Ambition is AMBA’s thought leadership magazine, offering regular insights into the challenges and trends that matter most in global management education
Ambiti n The monthly magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
Issue 74 JULY/AUGUST 2024
Top-tier Schools Exeter on the excellence of triple-crown accreditation
AMBA & BGA GLOBAL CONFERENCE Creating a brilliant blueprint for success
BRINGING POWER INTO PLAY Iteso muses on the meaning of management
PORTO’S NEW MBA CURRICULUM Planning a programme fit for the future
Latin America Conference 2024 AMBA & BGA 25-27 September 2024 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil This unmissable gathering of business school deans and directors from across Latin America and beyond will address the issues that matter most in global business education
Join AMBA & BGA in beautiful Rio de Janeiro to share experiences, facilitate debate and inspire collaboration
Learn more and book your place at: amba-bga.com/events/latam-2024
Issue 74 | JULY/AUGUST 2024
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
07 | EDI TOR’ S LET TER
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How triple accreditation embodies the relentless pursuit of progress and excellence at the highest level of global management education 42 | SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS A profile of the UK’s Nottingham Business School, the 129th institution worldwide to acquire the coveted triple crown 46 | VIEW FROM THE TOP Andrew Main Wilson discusses the value of belonging to AMBA’s global business school community
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08 | BUS INESS BRI EF ING
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Advertising’s ‘pink tax’, how to boost financial inclusion and when chatbots perform better than humans feature in our latest selection of news and research from across AMBA’s global network 16 | CHARTING THE RIGHT COURSE The lowdown on ideas and insights shared at this year’s AMBA & BGA global conference in Budapest, Hungary, spanning topics and challenges relating to MBA curricula, AI, lifelong learning and online education, among others
OPINION 44 | LEADERSHIP Being prepared to go ‘all in’ and give everything to succeed is a trait shared by leading senior managers in any industry, says Seamless.AI CEO Brandon Bornancin
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RESEARCH AND INSIGHT: STAY AHEAD OF THE TRENDS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
With unparalleled access to many of the world’s leading business schools, AMBA & BGA’s Research and Insight Centre offers powerful insight into the issues that matter most in global business education
Recent AMBA & BGA research has tackled: · The metaverse · Climate change · Digital transformation · Student experience and satisfaction · Graduate career paths and aspirations
The annual AMBA Application and Enrolment Report , meanwhile, offers a crucial overview of the MBA market’s health among AMBA-accredited business schools, allowing for benchmarking
AMBA & BGA is always looking to collaborate with business schools and corporate partners to enhance our research offerings. If you
are interested in partnering on a project, or joining one of our roundtables, please contact: research@amba-bga.com
Issue 74 | JULY/AUGUST 2024
FEATURES
30 | POWER TO THE PEOPLE Francisco Javier Vázquez Junior, MBA director at Iteso, delves into concepts, tools and methods of analysis to explain how power relates to leadership and organisational culture
12 | THE CROWNING TOUCH
The value of triple-crown accreditation is amplified by the processes required to attain and maintain it, says
University of Exeter Business School dean David Boughey
26 | WORKING OUT WHAT WOMEN WANT
Henley Business School’s Dorota Bourne cuts through the clichés to investigate what work means to women and how management education can support their ambitions
34 | THOROUGHLY MODERN MANAGEMENT Porto Business School’s Renata Blanc on the importance of updating MBA curricula to ensure student outcomes remain effective
38 | THE SKILLS GAP – SOLVED To make a difference in students’ lives, schools should concentrate on equipping them with
the skills they’ll need in their career, says Sheffield Business School dean Conor Moss
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Lifelong learning Positive impact
Responsible management
Institutional development
Networking and collaboration Join BGA’s exclusive global community of business school members
Exposure and awareness
Student membership
Access mentors from world-leading institutions, consultation and programme reviews
Enhance your reputation by raising awareness of your institution’s impact and initiatives
Gain access to tailored membership benefits for your students and graduates
Find out why more than 260 international business schools have become BGA members, visit www.amba-bga.com/schools
EDITOR’S LETTER
SHINING THE SPOTLIGHT ON OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT From business schools attaining triple-crown status to the pursuit of excellence in management education
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
W
ith the Paris Olympics in full swing, there’s a definite feeling of attainment of excellence in the air. Our cover story is an interview with the University of Exeter Business School, one of a handful of UK schools to hold the coveted triple-crown status – an indisputable symbol of excellence in academia. In essence, it is a powerful tool for business schools to elevate their status, attract top talent and achieve financial sustainability. Achieving triple-crown accreditation is much sought after because it significantly enhances a business school’s reputation, popularity and revenue generation. Triple-crown status helps schools attract cohorts and faculty from around the world and accredited schools are often perceived as top‑tier institutions, leading to increased student applications. Moreover, many companies prefer to hire graduates from triple-crown-accredited schools. Meanwhile, at this year’s AMBA & BGA global conference in Budapest, a number of high-profile speakers gave their take on how the international business school sector can achieve excellence. Stefano Caselli, dean of Bocconi School of Management, urged schools to be “forward thinking” in their approach, highlighting the concept of ESG finance. He noted that some 16 per cent of the global bond market is ESG-compliant, along with almost 7,500 funds worldwide, adding that by 2035 two-thirds of all investors will be from the Gen Z demographic. Amanda Shantz, MBA director at the University of St Gallen, talked of the “noble purpose” of business schools, asking them to think about what they could do to make a positive impact in the world. In another session, QUT Graduate School of Business head Sarah Kelly referenced the need to build trust as “a key connector in our communities”. Schools, in her opinion, must “seek to leverage their ability to broker discussions between business, nonprofits, students, faculty and alumni” on the kind of complex issues that leaders have to deal with nowadays. Such illustrations of the progress made by management education demonstrate that excellence is not merely a goal, but a relentless pursuit. These achievements inspire us to strive for higher standards globally in both education and business.
