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Journal of Education for Business

ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20

Fast-Cycle Curriculum Development Strategies

for E-Business Programs: The Bentley College

Experience

Jane Fedorowicz & Janis L. Gogan

To cite this article: Jane Fedorowicz & Janis L. Gogan (2001) Fast-Cycle Curriculum

Development Strategies for E-Business Programs: The Bentley College Experience, Journal of Education for Business, 76:6, 318-327, DOI: 10.1080/08832320109599656

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832320109599656

Published online: 31 Mar 2010.

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Fast-Cycle Cu rricu I

u

m

Development Strategies for

E-Business Programs:

The Bentley College Experience

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n the 1990s, organizations invested

I

heavily in new information technologies and large-scale IT initiatives for improved transaction processing, electronic commerce, process redesign, and strategic relationships. These investments were accompanied by significant business and technical challenges that have given rise to a pressing need for new content in business school curricula. To prepare their students to address these challenges, business schools need to introduce new concepts and skills into the curriculum rapidly and on a continuous basis, keeping pace with business and technical develop-

ments.

To accomplish this, individual

business school faculty members also need to upgrade their own IT skills and their understanding of emerging business models, on a continuous basis. Meanwhile, faculty members are still expected to produce high-quality research publications. Not surprisingly, some professors feel that accelerated expectations for curriculum development and professional development activities conflict with their research agendas. Many academics cite lack of time, resource limitations, and other factors-such as inflexible bureaucratic processes and poorly aligned reward structures-as impediments in curriculum development and the infusion of relevant interdisciplinary content.

318

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Journal

of Education for Business

JANE FEDOROWICZ

JANIS

L.

GOGAN

Bentley College Waltham, Massachusetts

ABSTRACT. Many academics find it

difficult to keep up with the rapid pace of change in e-business, let alone to

introduce new course materials that

adequately explore these business and technology challenges. This article discusses two types of “fast-cycle” cumculum development processes- research-driven and stakeholder-dri-

ven initiatives-that have led to new course modules, elective courses, and graduate programs on e-business at

Bentley College during its transformation into the “B-School for the Infor- mation Age.” Suggestions are offered for faculty, together with organization-

al mechanisms that can facilitate fast- cycle curriculum development pro-

cesses on emerging e-business issue. Our institution, Bentley College, has experimented successfully with two “fast-cycle’’ strategies for overcoming these impediments. In this article, we illustrate the two approaches, labeled “research-driven” and “stakeholder-driven,” by describing several curriculum development examples. In this article, we discuss the successes achieved thus far, the remaining challenges, and lessons learned. We believe that the two strategies are complementary, together providing the long-term focus and broad market view that business and academia

need to succeed (Slater

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& Narver,

1998). We conclude with suggestions to help other business schools incorporate these two strategies.

Background: Bentley College

Bentley College, a private school located outside of Boston, Massachu- setts, has a full-time faculty of 360 and serves a student population of approximately 4,300 undergraduates, 1,400 graduate students (in MBA and several master of science degree programs), and 2,300 professional and executive education students. Bentley currently does not offer a doctoral program. Through most of its history, Bentley has had a strong regional reputation for its undergraduate accounting and finance programs. Teaching typically has been emphasized over research; most tenured faculty teach six courses per year (three courses per semester). Most class sizes are capped at 35 students, and faculty members are expected to make themselves available to students outside of class for tutoring and guidance, during both con- ventional office hours and “virtual offce hours” through e-mail. A recent push to increase faculty research and publication productivity led to a policy begun in academic year 1998-1999 and giving most untenured, tenure-track faculty five- course loads (a one-course reduction). Many faculty members also are awarded modest summer research support or course-development stipends (approximately $5,000) based on competitive proposals. Some faculty members are

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TABLE 1. Examples of Research-Driven Fast-Cycle Curriculum

Development at Bentley College

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Research-driven

fast-cycle Research

development description Participants Status

Electronic Com- merce Emerges on the Web

Managing Year 2000 Compliance Projects

Cyberlaw

Studied how star- 1 core accounting tups and estab- faculty member, lished companies several coauthors

adjusted their and instructors

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of

strategies to capi- common courses talize on the rise

of the Web as a

medium for B2B and B2C com- merce.

