Strategy means choice: also for today's business school!

Purpose – To share some key strategic paradigms for business schools with leading educators, academic administrators and executives. Design/methodology/approach – The article is normative. The normative propositions and conclusions are drawn from the research done for the author's monograph New Vision for Management Education: Leadership Challenges . A number of case studies are reported, as well as an inductive study of IMD. Findings – There is a need to focus on growth niches, such as executive education rather than MBA, undergraduate or PhD education. Research limitations/implications – Limitations include the lack of a large‐scale database established from rigorously compiled survey data, and the lack of parametric/non‐parametric statistical analysis. Practical implications – Leading business schools must be demand‐oriented, must listen to customers‐cum‐executives and corporations, should undertake research that points towards thought leadership, and should work with the business world through lifelong learning networks. Originality/value – The article draws on IMD's strategy, implicitly and explicitly, and builds on experiences tried out there. IMD's strategy is unique. The paper also reports on unique, new thinking on strategy‐setting and key priorities for business schools and academic institutions.