A Cross Cultural Analysis of the Geographical Knowledge of U.S., Irish,Israeli, Mexican,and South Korean Business School Students

ABSTRACT

Geographical knowledge about foreign countries is considered to be a significant factor related to the successful marketing of goods and services in international markets-a not insignificant conclusion by experts given the sizable trade deficits run up by the United States in 2000 ($365 billion), 2001 ($346 billion), and 2002 ($435 billion).

Unfortunately, previous research has concluded that U.S. business school students-tomorrow's executives who will make decisions that will impact their firms' international operations-have inadequate levels of international geographical knowledge.

This article compares the geographical knowledge of U.S. business school students to that of business school students in four countries: Ireland, Israel, Mexico, and South Korea. The sub-par performance exhibited by the U.S. students and the impact of six independent variables on global geographical knowledge are used to develop a number of pedagogical conclusions designed to enhance the international geographical knowledge of U.S. business school students and students in foreign business schools and overcome the antipathy toward this subject matter that apparently exists within business schools and their various external constituencies.     

Developing an International and Technology-Driven Business School Program

Abstract

Academics and practitioners alike have voiced their concerns about how to continuously improve the quality of education in the business school. Two central issues that have received recent attention are (1) how to address a rapidly changing and increasingly global economy, and (2) how to infuse technology into the business school curriculum. Both of these issues are changing at break-neck speed, whereas the academic environment, by its very nature and structure, is struggling to meet these demands ata much slower pace. We attempt to offer solutions to these major issues by developing an action plan for international business and technology. One key factor in developing global and technological programs in business schools is the input of its stakeholders-the international and technological business community. In this study, we report the results of an investigation of the international business and technological community's perceptions of the skills they require of recent business school graduates. A total of 126 business organizations provide insights for business schools to develop action plans to address international and technological needs. A discussion and implications of our findings provides an initial avenue for schools to follow in their strategic planning for the future.     

The Global and Regional Dispersion of Publishing in the Field of International Marketing

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically examines the research productivity of academic institutions in the leading international marketing journals, leading generalist marketing journals, and leading international business journals between the years 1999 and 2003 from a regional and country-specific perspective. The research found that across the three groups of journals, the majority of works were authored by academics at institutions located in North America, although North Americans contribute significantly less in the international marketing and international business journals than leading generalist marketing journals. The findings suggest that there is a broadening of non-U.S. influence within the international marketing and international business journals, which should lead to a broadening of international marketing theory.     

International Business Research: Coauthorship Patterns and Quality

The authors investigate published international business research in four international business journals over a 10‐year period, 1995–2004: (a) patterns of coauthorship across regions, and (b) the relation between coauthorship patterns and the quality of international business (IB) articles. A cross‐region coauthorship enhances the quality of an article, suggesting that international collaboration creates synergy in IB research. The authors do not see any positive correlation between alphabetical ordering of coauthor names in multiauthored articles and article quality—a result that is contrary to some evidence in other disciplines. Finally, international management articles appear to be more frequently cited than articles in other IB research areas.     

The Domains of Undergraduate International Business and International Management Courses in Accredited Schools of Business

ABSTRACT

This study compared undergraduate international business and international management course syllabi from 190 management departments at accredited U.S. business schools. Comparisons revealed considerable overlap in topic areas in the two courses. The findings indicate the need for greater domain clarity and differentiation in objectives, topic areas covered, and textbooks used. Domain clarification could lead to more truthful representation of the two courses, better training and disciplinary grounding of course instructors, more appropriate hosting of the courses in business school departments, and enhanced skill-sets among students in these courses. Finally, clear domain definitions are necessary for reliability and validity in international business research.     

Internationalization Strategies of Business Schools: How Flat Is the World?

Business school strategy has become extremely complex, especially regarding internationalization. Using different paths, experiencing failure and success, business schools have internationalized, attracting many of the international students who contributed $27 billion¹ to the US economy in 2014. Some business schools are global, training global managers, while others serve national markets. How do business schools strategize about internationalization? Can we use existing models to explain this process? Are internationalization and globalization similar? Using a comparative analysis of six case studies in the United States and Europe, we found that the engine of internationalization influences its paths and outcomes. We contribute to international business (IB) research by discussing how business schools strategize their internationalization toward uniformity or diversity under isomorphic pressures from accreditation bodies (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business [AACSB], 2011) and rankings. The so‐called Uppsala model should be extended to address three tensions: internationalization versus globalization, enacted dimensions of audiences, and respective risks of different internationalization pathways. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Perceptual Differences of Marketing Journals: A Worldwide Perspective

The practice of evaluating faculty and business schools based on their journal publications has increased the emphasis on research output in peer reviewed journals. Since journal standings are a frequently debated issue, this study seeks to examine the perceptual differences of journals between different segments of marketing academics. Based on a worldwide online survey, journals are assessed in terms of four subjective quality metrics: journal familiarity, average rank position, percent of respondents who classify a journal as top tier, and readership. It is demonstrated that an individual's geographic origin, research interests or journal affiliation can have a significant impact on journal rankings.     