Studied technical, 1 core accounting organizational, and faculty member, project-manage- several coauthors ment issues in year

2000 compliance projects.

Studied the evolu- tion of U.S. laws and legal interpreta- tions to address emerging Internet commerce issues.

1 core faculty member, several co- authors from law, tax, and CIS

Several cases and papers published, used in IS and strat- egy courses, start- ing in 1995. Elec- tive graduate course, Electronic Commerce on the World Wide Web, first offered in

1996.

Several cases and papers published, used in IS and accounting courses. Graduate elective course, Y2K Project Management, offered in 1998 and

1999.

Book published, used in pioneer undergraduate elec- tive course, Cyber- law, in 1998; gradu- ate course first

offered

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in 2000.

lum development initiative, in which best-practice companies were called on to help plan or validate ambitious new curricular offerings. In both the research- driven and stakeholder-driven approaches, new materials were rapidly incorporated into courses that address electronic commerce, enterprise resource planning (ERP), knowledge management, and other timely topics.

Research-Driven Curriculum Development

Field research on leading-edge topics such as electronic commerce can benefit an institution through the rapid introduction of new teaching cases and exer- cises into the curriculum. In Table 1, we summarize three “bottom-up,” research- driven curriculum development efforts (E-Commerce Emerges on the Web, Managing Year 2000 Projects, and Cyberlaw) that resulted from the initiative of one or more faculty members’ pursuing their own research agendas. All three programs of research were launched before our new president’s arrival and the announcement of the

strategic repositioning.

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Electronic Commerce Emerges on the World Wide Web

assigned graduate student assistants, who work 6 to 15 hours per week. Grad-

uate assistants are drawn from the master’s degree program population whose GMAT scores and undergraduate grades are in the top 20%.

The College has long promoted the use of information technology through- out the curriculum. Beginning in 1985,

Bentley was one of the first colleges to require that all undergraduate students obtain a laptop computer. In 1997 a new college president was appointed who had a longstanding interest (and research credentials) in the impact of technology on corporate strategy. His first significant move was to convince the board of trustees that Bentley needed to adopt a new strategy. As reported in a story about him in Fortune (Whit- ford, 1999 [reprint]), the president

“emerged from his first trustees’ meet- ing with backers lined up for (construc-

tion of) the

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...

Smith Academic Tech-

nology Center, plus a commitment to fund three new professorships” at the intersection of IT and business. These steps marked the launch of an ambitious initiative to reposition Bentley College as the “Business School for the Infor- mation Age.” A critical element of that repositioning was that new content, courses, and degree programs needed to be rapidly developed. In this article, we discuss some of the fast-cycle curriculum development initiatives that took place.

We begin with a description of “bottom-up,” research-driven curriculum development that laid the groundwork for a more comprehensive e-business program. New course materials were generated and introduced into the cur-

riculum within the first

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6 months of an

ongoing research effort. Then, we describe the stakeholder-driven curricu-

The first program, Electronic Com- merce Emerges on the Web, provided a partial foundation for the subsequent stakeholder-driven development of our MBA concentration in e-business. In mid- 1994, the World Wide Web was just

emerging as a powerful new medium for electronic commerce. Several faculty members independently began to explore the impact of the Web in their various disciplines, including law, marketing, CIS, and accounting. One faculty member conducted case studies on dot-corn start-ups, motivated by two complementary factors: the opportunity to examine the diffusion and adoption of Web-based capabilities and the need for course materials that would introduce students to the challenge of doing business on the Web. This field research, done in collaboration with a

coauthor from another Boston-area school, used a “grounded-theory” approach (Straws & Corbin, 1998), in

JulylAugust

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2001 319 [image:3.612.52.382.61.443.2]

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which an initial exploratory case study is conducted (emphasizing theory dis- covery) and followed by additional cases selected to enable deeper explo- ration of specialized topics (emphasizing theory refinement). An initial open- ended exploratory study was conducted in 1994 at one start-up, Open Market. One- to 2-hour semistructured interviews were conducted with 7 of the firm’s 12 employees, including the 2 founders. Archival materials (business plan, requests for funding, etc.), com- bined with recorded and transcribed interviews, yielded extensive qualitative data regarding challenges in formulat- ing strategy and designing appropriate organizational structures, control mechanisms, and human resources practices to cope with industry turbulence in the highly volatile emerging e-commerce services industry. A teaching case, the

first product of this study (Gogan

&

Applegate, 1995), was taught in an MBA elective course in February 1995 and in several executive programs that spring and summer.

