference ready to face the challenges presented both by their local environments and the global community. Over the next few pages, we exclusively outline some of the key themes, advice, debate, learnings, and take-aways from the event. Coverage by Tim Banerjee Dhoul , Ellen Buchan , Edward Holmes , Daniel Kirkland , Paul Thurston , and David Woods-Hale .
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Supporting Business Schools to meet their challenges CHANGE:
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Creating responsible strategic leaders – are we for real? Launching the programme for the AMBA & BGA Global Conference 2021, Andrew Burke, Dean of Trinity College Business School, addressed the pressing challenge of how Business Schools can deliver a new breed of strategic leader for the good of the planet. He explained that this type of leader cares about climate change and the biodiversity emergency, and looks beyond business shareholders to consider all stakeholders. Such leaders are equipped with the visionary capabilities to guide organisations to embrace the positives of remote working, to adapt to the challenges of living with Covid-19, to celebrate diversity, and to foster inclusivity. But he warned that MBAs tend to be taught two simple rules: ‘Rule number one: never run out of cash. Rule number two: never break rule number one.’ Moving on to discuss the multiple threats facing our business and societal ecosystems, Burke outlined some of the challenges impacting responsible – and strategic – leaders. These, he said, include the threat of another financial crisis; climate change; the biodiversity emergency (comprising the destruction of natural habitats, and population reduction); and human rights violations by business. Burke issued delegates with a stark warning: ‘If Business Schools are to realistically attempt to deliver on this promise [of developing leaders who are strategic and responsible], they need to produce activist and entrepreneurial graduates who enable organisations to shape – rather than just respond to – market forces.’
In summing up his presentation, he offered advice to support Business School leaders: ‘Teaching ethics is not enough,’ he argued. ‘Market forces overpower good intentions.’ Instead, he suggested that Business Schools have a role in reshaping market forces to put ethics at the forefront of competition and innovation, teaching, researching and practising ethical leadership. He proposed that Schools could adopt the same position as medical schools in terms of their outreach into communities (most recently evidenced during the Covid-19 pandemic). Burke closed by suggesting that the MBA could be used as the starting point for this – a message echoed throughout the three days of conferencing. Responsible leadership – developing MBA alumni to be a global force for good In the complex and turbulent world in which we live, it is more important than ever to be adaptable and adept at problem solving. Business Schools need to build strong relationships with their alumni to ensure that they are committed lifelong learners and believe in the value of responsible and sustainable leadership. Udochuko Richson, District Sales Manager at Eli and Lilly Company, and Winner of the MBA Student of the Year Award 2020, chaired a session asking how MBAs can nurture responsible and ethical practices in the workplace, questioning two leading innovators. He asked Gaya Gamhewage, Head of Learning & Capacity Development for the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme, and Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder of A Plastic Planet, whether they believe the next
ANDREW BURKE
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DAY 1
We can no longer exonerate businesses, in the name of profit, from their responsibility and the damage that they do
name of jobs or profit, paying charities to clean up after them. Gamhewage believes it to be the responsibility of current leaders to ensure young people gain the skills they need to manage the depleted planet they are inheriting. She talked about living in a fourth industrial world, in which we have moved beyond a digital era into a social age. ‘We need to be socially literate, meaning the brand of a company is not owned by the company but by the people we work with; everything is changing, we need networking, not just to be applying data,’ she said. She also expressed her concern that the leaders of the future do not have the competencies they need because we are preparing them for an old system. She added that ‘the ability to learn will be the most fundamental skill going forward’, expanding on this by saying that learning does not have to take place in an institution but that learning from others, and from experience, is just as essential.
