From Business Administration to Business Creation: The Case of the Kalevala Global Business Creation School

Are there any businesses left to administer? The question is of course rhetorical and aimed at underscoring how several societies are more severely in need of creators of new businesses than managers of established ones. And yet, nearly all universities only produce masters of business administration, at best. Apart from theoretical research about business creation, and the education of masters of such research, universities are generally not equipped to produce knowledge for business creation or to produce masters of business creation. This conceptual article calls for a new, complementary approach to research and education, around the theme of global business creation. Due to the limitations and restrictions related to the traditions and practices of the science of business administration, where the means justify the ends, a new exploratory field coined as the “Art of Business Creation,” where the end justifies the means, is being explored for some inspiration. For a concrete solution, the concept of a globally distributed, enterprise-centric, entrepreneurial-faculty-driven, open-innovation-based, and social-media-empowered university entity is depicted in this article. It is a new-generation private-public-partnership and “Living Lab 2.0” referred to as Kalevala Global Business Creation School. The conceptualization draws from observations and action research during the Global Venture Lab Finland experiment at the University of Jyv skyl from 2007 to 2011.