MILLARD ARNOLD: Are business schools still relevant?
Business education attracts some fierce criticism — but the fact is, despite immense challenges, the local schools are extremely competitive
Following decades of enthusiastic support, business schools now find themselves under attack for being irrelevant, inconsequential or of little real value in developing business leaders who can make a difference. In some part, this is due to the metamorphosis of the workplace. The World Economic Forum predicts that "by 2020, more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will comprise skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today". Last year Michael Mankins, a partner at Bain & Company, wrote in the Harvard Review that "innovations will change the basis of competition in many markets and alter the sources of advantage for most companies. Business-critical roles — jobs that are central to differentiating a company from its competitors and successfully executing strategy — will also change." Critically, he adds, "companies will be forced to rethink the talent they will need to play these business-critical roles in the future". For business schools, ...
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