ABSTRACT
Are business schools on the wrong track? For many years, business schools enjoyed rising enrollments, positive media attention, and growing prestige in the business world. However, due to the disruption of Covid-19, many previously ignored issues relating to MBA programs resurfaced. As a result, MBA programs now face lower enrollments and intense criticism for being deficient in preparing future business leaders and ignoring essential topics like ethics, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion. The Future of Business Schools discusses these issues in the context of three critical areas: complexity, sustainability, and destiny. How do we prepare students for a new and complex world, how can business schools focus on the planet's sustainability, and how will they shape a better future for everyone? The chapters present views and suggestions of business school professors, researchers, and leaders from different contexts and countries as well as ideas for business school stakeholders, on topics from program structures, course content, and teaching materials to research topics. In addition to examples of innovations, there are tools offered to help universities navigate complexity and prepare for uncertainty. The material will assist business school faculty, staff, and administrators as well as professionals, policymakers, and organizations in identifying new directions for business schools in this evolving field. © Rico J. Baldegger, Ayman El Tarabishy, David B. Audretsch, Dafna Kariv, Katia Passerini and Wee-Liang Tan 2022. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Purpose The paper aims to decipher, through intertwined external and internal perspectives, how female and male owners of family businesses (FB) that have been affected by the pandemic develop new capabilities to respond to the market's crisis-related needs. Specifically, this study seeks to decipher the role of external support, mediated by the owner's psychological capital (i.e. internal perspective) and moderated by gender, on the development of capabilities related to the market's changing needs, drawing on the dynamic capabilities conceptualization. Design/methodology/approach A sample of responses from 261 Canadian FB owners was generated during the pandemic, and online questionnaires were distributed. Findings Regression analyses and Hayes' PROCESS tool revealed that while external support directly invigorates capability development, external support is also mediated by psychological capital and moderated by gender, so that female owners were found less likely to use external support for capability development than men. These findings are explained by women's traditional responsibility in FB of protecting the family from external circumstances. Nevertheless, both women and men orchestrated external support, due to the higher psychological capital of FB, to develop capabilities that respond to pandemic-related market needs. Originality/value This study explores and demonstrates the unique navigation of FB owners during crises, and the role of the owner's gender in pursuing capability development. The study's value is in interconnecting external and internal perspectives while probing FB during crises. Implications for the ecosystem's conduct toward FB are discussed.