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‘Increasingly, we claim – or at least aspire – to deliver a new breed of leader ’
With just over six weeks to go until AMBA & BGA opens the virtual doors to its 2021 Global Conference, we are in the final stages of putting together one of our most innovative programmes to date. As you’ll see over the following pages, the event will feature a variety of session formats to offer delegates the most immersive experience possible in a virtual environment. Here are some highlights you can expect during the three- day conference that takes place from 10-12 May 2021. For more information on all the sessions in the conference programme, please visit: www.associationofmbas. com/global-conference-2021 Business School leaders and industry experts will share their insights through presentations and interviews from a live studio. Here are two highlights: Creating responsible strategic leaders: are we for real? Andrew Burke, Dean, Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin Nearly every MBA programme now proclaims to embrace business ethics FORMAT A: KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
attempt to deliver on this promise, they need to produce activist and entrepreneurial leaders who enable organisations to shape – rather than just respond to – market forces. The impact of rapid digitisation and global e-commerce on the leaders of tomorrow John Caplan, President of North America and Europe at Alibaba.com The pandemic has changed commerce forever. Covid-19 has forced companies to adapt and reimagine the way they operate and do business with one another, with many pivoting to meet the new needs and environment. Nearly two decades of change have taken place in just a few months with companies rapidly adopting digital sales channels, including e-commerce platforms built for business-to-business, which represent a multi-trillion-dollar global market opportunity. Traditionally, analogue industries like manufacturing, wholesale and distribution are now conducting domestic and global trade through e-commerce at an unprecedented scale that will continue to rise beyond the pandemic. In light of such seismic shifts, how will the qualities and skills of MBA graduates need to change in response? John Caplan is leading the transformation of Alibaba.com as it unlocks new digital and global growth opportunities and will share his insight in this must-see session.
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and CSR. Increasingly, we claim – or at least aspire – to deliver a new breed of leader who cares about climate change, the biodiversity emergency and looks beyond shareholders to consider all of an organisation’s stakeholders. These same strategic leaders also have visionary capabilities to guide organisations to embrace the best in remote working, living with Covid-19, celebrating diversity, and fostering inclusivity. But are we for real? If economic history teaches us anything, it is that when economic downturns occur, market forces take over and push industries to focus on firm survival. This emphasises the managerial mantra of ‘never run out of cash’. As a result, business leaders prioritise financial objectives and, ultimately, maximising shareholder profits. In this keynote, Andrew Burke will explore these questions in order to assess the extent to which Business Schools might be ‘over promising’. He will argue that if Business School leaders are to realistically
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