Art editor Sam Price Sub-editor Heather Ford
Insight, content and PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com CORPORATE Commercial relations director Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com
Head of marketing and communications Leonora Clement
Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes
Head of IT and data management Jack Villanueva
Head of events Carolyn Armsby
HR and employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance and commercial director Catherine Walker
Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Chief executive officer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Amy Youngs a.youngs@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
RENATA BLANC
BRANDON BORNANCIN
DAVID BOUGHEY
DOROTA BOURNE
ALEX HILLER
CONOR MOSS
FRANCISCO JAVIER VÁZQUEZ JUNIOR
Copyright 2024 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.
Ambiti n
Ambition | JULY/AUGUST 2024 | 7
BUSINESS BRIEFING
All the latest updates from across AMBA’s global network
Ambition ’s latest selection of news from the business school sector includes research on the use of technology to boost financial inclusion, the full extent of advertising’s ‘pink tax’ and why it might be better to use a chatbot when you have to say ‘no’. Compiled by Tim Banerjee Dhoul and Ellen Buchan
‘ATTRACTIVE’ FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS MORE LIKELY TO LAND INVESTMENT
SCHOOL : St Gallen COUNTRY : Switzerland
The study’s sample were shown a video pitch of a start-up idea presented by one of two female actors. The two women had the highest and lowest average scores among a pilot study of 67 male investors using a scale of attractiveness created for a 2014 paper led by Harvard Business School’s Alison Wood Brooks. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol were also found to be significantly higher among investors who watched the pitch presented by the female actor deemed more attractive. Previous research has shown that the release of cortisol leads to increased risk behaviour, which can manifest as a greater willingness to invest. “Only through a solid understanding of these processes can we ensure fair and equal corporate financing, regardless of external characteristics such as attractiveness. It is now up to the venture capital scene to become aware of this challenge and take appropriate measures to create a fairer and more balanced investment environment,” advised co-author Dietmar Grichnik. TBD
Female entrepreneurs have a better chance of securing finance if they are considered physically attractive, according to a study from the Global Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of St Gallen. In a world where more than 80 per cent of early-stage investors are male, the perceived attractiveness of a woman boosted the chances of their business idea receiving investment by 21 percentage points among a sample of 106 male investors in Switzerland and Germany. This goes against the prevailing narrative that the ‘halo effect’ of finding competence in those we consider attractive acts in reverse in the case of women in business. “In a management context, attractive women are more likely to be perceived as lacking competence,” explained lead author and postdoctoral researcher at St Gallen Robert Schreiber. “We were able to demonstrate that the halo effect is also effective for attractive women in the start-up sector. Contrary to our expectations, physical attractiveness had a positive effect.”
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JULY/AUGUST 2024
NEWS & INSIGHT
Chatbots can have a positive impact on consumer experience when used correctly, suggests research from CUHK Business School. Across a series of experimental and field studies, the technology scored better than human agents when tasked with communicating rejection of consumer requests. “Our research finds that when consumers receive a rejection of their service request, they evaluate the service less negatively if the service is handled by a chatbot agent versus a human agent,” declared marketing professor at CUHK Business School Shen Hao. This is because consumers don’t expect a chatbot to cut them some slack in the same way they might hope a human agent would, as Shen elaborated. “Consumers tend to have low expectations about the level of flexibility in service from chatbots. Its perceived inflexibility serves as a buffer, potentially mitigating the negative impact of the service rejection on the overall evaluation of the service.” It stands to reason, therefore, that acceptance of a service request from a chatbot will be less appreciated than those granted by a human and the study supports this line of thinking. The psychology lies in consumer perceptions that chatbots are merely following a set of rules as opposed to showing a willingness to help. The study also found that chatbots were less effective at offering apologies for service failures, but only when the apology encompassed an emotional expression. When emotion was not involved, there was no difference in consumers’ appraisal of human or machine. “Our findings suggest that consumers still prefer human agents. However, this does not mean that a human agent is always the best choice,” Shen concluded. The study, entitled The rise of chatbots , was co-authored with researchers at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and BI Norwegian Business School and published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology . TBD CHOICE OF CHATBOTS OVER HUMANS MAKES SENSE IN CASES OF REJECTION SCHOOL : Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School COUNTRY : Hong Kong, China
