The ‘industry’ side of the academic job of business educators

Abstract

Many business school professors have had to face their shares of doubts often expressed by people from outside the academia about the practical value of the academic job as a business educator. Motivated by a desire to promote more objective and complete view of the practical value of the management educators’ job responsibilities, in this article, I elaborate on the typical job duties business school professors take on and demonstrate their significant practical nature and industry relevance. Better knowing the true practical value of academic professionals’ job may not only help bridge the wide gap between the industry and business school communities and foster a more mutually beneficial relationship between them, it could also promote a stronger customer orientation among all business educators and help create better educational experiences for business school students or future industry employees.