As the program of research contin- ued, the next few case studies compared approaches to e-business issues at dot- com start-ups and traditional firms. Again, the research and curriculum development aims were complementary:

To compare start-ups and traditional firms, to reveal varied responses to technical and competitive turbulence. To produce teaching cases that expose students to varied electronic commerce settings, tools, practices, and issues.

Through fall 1995, interviews were conducted with 43 managers and professionals working on electronic commerce initiatives in seven companies. Two more teaching cases were produced (Gogan & Applegate, 1996,

1997) and taught in MBA

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IS and strate- gy classes.

In fall 1995, an electronic commerce module, based primarily on the research described above, was introduced into a graduate Accounting Information Sys-

tems course.

In spring 1996, the lead researcher introduced a new interdisci-

plinary graduate elective course, Elec- tronic Commerce on the World Wide

Web, into the MBA curriculum. This course was based primarily on the fmd- ings of the previous studies and also included materials that were by then available thanks to course development efforts at other schools.’ The course addressed the intersection of strategic, technical, and organizational challenges in capitalizing on the power of the Inter- net for electronic commerce.

The case studies and publications in the first two phases of this research had examined companies’ business-to-business and consumer e-commerce efforts along multiple dimensions (strategy, technology, human resources, structure), leading first to the development of an e-commerce module in an existing course and subsequently the development of the interdisciplinary elective course. Beginning in late 1996, another series of case studies, conducted with new coauthors, probed further into specific e-commerce technologies, applications, and issues, reflecting emerging concerns as managers gained experience with Web-based business processes. The next two teaching cases, produced in 1997 and 1998, focused on more specialized issues: the development and diffusion of new payment mechanisms (Gelinas & Gogan, 1997) and telemedicine applications (Gogan & Guinan, 1998, 1999). These cases were subsequently used in the Account- ing Information Systems and

IT

in the Business Environment courses, respec- tively.

This program of field-based research on electronic commerce, conducted from 1995 through 1998, illustrates the personal and institutional benefits of research-driven curriculum development. The faculty member was able to achieve an efficient alignment of research and curricular activities.

Part-

nerships with fellow researchers in other disciplines led to the development of interdisciplinary course materials. Publication productivity was not sacri- ficed; qualitative analysis of the entire data set (transcribed interviews and archival materials) led to additional research publications (Applegate & Gogan, 1995; 1996; Fedorowicz & Gogan, 1997; Gogan, 1996; 1996/1997; 1997), some of which were assigned as readings in graduate courses. Thus, in

this program of research the faculty member made significant progress on both curriculum development and publi-

cation activities.

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Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum

Process

A stakeholder-driven curriculum development effort, consistent with the market-oriented perspective for business school strategy-setting espoused by Bailey and Dangerfield (2000), starts with an analysis of stakeholder needs and preferences. Business school stakeholders include students, alumni, current and potential employers, and benefactors. As described above, our new president’s first step was to analyze Bentley’s competitive position and core competencies, leading to the strategic repositioning (captured in the phrase “B-School for the Information Age”). The identification of stakeholders’ needs at the intersection of IT and business was recognized as a crucial ongoing activity that would help the school prioritize programs and resource requirements. Since 1998 all new initiatives at Bentley-including new facili- ties, research programs, and curricular change-have been evaluated in light of the strategic focus. In line with this sharper focus, curriculum review processes have been streamlined, leading to the approval of new programs in a matter of months rather than years.

Recent stakeholder-driven curriculum development processes occurred in two waves at our institution. In the first wave, a set of initiatives enhanced faculty members’ awareness by having key stakeholders provide knowledge about best practices in several IT-intensive business activities. In the second wave, the stakeholders helped to define and inform the development of several new

graduate programs.

