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91��ɫ’s Global Online MBA ranks first in the world for alumni salaries

Shamita Harsh — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:15:24 +0000

91��ɫ’s Global Online MBA ranks first in the world for alumni salaries

Shamita Harsh Mon, 14/04/2025 - 10:15

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16 March 2026 News

91��ɫ’s Global Online MBA ranks first in the world for alumni salaries

16 March 2026

91��ɫ Business School has once again been recognised as one of the world’s leading providers of online business education, with its Global Online MBA ranked second globally and first in the UK in the latest Financial Times Online MBA Ranking. This year’s result is particularly notable as the ranking has expanded from 15 schools last year to 20 institutions globally.

The programme also rose to first place worldwide for salary three years after graduation, with alumni reporting an average salary of $253,733. The School retained its position as first in the world for international faculty, while the proportion of female students improved significantly, rising to sixth place globally from twelfth last year. 91��ɫ also strengthened its position in the FT’s research ranking, moving up to second place from third.

These indicators reflect the Business School’s commitment to combining rigorous academic research with an inclusive and globally connected learning environment.

The Global Online MBA is designed for ambitious professionals seeking to develop leadership skills while continuing their careers. Delivered part-time through 91��ɫ’s dedicated digital learning platform, the programme blends cutting-edge technology with collaborative, interactive learning.

Within this online environment, a diverse global cohort engages with world-class faculty and industry experts. The platform integrates lectures, discussions, simulations and group projects, encouraging students to challenge established thinking and apply insights to real-world business challenges.

The Financial Times ranking is based largely on alumni outcomes, including salary progression, career development and overall satisfaction with the programme. As a result, the achievements of 91��ɫ’s Global Online MBA reflect not only the strength of the curriculum but also the success of its graduates.

Responses to the FT’s alumni survey highlighted the calibre, career progress and professional impact of 91��ɫ graduates. Their achievements continue to strengthen the programme’s global reputation and reinforce its position among the world’s leading online MBA offerings.

The results demonstrate the value of sustained investment in digital learning innovation. The Global Online MBA represents a key element of 91��ɫ’s strategy to expand access to high-quality business education through flexible, technology-enabled teaching.

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2 minute read

Strategic Connections: Key Insights from Our Employer Forum

Nathaniel Ayres — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 15:24:55 +0000

Strategic Connections: Key Insights from Our Employer Forum

Nathaniel Ayres Tue, 04/03/2025 - 15:24

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Careers

I'm Sarah Cook, the Director of Employer Relations at 91��ɫ Business School. My team and I are dedicated to forging powerful connections between our outstanding MBA and MSc students and top-tier organizations, ensuring our graduates land career opportunities that make the most of their talent and expertise.

Every year we get together with our key employer partners at our Employer Forum, sharing trends, insights and tips for attracting talent, getting great speed to value, and meeting expectations on both sides.

Event Highlights: Dialogue and Discovery

We were privileged to host representatives from an impressive array of companies, including Accenture, Amazon, HSBC AM, L.E.K. Consulting, Richemont, TikTok, and many more. Attendance demonstrated strong and diverse demand for 91��ɫ talent across numerous sectors and a key highlight for many of these employers each year is the opportunity to hear directly from our students participating in our MSc and MBA panels.

What really stood out was hearing directly from the student panels. The students’ honesty and insight into what motivates them, how they navigate the recruitment process (especially using AI), and what they truly value in an employer were incredibly useful in informing our hiring processes. Last year, one of the panellists made such a strong impression that we ended up hiring them!
Anna Walsh, Henkel.

Many thanks to our panellists on being a consistent highlight. Our MSc students included Itai Dzinotyiwei (Finance), Grace Gubbay (Climate Change, Management, and Finance), Hari Kandiah (Management), Chandler Liu (Strategic Marketing), and Yasmin Ryan (Global Health Management). Our MBA panellists included Riya Shaha, David Driskell, Reika Taura, and Arshween Kaur.

This is also a great opportunity for our work and strategy to be influenced directly by our employer partners. Through facilitated sessions with representatives from the Careers Consultant and Employer Relatoins teams, as well as a shdowcase from IDEA Lab we were able to share and capture insights from employer partners.