generation of leaders have the right set of skills to lead organisations in the short and long term, as well as for their thoughts on the future of business. Sutherland was first to share her insights, stating that she believes Covid-19 has created a ‘chasm’ in the business world, with organisations that will completely reinvent and change on one side, and those that won’t on the other – destined to become ‘our future dinosaurs’ in business. She observed that changing industry at any level is a tough challenge, but asserted that ‘rewarding shareholder value can no longer be the only purpose of business’. She explained that, instead, business needs to be responsible for everything it does, including for its impact on the planet. ‘We can no longer exonerate businesses, in the name of profit, from their responsibility and the damage that they do,’ she argued. She added that she would like to see MBA graduates and other leaders join her in this thinking and stop businesses being allowed to do harm in the
UDOCHUKO RICHSON
GAYA GAMHEWAGE
SIAN SUTHERLAND
Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
STRATEGY
The next era of business — how B2B e-commerce is shaping the post-pandemic world According to John Caplan, President of North America and Europe for Alibaba.com, ‘there is no way to thrive for the future unless you’re digital’. Addressing the AMBA & BGA Global Conference live from New York City in the US, Caplan helped build a picture of how eCommerce is shaping the post-pandemic world. Citing data from the US International Trade Commission, he demonstrated that business- to-business (B2B) eCommerce is now six times greater than business-to-consumer (B2C) eCommerce globally, with the B2B eCommerce market currently valued at $23.9 trillion USD, and B2C eCommerce at $3.8 trillion USD. He added that nearly two decades of change had been forced through in a matter of 14 months by the Covid-19 pandemic, with companies having to adapt swiftly, reimagining the way they do business. However, despite these indicative figures, he was keen to point out that much global business success still relies on traditional connections and the trusted relationships that have developed as a result. Caplan, who is leading the transformation of Alibaba.com, argued that being an ‘analogue business’, relying on older technology such as fax machines, is not sufficient for participation in either local economies or the global economy; business leaders should be using eCommerce to ‘go global’, he said. During the session, he was able to share advice and tips for the ‘new leaders of tomorrow’. For example, he explained that leaders ought to be thinking globally, rather than limiting thinking to the territory in which they are working. ‘Since we’re all connected digitally, your customers and opportunities ought to be global,’ he asserted. ‘The best markets to go into are the most complicated ones’, he added, referring to the global supply chain of goods. Virtual reality in Business Schools: life in the goldfish bowl Goldfish now have a longer attention span than people do, due to the impact of technology, the abundance of information at our fingertips, and the ubiquity of screens among the world’s younger generations. This is how Alain Goudey, Chief Digital Officer and Professor of Marketing at NEOMA Business School, emphasised the need to look at different ways of reaching and engaging with students. ‘Two years ago, a study showed that human attention was about eight seconds per minute… In the year 2000, it was about 12 seconds per minute. That means for a six-hour day of class, you only get 45 minutes of attention from your students. That’s very low, and it’s really important to have that in mind because it’s not going to get better,’ he warned. To address this, Goudey has been exploring the use of virtual reality (VR) in teaching, so far using the technology to provide two case studies to NEOMA students. His research into the impact of these indicates that the use of VR is at least as good as traditional text-based learning, or any other learning medium. Added benefits include a break from the routine for students, which fuels their engagement in class. The use of VR also feeds into NEOMA’s belief that learning is more about the overall student experience than mere provision of information. For Goudey, it’s also about keeping pace with the other learning options open to prospective students, who have immediate access to expertise via their smartphones at any hour of the day or night. Business Schools ‘need to become more digital to be more competitive,’ he believes, ‘augmenting pedagogy through technology’.
JOHN CAPLAN
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Teaching ethics is not enough. Market forces overpower good intentions
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STRATEGY
The future started many years ago and the pandemic accelerated this disruption
Transforming learning into business impact In a conference session streamed live from Mexico, Ignacio de la Vega, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Faculty and Internationalization at Tecnilógico de Monterrey, discussed his research on the topic of transforming learning into business impact. De la Vega explained that capitalism – which Business Schools teach – isn’t sufficient to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, or to mitigate its impact, arguing that it is up to all of us to work towards improvement and to harness the positives of its disruption. For example, he argued that the pandemic has helped the ‘world to heal’, with people’s confinement within their homes enhancing the planet’s environmental health, due to a reduction in pollution and waste. ‘The future started many years ago and the pandemic accelerated this disruption,’ he said. For Business Schools and many other educational organisations, the disruption has led to a ‘new model’ of learning during Covid-19, with programmes going fully online. However, this new approach has not been embraced by all, due to issues such as a lack of equipment, funding and access
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to the internet. For De la Vega, business educators must have a real purpose and impact on societies and communities through technology, science and research, while keeping up to speed with trends, in order to build the leaders of the future, focusing on four key areas: Democratising executive (and all) education Contributing to the solutions of the world’s ‘wicked’ problems Summing up the session, de la Vega looked forward to 2025, predicting that 10 key skills will be paramount for our leaders of the future: Building new skill sets and mindsets Fostering lifelong learning
Analytical thinking and innovation Active learning and learning strategies Complex problem-solving Critical thinking and analysis Creativity, originality and initiative Leadership and social influence Technology use, monitoring and control Technology design and programming Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
IGNACIO DE LA VEGA
For business educators, the biggest challenge will be to keep these at the forefront of their minds and to infuse them into the DNA of their Business Schools, he believes.