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First Wave of

Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development

Our new president’s initial extensive review of the institution revealed that some faculty members were already doing tightly coupled research and curriculum development in topical areas that aligned well with the B-School for

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TABLE 2. Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development, Wave I:

Fact-Finding Initiatives

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Stakeholder-driven fact-finding

initiatives Description Membership Status Strategy and New

Product Develop- ment in the Internet Economy

Business Processes and Enterprise Sys- tems

Knowledge Man- agement

Assessed new product development issues for dot-com and bricks-and-mortar industries.

Interdisciplinary research, faculty development, and curriculum design re ERP systems, business process redesign, and management control

Interdisciplinary research, faculty development, and curriculum design re: human resource and IT issues in knowledge management.

Interdisciplinary Initial study group group appointed by examined high-tech college president; product develop-

10 core members ment theories and best practices, then sponsored an industry guest-speaker series open to all faculty. Members prepared several research cases and papers. Led to new graduate course, E- Business Strategy, and to new MBA E-Business Con- centration. Interdisciplinary Faculty received group; membership extensive training invited by graduate in SAP; several dean: 8 core mem- studies spawned. bers. Led to two new

graduate courses, Business Processes and IT for Compet- itive Advantage. Led to the “clean- sheet” design of a new full-time Infor- mation Age MBA program, which was launched in fall 1998.

Interdisciplinary Ongoing. Several group; membership studies spawned. invited by graduate Led to graduate dean; 8 core mem- Knowledge Man- bers. agement course.

the Information-Age strategy. The program of interdisciplinary research on e- commerce on the Web represented one such cluster of research and curricular work. Another was the interdisciplinary research on emerging legal issues, which was conducted by several faculty members and which ultimately led to the writing of a landmark textbook on cyberlaw (Ferrera, Lichtenstein, Reder,

August,

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& Schiano, 2001) and to the

undergraduate and graduate Cyberlaw courses. Most of the other faculty members were engaged in traditional specialized research that had little direct impact on the curriculum.* Yet, key stakeholders (including influential benefactors) expressed an interest in seeing a tighter coupling between leading-edge research and Bentley’s course

offerings. To inculcate a stronger focus

on timely and relevant interdisciplinary research and curriculum development at the intersection of IT and business disciplines, we took three steps:

1. In new faculty recruiting, priority was given to candidates demonstrating strength at the intersection of IT and business processes, especially electronic commerce.

2. Funding was obtained for four interdisciplinary chaired professors, hired in 1999 and 2000, who helped to lead some research and curriculum development activities.

3. Several fact-finding initiatives

were launched, in which appropriate stakeholders would help existing faculty to identify fruitful avenues for research and curriculum development.

Three stakeholder-driven “best-practices” initiatives in this wave of cumcu- lar activities are summarized in Table 2. Two of them-Business Processes/ Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management-were launched at the behest of the graduate dean. Strategy and New Product Development in the Inter- net Economy was initiated by the president, who was himself an active participant in the work of this group. By gathering together individuals from dif- ferent departments and representing dif- ferent research and teaching profiles, the dean and president encouraged collaboration across disciplines on several timely topics. In each fact-finding initiative, the aim was to quickly learn from alumni and current and potential employers about best practices in these key activities and their implications for our graduate MBA and MS programs curricula.

Each initiative was expected to provide a foundation for developing new teaching materials, new courses, and new graduate and executive programs. Membership was voluntary; there was no compensation for participation. We next briefly describe the Strategy and New Product Development in the Internet Economy initiative, which ultimately provided a foundation for our new MBA Concentra-

tion in E-Business.

The president’s interaction with benefactors, recruiters, alumni, and other institutional stakeholders prompt-

ed him to assemble this group and to

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TABLE 3. E-Business Concentration

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REQUIRED COURSE: After they complete their core

MBA courses, e-business con- centrators take either Electronic Commerce in the Global Economy (ofered by the

CIS department) or E-Business Strategy (offered by the management department), and

9 credit-hours from the following electives:

Area Elective course title Accounting

Accounting Accounting

Business communication Computer information systems Computer information systems Management

Human factors in information design Human factors in information design Law

Marketing

Business Process and Systems Assessment Assurance, Attestation and Auditing Electronic Commerce Assurance Services Managing Corporate Communication on the

Communication Networks

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I

Electronic Commerce in the Global Economy” E-Business Strategy”

Introduction to Human Factors Testing and Assessment Programs Cyberlaw

Marketing and Information Technology

Frameworks

www

“Elective if not taken as the required course.

