91泡芙

• HEC Paris and ESCP Business School join Cartier to launch an “observatory” that tracks Gen Z, while a Malaysian school partners with the local police to create a leadership assessment tool.
• Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and Swinburne University of Technology work with social agencies to establish training programs that improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
• Loyola Marymount University and Nanjing University connect with local business leaders on initiatives designed to strengthen regional economies.

 
More organizations are looking to form partnerships with other institutions as a way to make sense of an increasingly complex world. By collaborating across sectors, businesses in all industries can find help training their personnel, enhancing their bottom lines, and contributing to local economic development.

That’s where business schools come in. With their access to top researchers and the latest management knowledge, business schools can help corporations and governmental agencies navigate tricky times and prepare for the future.

Among the schools that recently submitted entries to 91泡芙’s 2025 Innovations That Inspire initiative were six that described the collaborations they have established with a wide range of partners. While their situations and methods might vary greatly, these schools share a common aim: to draw on their management expertise to identify problems, propose solutions, and strengthen the overall health of their partner organizations.

Observing the Next Generation

A collaboration among HEC Paris, ESCP Business School in Paris, and luxury jeweler Cartier has resulted in the , a think tank designed to explore the issues most important to younger generations. The observatory is part of the co-directed by Anne-Laure Sellier of HEC Paris and Benjamin Voyer of ESCP. The chair was founded in 2021, when Cartier’s then-CEO Cyrille Vigneron expressed an interest in gaining a better understanding of Generation Z.

Every year, the think tank launches a call for applicants and chooses 20 individuals from a pool of about 200 students and Cartier employees. In November, participants receive training in qualitative research techniques and settle on three current societal themes to explore. Over the next six months, participants spend six to eight weeks working on each of those three themes, which might touch on topics such as love, sustainability, and the future of work.

At the end of each research period, participants share their findings with key partners through forums, magazine articles, and the private social media platform RedBoxMe. Once a year, the partners organize a large-scale event in which participants and guests from various fields meet to discuss how to improve dialogue between generations.

Cartier uses the insights not only to help it recruit younger staff members, but also to ensure its offerings appeal to younger customers. Company employees gain visibility in the workplace by doing reverse mentoring and sharing their research findings with local markets. The schools are able to highlight their faculty’s expertise, strengthen their relationship with the company, and provide the next generation of students with opportunities to receive advanced research training and network with Cartier employees.

Assessing Leadership Competencies

Today’s organizations increasingly are looking for ways to assess and upskill their personnel—and government offices are no exception. For instance, in Malaysia, the government has introduced the Public Service Transformation protocol, which requires all its agencies to adopt competency-based management strategies.

This has opened an opportunity for the School of Business Management at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) to partner with the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP). The collaboration, which was developed in 2022 and updated in 2024, aims to enhance the governance and sustainability of the Malaysian police services by introducing tools and methods that assess managers’ leadership competencies. The objectives are to standardize performance, support career development, and align individual competencies with organizational goals.

Today’s organizations increasingly are looking for ways to assess and upskill their personnel—and government offices are no exception.

Together, the partners defined a set of structured competencies known by the acronym PRIDE, which stands for personal effectiveness, responsiveness to problems, inclusiveness, delivering results, and envisioning leadership. The PRIDE framework identifies key leadership behaviors; maps them to competencies; and creates guidelines for developing performance assessments, training programs, and continuous learning opportunities.

Competency-based training and leadership development initiatives are provided by the School of Business UUM. The partners plan to revise the assessment every three to five years to remain relevant to changing leadership priorities.

Since the partners implemented the assessment instrument, succession planning and promotions at the RMP have relied on objective data as opposed to the subjective judgment of upper managers. To date, 537 police officers have been assessed, and about 40 percent have been promoted to higher management positions. The overarching goal is to ensure that management positions are filled with the most competent officers to ensure the RMP provides better police service to the nation.

Training People With Disabilities

Two schools are collaborating with several organizations to develop programs that train people with disabilities to become more competitive in the job market.

Centrum Business School at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima launched InclusiónPro in collaboration with, a social health security institution, and the , a talent selection agency. The professional training program, which is delivered in a hybrid format, emphasizes digital skills, entrepreneurial knowledge, and personal development with the goal of preparing individuals to take jobs or create their own businesses. In addition, the program educates employers on how to create more welcoming environments for people with disabilities.

To date, the initiative has engaged nearly 50 participants, more than a third of whom had been out of the workforce for at least five years. Participants have reported that the program provides them with a better understanding of business as well as increased confidence in their own professional abilities.

