The Global Challenges of our Times Call for New Business Models

The Global Challenges of the 21st Century – A post by Prof Nicolas Forsans

Once again in 2017 the World Economic Forum highlighted in its 2017 Global Risks Report the interconnections that exist between some of the most significant challenges that are shaping business and society in the 21st century. Those interconnections are represented below in their Risk Interconnection map.

Risk-interconnection-mapEconomic and societal challenges

Globalisation has lifted millions of people out of poverty by enabling people in emerging countries to take part in world trade. Deregulations and privatisations have encouraged competition and innovation, leading to declining prices and higher quality products while urbanisation and industrialisation in emerging economies have enabled 3 billion people to generate an income of at least $10/day.

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A road to sensible decision making

by Thomas Sisk, One Planet MBA 2017 Candidate

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.” (Isaac Asimov)

This quote by Asimov instinctively feels correct and true, but what does it mean? Nature and history are about evolution, and evolution is about change. If we use the broad definition of entropy as a measure to gauge the process of degradation, we can observe our planet’s entropy is increasing.  When a child is born, we automatically embrace, encourage and accept change in our children and our parental duty is to guide this change. So why do we, as adults, stagnate, fight change and strive for stability and security, essentially an inert state of being, and deny the disarray and damage we cause in the process? Continue reading

FT Preview – Teaching the Impact of Climate Change to the Leaders of Tomorrow

What happened yesterday had been anticipated for a long time. The opening of the United Nations’ 21st Conference of the Parties (or COP21 in a nutshell) in Paris yesterday evidences how urgent the need to tackle climate change has become. A recent paper in Nature shows how horrendous the economic and human cost of climate change would be – with about a quarter of the world’s GDP wiped off by 2100 and the burden of the cost falling onto the world’s poorest countries left to pay the price for it.

Teaching the Impact of Climate Change to the business leaders of tomorrow

While the Financial Times gave editorial prominence (subscription req’d) to its coverage of the opening of COP21, it also features an article more focused on MBA programmes that that deliver a more sustainable approach to business and management education.

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Thomson Reuters support One Planet MBA participants develop their reputation through thought leadership

The One Planet MBA programme is designed and shaped by our network of corporate partners who contribute to the planning and delivery of many modules and MBA activities. Thomson Reuters are sponsoring our MBA’s Personal Transformations module which

The answers company

equips our participants with the skills to advance their careers and explore new opportunities for themselves. As part of our partnership, Thomson Reuters supports the development of our MBA participants in their quest for reputation through thought leadership.

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An Interview with Emma Birch, MBA’s Admissions Officer

Picture By Jim Wileman -For the past couple of years Emma has been heading the MBA’s Admission Office, interacting with hundreds of applicants for the One Planet MBA programme. She helps new applicants put together a strong application, then advises and supports them until they reach our campus at the start of each year.

Emma was recently interviewed by Business Because as part of their “Meet the Team” series of articles, and in this interview she gives a few tips as to what we are looking for in an MBA application. You can read the interview herebusinessbecause

 

A challenging first month for our Class of 2016

It’s been an exciting, yet challenging start of the year for our full time and executive MBA participants. The first three weeks consisted in a unique, pre-MBA Foundation programme – covering all the basics to enable them to make the most of the year ahead. With Our Class of 2016sessions delivered by our One Planet MBA team consisting of academics and professionals, the focus was on the transfer of professional and study skills.
Our Speed Reading half-a-day session went down very well, and so did our sessions on digital learning and studying tools, helping participants organise and retrieve their thoughts through Evernote, Feedly and other multi-platform apps. The programme also included sessions on academic and business writing and provided opportunities for submitting their very first (non assessed) essay for friendly criticising. Continue reading

Launching the MBA’s Business Insights 2020 Workshops for Business Professionals

The One Planet MBA is all about helping professionals and business leaders reinvent Business Insights 2020themselves and thrive in a world that is increasingly volatile, risky, complex, interconnected, resource-constrained and digital. And it is precisely for that reason that we have partnered with Devon and Cornwall Business Council, the South West’s premier business organisation to launch our forward looking and cutting edge series of Business Insights 2020 workshops specially targeted at business professionals threatened by disruption. Each workshop link with individual modules on the MBA programme, and act as an introduction to the topic.

The series kicked off on Wednesday evening and focused on the theme of business model creation.
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Welcoming the Class of 2016

After months of anticipation we finally welcomed our new Full Time and Executive MBA Hello worldparticipants to the Business School. A truly international group once again, we have over 40 students from 17 different countries, ranging from Australia and Canada to the USA, Uganda and Vietnam. With an average of 11 years work experience, the Class of 2016 comprises of promising business professionals with expertise in a range of industry sectors including engineering, IT, marketing, education and law. Throughout the year you will read their stories on this blog as they share their expectations, enthusiasm and challenges as they go through a life changing experience. Continue reading

Getting Ready for Another Year!

Ever since its creation back in 2010 our One Planet MBA has always had that “cutting

Our new website... coming soon online near you!

Our new website… coming soon online near you!

edge” feel to it. Complete with a new visual identity and a strapline, our 2015/16 programme is yet again at the forefront of innovation: both our Full Time and Executive programmes benefit from curriculum enhancements through new modules, masterclasses, new corporate partnerships, more practitioners’ involvement and an integrated approach to the personal development of its participants.

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