become an active participant in its work. This Strategy and New Product Development in the Internet Economy group met approximately once a month during the 1998-1999 academic year. The group’s purpose was to explore product development issues from multiple perspectives. Its membership included junior and senior faculty from the accountancy, CIS, finance, marketing, and management departments. Ini- tially, the group’s work was similar to that of a doctoral seminar; they read a series of papers together, brainstormed research ideas, and discussed implications for the graduate curriculum. After seven such meetings, the group decided to initiate a guest-speaker series. Well- placed practitioners at companies that were viewed as key stakeholders (because they were market leaders, were firms that recruit Bentley graduates, or both) were invited to visit cam- pus and informally discuss the challenges they faced in designing Internet-based products or services. This popular luncheon series, which was opened up to the larger faculty community, helped bring faculty members up to date on rapidly evolving stakeholder issues and practices. Sever- al new research-and-curriculum streams were initiated by faculty mem-

bers as a direct outgrowth of the seminar. For example, one member of this fact-finding group, an assistant professor in the management department, subsequently developed a popular new course, E-Business Strategy. Another effort, a follow-up study at Open Mar- ket, Inc., and led by Gogan (the lead researcher on the first two case studies at this organization, op cit.), included on the team an accountancy professor who had previously neither conducted case-based research nor studied topics related to e-commerce. The resulting teaching case (Gogan, Cash, Subra-

mani,

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& Haselkorn, 2000) subsequently

was taught in two graduate courses. Several other research and curriculum projects arose out of this best-practices initiative, including a new MBA E- Business Concentration.

Second Wave of Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development

In spring 1999, the stakeholder perspective was a key motivation behind one faculty member’s suggestion that the graduate school create an MBA E- Business Concentration to capitalize on the various e-business-related courses already being offered by several departments. Guest speakers in the above-

noted seminar series, as well as recruiters who visited the school, had clearly indicated that graduates with e- commerce knowledge would be highly valued in the marketplace and that academic institutions were being unrespon- sive to this need. The graduate dean asked the proposing faculty member to perform an analysis of stakeholder needs and preferences, e-commerce programs offered by local and national competitors, and resource requirements. Working with the graduate dean and CIS department chair, the professor conducted this analysis and prepared a proposal in 1 month. Several stakeholders, including recruiters and alumni, were consulted about the viability of an interdisciplinary e-business concentration. At this stage, their views were explored in informal interviews and phone conversations. Their unanimous enthusiasm provided leverage for the proposal’s approval by our Graduate Council in spring 1999; its first students were accepted in fall 1999. The proposal for the new concentration (and graduate certificate) explained,

The primary target audience for these offerings is individuals with some functional expertise, and an established career track. Part-time MBA students with work experience in engineering, computer information systems, accounting, marketing, finance, and management, for instance, will benefit from understanding the impacts of e-commerce and e-busi-

ness on their organizations. They need to rethink the frameworks in which business decisions are made. These issues and challenges were not part of their graduate

or undergraduate experience. These individuals will, however, be competing with young, technology-savvy business professionals as they seek to advance in their organizations.

The designers used a broad definition of e-business, as articulated by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers:

An e-business is an enterprise designed for success in the Information Economy. E-business brings into play an organization’s resources and partners in new and innovative ways to create clear strategic advantage. The potential of e-business goes far beyond new technologies-to impact and engage all aspects of a business-strategy, process, organization and systems..

..

Beyond marketing aspects of a fm, e-business involves “optimizing business processes, enhancing human

322 Journal

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capital, harnessing technology, and man-

aging risk and compliance.” (Pricewater- housecoopers, 1999)

The interdisciplinary E-Business Concentration was designed for those of our graduate students who already had deep experience in a single functional area. The competitive analysis had revealed that, of the few schools at that time that offered an MBA e-commerce concentration, most had a marketing focus. By then, Bentley already offered an MS in Information Age marketing and several departments other than marketing already offered courses addressing e-business topics. The E-Business Concentration capitalized on these efforts; the structure of the concentra-

tion is shown in Table

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3.

Of the courses listed in Table 3, only

one, E-Business Strategy, needed to be developed; the others were already in place as MBA or MS program electives.

