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policy & reform software, data analytical capabilities, technologies and languages that enhance the implementation of opportunities. Businesses need to constantly update systems, processes and governance practices. Hence, this fourth element needs to be embedded in the new business curriculum, which should require students to continuously reflect on their need to‘ update’ their knowledge, skills and capabilities.
The next element is‘ socialise’, and this capability is significant for an organisation’ s survival. Therefore, a student’ s capability to explore and embrace new opportunities needs to be developed. In the contemporary business curriculum, this generic skill is taught within the rubric of‘ communication skills’ in a range of business subjects. Communication skills are incorporated in delivery of subjects through group and individual presentations and report writing. Innovative businesses’ education requires broader communication skills, and in the THRUST framework they are termed‘ social’ skills. For example, in an innovative business curriculum, this would include communicating with international clients and partners requiring a range of abilities across various languages, cultures and social norms. Business students need to be developing capabilities to deal with such diverse settings throughout their educational experience.
The final element is‘ transform’ and this refers to developing students’ abilities to change the way that business is conducted. Transformation includes exploring new investment opportunities, internationalisation, merger and acquisition strategies, and selling a successful business to commence a new venture. Business transformation also encompasses responding to digital disruption and other forces transforming markets and organisations.
The proposed THRUST framework represents a paradigm shift towards a new business curriculum that addresses building the capabilities of students in a range of transaction events rather than focusing on subject-specific skills and generic skills in each subject. The THRUST framework is better able to support an innovative business culture than the traditional academic disciplinary model of business education.
Overall, the future business education curriculum needs to concentrate on developing capabilities required to start up, run and transform businesses, and these capabilities are best developed in students outside the traditional academic disciplinedefined subjects characterising the traditional business curriculum.
In the present system of business education, learning outcomes are claimed to have been achieved through incorporating skills in specific subjects. A specific business subject may concentrate on‘ communication’ skills through oral presentation and / or written report writing, while another subject may include‘ teamwork’ as a learning outcome, assessing how students perform in a team environment. While all of these traditional learning outcomes are significant to start up, run and transform a business, concentrating on 2 – 4 learning outcomes in each subject does not facilitate continuous reflection on all of these outcomes that are required in a real-world business setting. Therefore, under the proposed THRUST model of business education, it is recommended that business educators structure the curriculum around the phases of business development and then introduce specific subjects that facilitate each stage of the business development and adaption cycle.
A way forward is encouraging students to set up a simulated business with scenarios affecting the business. These scenarios may include changes in the economic environment, financial modelling, demandsupply variances, change in accounting standards and numerous other variations in the market, regulatory or social conditions. Further, an innovative business curriculum will require students to work on broad projects such as starting up, running and transforming their simulated business throughout each of the years of their undergraduate study. Over the course of their degree more complicated scenarios would be added at higher levels, such as mergers and acquisitions in the final year of the program.
In the proposed THRUST model of innovative business education, students will be required to continuously reflect and develop their expected learning outcomes aligned to different stages of business development and corporate life cycle. If such a curriculum is adopted by Australian higher education providers, this will facilitate the creation of a new generation of business leaders and thinkers who will be better able to support the innovation required to ensure Australia remains a globally competitive economy throughout the 21st century. ■
Dr Bikram Chatterjee is a senior lecturer at the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Waikato. Ian Eddie is a professor at the School of Business & Tourism, Southern Cross University.
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