Business schools are failing where it matters most

Top business schools are under pressure. New entrants, rising stars, and foreign options are challenging them on price or differentiating on specialisation; internet options are forcing them to rethink their products after decades of relative stability; questions abound in the media as to their relevance in the 21st century.

In other words, business schools have been forced into the business world.

On the face of things, making organisations practice what they preach is a positive for all involved. And they have been quick to react: data analysis and decision modules have made rapid appearances at the core of curricula. Modules on, and trips to, emerging market centres have been adopted across the board.

But though these are important topics in modern business, the 21st century will be defined by one theme, climate change, and, more importantly, how business tackles it. Governments may direct, but only commerce has the resources and the tools to be effective.

On that subject, business schools’, those feeders of our largest employers, responses have been extremely disappointing.

Of the 18 UK schools which feature in either the FT or Economist rankings, only one has more than one sustainability module among its core MBA subjects. Nottingham, keep up the good work. Over half have none at all. Almost a third feature no coverage of the area in any of their modules.

The chart below plots average ranking of MBAs from the FT and Economist tables against a score arrived at by my (arbitrarily, I admit) giving core sustainability modules three points and electives one point. Frankly there is a strong case for optional modules to count for zero given that many students can thus complete an MBA without ever encountering our era’s most important issue.

The chart below plots business schools’ MBA course sustainability scores against their average place in the FT and Economist rankings.

What this shows is that, while many of the country’s foremost business schools claim to be addressing issues which should include those as important as climate change, many are failing to go far enough. London Business School, for example, has “adopted a truly global outlook tackling challenges faced by international businesses and their leaders” according to its website, but for some reason appears not to consider environmental or wider corporate responsibility issues key to business at all. And this is a school which has some of the best known corporate responsibility and sustainability faculty in the world.

Elsewhere, while some schools have specific climate change courses (which is clearly to be loudly applauded), the go-to qualification for future leaders remains the MBA. And it is failing to prepare leaders for the biggest challenge their organisations will face.

Because let’s be clear about this, climate change is happening, its impact on business and society is increasing and will continue to do so, and business schools, which tout themselves as the shapers of our future leaders, still remain stuck in the mind-set that addressing sustainability is optional. That is a dangerous attitude to hold given the stakes.

Last week China and the United States at last threw themselves behind global climate initiatives, while our foremost schools continue to flinch on the century’s central issue. This is not an area in which we can wait until the last minute before lunging toward salvation. Battling climate change will take time and we need those at the head of our companies to be equipped to act immediately and consistently.

In an era in which leadership is most needed, business schools appear bereft of that which should be at their core. Students, faculty, business, society, and business schools themselves are poorer for this.

Disclaimer: the author is an alumnus of Imperial College Business School, where he completed an MBA in September 2016.