Nevertheless, it was recognized that other courses would soon have to be developed to enhance this concentration. So, in fall 1999 the E-Business “Platform” Committee3 was formed at the request of the graduate dean and chaired by the e-business programs coordinator. The purpose of this committee was to conduct a new competitive analysis of the e-business concentration in comparison with other schools’ offerings (which were rapidly emerging), and to conduct a new stakeholder analysis leading to recommenda- tions for addressing specific topics in the new concentration as well as the core MBA curriculum and executive education offerings. This group conducted its competitive and stakeholder analyses as of spring 2000. The compet-

itive analysis focused on

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26 schools

identified by the AACSB as offering an MBA concentration in e-commerce or a related field, as well as on curricula posted on the IS World Electronic Com- merce Course Syllabi page (IS World,

2000). The competitive analysis identified e-business course categories offered at other schols (see Table 4). The stakeholder analysis included informal interviews with students, alumni, and recruiters.

Following its competitive analysis,

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the committee concluded that Bentley ’s

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TABLE 4. E-Business Course Categories Offered at Other Schools

No. of

courses

96

72 E-commerce overview (introduction/principles/special

66 Marketing on the Internet 67

chainflogistics)

68 Cyber-law and cyberethics

69 Internship/capstone course/practicum 70

6 Economics of the Internet

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5 E-entrepreneurship

6 Accounting information systems/consultancy

E-business course area or domain

Computer science (networking and telecom., Web site design, systems, data mining/warehousing)

topics/security/risks)

Management of online business (strategy, operations-e.g., supply

Online finance (investments and trading)

e-business curriculum offers a unique set of courses in accounting information systems, cyberlaw, and human factors that is not replicated at any other school. The stakeholder analysis revealed an emerging demand for other courses (some of which were already offered by

competitor^).^

The committee recom- mended that the graduate dean and department chairs encourage faculty members to propose new courses in areas such as data warehousing and data mining, Java programming, global stan- dards-setting processes, and management of emerging e-commerce technologies. The committee concluded that the rapid growth of competitors’ offerings would drive the School to further differentiate its curriculum and that stakeholders would need to be consulted frequently to ensure the program’s ongoing success.

As stakeholders needs evolve, so must our e-business offerings. With the stock market correction in 2000 and 2001, the dot-com boom is giving way to industry consolidation. Fortunately our institution defined e-business far more broadly than B2C e-commerce, so student demand for our e-business courses continues to be strong. Our most recent stakeholder analysis sug- gests that a deep understanding of e- business issues and techniques is necessary for all MBA students. Hence, beginning in AY2000-2001, the required core MBA courses are being

redesigned to more heavily emphasize the e-business topics and skills that are currently being taught in elective courses. Once the core MBA courses have been revamped to reflect e-business best practices and challenges, we anticipate that there will no longer be a need for an e-business concentration. It will remain on the books only until about 2003, when the terms “e-business” and “business” will become synonymous, again reflecting stakeholder feedback.

The E-Business Concentration is one of several Information Age programs that were introduced between 1997 and 2000. These are summarized in Table 5 ; space does not permit a detailed description of each initiative. Each new program was designed by an interdisciplinary faculty team, informed by stakeholder analysis.

Several related initiatives merit men- tion. The undergraduate core curriculum was also revised extensively, to reflect the same technical and business changes that drove changes to the graduate curriculum. Several new undergraduate courses on e-business topics have been introduced, and a stakeholder assessment is underway to determine course-development priorities in both the core and elective undergraduate curricula. Signifi- cant investments also have been made in

several specialty IT labs (including the

Trading Room, the Marketing Technolo- gies Showcase, and the Human Factors Usability Lab), which provide a unique

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2001

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TABLE 5. Second Wave of Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development

at Bentley: New Programs

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Stakeholder-driven

platform Description Membership Status MS in Accounting

Information Sys- tems and BS in Accounting Infor- mation Systems Information Age MBA

MS in Human Fac- tors in Information Design

MS in Information Age Marketing MBA E-Business Concentration and Graduate Certificate Program

Platform of graduate and undergraduate programs designed with input from industry. Faculty research feeds content of many new courses in platform.

