Purpose: This paper aims to consider the extent to which business school transition has created new opportunities in management development, knowledge transfer and knowledge creation. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a critical review of knowledge exchange in a business school context with a particular focus on the "translation or management practice gap". Findings: Change in the nature of research undertaken in business schools opens up new opportunities for collaboration between academia and practice. The paper points to the need for more innovative forms of research engagement encouraging academic-practitioner collaboration and practice-based management development initiatives. Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to the debate on innovative forms of knowledge exchange and transfer and helps stimulate further studies examining potential approaches to fostering co-learning and discovery and participatory forms of knowledge production. Practical implications: Changes in business school environment and context offer opportunities for new modes of knowledge exchange both in management development and research. Practice based theory offers a new paradigm of management development. Originality/value: Recent commentators refer to notions of academia and practice as "closed systems and self referential" and point to the requirement for greater attention on knowledge transfer, and to learn from knowledge transfer studies concerning practitioner/research communities of practice, networks and collaborations. The paper addresses this deficiency in the literature and points to key areas warranting further research.