Preparing Business Graduates for Polycrisis Conditions: A Literature Synthesis on Educational Transformation

"A growing body of scholarship argues that traditional business education leaves graduates ill-prepared for interconnected global disruptions. Researchers describe this context as a “polycrisis”—multiple, simultaneous crises that interact across economic, environmental, social, and technological domains. In response, academics call for fundamental transformation in how business schools teach, design curricula, and organize their institutions. This paper synthesizes insights from 18 scholarly sources on preparing business students for a polycrisis world. The analysis highlights three interdependent domains of recommended reform. Pedagogically, scholars recommend experiential methods such as flexible planning, crisis simulations, and collaborative learning, which strengthen graduates’ critical thinking, emotional intelligence, crisis response, and collective problem-solving capabilities. Curricular reforms include integrating systems thinking, crisis leadership frameworks, stakeholder engagement theories, and transformational action models to build capacity for navigating complex adaptive systems, managing uncertainty, fostering collaborative governance, and advancing regenerative business practices. At the institutional level, research underscores the need for alignment between educational missions and organizational practices, including resisting financialization pressures, fostering external collaborations, and managing political dynamics (World Economic Forum, 2025). Taken together, these findings offer higher education leaders a roadmap for evaluating their institution’s “polycrisis readiness.” By addressing all three domains—pedagogical, curricular, and institutional—business schools can move beyond incremental adjustments and pursue the comprehensive transformation required to equip students for the challenges of a polycrisis world."