It was a valuable opportunity to connect with industry professionals and hear about the fantastic initiatives at 91��ɫ Business School to stay aligned with evolving market needs, both for educational and professional purposes.
Ramtin Amintafreshi, Unison Investments.

Key trends

Beyond Technical Skills: Employers consistently emphasized "soft skills" like communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and resilience. They seek adaptable candidates who contribute strategically across functions in dynamic environments.
People Skills in the rise of AI: These soft skills were especially important with the rise of AI, both in the recruitment process and in the workplace. Ability to use AI would be key in the workplace but recruiters shared that they could tell when AI was used significantly in application or interview. And once again face-to-face networking was highlighted as a great way to make connections that cut through and be memorable for future opportunities.
Thriving in the Evolving Workplace: The rise of hybrid and flexible models demands strong self-management and digital collaboration. Our digitally savvy graduates are perfectly positioned to excel.
The Power of Diverse & Inclusive Teams: A strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) was evident, with companies actively seeking talent from all backgrounds. They recognize diverse perspectives drive innovation—a principle deeply embedded at 91��ɫ.

Direct from the Source: Employer and Student Advice

We captured candid insights from both employers and students. Recruiters stressed the value of connections, with one sharing, "Referrals are gold; they fast-track our hiring process. Network relentlessly." Another advised, "Make yourself memorable. Tell recruiters something specific about you." A key challenge employers face was also highlighted: "We're seeing a lack of patience for immediate responsibility. Resilience and adaptability in ambiguity are more critical than ever. Be resourceful!"

Our students also shared their thoughts. One urged, "Offer us a chance to demonstrate our value before discussing right-to-work." Another expressed a clear desire: "We want the opportunity to show you how we can impact your business quickly." Reinforcing London's appeal, a student noted, "London is a top destination for us."

These insights offer a powerful roadmap for your career journey as an 91��ɫ student:

Cultivate Patience & Resilience: Recognize that significant responsibility comes with consistent value and adaptability. Focus on making an impact from day one.

Lead with Value: Make a strong first impression by highlighting your specific skills and enthusiasm, showcasing your potential upfront. Understand how your unique background strengthens diverse teams and be ready to articulate this value.

Sharpen Adaptive Skills: Actively seek opportunities within your program and extracurriculars to hone your communication, collaboration, and strategic problem-solving. Refine your digital collaboration and self-management.

Lastly, Quantify Your Impact and clearly articulate how your projects and experiences translate into demonstrable skills and tangible results. Our Career Consultants can support you with this and offer expertise to you during your job search.

Our team is dedicated to fortifying 91��ɫ Business School's employer partnerships, opening doors to exceptional opportunities for our students. I strongly encourage you to leverage these insights as you build your career.

Jobs and Labour

4 minute read

"No jobs are safe from AI, but some are safer than others": Professor of Practice David Shrier on the future of work

David Shrier — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

"No jobs are safe from AI, but some are safer than others": Professor of Practice David Shrier on the future of work

David Shrier Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

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The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has left the workplace in flux. Many of those already in the workforce fear for the future of their roles, while those about to enter it are told they need to be skilled at using the latest technology to make themselves attractive to employers.

Amid all this career anxiety, research shows that while 85 million jobs will be displaced by 2025, 97 million new roles will simultaneously emerge, representing a net positive job creation of 12 million positions globally.

Across the entire economy, generative AI will have a profound impact, leveraging 32 per cent of each job’s function on average to boost productivity.

So, what do business school students need to know when considering their future careers, and how do they ensure they're ready for the workplace transformation already underway? Here, 91��ɫ Business School's Professor of Practice, AI & Innovation, David Shrier reveals all.

The sectors that need a human touch

Unsurprisingly, safer sectors include those that require a talent for building relationships, as well as professions where you need to show empathy, judgement, communication and creativity. Or else, where some level of physical expertise is necessary.

Both hospitality and events are projected to grow globally in the next few years, driven in part by a reaction to the rise in technology and the desire for real life experiences.

As energy security looms large, the transition to clean energy and soaring energy demands from data centres will fuel a long-lasting need for qualified energy experts, technicians and engineers – particularly those who can work with systems to optimise the electricity grid and secure supply. Similarly, jobs in defence technologies will continue to expand amid turbulent geopolitics.

