He has been a business school dean on three continents, and has written over 30 books and 200 articles on strategic management to become one of the most highly-cited scholars in his field.  In his most recent book, Professor Howard Thomas, who has spent 50 years in business and management education, went one step further – to predict the future trends in the business education landscape.

The Business School in the Twenty-first Century, co-authored by Professor Howard Thomas, Professor Peter Lorange and Professor Jagdish Sheth, was launched earlier this month at the Singapore Management University at an event graced by an enthused audience comprising students, staff, faculty, and industry partners as well as associates from the business education fraternity.

[Photo: SMU Adjunct Faculty Elizabeth Su was all smiles as she gets her book autographed by Professor Thomas.]

At the book launch, the co-authors, Professor Thomas and Professor Lorange, emphasised the need for a paradigm shift as business schools are now at the tipping point.

In tackling the reduced public funding that business schools around the world are facing, as well as rising costs of education, Professor Thomas highlighted the importance of creating business schools that are more efficient and viable, so as to ensure that business education remains affordable and accessible to young people.

Professor Lorange echoed his views: “Just like the benefits of making a better car or a mobile phone go to the consumer, we have to do the same in our industry.”  “It is the students who should benefit,” added Professor Lorange, whose own business school has succeeded in the absence of a tenure system for academics; it also has a strong sense of resource-sharing, and thus greater flexibility and efficiency in administration.

Professor Thomas also iterated the importance for business schools to be close to their constituent – the business community, and called for more inter-disciplinary, applied research.  He cited IMD Business School, where Professor Lorange was President until January 2008, as a case in point.  While this may be a challenging endeavour, Professor Thomas said, “It can be done, but it is up to us as Deans to have the courage to change the incentive system.”

[Photo: SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer (right) congratulated the authors – Professor Howard Thomas (2^nd from left) and Professor Peter Lorange (3^rd from left) for their accomplishments.  On the left is Professor Tan Chin Tiong who moderated the book launch and discussion.]

About the authors

Howard Thomas is Dean and LKCSB Chair in Strategic Management at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University.  He was Dean of Warwick Business School (2000-10) and, prior to this, he was Dean of College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1991-2000).

Peter Lorange is President of Lorange Institute of business, Zurich, and is one of the world’s foremost business school academics.  He is Professor of Strategy at IMD, Switzerland, and was the President of IMD (1993-2008). Prior to this, he was President of Norwegian Business School (BI) in Oslo.

Jagdish Sheth is the Charles H.Kellstadt Chair of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, Atlanta, where he won the school’s Global Innovation Award in June 2008.  Professor Sheth is an internationally recognised business consultant and has been an educator for more than forty years.

[Featured Photo: SMU business school faculty – Professor Srinivas Reddy (far left), Senior Lecturer Ang Ser Keng (2^nd from right) and Adjunct Faculty Patrick Loh (far right) – getting their books autographed by Professor Howard Thomas (2^nd from left).  ]