The OECD held the 20th anniversary Forum in Paris on 20-21 May. The Forum has grown significantly over the last couple of decades and brings together a wide range of government ministers, leaders from the public and private sectors, representatives from civil society including not-for-profits and college students. Each year, the OECD chooses a theme… Read more >
Education as a sector has proven stubbornly resistant to change. Despite significant progress in technology, classroom instruction remains largely unchanged from decades ago. While students have rapidly adopted social media, online collaboration and learning tools are poorly utilized in most courses. While the consumerization of other slow-to-change sectors such as healthcare is in full swing, educational technology systems remain cumbersome to use and are far from the ease of use and embedded customer focus seen in online leaders such as Amazon and Netflix. The big data and analytics revolution is sweeping multiple sectors, yet education operates in an environment characterized by poor data and the rare use of analytical tools. It is no surprise that educational institutions today are under pressure to both improve the effectiveness of learning outcomes and to provide more personalized learning delivery in a cost effective manner.
The Emerging Markets Institute at Cornell University publishes the Emerging Market Multinationals Report (EMR) written by Lourdes Casanova and Anne Miroux, which monitors the rise of Emerging Multinationals and reflects on the growing role of China and Emerging Markets in this new phase of globalization.
Given the enormous reach and impact of global corporations, it is quite clear that corporate leaders have a big role to play in shaping the world of tomorrow. If we are to solve the problems of ecological destruction, staggering inequality and chronic poverty, business leaders must become messiahs of change, championing and directing their companies’ journey to create an equitable and sustainable world.As educators, we need to ask ourselves what role business schools should play in this journey towards corporate sustainability. What type of business school curriculum can help produce future corporate leaders, who have the courage and the empathy to make a difference in the world?If we introspect a little, we can see that business schools today have become simply an extension of corporate hiring departments. Rather than being centers of thought leadership, which encourage managers to think, to question business models, and to derive meaningful paths for themselves, business school curriculum seems to simply reflect corporate hiring priorities. Clearly, there is an urgent need to completely rethink business education, particularly in a world where poverty and inequality persists.
The debate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is characterized by hyperbole and hysteria. The hyperbole is due to two effects: first, the promotion of AI by self-interested investors. It can be termed the “Google-effect,” after its CEO Sundar Pichai, who declared AI to be “probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on.” He would say that. Second, the promotion of AI by tech-evangelists as a solution to humanity’s fundamental problems, even death. It can be termed the “Singularity-effect,” after Ray Kurzweil, who believes AI will cause a “Singularity” by 2045.
Businesses can, and must, ensure that the make positive contributions to society and to addressing the global challenges our world faces. In many ways, this can happen through markets, and government policy can help align business incentives and societal benefit. However, given limitations of both markets and governments, there is a role for businesses and… Read more >
