A social contract with business as the basis for a postmodern MBA in a world of inclusive globalisation

Abstract

This article reviews the book "A Social Contract With Business as the Basis for a Postmodern MBA in a World of Inclusive Globalisation," by Jopie Coetzee. The last two decades have been filled with robust criticism of MBA education. These critiques have ranged from Henry Mintzberg’s condemnation of the MBA as a 1908 degree with a 1950s strategy to the late Sumantra Ghoshal’s fundamental assertion that the theories academics teach in business schools lie at the root of what is wrong with management education (Mintzberg, 2004; Ghoshal, 2005). The scope and depth of the criticism leaves little room for yet another book condemning MBA education. To its credit and my surprise, A Social Contract with Business as the Basis for a Postmodern MBA in a World of Inclusive Globalisation, moves beyond the critique discourse to propose a transformative MBA degree underpinned by a new social contract between society and business.