The Engaged Business School

Shortlisted for the CMI (Chartered Management Institute) Book of the Year Award 2024 in association with BAM (British Academy of Management) and CABS (Chartered Association of Business Schools). These awards celebrate substantial business and management research that is informing policy, business, and third sector practices. Visit the CMI website for more details.

Bridging the gap between business and business schools: fulfilling potential or thwarted ambition.

The Engaged Business School is a road map to unlocking the potential between business and business schools at a time when it really matters: responding to a global, economic, and social recovery. It is a call for academics and businesses to come together and realise the potential that is so often unfulfilled.

On a practical level, it presents the idea of an engaged business school using three tools – a model, a framework, and a process. The model shows how success factors are interconnected to bring engagement to life. The framework provides a structure to clarify the building blocks for effective engagement. Finally, the process identifies the steps and stages which need to be considered to translate the model and framework into action.

Aimed at a dual audience of business schools and businesses, Sturgess argues that there is a need for the academic and business communities to join together and build an engaged business school. Too much of the debate about business school relevance has taken place in academia. The Engaged Business School starts with business needs and then unites the two perspectives.