Supply and Demand for Business Education in Naval Aviation

Abstract

Abstract : In light of the Navy's transformation plan, advanced business education is increasing in importance. As part of the Navy's Sea Power 21 strategy Sea Enterprise encourages Naval Aviation to steer historical management practices towards better business practices. As pilots and Naval Flight Officers evolve from Mission Commander to Commanding Officer, they must be equipped with the requisite business skill sets to engage the challenge of balancing aircraft modernization with current readiness. This project analyzes the supply and demand for postgraduate business education to determine how prepared Naval Aviation is to achieve long-term transformation objectives. The results show that 25 percent of all aviation officers (0-1 to 0-6) have a graduate business degree, 17 percent of Commanding Officers with advanced degrees have a business specialization, and 2.5 percent of aviation officer billets require a postgraduate business degree. Recommendations to better prepare the aviation community for the Sea Enterprise environment include: (1) Early emphasis of graduate business education, (2) Promote advanced business education as a major career milestone, (3) Tie first shore tour assignments to graduate business education, and (4) Increase the overall billet requirement for advanced business degrees. These improvements may greatly enhance the Navy's efforts towards achieving its transformation goals.