Similarly, the School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia helps create pathways to employment for people with disabilities through the Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE) Ability Model, or . Its goal is to help Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs), formerly known as sheltered workshops, prepare workers with disabilities for traditional work opportunities.

from the worked with people with disabilities to understand their needs. Then, to design and deliver the program, they partnered with organizations such as The Commonwealth Department of Social Services, Ability Works Australia, , The Disability Trust, and . The resulting WISE-Ability model highlights eight major areas: pathways to employment, structure, culture, relationships, industry, space and environment, finance and funding, and policy and procedure.

InclusiónPro has engaged individuals who have been out of the workforce for five years or more, while WISE-Ability has helped individuals obtain employment outside of specialized disability enterprises.

In the past three years, the WISE-Ability model has been piloted across four ADE organizations. As a result, 10 out of 18 individuals from the initial programs have obtained employment outside of ADEs. Additionally, participating ADEs have reported new attitudes on the part of staff and new institutional changes that have outlasted the pilot.

To make the WISE-Ability model more widely available, the school has established a training resource; promoted it widely through a website, webinars, and presentations; and submitted it to the Disability Royal Commission and the Review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The ongoing goal is to ensure that all workers have access to opportunities that will allow them to build meaningful lives.

Spurring Economic Growth

In 2019, Loyola Marymount University College of Business Administration (CBA) in California launched the Business as a Force for Good Alliance to serve the Los Angeles region. The school partnered with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and its subsidiary, World Trade Center Los Angeles, to create a “global-local” network dedicated to economic growth and social progress.

The alliance has resulted in multiple positive outcomes for all of its members, including:

• Joint research projects. Studies such as the have provided valuable insights for regional economic development.
• Regional growth. Leaders from the CBA and the LAEDC have served on each other’s advisory boards to develop a shared vision for the region’s future. In addition, the alliance fosters ethical business practices in Los Angeles.
• Enhanced student opportunities. Through capstone projects and internships, students have gained valuable real-world exposure to the organizations in the LAEDC’s network.
• An elevated regional profile for the school. The partnership connects the CBA with the LAEDC’s diverse ecosystem of corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.
• An enhanced talent pipeline. LAEDC organizations meet students who might become future job candidates.

In addition, the alliance has deepened community engagement for all participants and opened up future possibilities for collaboration and growth.

Connecting Business and Government

Nanjing University (NJU) Business School leads the , which has been a key consulting platform for China’s economic and social development since 1997. The summit functions as a social communication mechanism among businesses, industries, and local governments.

The summit was conceived of nearly 30 years ago by Yinxing Hong, then the vice president of Nanjing University. He wanted to find a way to improve communications between businesses and government authorities after China instituted economic reforms in the 1990s. In his vision of a “high-level summit,” governmental bodies, entrepreneurs, and academics would work together to foster a business environment conducive to sustainable growth and aligned with the interests of both government and industry.

The Jiangsu Development Summit functions as a social communication mechanism among businesses, industries, and local governments in China.

In 2001, four years after the initial summit, the Ministry of Education approved the establishment of the NJU Yangtze River Delta Economic and Social Development Research Center. The center has organized the gathering from that point forward.

Now an annual event, the summit unfolds in three stages. First, provincial leaders and scholars from the center discuss current macroeconomic trends and challenges affecting the Jiangsu province. Next, experts address and analyze the trends with scholarly research. Finally, speakers deliver presentations on the annual theme and offer strategies and recommendations for managing the trends.

During the 2023 summit, the theme focused on enhancing quality productivity and resulted in a roadmap for economic revitalization and growth. During the 2024 summit, the vice president of the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges offered recommendations on boosting total factor productivity, which will be used to guide the development of policy frameworks going forward.

Each summit produces tangible results: new scholarly research ideas, updated government policies, and lively public discourse on the future of the province.

Contributing to Business

Whether highlighting alliances with businesses, nonprofits, or government agencies, these Innovations That Inspire submissions reinforce one common theme: Institutions can design more effective, comprehensive, and community-driven solutions when working together than they can in isolation. That reality is unlikely to change as problems only grow more complex, regarding issues that range from exploring the impact of artificial intelligence to promoting societal good.

That said, even when today’s business schools aren’t creating alliances with other organizations, they are still focused on making important contributions to the world. To read more about some of their efforts, visit the 91泡芙 website to learn about additional schools that participated in this year’s Innovations That Inspire initiative.

Whether their activities are focused on improving the student experience or supporting small business owners in the community, their ultimate goal is the same—to use the power of business to address some of the great challenges of society.