Abstract Catherine CORON

Catherine CORON (CREW, Université Panthéon-Assas): « British Business Schools’ Governance : Promoting Free Enterprise or Entrepreneurship Values ?».

During the last decades British business schools’ governance has gone through a process of deep evolution so as to adapt to various factors which were active both in the short and the long run. Among these, let’s mention for instance the recent economic crisis, economic and knowledge supply globalization, and finally the increasing use of new information technologies in higher education which compelled these institutions to adapt to the demand and to reorganize in order to remain competitive and to absorb innovation.

These changes have been justified by the concern to move towards more democracy as well as transparency from decision-making authorities. However, the context of liberalism they were framed in also left its trademarks and we may wonder whether British business schools did not become even more elitist and more focused towards promoting free enterprise values than any type of entrepreneurial dynamism. The study of the new deal in terms of power distribution, and more particularly decision-taking process within these institutions as well as the new organisation of their governance structures will enable us to find some elements of answer to this question.

The necessity to release annual and financial reports illustrates the influence of the financial and economic sphere as well as that of the model of liberal capitalism. The aim of this article will be first to identify the innovative characteristics of the main changes. Then, these evolutions will be examined in the light of governance functionalist theory as Gérard Charreaux showed in his February 2002 article « Quelle théorie pour la gouvernance ? De la gouvernance actionnariale à la gouvernance cognitive », http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/LEG/wp/010401.PDF, that it could be applied to academic institutions. So, the central question will be to try to find out if the notions of entrepreneurship education and innovation which are part and parcel of the entrepreneurial process were able to overcome those of profitability and efficiency promoted by the financial markets and whether it corresponds to an Anglo-Saxon cultural specificity.