According to the United Nations, domestic and international aviation accounts for around 10 per cent of global emissions in the transport sector. Yet, responsibility for more than half of these emissions lies with just one per cent of the world’s population. Mindful of these figures, Leeds University Business School has introduced a slow travel policy in a bid to reduce its carbon emissions. Promoting slower travel may increase employee journey times but can alleviate the environmental damage caused by unnecessary business flights. For example, a return flight from London to Berlin emits around three times the emissions saved from a year of recycling, according to 2021 research published in Environmental Research Letters . This means that even if you are a perfect climate warrior in your everyday life, a single flight for work can give you a sky-high carbon footprint for the year. “I am excited that we have reached this milestone. Slow travel takes our responsibility as a higher education institution seriously and puts Leeds at the forefront of setting an example for the 21st century,” commented director of sustainability at Leeds University Business School Vera Trappmann. The school’s policy stipulates that its staff should avoid flying domestically and when their destination can be reached by rail within 11 hours. Long-haul flights should be reduced where possible, while first class and business class should be eschewed at all times. The move comes at a time when there are an increasing number of initiatives aimed at dispelling bad business travel habits. Climate Perks, for example, encourages organisations to offer employees a minimum of two paid ‘journey days’ to cover the time difference between flights and more environmentally friendly forms of travel on personal trips. EB LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE: A RESPONSIBLE NEW SCHOOL POLICY SCHOOL : Leeds University Business School COUNTRY : UK
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A recent MBA project at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School has unearthed insights into the dangers of humility at work. Clair Daly and Marie Fitzgibbon, executive MBA graduates of the school, sought to understand why female leaders are under-represented in certain industries, including technology, pharmaceuticals and finance, with the aim of exploring paths to a more equal environment for female professionals at the highest level. “Despite women making significant strides in various industries, their presence in top executive roles, especially in innovation-driven fields, is disproportionately low,” said Daly. “Our aim was to identify and understand the challenges women face ascending to these high‑level positions.” Their results support the findings of previous studies, indicating that men and women tend to exhibit different leadership styles. For example, men were seen to be confident and natural risk takers, while women were seen as being warm and considerate rather than authoritative. However, they also highlighted humbleness as a barrier for women. This trait was linked to a lack of confidence that prevents women from making big moves, scuppering their chances of being seen as a self-directed leader. “The revelation that humbleness is a significant barrier to female leadership was unexpected,” asserted Fitzgibbon. “This perception, tied to a lack of confidence, suggests that women might need to adopt more agentic, self-directed qualities to succeed in innovative environments. However, this is not about changing women’s inherent qualities but rather about fostering an environment that values diverse leadership styles.” The research project aims to raise self-awareness among aspiring female leaders and encourage companies to provide education, support and mentorship to close the leadership gap. It involved interviews with global leaders ranging from founders and CEOs to CROs, COOs and board members. The findings were published in a People Management article. EB HUMBLING FINDINGS ON THE GENDER GAP AT WORK UNCOVERED BY MBA PROJECT SCHOOL : UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School COUNTRY : Ireland
To boost financial inclusion and meet the needs of historically marginalised groups, policymakers must address the digital divide and widen access to high-quality internet services. That is the suggestion of new research centred on peer-to-peer lending providers in the US from Canada’s Schulich School of Business. “We found robust evidence that digital inclusion – a public policy designed to provide high-speed internet infrastructure for historically digitally excluded populations – is positively associated with greater access to capital by people from marginalised communities,” said study co‑author and accounting professor at Schulich Kiridaran Kanagaretnam. The paper’s headline finding is supported by a range of benefits associated with ramping up digital inclusion. For example, it found links to higher lending and faster loan approval rates among financial service providers, courtesy of an increase in the availability of information about prospective borrowers. It also observed a higher concentration of lending in areas underserved by traditional banks, as well as those home to sizeable minority populations. “These results suggest that digital inclusion plays a key role in financial inclusion, particularly in regions with more vulnerable and/or underserved populations,” inferred Kanagaretnam. Alongside the recommendations for policymakers, there are implications here for companies working in fintech and related areas, as the study notes. “Digital inclusion can empower financial service providers and other stakeholders to collaboratively fulfil their ethical and social responsibilities to meet the financial needs of historically marginalised groups.” Kanagaretnam co-authored the study with Xiaoran Jia, a former PhD student under his supervision at Schulich and now an assistant professor of accounting at Laurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. It was published in the Journal of Business Ethics . TBD HOW DIGITAL INCLUSION CAN HELP TO PLUG GAPS IN ACCESS TO FINANCE SCHOOL : Schulich School of Business, York University COUNTRY : Canada
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NEWS & INSIGHT
THE HIDDEN COST OF ADVERTISING TO WOMEN SCHOOL : Universidad Carlos III de Madrid COUNTRY : Spain
The ‘pink tax’ is a well-known phenomenon, describing items that carry a higher price when marketed for women than their exact equivalents when packaged and aimed at men. However, new research from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and IMDEA Networks reveals that it is also more expensive to advertise to women. The study found that advertisers had to pay 65 per cent more when trying to reach a female audience than if they were targeting men in a category defined as ‘hobbies’. In ‘style and fashion’, they paid 53 per cent more and in ‘travel’ the cost was 49 per cent more. These results stem from an analysis of data from more than 4.5 million Facebook audience groups in 187 countries and 40 territories, using the the application programming interface (API) of the social network’s advertising platform to collect data on advertising costs for male and female audiences. “Our understanding of the world is determined by the information we consume, much of which is filtered through algorithms that determine what we see on the internet,” reasoned study co-author and researcher at UC3M’s Department of Telematic Engineering Rubén Cuevas.
