STRATEGY
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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