economics Archives

A sustainable model for business schools?

Kai Peters and Howard Thomas argue that the current business model of business schools is financially unstable and probably unsustainable. At the core of each business school, a dialectic takes place between two distinct purposes – the goal of producing knowledge and the goal of educating students. Individual institutions have different views.

How applying indigenous culture to deliver entrepreneurship education contributes to economic reconciliation

– GOLD WINNER OF THE 2019 EXCELLENCE IN PRACTICE AWARDS – Over 200,000 Indigenous people in 203 distinct First Nations live in British Columbia, Canada. Their ancestors lived there thousands of years before it became a province in 1871. While each Nation has its own unique history and traditions, they all experience ongoing personal, cultural, ecological,…

Those green shoots may not really be spring

As growth returns after a long financial winter, economic hope as well as spring is in the air. But, says Simon Caulkin, it is impossible not to notice the contrast between the warming of the economic climate and the clouds lowering on the social and emotional front In country after country, society seems fractured. There is deepening distrust of…

‘Inclusive growth and prosperity’ – for whom?

Instead of prosperity the last decade has delivered inequality, insecurity, and the rise of nationalism and populism. Simon Caulkin argues that this is a secular challenge that business, and especially managers, must face head on. Inclusive growth and prosperity, the theme for this year’s Global Peter Drucker Forum in November, sounds like the ultimate motherhood and apple pie.…

Casting light in the shadows

Do not be lulled by today’s strong management education market, says Johan Roos. Business schools still need to find a grander vision of hope, change and community to counter emerging shadows. Business school deans are smiling and optimistic these days. Things have improved since the 2008 crisis.

New Horizons

Capitalism 2.0 – new horizons for managers Richard Straub in defence of a capitalism rejuvenated. The world has been shattered by a series of crises since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008: the near shattering of the world financial system followed by a severe economic downturn across the advanced economies and the surfacing of…

Economics’ Seven Deadly Sins

Are we teaching students the things they need to know? Not according to Eve Poole. Before he died Sumantra Ghoshal wrote a piece called “Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices”. It was published posthumously in the Journal of the Academy of Management Learning & Education. That was in 2005, post-Enron but pre-Credit Crunch.…

Re-organising the Political Economy

Capitalism has not failed nor is it in retreat. It is just an idea. But, argues Malcolm McIntosh, it is an idea, which in its current form, is in real need of being re-thought. In 2012, the UN High Level Report Resilient People, Resilient Planet called for a new international political economy that would include…

Clouds of Change

Charles Handy, like Peter Drucker, has always sought to identify the ‘clouds of change’ threatening society. Here he identifies one such possible threat – the dysfunctional behaviour of our large corporations. One of [Peter Drucker’s] skills was his ability to spot the clouds of change in society while they were still far off on the…

The Great Transformation

Richard Straub on why, with gigantic changes in society, managers will be of pivotal importance for shaping the future. We are at the beginning of a set of gigantic changes in society –for better or for worse. The future is open; nobody knows what it will hold. One thing we know says Richard Straub: on…