International Business Education in the AACSB Schools
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In 1980 the presidentof the NationalAssociationof Manufacturersstatedthat "Americano longer faces a question of whether it has lost its international competitiveedge, but ratherwhy and what can be done about it" (Winchester 1980). Duringthatyearthe U.S. tradedeficitreached33.6 billion dollars(U.S. I.T.C. Operation1982). Between 1980 and 1985 the deficit quadrupled,and there are only weak signs at best that the deficit will diminish during 1986 and 1987. Moreover,in 1984 the combinedvalue of U.S. tradein goods and servicesapproachedthe one trilliondollarmark(Hervey1985). All national economies, includingthe Americaneconomy, depend on global markets, material sources, and production means. This dependence creates problemsin such areas as domestic employmentand balance of payments.It also offers such advantagesas cheaper goods and wider consumer choices. Achievingan appropriatebalanceof theproblemsandadvantagesof international trade requiresstudy of comparativeadvantagesand carefulestimationof the effortsneeded to increasenationalcompetitiveness.Severalrecentstudieshave suggestedtheneedto improvethelevelof internationalbusinesseducationoffered to U.S. college graduatesin order to improve the performanceof American executiveswith internationalbusinessresponsibilities(ExcellenceReport 1982; CriticalNeeds 1983;GlobalCompetition1985).
* JohnThanopoulos (B.A.,M.S.,Ph.D.)isAssociateProfessor ofMarketing andDirector of International Businessat the Universityof Akron.His previouspublications arein theareasof international business,marketing, economics,andstatistics. ** IvanR.Vernon(B.A.,M.B.A.,D.B.A.)isAssociateProfessor ofMarketing atCleveland StateUniversity. Hisinterestsandpreviouspublications arein theareasof international andfinance. marketing Received:December1985;Revised:April& May 1986;Accepted:July 1986. 91
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JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESSSTUDIES, SPRING 1987
TheAmericanAssemblyof CollegiateSchoolsof Business(AACSB)wasamong thefirstto promotetheinternationalization of businesseducation.ProfessorLee Nehrt(1981) reportedthatAACSBhadsomeawarenessof thisneedas early as 1959,the yearthe Academyof International Business(AIB) was founded. hereported thatthefirstinternational businesscourseswereoffered Furthermore, in the mid-1950's. Following its initial awareness of the need for AACSBproceededto prepareappropriate internationalization, guidelinesand sponsorregularseminarsto educateits membersof the complexitiesof international topics(International 1977;Internationalization 1979).Recentreports indicatethat U.S. businessschoolsactivelyrevisetheirofferingsin orderto meetthechangingneedsof U.S.firms(Swartz1985),although"mostmanagers acquireinternational expertisethroughbusinessexperiences" (Kobrin1984). The purposeof the presentwork is to investigatethe international business curriculaofferedin the AACSBmemberschools.The studyis basedon an analysisof datagathered
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