PhD student at UC3M and lead author Amir Mahrjoo added: “These algorithms, although designed to optimise the user experience, may inadvertently perpetuate biases with significant social consequences. Our research highlights one of these biases, the digital marketing pink tax, demonstrating how seemingly neutral algorithms contribute to gender inequality.” The study also found a significant correlation between this digital marketing pink tax and a country’s level of development. The suggestion is that developed economies have a larger proportion of women as household decision-makers on purchases, increasing the demand and price of advertising to them. In lesser‑developed economies, the researchers speculate that entrenched gender roles reduce the focus on advertising to women. Published in the journal EPJ Data Science , the research encourages advertisers and policymakers to introduce stricter regulations and guidance on discriminatory practices in the field. EB
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA’s content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
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THE crowning TOUCH
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TRIPLE ACCREDITATION
For University of Exeter Business School dean David Boughey, it is what you gain by going through the process of triple accreditation that amplifies the value of this coveted status in global management education. Interview by Tim Banerjee Dhoul
A ccording to University of Exeter Business School dean David Boughey, it’s the activities involved in achieving and maintaining triple accreditation that benefit his institution the most. He explains: “Accreditations have helped us through a long journey of refining that we’re about sustainability, technological transformation and responsible leadership and how these three things interlink. “Whether it’s AMBA, AACSB or EQUIS, the processes associated with accreditation force you to think through what you do and why you do it, as well as whether you have the resources to do it and what its impact is. Irrespective of the language used by different accrediting bodies, that is what they’re getting at in their own subtly different ways.” While EQUIS has, according to Boughey, engendered a detailed analysis of how the school’s strategy aligns with its resources, AACSB has brokered fruitful discussions over the school’s mission. “Similarly, for AMBA you’ve got a set of observations on what an MBA’s purpose is and who it is really for,” he continues. “MBA programmes have become more diverse over time and AMBA enables you to tussle with that dilemma. I liken accreditation to a sophisticated thinking process that challenges you internally.” In this light, Boughey believes that it’s critical to engage in the process rather than to see it as an administrative hurdle that must be crossed. “If it becomes a tick-box exercise, the chances are you’re doing it wrong and you’re not getting value from the expense of going through it.” Boughey proceeds to outline some of the cultural benefits he has observed when working towards and completing the robust projects that each major accreditation entails. “It’s a moment of significant organisational achievement. When it is a collective action, it works not just in a reflective sense but also in terms
of bringing teams together for a common purpose in a way that you don’t get on that sort of scale very often in universities and business schools.” Strength in depth The University of Exeter Business School has held triple accreditation since 2019 and recently reaffirmed this status with a six-year extension of its accreditation with AACSB. At the time of writing, it is one of just 129 triple‑accredited business schools worldwide and one of only 27 in the UK. However, Boughey does not think that the number of triple-crown schools in a single country in any way dilutes its significance. “The common misconception is that triple- accreditation status in some way means that you’re all the same, but the blunt reality is that institutions are very different. They compete in different market spaces, both domestically and internationally and we should remind ourselves that accreditation bodies are accrediting the quality of what you do, rather than confirming a preconceived set of ideas about what you should be doing.” Referring specifically to the number of triple-crown schools in the UK and France, Boughey adds: “We should probably celebrate that we’ve got so many schools that are triple accredited because it says something about the depth of the higher education sector in those countries.” Benefits of the badge In talking about the number of options available to today’s prospective students, the conversation moves on to the question of differentiation and any advantages enjoyed by those who hold the industry’s coveted triple crown. While difficult to quantify, Boughey feels that this status is something that applicants will consider. “It’s a set of badges of identification that put you in a certain club. So, the question on the part of an applicant might become ‘why aren’t you triple accredited?’ rather than ascertaining the precise advantage that this brings.”