Meanwhile, there’s an enduring and worldwide dearth of cybersecurity skills, with nearly five million jobs unfilled at a global level. The complex and highly specialised nature of this field means these are hard posts to fill.

It's also worth considering manufacturing sectors, which are less exposed to AI disruption than professional services.

The jobs under threat

Work that requires high-level thinking and intelligence appears to be the most prone to upheaval thanks to AI, according to an analysis of some 800 occupations across 160 million jobs.

These are typically the professions that pay more than $100,000 a year, such as high value-added roles within professional services including law, finance and business consultancy.

As an example, logistics used to be a high paying, valued profession that required heavy cognitive lifting, but today it can be done more easily and cheaply by a computer. But while backroom functions can be easily automated, the hands-on labour of a builder or warehouse worker is often too complex to replace.

The big rewards for future business leaders

If businesses can deploy AI in the most effective way, the return on investment is huge – far higher than if they simply replace humans with AI, which is the worst way to use it.

Companies that can figure out how to augment employees’ performance using of AI tools could see a return on investment of up to 200 per cent. This requires often painful changes but avoids large scale layoffs.

There’s an even greater prize, and one we encourage students to test within the safe confines of 91��ɫ’s classrooms. This is working alongside AI as an equal to create something we call symbiotic intelligence, which can give a massive return on investment of up to 2,000 per cent.

If that sounds improbable, consider an example of a business founder who leveraged a host of AI agents and tools to create telehealth business Medvi, which generated around $400 million in its first year with just two employees. While questions have been raised about some of Medvi’s business practices, that shouldn’t distract from the proof of concept it offers around operating leverage on AI systems. We will see more of this. Rather than treating AI as a tool for automation or efficiency, the founder can use creativity and judgement to build a business around the emerging capabilities of the new technologies.

Can you really future proof your career?

Students can actively seek to be "AI ready": to be an employee who uses AI to improve their performance rather than replaced by it. If they can learn to work symbiotically with AI, they will dramatically outperform those who can’t. Just as a novelist requires language literacy, students need AI literacy, but also the judgement to deploy it.

This comes from hands on experience. At 91��ɫ we embed AI directly within the curriculum and we’ll encourage students to experiment, by building an AI native company, for example.

University gives students the freedom and space to experiment beyond the glare of performance reviews. Much has been made of the high failure rate of AI pilots within businesses – up to 95 per cent, according to one report. In my view, that’s not high enough. You need a reframe: this is innovation exploration, not "failure". Thomas Edison famously said he’d never failed but had instead discovered "10,000 ways that didn’t work" before successfully creating a lightbulb.

Tips for success

Efforts to build your innovation skills will never be wasted. Even if you’re not starting a business, you’ll need to reskill and reorient yourself rapidly to stay current.
Purposefully lean in to the skills that distinguish our humanity such as emotional intelligence, teamwork, empathy – the kind of skills AI doesn’t do well.
Experiment with AI tools to find more than productivity gains.
Build your fundamental sales skills. Neglected from many top tier MBA programmes, these are offered at 91��ɫ. Being able to sell even in a tough market will always add value.

At 91��ɫ, we embrace rather than dismiss AI, teaching students the skills necessary to navigate the turbulent contemporary workplace.

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Why business leaders should force employees to use AI

Jiankun Sun — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Why business leaders should force employees to use AI

Jiankun Sun Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

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Article at a glance:

Forcing staff to use AI helps them overcome instinctive mistrust of the technology, finds Dr Jiankun Sun in new research from 91��ɫ.
When staff are forced to use AI for a short trial period, they tend to continue using it even after the trial ends.
Learning is key to sustained use of AI among employees, as it allows them to develop a comprehensive, unbiased understanding of its performance.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is sweeping through the commercial world, with 88% of companies reporting regular use in at least one function. This is, though, a wave of enthusiasm largely driven by business leaders. Among employees there remains significant scepticism and a lack of enthusiasm about adopting AI.

However, this is something of a chicken-and-egg problem. AI’s impact on productivity can only increase if the technology develops and improves. But this improvement relies on user-generated data through broad adoption and sustained usage, which employees are reluctant to embrace. So how can businesses and leaders encourage employees to make more use of AI and overcome what is known as ‘algorithm aversion’?