The ability to learn will be the most fundamental skill going forward
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Post-Covid-19 employment – the relevance of MBAs As we move, albeit slowly, into a post-Covid-19 world, there is much talk about the future employment landscape. Where will we work? What industries will thrive and survive? Which skills will be valued? At the same time, some longer-term demographic trends, such as an ageing workforce, have not gone away. To address these trends, and opening day two of the AMBA & BGA Global Conference 2021, Wendy Loretto, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at University of Edinburgh Business School, and an AMBA & BGA board member, brought a questioning perspective to current evidence to address the role of MBA programmes and Business Schools in meeting future challenges. ‘To try to sum up the future of employment, the impact that we all face is not yet well defined and set in stone,’ she said. ‘All we can do is try to look at the data, look at the trends, and attempt an intelligent interpretation of that. There is broad agreement on the main areas of change – they include environment and climate change, growing inequalities, urbanisation, technological change, and changing demographics.’ Loretto pointed to research and examples of change in each of these areas, with particular reference to the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2020 , highlighting the impact of the ‘double disruption’ of both Covid-19 and automation on MBAs and jobs – and how these disruptions could exacerbate existing inequalities. Quoting the skills in demand highlighted in the report (higher-order cognitive skills, collaboration skills, leadership and social influence, digital skills, being able to adopt a range of mindsets, and self- management skills) Loretto explained that these are ‘exciting for us as Business Schools’. “It gives us opportunities because these are the sorts of skills that we have always taught, and ,in particular, when we think about our MBA programmes, these are crucial,’ she said. After discussing the change in strategic emphasis, Loretto noted that ‘MBAs are increasingly looking for flexibility – whether in modes of learning, online learning, hybrid learning
or self-paced learning – very much tying into some of the longer-term trends such as self-management.’ Addressing employment prospects, she identified that demand for MBAs is increasing, but that international students still seek in-person experiences. ‘The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) very positively says that when it surveys employers, the demand for employment of MBAs is up,’ she reported. ‘It dipped slightly last year, but 90% of employers in the GMAC survey said that they intended to hire MBAs, painting a really positive picture.’ Loretto closed the keynote by presenting challenges and opportunities for Business Schools, and posing the following questions to ponder: ‘To what extent are we going to move away from bricks and mortar? How important are buildings to us? What are the perception-reality gaps? Are we over reliant on employability as a dominant metric? How easy is it to meet the demand for flexible delivery and how can we make it work?’ Silk-Road entrepreneurship and sustainability strategies Since the Silk-Road Entrepreneurship Education Network (SREEN) was established in 2015, SREEN collaborative platforms have been developed among AMBA-accredited Schools in China, the UK, Austria, Italy, Australia, and Japan, as well as in eight Latin American countries. In this session, the focus was on SREEN’s role in sustainable entrepreneurship and new approaches to entrepreneurship at this challenging time. Developments in entrepreneurial ecosystems, renewable energy and SMEs, entrepreneurship psychology, entrepreneurial social responsibility and entrepreneurial resilience were discussed, along with the key strategies for sustainability in entrepreneurship and business development. Federico Frattini, Dean, MIP Graduate School of Business at the Politecnico di Milano, explained that sustainability is at the forefront of business and education strategy due to the challenges and changes of the modern world. He added that traditional approaches around teaching and learning outcomes – with the mindset that organisations
WENDY LORETTO
FEDERICO FRATTINI
ANDREW GODLEY
MARTIN OBSCHONKA
GUNTHER FRIEDL
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DAY 2
MBAs are increasingly looking for flexibility – and that may be in modes of learning, online learning, hybrid learning or self-paced learning
He went on to mention that while the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact, due to the courses being fully online and working with local businesses/ entrepreneurs, they have been able to continue and offer the same experiences and enables students to continue their learning. Martin Obschonka, Director of the Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research at QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, moved the focus away from teaching entrepreneurship and sustainability to developing quality research and understanding the secrets of sustainable entrepreneurship. Obschonka spoke about creating opportunities with entrepreneurial people and organisations to develop the entrepreneurial mindset, create sustainable goals, and to set out personal and organisational values and the role of society. He quoted the South African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, explaining that this also applies to sustainable entrepreneurship, going on to outline the need to understand an ecosystem, changes to it, and how ecosystems interact with entrepreneurial mindsets – which are the backbone of Business Schools and business education. Meanwhile, Gunther Friedl, Dean, TUM School of Management at the Technical University
have the ultimate say in all matters pertaining to the environment, sustainability and climate change – has had a negative effect on society. Frattini argued that sustainable entrepreneurship should be seen as a set of activities, efforts, initiatives, and practices put in place to innovate strategies, operations, and process. The growth in areas such as research, technology, leadership, psychology and philosophy will make the shift easier, creating a more sustainable future for Business School teaching but also for the leaders of tomorrow, he said. Schools, their programmes and teaching methods should incorporate sustainability into all courses, activities and learning experiences, with the focus seen as a priority, not an add-on. Andrew Godley, Associate Dean (International) and Head of Leadership, Organisations and Behaviour for Henley Business School, University of Reading, emphasised the importance of digital innovation and the mission Business Schools have been facing for years in terms of teaching entrepreneurship to students. Schools have switched their focus from teaching entrepreneurship solely within the classroom to working closely with local entrepreneurs and businesses, to offer greater insights and capabilities to ecosystems.
