Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2016 239 Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Meeting the challenges of the new business universe through virtual collaborative learning Owen P. Hall Jr.* Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263, USA Email: ohall@pepperdine.edu *Corresponding author Mercedes McBride-Walker Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106-7235, USA Email: sxm903@case.edu Abstract: The world of virtual collaborative learning is now becoming the new norm throughout higher education in general, and at schools of business in particular. Under growing pressure from the business universe, business educators are in the process of radically altering the content and delivery of management education. Today, the business community is looking for web-savvy, problem-solving graduates who can immediately contribute upon joining the firm. To meet these and related financial issues, many schools of business are increasingly turning to the web as a vehicle for enhancing student learning opportunities and outcomes. Faculty engagement in this new learning zeitgeist is essential. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how virtual collaborative learning can be used to prepare students to meet the challenges of an uncertain job market and to outline strategies for implementing this revolutionary learning process throughout the management education community of practice. Keywords: virtual collaborative learning; VCL; social media; management education; implementation strategies; Web 2.0+; haptics; heutagogy. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hall Jr., O.P. and McBride-Walker, M. (2016) ‘Meeting the challenges of the new business universe through virtual collaborative learning’, Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp.239–253. Biographical notes: Owen P. Hall Jr. holds a Julian Virtue Professorship and is a Rothschild Applied Research Fellow. He is a Professor of Decision Sciences at the George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University. He is the recipient of the Charles Luckman, Howard A. White and Sloan teaching excellence awards. He has written extensively on cloud-based collaboration, data mining and digital learning. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California and undertook post-doctoral studies at the Center for Futures Research.