A Doctoral Field in Business Strategy-Policy

Abstract

No less than twenty doctoral programs in Business Strategy-Policy are needed immediately to meet the academic market needs of the coming decade, created by the recent AACSB requirement of the "core" course at both the undergraduate and MBA levels. The objectives of the course have been universally defined and confirmed by the Gordon and Howell and the Pierson reports, and by the AACSB. Recent studies of the field have identified four major trends: emphasis on strategy as well as policy formulation and administration, fusion of strategy-policy with business-society and business environmental problems, comparative analysis of business firms with their economic-industrial environments, and the inclusion and emphasis of the role and functions of the board of directors. Professional education for business defined by the AACSB has for the past twenty years focused on the practitioner application of the administrative process to business problems (Business Administration), thereby suggesting at least a 50-50% point of departure in a curriculum emphasis on theory and practice. This point of departure is applied to a suggested doctoral program content in bibliographical essay form including the following: I. Policy Environment (A) Social, Political-Legal and Ethical Philosophy, II. Policy Environment (B) Economic Growth and Industry Competition, III. Business Strategy and Policy Theory and Practice, and IV. General Management Decision-Making Systems and Methodologies.