 BUSINESS EDUCATION IN THE PRESENT SOCIETY: PROBLEMS, CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONSGurau Calin ()
Annals of Faculty of Economics, 2015, vol. 1, issue 2, 583-590 Abstract: The popularity of business studies in today’s University system is clearly demonstrated by the number of candidates, places and specialisations available in higher education institutions. On the other hand, the existence of multiple social, economic and ecological crises raises valid questions regarding the content, purpose and focus of these studies for the wellbeing of the modern society. Despite the growing number of students enrolled or graduating in business studies, the present-day society is fraught with economic crisis, disequilibria and waste, which manifest at society, group and individual levels. Analysing the existent literature, the paper presents and discusses three main problems of the business studies available in higher education institution: focus on short-term profitability; fragmentation and specialisation; and, lack of connection with other types of studies. Emphasizing the importance of considering the role of business education from the perspective of a generalized and complex stakeholder analysis, the paper proposes four possible, interconnected solutions to the identified problems: business schools should become not only specialized institutions of teaching and learning, but also centres of knowledge creation and dissemination, oriented towards developing creative thinking and a holistic vision regarding the role and impact of business activities in the present day society; business schools’ curriculum should be modified to include, on one hand, information regarding the short- and the long-term impact of business decisions and activities on society and environment, and on the other hand, courses designed to increase the responsibility of business specialists for the harmonious development of the present day society (such as business ethics, ecological and equitable business, social corporate responsibility); business studies should adopt a more holistic, integrative approach, by including into the curricula methods of research and analysis derived from the theory of ecology and complex systems; the criteria for evaluating academic research in business studies should be centred around its impact on an extended set of socio-economic values, which go beyond simple profit maximization to include increasing and balancing stakeholder value, creating more social and economic justice at organisation, national and international level, and creatively solving the socio-economic problems of the modern society. Keywords: business education; stakeholders; problems; challenges; solutions; modern society (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ora:journl:v:1:y:2015:i:2:p:583-590 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Annals of Faculty of Economics from University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics Contact information at EDIRC. |
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