Changing Landscape of Today’s Business Schools

All of us are affected by the global happenings and so do the business schools too. Despite the fact that they are thriving after the recession, they are also influenced by numerous external factors. What factors are driving this change- AACBE conducted among its accredited member institutes deans a survey to know the same. 

 

The study found out that there are four top drivers: the emergence of new competitors, rapid changes in the economy, shifts in funding sources and changes in how business organizations function. Other factors were compliance and regulatory issues, privatization and venture capital, and intellectual property rights. However all these mentioned factors are external factors and are of less significance for the core operations of the business institution.

 

The researchers noted that most change drivers were independent, though a few clusters of interrelated factors did emerge. In one cluster, these interrelated change drivers were those that reflected a global, e-business, anytime, anywhere mindset: the global bazaar and the erosion of geo boundaries; the shifting of resources to e-learning; the possibility of conducting business activity anytime, anywhere; the increased need for speed; and exploding opportunities in e-business. In a second cluster, one that focused on core business changes, the combined drivers were: the rapid changes in the economy and changes in how business organizations function.

With the external factors brining about the changes, it calls for academic leaders to develop a number of skill sets to be successful. The required skill set according to the respondents of the survey included interpersonal, relationship-building, and influence skills essential for their success. In these skills are also independent and dependent: human resource and recruiting/staffing skills; negotiation and employment law skills; selling, marketing, and public relations skills; and problem finding/solving and decision-making skills; and as e-business and IT knowledge and understanding, and global business understanding respectively.

Business schools that are internationally reputed and possess international accreditations such as from AACBE, do not have to face the problem of emergence of competitors and financial endowments. However, they are faced by issues such as the doctoral faculty shortage; the global bazaar and erosion of geo boundaries; intellectual property rights; compliance and regulatory issues; privatization and venture capital; exploding opportunities in e-business; and rapid changes in the economy. For these same schools, the following skill sets were also more important: strategic planning and forecasting skills; human resource and recruiting/staffing skills; selling, marketing, and public relations skills problem-solving and decision-making skills; and fund-raising and grant-getting skills.

As an ending note, the AACBE found out that for business institutes and students to be successful in todays world, they need to develop skills of relationship-building, managing change, building effective teams, planning and forecasting, defining and communicating a vision, and fund raising.