In a review of events that shaped the world, the United Nations notes that 2024 was a “year of historic highs and troubling lows”. Some of the triumphs included the UN’s Pact for the Future, and the completion of negotiations to boost climate finance, while major concerns included continued regional conflicts and record-breaking natural disasters. Some of these events could have been predicted because they had been simmering for years or had been concluded after much discussion.
Whether devastating or encouraging, the impact of these changes is yet to fully unfold. This poses a challenge to business schools, which need to equip their students to make sense of an impossible world, says education specialist and Financial Mail editor-at-large David Furlonger. “Two and a half years ago, we had a fairly calm world. There were fewer wars and regional crises. I think the big challenge for business schools, whether it’s executive education or MBAs, is helping their clients make sense of and prepare for a world where even tomorrow could change. More and more schools are needing to get into future predictability, futurism and futureproofing.”
Furlonger started the Financial Mail Ranking The MBAs annual survey in 2000 and continues to be involved with the project, which has been reformatted into SA’s Top MBAs. A trend that he has seen coalesce over the years is the growing number of foreign business schools and companies wanting to make inroads in South Africa. “The country is becoming a target for international business schools wanting to sign up the country’s high-calibre students or create a launchpad into the continent.”
Similarly, South African students are eager to acquire international experience, either through opting for in-country exposure such as the option offered by the GIBS Global Travel Module, or by seeking job opportunities abroad after obtaining internally accredited qualifications at South African institutions such as GIBS.
Competencies for a dynamic world
The global turbulence experienced in the past few years is unlikely to abate. In fact, rapid technological advances portend a future of constant changes. Nicola Kleyn is an extraordinary professor at GIBS and prior to taking a sabbatical in 2024, was Professor of Corporate Marketing at Rotterdam School of Management. Kleyn notes that programmes such as an MBA are necessary because the world is facing significant change. “Leaders need to get ahead of the wave, they need to make sure they can analyse and try to understand the implications of change and then move their organisations forward in a way that’s going to be both efficient and ethical.”
Quality executive education is even more crucial in times of uncertainty, posits Kleyn. Generally, the half-life of knowledge may be reducing but it’s not all that an MBA offers. “If the MBA was only about bringing people up to speed on a knowledge aspect, we might well argue that it would be out of date before you’d even taken it to market because of curricular changes. However, what doesn’t go out of date are the meta skills that an MBA gives you.”
Alongside the technical learning in subjects such as Financial and Management Accounting, Operations Management, Marketing, and Business Communication, an MBA also develops the mindset of students. It equips them with the ability to learn so that they continue building an understanding of rapidly changing environments and teaches them about sense-making so they can problem solve efficiently and make sound decisions.
“If we start looking at the desired competencies of organisations, they're wanting people who are curious, who can sense-make, who can collaborate and work with others, who can deal in complex environments. That's what we're building in the MBA, rather than static knowledge that has a half-life,” says Kleyn.
Reviving old industries with new approaches
Once a major economic driver, the manufacturing industry in South Africa has been decimated, with almost 309 000 jobs lost over a 16-year period. In a world increasingly inclined to solely look ahead for business opportunities, a partnership with GIBS and the Toyota Wessels Institute for Manufacturing Studies (TWIMS) aims to bolster the country’s flailing manufacturing sector. Some of the institutional knowledge of the manufacturing industry may now be obsolete, but the sector can be revived through innovative education.
Even as technological developments automate many tasks that were once fulfilled by staff, Prof. Theuns Pelser believes there is a need for, and value in the Manufacturing MBA in the years to come. MBAs with a specific focus such as this one mean academia and industry can partner to mitigate existing challenges of the sector, adjust to dynamic environments and prepare for an uncertain future.
Pelser, who is executive director at TWIMS, adjunct faculty at GIBS and a visiting professor at Helsinki School of Business, says that MBA graduates need to be equipped to handle a number of different trends and impacts such as digital transformation, circular economies, as well as the policy and regulatory complexities of an unstable global environment.