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help bring ‘novel perspectives’ to students and to innovate their learning. He explained that ‘collaborating with people outside of the traditional Business School environment is very fruitful’, adding that the work had started prior to Covid-19, but that the pandemic had prompted him to find the most engaging audio-visual content. This theme of ‘making education palatable and entertaining’ was also noted by Schlegelmilch in ESADE Business School’s work on the gamification of education. Ogbechie pointed out that one of the most significant implications of Covid-19 is that competition is no longer limited by geography. As a result, students have few restrictions when it comes to choosing rich curriculum programmes and diverse material. Schools such as his own – Lagos Business School – have been charged with finding new ways of staying relevant and capturing the attention of students outside traditional School catchment areas. Visnjic noted that the industry is experiencing an acceleration in the adoption of technology, highlighting the use of video in delivery of the content, and increased competition in the l earning marketplace. She explained that ‘Business Schools are competing with global brands head to head, with no geographic boundaries’, which is forcing them to re-examine their value proposition for students. She used the analogy of online videos being less like a movie but a theatre, wherein ‘students are co-producers’ of knowledge: relevant guest contributors can be invited to the stage to stimulate conversation, thanks to the new technologies moved to the forefront of learning by the pandemic. Trends and issues impacting the global economy over the coming five years While Covid-19 has taught the world that we cannot predict the future, there are some trends that are set to affect all aspects of life radically in the short term.
of Munich, outlined how TUM refocused all activities to entrepreneurship back in 2002 and now has more than a fifth of faculty devoted to entrepreneurship. The School’s goal is to educate all of its students in entrepreneurship at an early stage, with courses designed to bring out each student’s full potential. Outside of the university, another institute devoted to the practical adaptations of entrepreneurship (from finding new ideas to bringing them to the market) has been created. TUM is continuing to adapt and improve its entrepreneurship by creating call venture labs in the form of office spaces close to the research supports, and groups which are working hard to address the current challenges the world faces. Spearheading change and igniting innovation – how Business Schools are leading in an uncertain world Bringing together pioneers in the field of Business School innovation, Chair of AMBA & BGA Bodo Schlegelmilch led a discussion on the trends that decision makers in higher education need to anticipate. The panel comprised Ivanka Visnjic, Director, Institute for Innovation and Knowledge Management at ESADE Business School, Chris Ogbechie Dean and Professor of Strategic Management at Lagos Business School, Pan- Atlantic University, and David Stolin, Professor of Finance at TBS Business School. They delved into digital transformation and the future of business education, disruption in the sector, and how to evolve programmes and course delivery to reflect the changing needs of students and the future requirements of employers. Panellists also outlined their post-Covid-19 predictions for how Business Schools must prepare themselves for the ‘new normal’ and future-proof themselves against continuing volatility. For example, delegates learned how Stolin had partnered with comedian Sammy Obeid to
BODO SCHLEGELMILCH
IVANKA VISNJIC
CHRIS OGBECHIE
DAVID STOLIN
AMY BRACHIO
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90% of employers in the GMAC survey said that they intended to hire MBAs, painting a really positive picture
the opportunities for the future. ‘I think what is exciting right now is that no one is an expert on some of these things that are so new, if you are someone who is focused on lifelong learning, connecting the dots, if you have the willingness to put yourself out there as an expert, you can be the expert,’ she concluded.