Corporate social responsibility research in international business journals: An author co-citation analysis

This paper aims to describe the development of research on corporate social responsibility in international business (IB) journals and to suggest future research directions. We conducted a bibliometric study of articles published in twelve leading international business journals over three decades in a longer time frame (1996–2015). Five research trends were found in IB journals: business ethics, integration of stakeholder management, the evolution of the CSR concept, the political and social demands of CSR, and the financial implications of CSR. Our results thus have several implications and suggest numerous opportunities for future research.     

A retrospective of international business education in the United States over the past fifty years

International business relationships are almost as old as mankind, but the idea that people needed to be educated to manage global business enterprises is less than 50 years old. The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird), established in 1946 was the first school to provide languages, international studies, and business management as a basic education in international management. Business schools in America have been slow to realize and to promulgate courses and curriculums in the field. It has only been in the last ten years that the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, composed of over 700 colleges and universities in the country, has become an advocate through a revision in its standards. After the words “and worldwide” were inserted in the AACSB standards of accreditation, international business education began to permeate the offerings of American business schools.     

Foreign market entry mode of service firms: The case of U.S. MBA programs

While international expansion has become an important strategic imperative on the part of knowledge intensive service firms such as U.S. business schools, little empirical support is available on how these business schools enter foreign markets. If U.S. based business education programs are expected to prosper in light of the potential onslaught of international competition, expansion to overseas markets will be one of the most sought after options available. A poor choice in market entry strategy, or the lack of international market entry, can result in a negative impact on the educational institution. This research focuses on developing, measuring, and empirically testing a framework of key factors influencing international market entry mode choice of U.S. business schools by using primary data from faculty and administrators of U.S. Master of Business Administration (MBA) schools.     

A school is “a building that has four walls…with tomorrow inside”: Toward the reinvention of the business school

Business schools, defined as educational institutions that specialize in teaching courses and programs related to business and/or management, are facing major challenges. These challenges stem from a number of major shifts in the business education landscape, including the rising importance of rankings and accreditations, the increased weight placed on ethical decision making, the ongoing debate on rigor vs. relevance in research, the digital revolution, and the significant decrease in public funding. In fact, they are so fundamental that the coming decade is likely to represent a new era in the history of business education, the fourth since the concept of the business school was created in 1819 with the establishment of ESCP Europe. The purpose of this article is to outline these main changes (TASK: T—from tower to Twittersphere, A—from auditorium to anti-café, S—from stakeholder to shareholder, K—from knowledge to know-how) and to discuss how they impact the different AS-SE-TS of a business school (alumni & students, staff & equipment, teachers & scholars). The article ends with a proposed classification of schools along four corners (culture, compass, capital, and content) and a discussion of which types of schools are best suited to adapt to these changes.     

The demise of the American hegemony in international business research has been greatly exaggerated

The drivers for the internationalization of business teaching and research were multinational corporations, the Cold War, and the relative price advantage of non-America business schools. Yet, the internationalization largely failed to reflect local contexts. The consequent paucity of original local business thought, international or not, exposes non-American business schools to the raid of American-based massive open online courses which will prune off the mainstay courses at emerging market business schools. Deprived of a substantial share of their fee-paying students, the remaining docents at those schools will be less likely to publish altogether, including in fields that might sustain independent thought. Therefore, American-like international business research is likely to have a longer life, more narrowly focused on English-speaking countries and Europe, with even less of a contribution from emerging markets.     

Business School Partnerships for Globalization

International partnerships are an essential tool to enable business schools to internationalize their activities. They can lead to improved research, better more internationally relevant teaching, provide staff with an international perspective, and help prepare students for careers in global business. Using case studies of four of Durham University Business School's main partnerships, the article identifies the motivations for forming partnerships, examines some of the practical management issues associated with partnership working in higher education, and details the many benefits that can be derived from such arrangements.     