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THE VALUE OF TRIPLE-CROWN ACCREDITATION
to those that have successfully achieved triple-crown accreditation. This reflects the institution’s ability to meet ever‑evolving international standards of excellence in business and management education. Triple-crown accredited business schools tend to attract high-quality students and faculty. Moreover, as representatives of the best in the sector, they often have strong alumni networks that can deliver productive relationships with industry and employers, thereby creating a virtuous circle for the benefit of all. To learn more, visit the AMBA & BGA website: www.amba-bga.com/ triple-crown-accreditation
that meets the requirements of all three organisations, therefore, offers a guarantee of quality that transcends individual programmes and permeates throughout an institution. Only one per cent of the world’s business schools hold triple-crown accreditation; their stakeholders are thus assured of high standards and peerless quality. This is important to prospective students, many of whom are international, as well as to employers, as they are looking for an external global benchmarking system to provide an independent quality kitemark. The best prospective students will often narrow their choice of school
Management education’s coveted triple crown equates to being formally recognised by the three most renowned accrediting bodies in the sector. This means simultaneously holding accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Each accreditor has a different focus, with AMBA zeroing in on a school’s suite of MBA programmes, as well as other generalist master’s and doctoral degrees, while AACSB and EQUIS review programmes at both undergraduate and master’s level. A business school
Managing a portfolio of accreditations While the triple crown represents the pinnacle of accreditation in the global management education industry, most leading schools will still pursue and maintain further endorsements related to their relevance to their individual locations and programme portfolios. “When you write them all down, the list goes on and on. This is why we decided to put all that activity together in one expert team and they manage it. You need a professional service lead for it all and you need administrative capacity to stick things together,” Boughey advises. Having said that, the Exeter dean warns against leaving accreditation projects in the hands of single owners who “don’t talk to anyone, write everything and do it all themselves.” This lack of interaction and collaboration, he argues, constitutes “a dangerous way of operating”. He then describes how Exeter has a series of standing owners for individual sections or chapters associated with all the different aspects of an accreditation who might be at associate dean or a similar level within the school. “When it comes to writing material, they are always the ones responsible and then me, or someone like me, acts as the editor for it all,” he adds. It’s well known that institutions at the highest level ask a lot of their academics in terms of consultative and administrative commitments, alongside teaching duties and research expectations. But Boughey doesn’t believe that an inclusive approach to accreditation adds much to the pile at Exeter.
With less knowledge of local contexts, this badge can be more important for international candidates, as Boughey explains. “You’re looking for any market signal that tells you something about the quality of an institution and helps cut through all the noise.” However, he adds that this will commonly form only one part of an individual’s due diligence process “in conjunction with a whole set of other metrics, measures and indicators.” When it comes to recruiting and retaining faculty, meanwhile, a principal advantage of undergoing multiple accreditation processes lies in the way they enable a school to carve out and demonstrate a distinctive identity and areas of research strength, as Boughey describes. “When we’re out looking for faculty, the ability to clearly argue and position ourselves around our strengths gives us identity and this is made possible by the frameworks of accreditation.” Triple-crown status can also enhance a school’s cachet among potential partners and collaborators in industry. “It acts as a lever of legitimacy and language,” asserts Boughey, before outlining how accreditation procedures of audit, assurance and strategy alignment all resonate with companies that must operate within certain structures and meet regular reporting requirements. “In talking with business, being able to talk about our triple‑crown status gives us a common discourse. We are accredited by a set of global institutions – businesses don’t have to understand what they are; what matters is the the fact that we have that kind of weight behind us. In our case, it’s a set of three or more organisations operating on a global scale that are validating and approving what we do.”
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TRIPLE ACCREDITATION
BIOGRAPHY David Boughey is interim deputy pro-vice chancellor and dean at the University of Exeter Business School, where he is also a professor in international business history. Previously, Boughey served as associate dean for education at the school. Before joining the University of Exeter Business School in 2009, he was head of the School of Strategy & International Business at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England. While Boughey’s primary interests have been in enhancing teaching, learning and the student experience, he has continued his research into the firms that equipped and ran Britain’s overseas railway empire. He is currently working on an assessment of British investment in American railroads before 1914. He holds a PhD in business history from Royal Holloway University of London
“I can imagine it being a big problem in some organisations, but I don’t think it’s a particularly big problem for us because, culturally, a lot of what we do for accreditation should be business as usual. So, when it comes to writing or preparing something, it’s a relatively straightforward exercise.” While the effective management of accreditation processes lies squarely with the individual business school, it is the awarding bodies that must provide consistency in the judgements of suitably qualified accreditation panels. For Boughey, ensuring panel members have “the necessary time and focus” is not without its challenges, given the commitments of those working at the highest levels of business education. “There’s a risk with accreditation that panels become swamped and, in effect, drown under the weight of the material, making it harder to reach an informed, nuanced and advisory view of a particular organisation. Accreditation panels can vary in quality and it’s often the panels rather than the process that cause institutions anxiety,” he confides, before adding that “this is less the case with AMBA because the narrower focus and greater involvement of MBA directors means that AMBA panels tend to be more focused.” Arriving at outcomes with impact Going through multiple accreditation processes to achieve and maintain its triple-crown status has yielded some tangible outcomes at Exeter. One example is its implementation of what it terms ‘enhanced programme boards’ about 10 years ago. “Universities used to have periodic subject reviews that would take quite a high-level view of a department, but they have generally gone out of fashion because they take a lot of time and are therefore costly. An enhanced programme board focuses on a particular programme. We probably do about five or six of them a year, enabling us to do deep dives on how we’re running programmes, why they exist and what we might need to do with them.” This mechanism for continuous review is behind the school’s recent decision to rebrand its long-standing master’s in financial analysis and fund management –affectionately known as ‘FAFM’ – as an MSc in finance to bring it in line with global expectations. “It was the enhanced programme board that enabled us to take the difficult decision to dispense with a 20-year-old degree title that is well known and move to the industry norm. As a result of accreditation, therefore, you have a structure that helps you think something through and arrive at a particular outcome that will benefit the organisation,” the Exeter dean explains. From specific programme outcomes and changes in approach to boosting a business school’s organisational culture and morale, Boughey is first and foremost a proponent of the accreditation journey. “I’d describe it as essential,” he concludes succinctly. Yet, he also acknowledges that the badge acquired along the way holds great value in itself. “Once you’ve got that triple accreditation status, you don’t want to lose it.”