Amy Brachio, EY Global Business Consulting Leader, joined the AMBA & BGA Global Conference from Minneapolis in the US to share her thoughts on the issues she expects to be consequential over the next five years. She broke down trends into four main points, the first being the impact of technology (citing 5G, edge computing, next generation batteries, high-precision sensors and quantum computing as some of the top disruptors) and the second, the effect of Generation Z on the workplace. She explained that, despite regional differences and variations in upbringing, members of Gen Z are tied together by the digital world they have been born into. A key differentiator, in Brachio’s opinion, is their demand for action to be taken against climate change. This led her to her third point – the repercussions of the human race on the planet, and her belief that the sense of urgency surrounding climate change is only set to increase. Her fourth and final prediction for the future related to globalisation. She noted that, while Gen Z is digitally borderless, ‘populism and nationalism has come out of a root cause of growing economic inequality. ‘This is something that different countries around the world are going to have to embrace but what we think is going to come out of this is a focus on regionalisation,’ she argued, citing the growing self-reliance of India and China as examples of this. Each of these trends was discussed with a sense of optimism, with Brachio addressing MBA cohorts directly, urging them to be ‘problem solvers’, ‘agents of change’ and ‘lifelong learners’, and pointing out
LUIZ BRITO
The new normal of collaboration: the view from Latin America
The fall-out from the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t all doom and gloom. The crisis might just have opened up possibilities for Business Schools to partner in new ways and widen the reach of individual Schools. But competition in an ever-growing market (particularly within the online executive education space) cannot be ignored. Three deans of leading Business Schools in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay discussed trends around globalisation and inter-institutional partnerships on day two of the AMBA & BGA Global Conference 2021. ‘The pandemic opened up other possibilities we could explore,’ reported Luiz Brito, Dean at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) EAESP, referring to the uptake of new technology and online learning modes. He outlined a scheme for 30 Business Schools to work together to provide content, with each producing a single elective online in order to benefit from access to all 30.
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The pandemic opened up other possibilities we could explore
GUSTAVO GENONI
outlook in business education. To this point, Gastón Labadie, Dean of the School of Management and Social Sciences at Universidad ORT Uruguay, reminded attendees that actions speak louder than words, describing two dual degrees his School has recently arranged with counterparts in China (‘the main trading partner for Uruguay for quite a few years’) and its plans for further agreements with institutions in India. ‘The Indian connection would be very interesting because we have a set of Indian firms that have significant presence in Uruguay, in part even sharing services for the region,’ he commented. ‘Globalisation is even more important than it used to be.’ Brito agreed, adding that ‘what we learned from the pandemic will actually foster further globalisation instead of reducing it.’ He reasoned that Covid-19 had allowed Schools to ‘bring elements of globalisation to all students’, whereas previously, only some were able to take a semester abroad or make international trips.’ However, despite this potential for Schools to collaborate through digital innovations, there was no suggestion that in-person learning would be rendered obsolete. ‘An important part of an exchange programme is the cultural education – doing things in a different culture, broadening your perspective, extending your network,’ said Genoni. ‘And that cannot be done online.’ Labadie highlighted the ‘repressed demand for travelling from professors, students and young people’. ‘I think the new normal is going to come both ways – a hybrid combinations of distance learning, face-to-face learning and further traveling in terms of exchanges and degrees,’ he said.
This would minimise operational costs, while offering students diversity of course content. ‘I think this [idea] could be now exploited further and we could make joint courses instead of joint degrees, [in which there are] two or three Schools offering courses together,’ he said. ‘That would enrich our experience with of our students.’ He added that the use of remote synchronous learning makes faculty exchange easier and more affordable and is therefore likely to be retained: ‘Faculty exchanges is a key driver because it can promote the further collaboration between Schools.’ Challenges remain, however. Sharing his perspective on the changing nature of alliances, Gustavo Genoni, Dean of the Universidad de San Andrés Business School, reported that some of his School’s guest professors have been banned from teaching at other universities by their home university. ‘They see that the competitive playground has expanded and therefore [have decided that] they cannot keep sharing resources if they are going to compete.’ Digitisation is behind much of this expansion, as Genoni explained: ‘We have Schools from all over the world offering programmes in Argentina. We have to compete on executive education with big universities we didn’t have to compete with before. We have to compete with Harvard, which is crazy because they are much older, much more experienced and much bigger than us. So, we will have to rethink our offer, consider where we want to compete and where we don’t want to, and decide on our niches and areas of focus.’ However, the overriding feeling among the three Business School leaders was that the social isolation experienced by many during Covid-19 has merely served to emphasise the value of a global
GASTON LABADIE
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