business schools post-covid-19: a blueprint for survival

It all began when the world’s first business school, the European School of Commerce Paris (ESCP), was established in 1819. Criticism notwithstanding, business schools have since continued their path in higher education without facing existential metamorphoses. Covid-19, however, has accelerated business schools’ digital transformation, calling into question the concept of business school itself.

Business schools are in a new competitive landscape and profound structural changes seem inevitable. This concise text offers insights into how business schools should rethink their approach to management education, differentiate themselves from new players in the higher education market, and find innovative ways of doing things. The book is a survival toolkit for leadership teams across the world. It examines the rationale of business school and how it has evolved. The purpose of research is explained, and the teaching of management is explored. Kaplan analyzes the current business model in the digital environment. He looks at the business of accreditations and rankings and branding and community-building as strategies to address competition. The book concludes by looking at change leadership at business schools.

It will interest both leaders of established academic institutions and alternative educational providers from edtech and big tech planning to enter the management education market.

Andreas Kaplan is a globally recognized and widely published higher education expert with more than fifteen years of leadership experience in academia. Currently President and Dean of the Kühne Logistics University, Professor Kaplan previously held the positions of Rector and Provost at ESCP Business School, Sorbonne Alliance.