Negative bias

Our research explores this question, in particular the potential benefits of mandating the use of AI – in other words, forcing employees to use AI tools in order to help them understand their benefits, learn how to use them productively, and embed continued use to help AI improve. To test this, we worked with an online education company using an AI algorithm to help salespeople select candidates for leads (i.e. matching teachers with students), aiming to maximise post-trial conversion.

Prior to our experiment the company found that the algorithm, despite being designed to maximise sales conversion rates, was underutilised by staff. They tended to use it for low-stakes leads that were less likely to be converted, trusting their tried-and-tested manual processes for higher-importance leads.

We found that a key driver for this was employees’ inherent negative bias against AI, especially at the early stage when the technology is newly introduced to them and they lack knowledge about its capabilities. This creates a vicious cycle, which often goes unnoticed in practice, where negativity means AI is used selectively for low-importance work, which makes its performance appear poor, which reinforces the negative beliefs. This is at the heart of why algorithm aversion persists and deepens over time.

Forcing and learning

We found that forcing workers to use the AI tool increased their post-experiment use of it by almost 16% compared to the control group – a significant rise. What’s more, this held true across staff members with different pre-experiment usage levels, and did not drop over time.

We also observed that among those who were forced to use the AI tool, the ones that experienced a greater uptick in sales conversions during the experiment tended to be more likely to use it going forward, which was not the case in the control group. After the experiment, those in the forced group were also more likely to use AI for high-quality leads compared to beforehand.

Why did this happen? We found that learning is a key mechanism to break the vicious cycle. Forcing workers to use AI across all types of leads allows them to develop a more comprehensive and less biased understanding of its performance. They then realise that rather than performing worse than manual selection, AI performance is actually comparable or possibly even superior. This builds trust and encourages employees to continue using AI voluntarily even after the forced trial period is over.

Lessons for leaders

Our findings suggest that staff tend to have a negative bias against using AI tools from a cold start, as they lack faith in their capabilities, and are more likely to use them for low-stakes work. Forcing staff to make use of AI tools for more important, high-stakes tasks can help to overcome this bias.

In the long term, this can help to move from a vicious cycle of negativity to a positive loop through data network effects. Broader adoption generates more diverse usage data, which enables AI to improve, which encourages further adoption. This is important because AI requires usage data to evolve, and – as AI is capable of improving at a pace faster than humans – this creates the possibility of genuinely AI-integrated organisations.

In turn, this is important for leaders concerned about the return on investment in AI technology. Sinking funds into functionality that nobody takes advantage of is a nightmare scenario for businesses. Understanding that a forced-use trial period can start a sector on the road to high-level AI integration removes this problem and opens up a future of ever-increasing efficiencies through improved AI tools.

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Employees may be willing to use AI for everyday tasks, but many are resistant to adopting it for important work when there is more to lose. New research shows a short period of forced use can help overcome this reticence

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Who decided what ambition looks like?

Poornima Luthra — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Who decided what ambition looks like?

Poornima Luthra Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

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Article at a glance

Women do not lack ambition. Dr Poornima Luthra explains that workplaces are still structured in ways that make career progression hard to sustain.

As a result, women are redefining ambition on their own terms, with many turning to entrepreneurship rather than climbing the corporate ladder.

The sheer volume of women leaving their jobs should serve as a wake-up call.
Businesses must rethink how “ambition” and “success” are defined by evaluating their workplace systems and cultures to make sure talent is not being lost due to poorly designed systems.

"Ambition” and “success” need redefining

Women do not lack ambition, as the 2025 Women in the Workplace McKinsey & Company report concludes. But there is a cost to success which has prompted many women to leave the workforce. Ambition is about growth and challenge; it's a personal driver which reflects our individuality.

A recent CNN Business report found that almost half a million women had left their jobs in the US between January and October in 2025 for reasons ranging from poor work-life balance, the cost and challenges of accessing childcare and toxic workplace cultures.

These pressures reflect a deeper structural issue: many workplaces were not designed with diverse career paths or life circumstances in mind.

As a result, many women are turning to entrepreneurship. Women are now starting nearly half of the businesses in the US, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. A 2024 Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Business Report cites the number of women-owned businesses increasing at nearly double the rate of male-owned businesses between 2019 and 2023. Choosing entrepreneurship doesn’t signal lower ambition. It often signals the opposite — ambition on one’s own terms.

