LATIN AMERICA CONFERENCE 2022
of the biggest impacts of the MBA was the fact that students’ lives are transformed and how the programme changes the way they make decisions and their interactions with others, as well as their core values and
attitudes. Although people were coming to the MBA later in life, they were ready to change their mindsets, he remarked. Lina Constanza Stella, Executive MBA
director at the Universidad de los Andes School of Management, explained that her
institution had introduced new master’s degrees in development practice, environment management and regeneration, (available in an online format) as well as sustainable development. She added that students at her school also have the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with professors to solve real-world problems. These courses are called ‘challenges’ and they involve partnering with local companies. Both panellists emphasised the importance of teaching sustainability and ethics in every element of a post-graduate programme. Pressure points perused Bodo Schlegelmilch, chair of AMBA & BGA and head of the Institute for International Marketing Management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, identified the pressure points associated with the development of innovative business school strategies. He began with macro drivers that include technology – as it refers to blended learning and online courses; geopolitics – the conflict in Ukraine and more Chinese students choosing to study domestically; values – students demanding different topics; and the pandemic – which is still having a notable ripple effect. In terms of strategic pressure points on research and teaching, Schlegelmilch singled out such factors as the type of research, curricula content and new audiences. Pressure points on the market, meanwhile, include new competitors, modes of delivery and pedagogy. When it comes to competitive advantage, elements to consider are polarisation and fragmentation of the market, as well as differentiated players (rankings and accreditation) and the capacity of low-cost players to count on volume and operational efficiency. In conclusion, he presented a number of reconfiguration trajectories, such as mergers with other schools, a fundamental change of business model, different teaching methods and co-operation with third-party providers. Moderating questions from the floor at the end of the session, Rotterdam School of Management’s van de Velde touched on the differences between standalone business schools and those that are part of a university.
A debate on integrating social impact into MBA curricula was chaired by Rotterdam School of Management’s Steef van de Velde (left)
has this had on the new generation of managers and the MBA curricula, was the question that Martínez posed. She then proffered a selection of articles that suggest the nature of hybrid work may be skewing executives increasingly towards people management, where the use of soft skills such as empathy, motivation, purpose and inclusion are essential. After lauding the importance of soft skills, the POLIS professor ended with some hard facts: the global corporate wellness market is forecast to grow from $49.4 billion to $96.1 billion between now and 2030. Integrating social impact into MBA curricula Steef van de Velde, professor of operations management and technology at the Rotterdam School of Management, chaired a panel that discussed how business schools could achieve real- world impact through their MBA curricula. Van de Velde sparked the conversation by asking how the different MBA programmes at each of the panellists’ schools helped to transform society. One aspect of this was seen to be having the right faculty staff, and Ernesto Barrera, academic dean at INALDE, said that it was highly important when hiring and retaining staff to talk about INALDE’s purpose. Barrera also noted that one
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