Ulrich Hommel edited a Special Supplement of the EFMD Global Focus Magazine (15/02) on the emerging role of learning ecosystems in the provision of management education. The volume brings together a group of eminent scholars that make the case that business schools will need to embrace the concept and change in rather fundamental ways.
Business schools are on a journey towards ecosystems that starts with the unbundling of existing activities (e.g., stackable degrees), leads to a stronger reliance on networks for the sharing of value chains (e.g., the emergence of the distributed business school) and adds fluidity as well as a transitory element when moving on to ecosystems (e.g., already visible today in entrepreneurial spaces nurtured by business schools). With the conviction that these three steps describe the general trajectory of business school development, the articles in this supplement examine what will change as we are approaching the final destination. Readers will gain a deeper insight what ecosystems are, why they are relevant for higher education and business schools, in particular, and how they can be utilized as an institutional development opportunity that has way more upside than downside potential for established players and newcomers. Access the overview article by Ulrich Hommel here.