Stagnant or growing: Can management sciences evolve beyond known business challenges?

Abstract

As global markets embark on some serious introspection after the global crisis of 2008, many business decision makers are asking "How did this happen?" What has become clear, however, is that we are stumbling from one business crisis to another. First it was corporate scandals such as Enron, Parmalat and Fidentia. Then came the financial crisis and the dire straits of, inter alia, Merrill Lynch, RBS, and Lehmann Brothers. Luckily, perhaps, it is not known what and when the next crisis will be. What is certain is that it will come. This begs the question: does business ever learn from what has gone before?