A new model business school
23 October 2025
Andrew Crisp reflects on the thoughts of Professor Andy Hoffman in his keynote speech, A New Vision for Business Schools, at the recent AACSB Deans Conference.
I recently had a significant birthday. As is often the case on such occasions, I found myself looking backwards, but as I did, I found myself thinking about the future.
Almost forty years ago in my final year at university I was writing for the student newspaper. Exams were over, we were preparing the final edition of the year, and I secured an interview with the Vice Chancellor. The subsequent article had a headline which read ‘Decline and fall’. I don’t remember the exact substance but it was something along the lines of the difficult headwinds facing the university.
Forty years on the university continues, but as with many UK institutions, and others across the world, the headwinds are still strong, even if they are coming from different directions today. So what are the solutions?
The day after my birthday I was at the AACSB Deans Conference, where Andy Hoffman spoke – it was a bold and compelling view on the current state of business schools. He began with a clear statement, ‘We have a problem with capitalism’ and went on to pose a number of questions that business schools need to address.
Among those questions were examining the role of shareholder capitalism, how to teach about the different models of capitalism around the world, rethinking the purpose of the firm and rethinking the purpose of business leaders. Hoffman commented, ‘The world needs leaders with wisdom, character and judgement, and we (business schools) need to provide that’.
Hoffman’s solutions included getting out of the business school, connecting students with others in different schools across a university, recognising that academics should be known for their impact on students rather than publications and citations and encouraging students to take control of their education, going beyond what their studies simply require.
Hoffman wasn’t dismissive of the challenges of change, noting on several occasions the difficulties of persuading faculty to change and the need to change the reward system for staff. He was joined in the discussion of barriers to change by the chair of the session, Eileen McAuliffe from AACSB, who asked the provocative question ‘Should we nuke the rankings?’ The answer seemed to be that anything that stifles innovation was a problem.
The session concluded with Hoffman suggesting that to turn the ship around, you have to change the whole ecosystem. If business schools keep on making money for their university, they think they will be fine, but instead, they need to consider their higher calling; business schools need to be the incubators of new ideas.
CarringtonCrisp is currently working on a project titled ‘New Model Business School’. A short report/white paper will be published early in the new year. If you would like to contribute to the white paper with some thoughts or take part in a short interview, drop us a line at info@carringtoncrisp.com