When organisations fail to support diverse forms of ambition, they risk losing talented employees.

Why is this a business problem

The sheer volume of women leaving their jobs should serve as a wake-up call to business leaders. Many organisations are still largely run by men, and gender biases, both subtle and explicit, continue to shape workplace culture. When organisations fail to support diverse forms of ambition, they risk losing talented employees.

How business leaders can redefine ambition and success

We need to make both cultural and organisational changes, with a long, hard look at what ambition and success should look like. Business leaders must redefine these constructs for the workforce and next generation:

On the systems side, leaders must revisit hiring, promotion criteria, pay structures and performance evaluation. If we define ambition solely as vertical progression, we will continue to reproduce inequality and risk losing talented employees.

On the cultural side, leaders must model sustainable success. That means realistic expectations, visible boundary-setting, and rejecting the idea that heroic sacrifice equals commitment.

All leaders and team members should have the agency to challenge bias in their own teams.

Conversations about equity of opportunity must start early, in classrooms and around dining tables, as we speak to young people about success.

Before we question women’s ambition, we need to question the systems we’ve built. If the goal isn’t desirable, the cost is too high and the support isn’t there, disengagement cannot be named as a lack of ambition. It’s simply a rational response to inappropriately designed systems.

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Redesigning work: how everyday nudges can transform decision-making

Shamita Harsh — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Redesigning work: how everyday nudges can transform decision-making

Shamita Harsh Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

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Drawing on insights from her latest book Can I Say That? Dr Luthra offers a research-driven exploration of fear as an under-examined force shaping organisational behaviour. Recognised by Thinkers50 in its Top 10 Best New Management Books for 2025, the book is a go-to guide on how to navigate difficult conversations at work and nurture inclusive cultures.

Recognising the many faces of fear at work

Across more than two years of research on resistance and backlash, Dr Luthra has identified fear as the central, often unspoken, force inhibiting inclusion efforts. But fear, she emphasises, is not monolithic. It takes multiple forms: fear of change, fear of discomfort, fear of saying or doing the wrong thing, fear of personal cost, and fear of not making progress.

“Many of us are fearful of fear itself,” she notes. “Workplaces lean toward positive emotions, and difficult emotions are pushed aside. But without understanding what holds us back, we cannot move forward.”

These fears quietly distort decision-making: leaders rely on familiar hiring patterns to avoid risk and organisations double down on symbolic gestures instead of confronting root causes.

A multigeneration approach to decision making

Yet global markets now demand a fundamentally different approach. Customer bases are shifting rapidly, particularly across the Global South, where younger demographics are driving new consumer expectations. “Luxury fashion houses, for example, cater increasingly to young customers in India, China and parts of Africa,” she notes. “These groups want something very different from previous generations.”

To respond, many organisations have introduced “shadow boards” to bring younger talent into decision-making, ensuring leaders stay attuned to emerging trends.

Practices such as reverse mentoring, cross-generational representation in hiring and strategy discussions and transparent decision-making will reframe difference as strategic value.

As Dr Luthra emphasises, “Inclusion is not charity, it’s a business imperative. It yields better innovation, better market alignment and better decisions and outcomes for organisations ready to evolve.”

How employment processes need redesigning and not retrofitting

Amid increasing global resistance to EDI, many organisations feel pressure to reduce visibility or retreat entirely. Dr Luthra advises a different approach.

“This is the time to go under the radar; not to retreat, but to become more strategic,” she says. “Change the terminology if needed. Call it inclusion, belonging, well-being. But do the hard work.”

That hard work includes redesigning employment processes, implementing systemic nudges to mitigate the influence of bias, and equipping teams with tools to make equitable decisions.

“Zero-sum thinking emerges when people feel threatened,” she notes. “Systemic and cultural change reduces that threat by making inclusion feel fair, not imposed.”

Beyond fear, Dr Luthra’s upcoming research turns to a broader organisational challenge: growing polarisation.

“It’s not just EDI,” she notes. “Organisations are divided over remote work, AI adoption, sustainability targets. We are becoming stuck in debate rather than dialogue.”

Hiring for likeability is at the expense of innovation

In today’s world, traditional leadership models built on predictability and control no longer serve organisations. “We still operate in systems designed for the first and second Industrial Revolutions,” Dr Luthra explains. Under pressure to deliver short-term results, leaders often default to hiring for “fit,” reinforcing sameness at the expense of innovation.

