Copenhagen Business School is one of the world’s largest and most renowned business schools. By incorporating subjects such as philosophy, history, political science, psychology, and languages, the school has become a role model for other business schools around the world that seek to accommodate the increasing demand for social relevance and responsibility.
Things have not always been this way. Since its humble beginnings in 1917, the school has had to fight for recognition. For decades, the academic community viewed it as a trade school in the pocket of the business community, while the business community felt that it offered programs that were too theoretical and unworldly. This led to dramatic confrontations over the hiring of professors and the professors’ scholarly freedom and a constant struggle for adequate financing.
The story of CBS is also a story of the changes in Danish business life and in Danish society that continually altered the demands for competencies in business and in the public sector. CBS’s constant resolve to live up to these demands has not always been a quiet process, as the management and staff have sometimes disagreed on the path to be followed—but not the ultimate goals.
This book highlights CBS’s development from a small and unassuming business school to the international institution of today.
