Business Education is Changing. Thoughts and Reflections

Transcription

1 Business Education is Changing Thoughts and Reflections

2 The Business Education Challenge The world of business education is probably facing its biggest opportunities and challenges in history Four major forces are starting to shape the future of business schools over the next years Public Funding Demographics Economics Technology 2

3 The Major Forces Public Funding Economics More difficult to obtain as firms / governments seem to have less money to spend, at least in some parts of Europe As a result some schools are having to merge (France) or re-structure Economic problems in Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and elsewhere are seriously affecting job opportunities for business school graduates and participants Demographics Technology Ageing population, such as in Europe and Japan When you want to predict the future, the only sure thing is that tomorrow you will be older than today Consequently, demographics drives themes and topics 3

4 The Technology Challenge Increasing number of new competitors entering the management education market with a new type of competitor approaching companies with executive education solutions You dont need to send all your people to those big expensive business schools. We will go onto the web for you and find all the good stuff that is available, package it and sell it to you at a fraction of the price that traditional business schools would charge How to enter the e-learning field? How to finance it? How to develop a sustainable competitive advantage? How do you price your offering? ( when so much is free in the web ) What will be the key success factor? The schools brand? The facultys reputation? Both? 4

5 Differentiation, Differentiation, Differentiation As competition intensifies, differentiation becomes crucially important Every business school has a different missionregional, national or international But the question of how to differentiate yourself from other schools occupying a similar niche is becoming a major challenge 5

6 The Market View Customers seem to increasingly look for the best deal They take longer to decide if they will take up a particular programme They want shorter programmes And cost is becoming an issue But the most important factor seems impact Companies often ask how relevant the academic world is today Is the academic world indeed becoming more and more academic? What impact do business schools want to have on the businesses of tomorrow? The importance of the Lifelong Learning Journey In the past, especially on the executive education side, you used to go to a GMP (General Management Programme) at Harvard Business School, Wharton, INSEAD or IMD and you would be (or thought you were) educated for life as a manager This is over! -- The world is changing too fast There is an opportunity for repeated short-term courses and within a global context managers want to have the choice to go to a school in a certain part of the world and do another module or course in another part of the world 6

7 And the Implications are Whilst schools have different missions, the ultimate goal of business schools is probably to produce responsible leaders Responsible leaders can deal with an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world: the so-called VUCA market At the top of any corporation, people are smart and have proven that they can run a business and be successful In the end, authentic leadership and personal values will increasingly make the difference. Shape and nurture a curious and open mind 7

8 Conclusion The world is changing, and rapidly so When I started out, my future was in CEE today, it is in the BRICS and will it be in the Double MIT (Mexico-Indonesia-Turkey and Malaysia-India-Thailand) as well as Africa, soon? Having faculty who are curious about the world is critical Before you teach you have to learn and in order to learn you need to have curious faculty The challenge will be to stimulate faculty who are very comfortable and very successful teachers and researchers to go and look for something different in other parts of the world Business schools are living in challenging times Public funding, demographics, economics and technology are the main forces that are going to influence our medium- and long-term futures. In terms of the impact business schools try to have on their participants, whether students or executives, the shaping of responsible leaders is absolutely key So is making them curious about the world in general: Getting these things right is vital for future success 8

9 Contact Details Contact Christian Schopper is the Founder and CEO of Corporate Finance Central Europe CorpFinCE -, offering Corporate Finance-related advisory services with a focus on German-speaking Europe, Central Europe, the CIS and Russia Christian Schopper +43 (0) (0) Private: Business: christian.schopper@aon.at christian.schopper@corpfince.com Previously, Mr Schopper was member of Merrill Lynch's European Corporate Finance Group and co-ordinated for many years Morgan Stanley s Corporate Finance efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. Before he had worked with Creditanstalt Investment Bank (Unicredit) on numerous privatisation and capital markets transactions in Central Europe and Austria and with Raiffeisen KAG as a fund manager He holds a Doctorate in Laws and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Vienna and an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. Since 1990 Mr. Schopper is Visiting Professor for Corporate Finance, Banking and Capital Markets at the University of Vienna, the University of Graz, and in Moscow at the New Economic School, the Higher School of Economics, the Financial Academy and the Presidential Academy. Besides he is Business Coach at the StartUp Academy in Skolkovo 9