Kenji Yoshino’s idea of “covering” refers to the unspoken need for people to “fit” in and integrate into structures and systems that were originally not built for them. Dr Luthra discusses how one can instil microaffirmations to indicate value, respect and build inclusion. This can often look like inviting people whose voices and perspectives have not been heard or whose efforts have not been made visible in the context of contributing to a business.

If there is one message Dr Luthra hopes readers take away from Can I Say That? it is deceptively simple: do not let fear hold you back. She observes: “Fear is human. But progress requires understanding it, naming it and learning to let it go.”

In a world where uncertainties multiply and systems strain under competing expectations, this mindset shift may be the foundation not only for more inclusive workplaces, but for more resilient, adaptive leadership.

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New behavioural research from Dr Poornima Luthra shows how targeted, everyday workplace behaviours can reduce bias, improve decision-making and strengthen organisational performance.

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The hidden cost of startup buzz: how founders and investors can avoid a culture of hubris

Christian Hampel — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

The hidden cost of startup buzz: how founders and investors can avoid a culture of hubris

Christian Hampel Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

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It’s the dream of many startups: grow aggressively to chase the hype and become a unicorn. However, trying to pull this off all too often turns into a nightmare for founders, employees and their stakeholders alike. Our recent study found that growth-chasing startups risk ingraining a damaging “hubristic culture” – characterised by the sense of being entitled to break rules without caring about consequences.

A hubristic culture often looks exciting to employees but actually damages the company. It leads employees to believe they can do no wrong in the pursuit of growth. This is a recipe for disaster. A report by debtors of failed crypto exchange FTX Trading, for example, blamed its collapse on “hubris, incompetence and greed” (the company’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is appealing his conviction).

Together with Elena Dalpiaz, I have studied hubristic culture in a tech startup that initially achieved hypergrowth for a few years. However, this culture led the startup to adopt harmful behaviours that hurt stakeholders and threatened its very survival until the company embarked on a major reform process. While this turnaround was a success at the time of our study’s conclusion, the company, like many others in the sector, later exited the market due to new regulatory changes. This has helped make the case for broader volatility of the industry rather than undermining the impact of cultural reform.

Red flags in startup culture

We found that one major red flag for a hubristic culture is when startups pursue growth at all costs. This is problematic because employees believe it does not matter how their growth-chasing actions affect stakeholders. Consequences of this can include: regularly letting customers down during the hypergrowth; getting ever more regulatory fines; and receiving increasingly hostile coverage on key (social) media channels.

Another major red flag for a hubristic culture is a specific type of excitement shared among the startup’s employees: what we call “antagonistic excitement”. This is the enthusiasm to operate in opposition to outside norms. For example, an employee of the tech company we studied was thrilled when masses protested the company’s rule-breaking: “we were getting attacked […] You live off that adrenaline”.

Getting excited about breaking rules and about receiving external criticism is dangerous because employees risk losing moral awareness, i.e. the ability to care about (not harming) the outside world.

How to build a sustainable startup culture

How do startups avoid the trap of a hubristic culture? First, by focusing the team on pursuing growth that can be sustained over the long-term, rather than seeking growth at all costs. This forces employees to pursue growth that fits with society because only this is sustainable over time.

Second, it’s important to banish antagonistic excitement. Whereas excitement about the startup’s mission and about any constructive plans can be very positive, what stores up trouble is fostering excitement about breaking rules and getting criticised. It’s important for startups to emphasise that, amid all the excitement, the pursuit of growth should not endanger the well-being of others.

Hubristic cultures in startups are initially intoxicating for employees but they are ultimately toxic for everyone. When startups collapse, founders, investors, employees and stakeholders are all harmed. It’s important that hyped companies fix a hubristic culture before it’s too late. This gives them the chance to build a company that will last, rather than becoming a cautionary tale for the next excitable startup.

This article draws on findings from the Journal of Business Venturing article “When Hype Collides with Morality: How Entrepreneurial Framing Affects the Behavior and Legitimacy of Hyped Ventures” by Christian E. Hampel (91��ɫ) and Elena Dalpiaz (USI Lugano).

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Grounded in new research, this article reveals the warning signs of “hubristic culture” and offers practical strategies to foster sustainable growth

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Is the West too blinkered to help frontier markets?

