Just how much Peter F. Drucker put his stamp on and influenced management can best be seen in the high level body of management thinkers who appear every year in his honor at the Global Peter Drucker Forum. Since its premiere in November 2009, the event transforms the Austrian capital once a year into a genuine management Mecca. The motto of the forum 2016, took place from November 17-18, 2016, was "The Entrepreneurial Society".

In his landmark book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, published in 1985, Peter Drucker described the tectonic shift that he perceived in its early stages – the move from an employee society towards an entrepreneurial society. This shift was, and still is, being driven by unstoppable forces such as changing demographics, globalization and ever accelerating advances in information and communication technology.

While the journey towards an entrepreneurial society is by no means a straight-line progression towards a well-defined destination, broad cultural changes have brought entrepreneurialism into the mainstream. An activity that was once regarded as peripheral, perhaps even a bit suspect, has become cool, celebrated by politicians and embraced by the new generations. Yet the emergence of an entrepreneurial culture entails a broader transformation of the economic fabric of our society, as we see in the rapid proliferation of free agents in the form of contractors, freelancers and self-employed workers on on-demand platforms, for example.

Victor Hugo once remarked: "You can resist an invading army; you cannot resist an idea whose time has come". The Drucker Forum will ask the question and deliver elements of response as to whether the time for a new entrepreneurial age has come. more

Malik is member of the Advisory Board of the European Peter F. Drucker Society and has participated as panelist at the conference a lot of times. With its renowned speakers this forum provides the unique opportunity for getting to know intelligent solutions for the mastering of this historically extraordinary situation.

Restrospective 2016: General ¦ Videos
2015 ¦ 2014 ¦ 2013 ¦  2012 ¦ 2011 ¦ 2010 ¦ 2009

Fredmund Malik & Peter Drucker

Peter F. Drucker was by far the most important management thinker of the twentieth century. He was the first to recognize the importance of management as a function for society and to make management learnable and teachable. Professor Fredmund Malik and Peter Drucker had a close relationship for many years. They met regularly to discuss current developments in management. What interested Peter Drucker most was the development of Malik’s holistic system. Peter Drucker died a few days ahead of his 96th birthday on November 11, 2005.

Malik interviews on the occasion of the Peter Drucker Forum 2009:

* Emerald is a british publisher spezializing in reasearch and science publications