Introducing business school research and positive impact

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The first inaugural EFMD annual research volume, ‘Perspectives on the impact, mission and purpose of the business school’, was launched as a special issue of Global Focus magazine in November 2022 and was subsequently published in book form in 2023 by Routledge (Cornuel et al., 2023).

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Management research with purpose

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Concepts of the Purposeful Business School:  Like corporations, business schools have struggled with their sense of purpose. Critics accuse business schools of lacking engagement with practice (Rynes et al., 2001), promoting bad management theory (Ghoshal, 2005), and failing to cultivate an ethos of professionalism in management (Khurana, 2007). Little wonder that leading gurus openly proclaim that management scholarship is troubled (Mintzberg, 2004) and that business schools have lost their way (Bennis and O’Toole, 2005).

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Impact-driven research: The case of Hult

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Pioneering a Different Approach:  Business and management research receives only a small fraction of total academic research funding globally, with most resources going to areas like sciences, engineering, and health (Starkey et al., 2010). Within universities, funding for business and management research often comes from the business school’s own budget rather than university-wide research funds.

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Research impact at an unusual academic institution: IMD’S journey

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Concepts of the Purposeful Business School: Is 2030 here already? The influential position paper from the Responsible Research for Business and Management (RRBM) community features a projected future state for research impact within the field of business schools with the end date of the year 2030 (Co-founders of RRBM, 2017). The scenario draws upon a series of principles that demand implementation by diverse stakeholders operating within the business school ecosystem. But what if this future state is already unfolding in the present?

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Managing to make impactful business and management researchers in the Anthropocene

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Research Ecosystems, Partnerships and Collective Know-How: We are in the Anthropocene – an age of climate emergency, where “climate action failure and extreme weather … [are] the top two global risks” (Hurlbert, 2021). We have failed in our social contract to provide security from disaster and offer the potential transformative change needed to protect our people and planet. The education and research that business and management schools offer require an urgent response to this climate emergency.

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Leaving the theory cave: Forays into innovation policy and practice in Wales

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Complex Societal Impact Projects Requiring Tri-Sector Collaboration and Cooperation: The field of management studies routinely finds itself in debates regarding the rigour and relevance of its research (for a brief overview, see Thomas, 2022). These debates have become more prominent and, some might argue, more urgent, as we contemplate wider social and environmental crises and the contribution, or lack thereof, made by the management research community in seeking to respond to these.

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The female leader: Experiences from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa

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Complex Societal Impact Projects Requiring Tri-Sector Collaboration and Cooperation: Visible and measurable progress in advancing the status and standing of females in business school leadership is crucial to role-modelling effective gender representation. As the higher education eco-system from which leaders in society, business and politics are shaped and informed, walking the talk on the advancement of female leaders must be evident not only in our classrooms but in our organisational practices – anything less is gender-washing.

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EFMD and societal impact

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Papers on Positive and Societal Impact from an EFMD Perspective: Since its foundation over 50 years ago, EFMD has maintained a firm belief in socially responsible management education directed towards the creation of positive, meaningful societal impact.

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Research and positive impact: Henley Business School in the African context

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Concepts of the Purposeful Business School: Business does not exist in a vacuum; it is intrinsically linked to the success or failure of the society in which it operates. On a continent like Africa, where social, environmental and historical challenges abound, issues such as inequality, poverty and inclusive growth continue to dominate the context. Yet, African academia continues to follow the line drawn by Western business education models rather than carving out an African model of management education that addresses the specific economic and social development needs of the continent as a whole.

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Responsible, rigorous, and impactful research through engagement

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Research Ecosystems, Partnerships and Collective Know-How: The call for business higher education to be more impactful is growing louder and more articulate. The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) were launched in 2007, the Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM) movement formalised in 2016, and the AACSB standards on societal impact for business school accreditation were updated in 2020.

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Empowering vulnerable populations through transformative approaches and research

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Complex Societal Impact Projects Requiring Tri-Sector Collaboration and Cooperation: Two years ago, HEC Montréal launched the result of numerous consultations that led to updating its mission: to building on our excellence in teaching and research. HEC Montréal is a French-language institution open to the world and solidly rooted in Quebec society, training management leaders who make a responsible contribution to the success of organisations and to sustainable social development. HEC Montréal’s renewed mission echoes the willingness of faculty members to rethink business practices to make them more sustainable and more inclusive. The SEED project is a case study within HEC Montréal’s research ecosystem led by our Social Impact Hub, IDEOS, that illustrates how rethinking research methods and collaborations across sectors and across cultures can amplify opportunities for the economic empowerment of vulnerable populations.

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From research for publication to research for impact

from research for publication to research for impact

It is our duty to encourage research that has meaning for people outside closed academic circles, to create value for our society, offer meaningful and healthy career paths to academics and show the right signal of academic excellence to students and public.

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