Even though the coronavirus pandemic has rendered it difficult to gather students on the executive board programme at Aarhus BSS in person, it has not slowed down demand for the programme. There were 160 applicants on the waiting list in January 2021, and now Aarhus BSS is gearing up to make space for even more students.

"The last time we opened for registration, we sold out after just eight minutes, so we quickly decided to set up another class. In future, we’ll also have more classes so that we can better meet the demand. People come here to network and be active, and there must be time to work on things in practice, so we’ll have a maximum of 30 participants in each class," says professor Mette Neville, head of the Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and responsible for the executive board programme in collaboration with lawyer and affiliated professor Carsten Fode. According to her, there are several explanations for the great demand:

“In general, the requirements for boards have risen significantly over the past 10-15 years. Keeping an eye on the finances of a company is no longer enough. If a board is to create value in an SME, it must be able to work strategically with current trends such as digitalisation and the green transition. There are particularly high expectations from many owner-managers of SMEs who decide to employ external members on the board”

 ^{Mette Neville, professor, head of the Centre for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises}

From top-level executive in the IT industry to board member

One student who has just completed the executive board programme is Mille Lindskrog Knudsen, who recently took the plunge and became an entrepreneur after a number of years as a managing director. When starting up her consultancy firm, innovize, which focuses on networking, she realised that based on her many years of management experience from the IT industry, she could also create value on a board.

"Unfortunately, it’s still rare to openly advertise seats on boards, but a few years ago, a board position was advertised, albeit a little secretly. A large company with more than 500 employees was looking for a profile with management, sales, business development and IT experience. It was a perfect fit for me, so I applied and was fortunate enough to get the position,” she says. That was her first seat on a board and it made her think about taking a programme and becoming a professional board member.

"In my view, you’re never too old to learn, and if you think you can do everything, things are very likely to go awry. I was already strong in the areas of management, digitalisation and business development, but I felt I needed to hone my skills in the formal side of things – in governance," she says. But finding the right programme was difficult:

“I asked my network about which programmes I should take. Some suggested a ‘quick and dirty’ course for a couple of days to get to grips with the formalities. But I like gaining more in-depth knowledge. I wanted good teachers, and in particular, I wanted to be part of a group over a longer period of time so that I could build a strong network. For this reason, I decided on Aarhus BSS,” she says.

Unfortunately, she had to be patient, because even back in 2018, there was a waiting list for the programme. She had to wait until 2020 before she could start her course through her collaboration with Fynsk Erhverv – and the programme took longer than expected due to the pandemic.

Unique challenges in SMEs

According to Mette Neville, part of the attraction of the executive board programme is that it is 100 per cent tailored to board work in small and medium-sized enterprises.

“Board work in SMEs is very different from board work in larger companies. It’s crucial that you understand the DNA and the values of SMEs, which are usually owner-managed. Moreover, the board also plays a stronger strategic role. Owner-managers are often caught up in operations and can find it difficult to stay focused on strategic work and utilise the company's growth potential. For this reason, the board has to maintain the strategic overview and act as a strategic sparring partner for the management.  The board must also be able to deal with a number of specific issues for SMEs such as a generational change and the risk of conflicts among the owners,” she says.

Mette Neville mentions the coronavirus pandemic as an example of how much SMEs depend on their boards.

"When a crisis like the pandemic strikes, it’s entirely natural to focus on operations, and there’s a risk of overlooking the fact that COVID-19 will also lead to long-term changes in the business environment, such as changes in consumer behaviour, globalisation and similar, which you must consider from a strategic point of view if you want to future-proof the company. In this context, it's important that the board takes the long-term strategic view," she says.

She also points to the fact that SMEs often have small organisations:

"Unlike big companies, you don't have a large organisation to fix everything. Many SMEs grow quickly, and the organisation may find it difficult to keep up. In addition, changes such as digitalisation often place new demands on the competences, structure and culture of the organisation. For this reason, the executive board programme also focuses on how the board can help to ensure a responsible and suitable scope of organisation. Ultimately, it’s the organisation's ability to execute its strategy that determines the company's success,” she says.

The need arose with growth

Someone who knows all about the challenges of owner-managers and board work is Torben Drejer, who has also just completed the executive board programme at Aarhus BSS. In 2008, following a career in trade, procurement and import, Torben Drejer had the opportunity to buy into a company producing electronics for hearing aids and robots, among other things. Together with two co-owners, he developed the company over a number of years. One of the co-owners left along the way, leaving Torben and the other owner to run the company.

"We did alright for a long time without an external board, but I started to see a need. Firstly, because we started to buy our competitors and grew from one to four companies. Secondly, because my co-owner and I started to consider an exit strategy. In fact, when I applied for the Executive Board Programme with Focus on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, my ambition was to write a paper on how company owners can have a board as part of an exit strategy," explains Torben Drejer.

But before Torben Drejer's place on the waiting list had been transformed into a place on the programme, reality had overtaken him and his partner. Three interested buyers arrived on the scene, and today, the two owners have sold 60 per cent of the company and a board has been established. Nevertheless, Torben finds that the executive board programme was very rewarding.

"On the programme, we touched on topics such as MeToo, whistleblower schemes, sustainability and many other issues on the big agenda. We’ve been given the tools to deal with these as part of board work, for instance in relation to MeToo. Using cases, we’ve received input on how to handle this issue, because in SMEs, it’s often a job for the board,” he says and emphasises that the network on the programme was crucial.

“I’m a networker – I love building professional relationships, and that’s really one of the strengths of the programme. It’s been liberating to meet people from such different backgrounds. From the world of agriculture, banking and owner-management. It's been an incredible hotchpotch of different people, and I made sure to sit in a different place every time we were together," he says, and concludes by pointing to the strong research foundation of the programme:

"They’re good at including relevant research results in the teaching. And Danish research at that. I don't care how 8,000 American companies have reacted to challenges, but I find it really useful to get insights from the Danish SME segment," he says.

360 degrees around SME board work

Professor Mette Neville also highlights the balance between the latest research and practice as one of the strengths of the degree programme.

"We have a 360 degree-approach to SME board work and focus on ensuring that the programme is always at the forefront of the current issues that SME boards have to deal with. For example, how to work strategically with digitalisation and the green transition. We’re research-based, and the knowledge and tools we provide build on the latest research and have been tested by SMEs themselves. And we constantly focus on how to work with things in practice as part of a board," explains Mette Neville.

This interplay between theory and practice, as well as the focus on the challenges faced by modern SMEs, have been crucial, says Mille Lindskrog Knudsen. 

“In the old days, board work was sitting around a table and checking if things were OK. This is not the case today. Today, we need to create value, for instance by challenging the business model of a company and focusing less on checks and control. Among other things, we address topics such as buying/selling companies, generational change and value-creating board work through theory and cases, and we do so in-depth. For example, we have received a lot of inspiration for the green transition during the programme, as well as how to convert a business and market it," says Mille Lindskrog Knudsen.