Executive Education is an Implementation of Supply Chain Management in Collegiate Schools of Business

• Date: 01 June 2015
• Published date: 01 June 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12085
• Author: Stanley E. Fawcett,Matthew A. Waller

Editorial

Executive Education is an Implementation of Supply Chain

Management in Collegiate Schools of Business

Matthew A. Waller

1

and Stanley E. Fawcett

2

1

University of Arkansas

2

Weber State University

Supply chain management involves the integration of business processes among the functions within a firm as well as between a company

and its customers and suppliers to improve performance. We argue that executive education, like supply chain management, can serve as

an integrator not only among departments—both academic and nonacademic—within a business school but also across the university. More

urgently needed, executive education can serve as an integrator between the scholarly research function of a collegiate school of business and

the practice of management and business. We call for contributions on these topics in the form of Forward Thinking submissions, original

research manuscripts, and proposals for both Thought Leadership series and Special Topics forums.

Keywords: executive education; collegiate schools of business; research impact; AACSB; innovation; influence; pedagogy; practice

INTRODUCTION

Like the hub of a wheel or a crossroads, executive education

may be a small part of the university education system, but it is

essential to getting where we want to go—that is, providing a

societal return through supply chain scholarship and education

(Fawcett and Waller 2015). Executive education’s impact is sali-

ent and positive in three domains: (1) academic/practitioner

engagement, (2) research and pedagogy innovation, and (3)

influence.

In 2008, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of

Business (AACSB) formed a task force to consider the impact of

research in collegiate business education. Many of the task

force’s recommendations deal with addressing the gap between

research and practice. The AACSB report (2008) states that

“[a]lthough there are different opinions about the importance and

causes of the research-practice gap, it is clear that any effort to

increase the value of business school research should address the

challenges of knowledge production and knowledge transfer”(p.

21). Executive education addresses the research-practice gap in

terms of both knowledge production and knowledge transfer.

The report goes on to state that “... it is critical for business

schools to find ways to continuously enhance the value and visi-

bility of scholarship and research of all types—basic, applied,

and pedagogical”(AACSB 2008, 26) We argue that executive

education enhances the value and visibility of all types of

research.

Although the arguments for executive education apply to all

business disciplines, it is particularly relevant to supply chain

management. One of the reasons for this is that supply chain

management innately involves cross-functional processes and

inter-firm business processes. To some degree, executive educa-

tion is a way to apply core concepts of supply chain manage-

ment within the business school. That is, effective executive

education must draw on all of the functional areas of a business

school, as well as departments in other colleges within the uni-

versity, such as industrial engineering, economics, and agricul-

ture, in order to meet unique and holistic needs in industry

(cross-functional). In some instances, it must also draw on fac-

ulty from other universities (horizontal). In addition, executive

education inculcates bidirectional engagement, innovation, and

influence between a collegiate school of business and companies

(vertical). Thus, like supply chain management, executive educa-

tion both requires and catalyzes integration in the production and

delivery of business knowledge.

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT

Academic engagement

Executive education offers unique opportunities to research-

oriented academics. Because often the executives are the deci-

sion makers of interest to researchers, executive education

offers unique opportunities for primary data collection for aca-

demic research. Such data access can engage faculty who

would not normally be involved in executive education but

who are involved in research using primary data, case studies,

or grounded theory. Equally important, this engagement pro-

vides a vital touch point with current cutting-edge practice that

promises to enrich not just research but also the in-class learn-

ing environment.

Many times executive education requires teams from multiple

disciplines and even multiple universities, resulting in broad aca-

demic engagement. It is not uncommon for a researcher who is

very strong to question her ability to entertain or add value to a

practitioner audience. It might be true that she does not have the

Corresponding author:

Matthew A. Waller, Department of Supply Chain Management, Wal-

ton College Executive Education, Donald W. Reynolds Center,

Room 229, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA;

E-mail: mwaller@walton.uark.edu

Journal of Business Logistics, 2015, 36(2): 135–138 doi: 10.1111/jbl.12085

© Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals