Hybrid working, best entrepreneurship teaching, German schools

Good afternoon from London. When it comes to hybrid working, have you tried the ‘third space’: not the office, not the home but somewhere in-between? We asked alumni who responded to a survey for the FT MBA 2022 ranking to rate out of 10 the various subjects in their curriculum. Read on to find out which school came top for entrepreneurship. Also, take a look at our feature on the rise of German business schools.

Thank you for reading our Business School Briefing — Wai Kwen Chan and Andrew Jack.

Three days to go: Join us for a live event “Spotlight on MBA’
We will be holding a virtual event this Wednesday February 23 with FT Editorial and top business schools sharing insights about the FT MBA ranking, responsible business education, innovation and the future of the MBA in a post Covid-19 world. Register for free on: https://businesseducation.live.ft.com.

Are you in charge of training?

We would like to hear your views for our survey on executive education. Do share the link and encourage your clients to fill it in anonymously: ft.com/closurvey. Here are the results from last year’s survey showing what skills employers want.

Insights from our latest 2022 FT Global MBA ranking:

Andrew Hill’s management challenge

We have been so conditioned by pandemic conditions to think of flexible working as a binary choice between office and home that we may be neglecting a “third space”. Dan Cable of London Business School tells my colleague Janina Conboye that shared working spaces are a “specific, practical, affordable solution” to the challenges of hybrid work.

For my management challenge this week, I want to hear your best, and worst, experiences of “third space” working, be it the paid, formal type (think WeWork) or the casual (your local Starbucks). Send your tales of woe or joy to [email protected].

Two weeks ago, I asked whether a new management structure could change corporate culture. Daniel Forrester and Jerold Zimmerman, authors of Relentless, about mobsters’ business practices, point out that, on its own, a reorganisation is likely to be ineffective. It is only one of four “pillars” that organised crime syndicates use to motivate criminals, the others being performance measures, rewards and punishments, and culture itself. “MBAs would be wise to study these groups,” they suggest.

In further reading, a shocking tale of technological obsolescence and management failure from Eliza Strickland and Mark Harris, writing for IEEE Spectrum. They recount how owners of high-tech implants that helped blind people to achieve partial vision discovered that the company that developed the implants was teetering and had abandoned the technology. The plight of the company, Second Sight, and its customers “provides a cautionary tale for bold entrepreneurs interested in brain tech”, they write.

Data line: MBA alumni from Asia-Pacific outnumber north Americans

The percentage of alumni from the Asia-Pacific region who studied at schools participating in the MBA ranking 2022 has overtaken those from North America.

The proportion of women is up from 33 per cent to 40 per cent since 2006 and the number of graduates overall going into finance and banking has fallen significantly, write Sam Stephens and Leo Cremonezi.

Further analysis of FT’s MBA 2022 ranking can be found here.

Work and careers round-up

Pushing boundaries: the rise of German business schools The country had no tradition of teaching management but its elite schools are now booming.

Metaverse vs employment law: the reality of the virtual workplace It is unclear how employee protections apply in the universal digital realm. What counts as harassment? And can an avatar be discriminated against?

Hong Kong: a case study of managing in extreme uncertainty The Asian financial hub’s business leaders are forced to adapt as there is no hope of a quick return to normality.

How up to date is your news knowledge?
Ten questions to test your news nous.

Top reads at business schools in the past week

Has Biden got inside Putin’s head? The US says it has published intelligence about Russia’s military to make a Ukraine invasion harder. But some allies fear it is exacerbating tensions.

Warren Buffett bought $1bn stake in Activision weeks before Microsoft deal: Berkshire Hathaway discloses holding of video games maker in securities filing.

Pay at private equity firms ‘dwarfs’ sums on offer to investment bankers: Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle earmarked at least $2mn for each employee last year.

Back issues
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