How can business schools best engage with GBSN? Institutional partnerships in a wide range of areas of common interest were one of the main themes of discussion at last month’s Annual Conference in Mexico City.

Conference participants discussed how they could work with GBSN to foster research activities between partners at various institutions. The GBSNConnect web platform is ideally suited to facilitate research partnerships between schools from industrial and developing countries. For example, Karachi’s Institute of Business Administration is ready to assist faculty members of other Network schools with their research by doing surveys and collecting data in Pakistan. GBSN can also facilitate case writing, for example, where local faculty help gather information, collaborating with faculty from another member school who provides a conceptual framework. I am delighted that Professor Hakon Boter (Umeå School of Business) is leading a research steering group, which will look at practical ways in which the Network can promote collaborative research.

The impact of business education is one of the most neglected research areas. To my knowledge, not a single study has been published that points to the individual and social impacts of higher education in general, much less of management education. In our age of mobile phones, impact studies need not be overly costly, and I bet that the findings would be positive. GBSN plans to undertake some impact studies in the near future, and I hope that researchers in some of the member schools will be interested in engaging in this virgin field.

Note that a GBSN webinar: “Making the most of your membership” is scheduled for August 19, which I hope many of you will join. It will demonstrate how GBSNConnect can be used for collaborative work, and much more.  Click here to learn more and register today.