Viewpoint May 11, 2009, 3:08PM EST

MBA 2.0

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

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This revitalized role for business schools looks promising. But it won't happen without the commitment of university leaders. To start, better communication among colleges universitywide can lead to new collaborative opportunities. This conversation must extend off-campus too, and engage frontline practitioners working to solve problems.

Administrators also must design incentives carefully—including mechanisms in the faculty tenure and promotion process—that encourage interdisciplinary research and inventive, reasoned risk-taking. Other institutional support is important, too; research centers and programming that encourage cross-boundary discussion, such as conferences and symposia where academics from various fields come together, will help transform business schools into knowledge hubs.

Students for an Improved Society

These schools can adopt a more entrepreneurial approach to curriculum, teaching, and research. The classroom itself should be an incubator for business plans that later become real ventures—including those like One Acre Fund, whose mission is fighting hunger in Africa, and which was started by a student at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management (Kellogg MBA Profile).

No matter what, schools must stay close to stakeholders, like recruiters, to remain aware of market demand, trends, and possible future developments. Of course students are central too, and schools should inspire in these people a passion for possibility. Students should see the MBA degree as a way to earn a great living, but also as a vehicle to create enduring social value.

If business schools want to transform themselves into knowledge hubs, they must rethink their value proposition in light of today's global challenges. Not surprising, this reevaluation extends to the admissions process: To leap beyond the traditional, schools must attract those who share a vision for the big role that leadership can play in improving both the bottom line and the planet.

It is this spirit that will reemphasize the pervasive value of management education.

Dipak C. Jain is dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he is also the Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor in Entrepreneurial Studies and a professor of marketing. Jain wrote this article in collaboration with Matt Golosinski, executive editor, Office of the Dean.