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This year’s AMBA & BGA global conference, held in Budapest, covered the biggest challenges of the day facing the global management education sector. These include the best way for postgraduate business students to interact with AI, the value of school rankings, latest trends within lifelong learning, the need to redesign the MBA curriculum in order to remain relevant and how to manage online programmes more efficiently. Colette Doyle and Tim Banerjee Dhoul report Charting the right course
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AMBA & BGA DEANS & DIRECTORS GLOBAL CONFERENCE
With its breathtaking scenery and fascinating history, Budapest provided the perfect backdrop for this year’s gathering of deans and directors at the AMBA & BGA global conference
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leadership, academic supervision, faculty and financial management, stakeholder relations and collaboration with other entities, as well as acting like a role model. Moreover, he reminded delegates that a business school dean is also a storyteller and urged them to make their institution memorable and “take control of the story in ways only the dean can”. Schools need to ask themselves, “do we have a plan?” when it comes to responsive crisis communications, counselled Symonds, elaborating that this must encompass the macro, eg geopolitical events, the global health crisis and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the job market, along with the micro. The latter involves a range of issues that can include unhappy students, outspoken faculty, questionable staff expenses, donations from dubious sources and data breaches. Consistent brand messaging is key, claimed the BlueSky CEO, noting that to gain media coverage, schools need to tell their stories of ESG policies, entrepreneurship spaces and DE&I initiatives. Other avenues include alumni engagement and success stories, faculty excellence and the impact of their research. Student experiences with business simulation Cesim Business Simulations has developed an AI assistant that aims to support instructors by providing not just accurate and rapid data retrieval, but lesson and coaching plans based on chatbot prompts. At the AMBA & BGA global conference, CEO Veijo Kyosti outlined his reaction to the breakthrough of ChatGPT in 2023 and his motivation surrounding the use of this tool to support business simulation. Kyosti highlighted some basic prompts that the assistant might respond to with indicative answers. Joining him on stage was Dr Matt Offord, a senior leadership lecturer at Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, who went on to explain his experience with business simulation and to outline some initial research into the effectiveness of the AI assistant. After 30 prompts, Offord confirmed that the AI tools provided 100-per-cent-accurate responses and noted they would save on preparation time for simulation instructors. The data also indicated good results with basic conversational prompts, but more carefully crafted prompts delivered better responses. Both speakers emphasised that the AI assistant is a collaborator with educators – and not a replacement.
he concept of value in a changing world was the theme of the AMBA & BGA global conference’s first presentation, given by Bocconi School of Management dean Stefano Caselli. He described the business school as a “dialogue lab”, where management means responsibility; it is a community in which – thanks to the interaction of its various components, ie faculty, students and alumni – “we build knowledge and best practice over the years”. It is also a place where students are provided with the skills to lead both human and organisational resources; “we challenge them to go beyond the comfort zone of preconceived knowledge and the silos of technical competences”, as Caselli put it. The Bocconi dean urged schools to be “forward thinking” in their approach, highlighting the concept of ESG (environmental, social and governance) finance. He described this as having evolved from “a luxury goods approach (invest-with-a-discount) to a commodity (invest-with-a-premium)” and he cautioned that the cost of failing to recognise this is “increasing for all stakeholders”. In addition, he noted that some 16 per cent of the global bond market is ESG-compliant, along with almost 7,500 funds worldwide and added that by 2035 two-thirds of all investors will be from the Gen Z demographic. Continuous education is “a value generator”, noted Caselli. Only such a mindset can cope with the challenges that leaders in a global organisation must face. In terms of the qualities that they should possess, these include being sustainable, digital, inclusive and dialogue-focused – as well as “being next”. Schools need to develop and implement a lifelong learning-centric strategy, maintained the Bocconi dean, substantiating this statement with a quote from the European Commission: “Preparation for life in tomorrow’s world cannot be satisfied by a once-and-for-all acquisition of knowledge. All measures must, therefore, necessarily be based on the concept of developing, generalising and systemising lifelong learning and continuous training.” How to handle organisational reputation School rankings offer a “route to money and power, as well as value creation”, noted BlueSky Education co-founder and CEO Matt Symonds during his highly engaging talk on essential reputation management strategies for business schools. Symonds considered the role of the dean, pointing out that they must be prepared to shoulder a number of responsibilities, including strategic
