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Creating an innovative business curriculum
The THRUST framework is better able to support an innovative business culture than the traditional academic model of business education.
By Bikram Chatterjee and Ian Eddie
Business innovation is the fundamental driver for improving the efficiency, performance and sustainability of the Australian economy. In order to support a culture of business innovation, a new approach to business education is urgently required.
The present business education framework is based on modular delivery of subjects designed around academic discipline areas. This framework needs to be redesigned to facilitate a learning culture that supports business innovation and is embedded from the foundation years of the business education curriculum.
STEM subjects( science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are significant enablers for business innovation, but they need to be supported by THRUST( think, harness, run, update, socialise, transform) to empower business startups and the commercialisation of new ideas.
The transformation of business education based on the THRUST paradigm involves the following elements.
First, future business education needs to attach significance to‘ think’ from the foundation stage, and then it is necessary to ensure that critical analytical thinking is embedded in all subsequent stages of the curriculum.‘ Think’ is fundamental to THRUST because it equips students with the capacity to critically explore opportunities and establish new ventures. The business curriculum needs to restructure and embed a successful startup culture based on developing ideas, exploring alternatives, developing strategies and planning as the foundation of managerial capabilities. Hence, the new curriculum needs to commence by building critical analytical‘ thinking’ as the foundation learning outcome, and this needs to be further developed throughout the new business curriculum.
In the innovative business curriculum, the second element‘ harness’ encompasses the ideas of nurturing and encouraging innovation to explore alternatives, develop business plans and gain experience setting up a simulated startup business.‘ Harness’ needs to be a continuous part of the innovative business curriculum wherein facilitators nurture new ideas, provide feedback and aid in incorporating ideas as the simulated business is established and operations are managed through the startup phase.
‘ Run’, the third element in the innovative business curriculum, refers to developing capabilities to manage the daily operations of the business, including data processing and record keeping, planning and budgeting, measuring variances and taking corrective action, such as when variances are high and / or adapting to changes in the external and internal environment of the organisation, including production and service capacity, economic and legal environment, and the global context.
The fourth element,‘ update’, is significant for business students to continuously update their knowledge, which may include new
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