Tim Weiss — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:14:02 +0000

Is the West too blinkered to help frontier markets?

Tim Weiss Wed, 15/01/2025 - 12:14

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Is it time for a rethink? Why should the West impose conventional economic beliefs upon frontier markets when these economies function radically differently? It’s not as if industrialised nations hold all the answers to successful and equitable economies – as witnessed by the economic doldrums, corporate imbalances and rapid rise in socioeconomic inequality that afflict these countries today.

Arguably, the West tends to construe frontier markets – these are low to lower-middle income economies with great potential for innovation and growth – as chaotic and insecure. Frontier markets are depicted as lacking the institutional structures and systems to support markets and firm growth, or so the perceived wisdom goes. Western support in frontier markets seeks to address the deficiencies it sees for instance with formalisation, taxation, and entrepreneurship programmes.

In doing so, they are missing a rich treasure trove of solutions already at play which combat social and business problems. Frontier markets, many of which are in Africa, benefit from young, fast-growing populations and are projected to achieve substantial socio-economic progress in the decades ahead. As bustling hubs of economic activities, frontier markets, we’ve found, thrive according to their own rules.

But today, opinions differ wildly on prospects for the African continent, with the special report “The Africa Gap” from The Economist highlighting that low productivity, scant investment and too many microbusinesses are hobbling economic progress.

By contrast, analysis by McKinsey Global Institute reveals huge potential for growth and productivity across the continent, led by national success stories. A young, increasingly urban population could usher in prosperity and innovation on its own terms.

Lessons from grassroot innovations

These burgeoning economies are full of solutions to social and economic problems. And the West would do well to shift their attention away from what they believe needs fixing to supporting what is already working.

Take an example – the informal economies found within African cities which fly largely beneath the official radar. Yet, these are businesses which form the backbone of many urban livelihoods – informal economies often account for more than half of national employment. And they will become ever more significant as the population of Africa is projected to grow by 900 million in just 25 years.

We’ve studied a few of these already existing solutions, notably a cluster of what seems at first sight to be basic car repair businesses in Nairobi’s Dagoretti Corner. These are dirt-floor, metal-shed kind of businesses, and numbers have soared over two decades from a handful to more than 100, concentrated in the same area. This is surprising – conventional wisdom would have it that too many similar businesses in one location would lead to stagnation and eventual collapse.

But rather than compete directly against each other, these Kenyan car repair outfits thrive through cooperation and trust.

They offer apprenticeships for labour from the rural areas, pay into communal savings and investment pots, and even coordinate informal insurance schemes. During hard times, families of business owners will be supported by pooled resources from other car repair firms. All this happens without formalised rules and regulations. “Today it’s them,” one owner explained, “and tomorrow it will be you. You are the boss, so you have to pitch in.” Business success in this context is down to collective as well as individual effort.

But it would be easy to miss this business-driven social welfare system. In Dagoretti Corner, Western support might try to impose formalisation of businesses, taxation regimes, and entrepreneurship training. Or it might encourage businesses to differentiate their service, begin to compete or try to expand. But these interventions would risk destroying the protective, communal layer of support that helps the cluster thrive, providing employment for thousands.

Rethinking support for frontier market innovation

A sharper awareness of the solutions that already exist to social and economic problems could lead to radically different innovation pathways. Frontier markets can benefit from support that would allow them to flourish and scale – this is not an ‘anti-growth’ approach.

In the Kenyan example, rather than confronting ‘needs’, interventions could instead scale the wealth of existing solutions. In this case this might mean strengthening apprenticeships for instance - reinforcing rather than replacing what already works – or supporting informal insurance schemes and communal saving plans. Similarly, pathways to scale exist as individual businesses exit the cluster and start operating on their own. Capital injections can support risky moves that are driven by entrepreneurs themselves rather than thrust upon them.

Key to this is an appreciation of how frontier markets function. If the West only problematises frontier markets, in search of what’s missing, it won’t learn how to work with what’s already there. Without this awareness, Western support won’t be part of unlocking the huge potential for rapid socioeconomic progress as it unfolds.

Tim Weiss is highly commended in the FT Responsible Business Education Awards for his teaching on frontier markets: Teaching award: rising to the challenge.

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