The Invasion of the Mind Snatchers: The Business of Business Education

Abstract

Corporations and universities are engaged in a wide variety of cooperative exchanges, activities, and research with both positive and negative effects. Increasingly, both parties are embracing attitudes and practices typically associated with the other. There is evidence that some of the fundamental value differences that distinguish business from education have become blurred. In this article, we explore some of these value differences, and we argue that the developing interrelationships have both problematic and positive implications. If business education is to continue to develop tomorrow's business leaders, universities and their business schools need to retain a meaningful degree of autonomy and provide a place where orthodox and unorthodox ideas can be freely discussed.