Definition, history, classification of business schools. Defines business school and classifies business schools along four criteria (Kaplan's four C's of business schools); gives a brief overview of the history /four eras of business schools; Definition of business schools
2. Definition of the Business School
Kaplan Andreas (2018) “A School is a Building that Has 4 Walls - with Tomorrow Inside”:
Toward the Reinvention of the Business School, Business Horizons.
Business schools are educational
institutions that specialize in teaching
courses and programs related to
business and/or management
3. History of Business Schools
• 1st era (1819 - 1945): Creation of the initial institutions dedicated to business education
driven by the rising demand for a new type of business professional (i.e., the manager)
(1819: Establishment of ESCP Europe, the World’s First Business School)
• 2nd era (1945 - 1997): Business schools aimed to become more scientific, with the
objective of establishing business administration and management as stand-alone
disciplines (1945: End of World War II)
• 3rd era (1997 - today): Period of globalization, defined by the rising importance of
accreditation bodies such as AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS and the emergence of international
rankings (1997: Creation of EQUIS)
• 4th era (future): Era characterized by digitization (MOOCs, SPOCs, Artificial Intelligence),
decreased in public funding, increased weight placed on ethical decision making, …
• Kaplan Andreas (2018) A School is a Building that Has 4 Walls - with Tomorrow Inside: Toward the
Reinvention of the Business School, Business Horizons, 61(4).
• Kaplan Andreas (2018) Towards a Theory of European Business Culture: The Case of Management Education
at the ESCP Europe Business School, in Suder Gabriele, Riviere Monica, Lindeque Johan (eds.), The Routledge
Companion to European Business, Routledge, 113-124.
• Kaplan Andreas (2014) European Management and European Business Schools: Insights from the History of
Business Schools, European Management Journal, 32(4), 529-534.
4. Classification of Business Schools
Culture (Europe - US)
Independent of their actual (physical) location, business schools can be
classified according to whether they follow the European or the US model
Compass (international/global – regional/local)
Business schools can be classified along a continuum, with international/
global schools on one end and regional/ local schools on the other
Capital (public – private)
Business schools can either be publicly (state) funded or privately funded, for
example through endowments or tuition fees
Content (teaching – research)
Business school can be classified according to whether a school considers
teaching or research to be its primary focus
Kaplan Andreas (2018) “A School is a Building that Has 4 Walls - with Tomorrow Inside”:
Toward the Reinvention of the Business School, Business Horizons.
5. Sources
1. Andreas Kaplan (2018) A School is a Building that Has 4 Walls -
with Tomorrow Inside: Toward the Reinvention of the Business
School, Business Horizons, 61(4).
2. Andreas M. Kaplan (2018) Towards a Theory of European
Business Culture: The Case of Management Education at the
ESCP Europe Business School, in Suder Gabriele, Riviere Monica,
Lindeque Johan (eds.), The Routledge Companion to European
Business, Routledge, 113-124.
3. Andreas Kaplan (2014) European Management and European
Business Schools: Insights from the History of Business Schools,
European Management Journal, 32(4), 529-534.