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Overcoming geopolitical instability “While it’s true that geopolitical instability is throwing up challenges for business schools, it also presents a real opportunity,” said former BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith in an analysis of the current climate’s repercussions for management education. The challenges are well known, as Sixsmith acknowledged. “Traditional business pathways have been disrupted by war, unprecedented friction in world trade and sanctions, blockades and shortages. Just when top business schools are looking outwards, attracting high-calibre international students has been complicated by the tightening of international borders and varying trends towards isolationism.” However, Sixsmith said that he sensed a chance for business schools to enact a positive influence on the future in the way they teach their students. “You are forming the leaders of tomorrow and your students will become the women and men who will show the way in business and trade, in politics and in academia,” he declared. What qualities do our future leaders need? Sixsmith served up a lesson from history that placed Hungary at its centre to demonstrate the value of understanding different perspectives and how stances are fluid rather than fixed. Highlighting how the viewpoint of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has changed over the years, he questioned whether the West might need to reassess its approach to Vladimir Putin. “If we want to deal with Putin, we need to at least try to understand his thinking, goals and motivations,” he advised. Management education can help here, as Sixsmith explained. “By instilling in students the values of rational thinking, openness, frankness and integrity, you will give them the tools they need to overcome the challenges of today and carve out a better future for all of us.” Navigating higher education in an uncertain world Amanda Shantz, professor of management and MBA director at the University of St Gallen’s Executive School of Management, Technology and Law, spoke about “reimagining the ivory tower” in the context of the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. The pandemic resulted in faculty at the school having to learn how to teach online and assist both other members of staff and literally hundreds of international students who had been made homeless. They were divided into two different groups: full-time and executive MBA. While the full-time students were stressed, the executive
Stefano Caselli stressed the value of continuous education
AI in business simulation was the focus of Matt Offord’s address
Matt Symonds gave expert advice on reputation management
Amanda Shantz explored student and staff well-being
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Canvas Stephan Fortier, regional vice-president for
want to complete all their studies online. They may prefer a hybrid option and it is important that business schools offer this.” He then referred to a statement from the European Union on micro-credentials, which highlighted the importance of continuous upskilling and reskilling to people in the workforce. This is equally valid whether it relates to the needs of their current job, or in assisting them to transition to new roles and expanding sectors. The Instructure platform offers ‘stackability’, making use of flexible pathways, a low barrier to entry and a focus on digital technical skills, as well as new entry and exit points such as alumni engagement. There are in excess of 521,000 badges worldwide that individuals can earn – and these are all stackable, verifiable and portable.
Instructure at Canvas, was joined by Sarah Kells, director of operations and course management at IE University and Amanda Shantz, MBA director at the University of St Gallen, for a session on lifelong learning. Traditionally, MBA applications have been inversely related to how the economy is performing; they rose during the pandemic but have since slowed. Factors involved include the nature of work, the speed of digital transformation, a focus on advancement of skills and increased alternative offerings. Fortier quoted Warwick Business School as saying that “future MBA candidates will be digital natives who studied at school or university during Covid-19. However, this does not necessarily mean they will
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ones were even more so, related Shantz, noting that they constantly asked: “How can I manage in this environment?” The St Gallen professor then referred to her husband cultivating a farm ecosystem in their garden, using it as a metaphor for postgraduate education: “It’s really hard work and one thing influences another”. She broke down what she described as the five gardens of co-cultivation: empowering lifelong learners and thought leaders; facilitating the adaptive learning process; fostering community and responsible leadership; university as a knowledge exchange; and the promotion of innovative research. She urged business schools to “bake well‑being into their design and curriculum”, given that unhappiness levels are rising worldwide and mental health issues are more to the fore than ever before. They must also look at the world through a different lens, meaning that students must develop the capacity to evaluate issues from multiple perspectives. They should provide learners with the tools and opportunities to innovate; cultivate a growth mindset; collaborate with a whole range of other stakeholders; and focus not on perfection but on innovation, as well as creating a safe space in which to explore and share moral dilemmas. Shantz queried the “noble purpose” of business schools, asking them to think about what they could do to make a positive impact in the world. She encouraged them to “innovate and support one another” and called on the sector to “broaden the conversation”. Unlocking technology’s potential “The digital journey is coming at great pace and it’s going to be embedded in all our professional lives,” said Southampton Business School MBA director Peter Rodgers in conversation with Robin Gibson, director of external affairs at edtech firm Kortext. Rodgers outlined the benefits of using an external company to provide students with all the digital textbooks and learning resources they require on a single platform. “Every year, I get emails before our MBA programme starts, asking me ‘which books do I need to buy?’. But they don’t need to outlay £500-600 on textbooks,” Rodgers shared. “All those provisions are already there and that’s not just a financial benefit; I think it also provides students with reassurance that the materials they’re going to need to aid their learning are fully accessible 24/7. “So, when you’re starting an MBA programme and perhaps moving to a new country and language,
Jérôme Barthélemy had ideas about future-proofing the MBA
LinkedIn’s Linus Wellén explored data and the changing job market
Delegates received a warm welcome from AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson
Peter Rodgers and Robin Gibson advocated using digital resources
Professor Wendy Loretto, AMBA & BGA chair, addressing the conference