“Industry 4.0 is reshaping manufacturing with AI, IoT, big data, and robotics. Leaders must master the integration of these technologies to remain competitive. Automation and digitalisation are transforming the workforce. Leaders must manage this transition effectively, fostering a culture of continuous learning and employee engagement. The TWIMS-GIBS partnership ensures that the manufacturing MBA provides a robust curriculum on leadership, organisational behaviour, and change management, equipping leaders to build diverse, high-performing teams capable of adapting to the future of work.”
Recent disruptions, such as pandemics and geopolitical tensions, have exposed weaknesses in global supply chains, while complex regulatory landscapes can lead to delays, revenue losses and in some instances business failure. Sector-specific insight can help reduce some of these frictions and enable students to benefit from the knowledge of government officials, industry leaders, and subject matter experts.
Through TWIMS’ focus on the African manufacturing context and GIBS’ global business perspective for example, the Manufacturing MBA equips leaders with the skills to understand and influence policy, ensuring compliance while gaining competitive advantages in international markets.
As global markets evolve, many industries face growing challenges, from intensified competition, to shifting trade dynamics, to rapidly advancing technologies. Partnerships to deliver customised or industry-specific MBAs may become more common in the future as organisations seek to adjust to threats and opportunities specific to their sectors.
Specialisations to meet the needs of the present and the future
In 2025, GIBS introduced a new focus area for its MBA offering to add to options such as Consulting, Entrepreneurship, and Climate Leadership. The new stream of Digital Leadership will help leaders steer their organisations through the uncertainty and ambiguity of an increasingly digital-first world. Aiming to equip aspirant chief technology officers, chief digital officers, chief data officers, and chief intelligence officers, as well as general leaders, this MBA highlights the importance of understanding the technology that will drive the successes of tomorrow.
Professor Manoj Chiba, MBA director at GIBS, notes that digital literacy is embedded throughout the MBA course so students in all focus areas are technologically conversant. “I’m relatively confident that we give our students the tools to respond to AI so they can drive those revolutions, adapt, and react to them adequately as well as prepare for the fifth industrial revolution.”
Emerging areas of study that business schools like GIBS may explore in the future include other tech-focused streams such as Data Analytics, Cyber Security and Blockchain Technology. Social Impact Investing and Space Business are other possible areas of MBA study that will likely spike in demand over the coming years.
New skills for new economies
Published in May 2024, by business education consultancy Carrington Crisp, a report on The Future of Lifelong and Executive Education reveals the key trends set to impact the learning journeys of business students. “Rather than completing a degree in a linear fashion over a number of months, if not years, individuals and employers are seeking shorter slices of learning that can be undertaken flexibly and will quickly deliver an impact in the workplace,” notes the report. “The learning journey might involve a series of different qualifications with different providers across different platforms.” Other highlights from the research include:
The impact of AI
- 74% of employers agree that AI-powered learning experience platforms will help personalise the learning experience for their staff.
- Employers (59%) and students (54%) agree that AI can’t replace the creativity required in good quality instructional design.
- 57% of employers agree that their organisation lacks the data on employee skills and corporate needs to benefit from AI in their learning and development.
- Additionally, 54% of students agree that AI is not yet sophisticated enough to provide valuable support to their learning and development.
- 76% of students want AI-generated educational content to be clearly labelled as such.
The requirement for flexible learning journeys
Learners are attracted to education solutions that fit their situations and needs. This in terms of face-to-face, blended, or online studying options, the ability to set their own pace, and diversity of qualifications on offer. “Degrees aren’t about to disappear, but the diversity of qualifications is likely to grow. Everything from certificates of completion to digital badges and CPD to professional credentials will be part of the qualifications landscape.”
Employers’ changing staff needs
Faced with intensifying competition from new entrants, new ways of doing things due to changes in technology, increasing costs driving the need for improved productivity, and labour shortages, employers are seeking new approaches to reskill, upskill, and “newskill” their staff, notes the report. In the next two years, 67% of employers expect their budgets for learning and development to increase, while only 25% expect them to remain the same. Employers expressed a need for staff knowledgeable in the following subjects: change management, crisis management, managing across cultures, agility, business model innovation, decision-making in uncertain and complex times, design thinking, and negotiation.
