Viewpoint May 11, 2009, 3:08PM EST

MBA 2.0

Business schools can remain vital in the years ahead—if they reinvent themselves as intellectual hubs that tackle big problems

Dipak C. Jain
Kellogg School of Management ©Evanston Photographic Studios

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The current economic crisis is good in this way at least: It focuses the mind and provides an opportunity for reflection, renewal, and responsibility. Cold comfort, maybe, but business-as-usual cannot flourish in this environment, nor should it. As business practitioners now take a long look in the mirror to figure out the next step, so too should business schools examine how they can position themselves to meet the needs of an uncertain global market.

The best will do so by understanding that their mission is more important than ever, since business occupies a space at the convergence of many fields—from the social sciences to the physical and life sciences. Acting on this insight, business schools can become interdisciplinary knowledge centers inspired by diverse ideas and a passionate engagement with the world. If the marketplace is too complicated for clear prediction, then leaders instead must learn to anticipate change, managing with the knowledge that comes from multiple sources and perspectives. These schools will unite science and philosophy to let students make data-driven arguments that create actionable processes that deliver results.

Equally important, by turning imagination and analysis upon serious social challenges—poverty, hunger, environmental degradation—business schools can redouble their efforts to produce successful, significant graduates who make the world a better and safer place. Top schools will understand that the curriculum must go beyond traditional notions of business education. They will cultivate an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach that focuses on global leadership as well as functional expertise.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

First, though, the schools themselves must keep evolving.

Here again, collaboration is key to build on the strengths of existing models while moving beyond the insular silos and sometimes narrow focus that has historically proven successful for business schools and their stakeholders.

While business has always found valuable ways to engage customers, academics and practitioners alike typically have not focused on the most pressing matters—these were considered someone else's job, often the government's. Now, though, people expect more from business, too. They want business to take an active part in addressing issues, such as disease and pollution management or educational innovation, that impact millions of people worldwide.

To fulfill these expectations, expect business professors to reach out to colleagues in medicine, law, public policy, engineering, media, and elsewhere. We have already seen how changes in communications technology have impacted intellectual-property rights. So some business schools have modified their offerings, partnering with law school peers to create a framework that helps manage in this new climate. Other challenges, such as combating diseases like HIV/AIDS, are resulting in cross-disciplinary collaboration among business, engineering, and medical schools, as well as with partners in the for- and not-for-profit worlds. A range of geopolitical, technological, and environmental problems demands that we design better solutions—and quickly. The innovation required to meet such challenges cannot be generated in isolation.

Central Role for B-Schools

Externally, too, there will be innovative partnerships, even among traditional rivals, as academic institutions try to solve emerging problems. Some of these relationships may seem odd at first, as opponents realize the power of working together and find win-win ways to harness each other's strengths. In fact, though, the future of competition looks a lot like collaboration.

Business schools provide the ideal home for this collaboration, in part because the modern business school draws its faculty from various disciplines, such as economics, psychology, sociology, industrial engineering, and mathematics. But in addition, these schools teach how to synthesize information and design the systems that bring innovation to market in a valuable way.

Today, the task is to apply this expertise more broadly.