Building Effective Business Partnerships

• The most impactful partnerships enrich student learning and drive business transformation through active knowledge exchange and shared growth.
• Clear role definitions and ongoing, constructive feedback between partners and faculty ensure aligned expectations and enhance the success of joint projects.
• In AACSB’s 2025 Innovations That Inspire program, business schools were recognized for building creative partnerships that embed practical industry challenges into innovative curricular and experiential learning.

 
Learn about AACSB's Innovations That Inspire program at aacsb.edu/innovations-that-inspire.

Transcript

Elodie Huré: [00:14] An effective way to begin a collaboration between a business school and a business is to start with a story, a mission to share. If you have a common mission, common vision, I think you can start a collaboration.

Amy Zeng: [00:29] As a dean, I champion all kinds of organizational partnerships, big and small. For our partnership with the Boston Celtics, we have a faculty member who is enthusiastic about the opportunity and has a great connection.

Jessica Cooley: [00:44] To really ensure success with a partnership or collaboration between a business school and a corporation, I think having a champion on both sides is key. There is a lot going on in both higher education and in corporations, so you need to find people willing to commit to the project.

Having a champion on both sides is key.

[01:04] Then, the next step would be to find a problem for the corporation that they're really trying to solve. You want to approach that relationship with a consultative mindset.

Hümeyra Adıgüzel: [01:16] A structured dialogue between business schools and businesses ensures that courses are tailored to include real-world practices while keeping academic rigor.

Joyce van der Laan: [01:30] In these partnerships, it is very important that each partner understands their responsibilities. What we ask the businesses is that they be responsive to questions and understand both the capabilities of our students and their limitations, because they are working with students.

[01:50] When we discuss the project with them during the intake process, we bring that up. We also ask that they be willing to provide the students' feedback.

To have a successful relationship between companies and business schools, it's important to create value on both sides.

[02:00] From our perspective, we agree to provide the expertise of our faculty and our students to meet project milestones, and we also agree to provide client feedback.

Huré: [02:10] To have a successful relationship between companies and business schools, I think it's important to create value on both sides. For instance, at Rennes School of Business, we had this initiative of Reverse Mentoring, and that's where we created value for both sides.

[02:29] For the industry, such as the SNCF, the National Railway Company, we offered the opportunity to rethink their traveling journeys. And for us, it was also a great opportunity to enrich the learning experiences of our students.

Arthur Perham: [02:45] A partner can benefit from our know-how of our students and teach them the industry, but can also prepare those learners to be ready to go day one once they enter the industry.