International Marketing (14th edition), by Philip R. Cateora,Mary C. Gilly,and John I. Graham

Abstract

The trend toward internationalizing business curriculum at American colleges and universities should be incorporated as a strategy throughout the United States. The catalyst that has led most business schools to adopt a systematic acceptance of the internationalization of their curriculum was the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) 1984-1985 Standards and Guidelines for business school accreditation. Most would agree that without AACSB mandates, the transition would be slower, but inevitable, due to the focus on worldwide business issues. The global economy is rapidly evolving and the needs for competencies in international business are becoming very important to the U.S. and its economic well-being. Because of this, industry is looking for a new kind of employee, the kind that understands both the importance of international business and how to operate within it successfully. The halls of academia must respond to this pressing need by going much further than providing a sporadic array of “elective” international topics. Their response has to be synergistic with university presidents, deans and faculties fully supportive of an organizational design change that promotes a new way of thinking. The new organization is one in which there must be an international focus throughout the business school. With that synergy in place, the process of internationalizing students, the university, curriculum and faculty can move forward.     

Closing the Learning Loop: A Review of Assignments in International Business Education

The continuing rapid globalization has significantly changed the nature of business and management, leading to increased pressure from a wide range of stakeholders to globalize business schools and to internationalize business curricula. This comes with a corresponding imperative to rigorously evaluate the impact of an international business education at institutional, program, and course levels. This study focuses on the types of assignments employed and approaches to assignment design in international business courses. A total of 92 studies in the scholarly literature on international business and international management are reviewed from 1970 to 2014. The study finds significant opportunities to expand and enrich research on assignment design, so as to better equip international business educators to validly and reliably measure learning outcomes.     

The Role and Value of Global Business Research: Perspective of a Business School Dean

The scope of this article is two-fold. First, it looks at business research in general, in various countries, as a task that the dean wants to have faculty members pursue, to attain goals such as accreditation and ranking with organizations such as the AACSB, Equis, the Financial Times, and US News & World Report. And second, it looks at international business research as part of what business schools produce and what a dean can encourage. As more academics realize the importance of international competition, and also of dealing with people from other cultures and countries, IB research is becoming more acceptable in mainstream publications as well as in specialized international business ones. Key questions discussed here include encouraging, measuring, promoting, and financing international business research.     

Mission Based Strategies for Internationalizing U.S. Business Schools

Two decades of discussion have resulted in a consensus regarding the need to internationalize business schools in the United States. However. there has been less agreement regarding particular strategies to accomplish the goal of internationalization. This paper outlines important strategies for internationalization which are appropriate to the schools' mission. In addition, this paper describes, through examples and discussion, the federally funded Centers for International Business Education and Research which are envisioned as a national resource for internationalizing U.S. business schools and promoting the teaching and research in the field of international business.     

Quality of International Business Journals

It is fairly common practice for researchers to ascertain the quality of journals in a field by surveying a select audience in that field for their perceptions. This research methodology has been criticized because respondents may not evaluate each journal within the framework of all journals in that area. Also, even when each journal is evaluated within the framework of all journals in a functional area, respondents may evaluate journals based on their perceptions of the im ortance of specialty areas within the discipline. The objective of this article is to determine if there are significant differences in perceived quality of international business journalsnbased on areas of research interest and whether such differences are systematic.     

Six Not-So-Simple Things International Business Academics Can Do to Save the Earth

As an increasing number of businesses around the world develop environmental policies and programs international business academics can play a vital role in helping to advance business natural environment values and practices in their countries, professions, schools, classrooms, and communities. This article identifies six potential avenues for academic involvement in environmental business teaching, research, and service activities and discusses the integration of these by international business scholars. In addition, this article suggests that such an integration may have synergistic effects, resulting in the potential for the international business academic to make important contributions in each of these areas.     

Factors Affecting the Design of Short-Term Study-Abroad Programs: An Exploratory Study of Two Business Schools

Study-abroad programs have played a significant role in globalization of business curricula over the years. Short-term study-abroad programs (STSAPs) are proliferating in business schools and provide a viable alternative of studying abroad to students who are unable to participate in programs of longer durations due to disruption in family, work, and education schedules. This exploratory study attempts to understand factors that are critical to students’ participation in STSAPs offered by business schools. This research focuses on a combination of factors that include STSAP components and attributes as well student specific characterisitics. Initial analysis indicates that STSAP cost, STSAP content, and organizational and personal issues, in that order, are considered important by business school students. Significant differences exist in the perceived importance of different factors used by students to choose to participate in STSAPs based on gender, age group, family income, program level (undergraduate versus graduate), and program type. Results of this research have implications for the design of STSAPs in business schools that are offering or considering offering such courses or programs.