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Summing up, Barthélemy used three words to describe the best way to future-proof an MBA programme: relevance, personalisation and embeddedness. He also cautioned against being overly audacious in business, giving the example of the Apple III’s failed launch in 1980: “You need to be bold to be successful, but not too much”. A data-driven approach to the future of work “In the past 10 years, we’ve quadrupled our audience and LinkedIn now has one billion members,” said Linus Wellén, a government and academics lead at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, in a keynote session on the future of work. Wellén detailed how LinkedIn’s scale can help people understand the changing global job market and support students as they seek to progress in their careers. Alongside its individual members, the site hosts roughly 67 million company profiles and 134,000 educational institutions, spanning everything from vocational schools to traditional degree-awarding universities. “As all these millions of members update their profiles, we see that reflected in our economic graph. This data can be used to understand talent flows and what’s happening in the economy.” There are now also 41,000 skills listed on the site, following a drive to classify the evolving attributes sought by employers and held by candidates. Wellén explained how this ties into the
this is one less thing to worry about,” the MBA director continued. Rodgers went on to emphasise how the school’s use of a digital platform benefits learners from different backgrounds. “The vast majority of our students are international and English is their second language. The platform’s provision of instantaneous translation is powerful and takes away a lot of the anxiety associated with specific words that might not be in somebody’s vocabulary.” Looking to the future of business education How to future-proof the MBA was the theme of the presentation given by Jérôme Barthélemy, dean of post-experience and corporate programmes at Essec Business School. The imperative to redesign the MBA curriculum at Essec was built on the need to capitalise on its deep expertise, align with the needs of international job markets, create an integrated focus for the programme and provide agile career-portfolio building. The new structure will be based around three specialisations and a series of labs: the centre for social and sustainable innovation; a meta lab for digital leadership and strategy; the centre for entrepreneurship and innovation; and career- learning labs. The latter involves executive workshops to build competency in a specific role or industry, as well as company visits and networking and learning expeditions.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
DE&I initiatives Aarti Bhasin, HR and employer relations manager at AMBA & BGA, chaired a panel on award-winning diversity and inclusion initiatives that featured Josep Franch, dean of Esade executive education, Sandro Alberto Sánchez Paredes, director of MBA programmes at Centrum PUCP Business School and Samer Atallah, associate dean for graduate studies and research at the American University in Cairo’s School of Business. Franch began the discussion by pointing out that, with 50 different nationalities in play, Esade students and faculty “come from a fairly diverse background”. He explained that the school’s Racial (in) Justice initiative was co-created by students, faculty and staff, describing it as having “transformed attitudes”. Atallah noted that there is still a lot of work to be done in the Middle East: “We are trying to develop leaders who are aware of the challenges posed by DE&I”.
However, he explained that this is not easy to achieve given that only 25 per cent of employees in Egypt are female and they mainly work in the public sector. And yet, progress has been made: whereas previously there were only around 100 female board members, they now number some 400. This is something that Atallah attributed to a “coalition of the willing”, meaning a collaboration between the private sector and NGOs. The country suffers from wealth inequality too and the American University in Cairo representative spoke about the need to “address the bottom of the pyramid”, with a focus on financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills. Sánchez highlighted the need for access to quality education, noting that while women establish companies, they do not tend to last due to a skills gap, so Centrum PUCP is committed to providing better training for female entrepreneurs. Helping people to become more productive will,
in turn, “allow the country to grow”, he stated. His school is currently working in partnership with a number of micro-finance providers in Peru, enabling the channel to reach aspiring female entrepreneurs. Franch then touched on the need to create a safe space for students to express themselves and referenced the Black Lives Matter movement. He urged schools to “be courageous”, affirming that the way to make an impact is to “empower people to become agents of change”. Bhasin asked the panel how they were getting on in terms of moving their initiatives to the next stage. Atallah acknowledged that changing people’s mindsets has been a huge challenge as Egypt is a society with “patriarchal misconceptions”. He described the country as “lucky” in terms of having UN goals to achieve but noted that state-owned enterprises are very male-dominated, “so it is hard to break through”. He added that the challenge now is to extend the initiative
beyond Egypt and expand it throughout the MEA region – “like a runner, once you start the first mile, it’s easier to carry on”. Franch noted that Esade has run its DE&I initiative as an elective course within the MBA curriculum for three years; it will soon become part of the core programme. This will enable it to have a greater impact and will involve bringing in diversity and belonging consultants to present real-life case studies and foster tighter connections with the corporate world. Sánchez emphasised the importance of the circular economy and the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. His school has branched out to work with a Colombian micro-finance company in this regard and there is also a project based in Uganda trying to replicate the scheme. There has been a “positive response from faculty, students and alumni” alike, noted the Centrum PUCP MBA director, adding that the school often holds networking events to canvas opinion on what can be improved.
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