Full-time integrated MBA curriculum based on business processes rather than functional areas. Heavy reliance on advisory board for design of and participation in courses. Graduate and executive programs studying software design and usability. Heavy industry influence. Focus on Web- based and database marketing initiatives. Strong industry links.

Parallel graduate curricular efforts and faculty development to energize a research program across disciplinary lines. Synergies with other IT-based programs.

Several accounting faculty members in cooperation with CIS faculty. Program teaching faculty who meet regularly to design and coordinate course content and student relationships.

Business communi- cations faculty working with CIS faculty.

Marketing faculty working with CIS faculty.

Wide-ranging interdisciplinary faculty committee, chaired by e-business programs director.

Both programs have been offered and have produced graduates. Ongo- ing reviews and updates. Ongoing research efforts. First student cohort arrived fall 1999. In AY2000-2001, second year courses being offered for the first time. Ongoing meetings. Successful executive program. Grad- uate courses offered. Ongoing research and con- sulting.

Second year of graduate program. Executive program underway. Exten- sive research at intersection of marketing and IT.

Curricular recom- mendations and plans completed, first students admit- ted fall 1999. Exec- utive programs begun. Ongoing research focuses around an edited volume on e-business perspectives and launch of a dot- com incubator.

infrastructure to support undergraduate that our efforts have begun to bear fruit. and graduate programs. In September 1999, Computerworld placed Bentley’s new Information Age

MBA program in the nation’s “Top

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25

Discussion

Techno-MBA Programs.” In April 2000, U.S. News and World Report ranked Bentley in the list of top electronic commerce programs.

Independent rankings (by U.S. News and World Report, Computerworld, and other sources) provide early evidence

324

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Journal of Education for

Business

Though the rise in rankings is encour- aging, challenges have arisen also. Sev- eral nonstrategic programs were elimi- nated because they did not align well with the repositioned strategy; not surprisingly, some members of the faculty did not endorse these steps immediately. And many members of the faculty feel that they are under more pressure than ever. The rapid introduction of three new master’s of science programs together with the Information Age MBA and the MBA E-Business Concentration represents an unprecedented pace of curricular change in our institution.s Not every program is as yet financially self-sufficient, and much work still needs to be done to develop new courses and keep them up to date.

Our experiences lead us to suggest that when research and curriculum development on emerging topics are tightly linked, significant efficiencies can be achieved, allowing the faculty member to strike a happier balance between teaching and research respon-

sibilities.

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A classic dilemma in higher

education is that of motivating faculty to put time into rejuvenating the curriculum while they continue to conduct high-quality research. The expectation that a faculty member can participate actively in radical curriculum reform (required for the rapid evolution of e- business) while pursuing traditional research is widely seen as a recipe for faculty burnout. We believe that an answer to this dilemma is found in conducting field case studies on emerging e-business topics. Well-designed case

study research, using the grounded-the-

ory methodology, can yield both teaching cases and credible refereed publications (based on rigorous qualitative within-case or cross-case analysis).

We are pleased to report that an increasing number of faculty members at our institution are now conducting research on emerging topics related to e-

commerce, but not all of those efforts are

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as tightly linked with curriculum development as the research-driven example described in this article. Further, some members of our faculty have neither successfully incorporated research into their activities nor updated their courses to reflect current best practices. We hope that this will be a temporary challenge in

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TABLE 6. QUICK: What Did We Learn About the Two Types of Fast-

Cycles?

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QUICK checklist

Question: What’s happening? Are new skills needed?

Use flexible, field-based research

and appropriate advisors.

Identify key trends, best practices, and pitfalls.

Collaborate with those who bring complementary skills and resources.

Know thyself Be true to your core competencies and strategic vision.

our ongoing transformation from a traditional “teaching school” to an institution dedicated to bringing best practices in the field rapidly into our Information Age curricula.

Our experiences suggest that research-driven and stakeholder-driven curriculum development are complementary activities and that neither alone

is sufficient. Stakeholder-driven curricular initiatives help establish a mandate for change, help us raise the necessary financial resources to make changes, help ensure that good jobs will be available to our graduates, and give us a mechanism for building a long-term relationship with our alumni. However, when faculty members do not conduct well-designed research on the topics that our stakeholders point to, they are less able to design meaningful class- room experiences for their students. Research-driven curricular change helps to ensure that our students are exposed to a broader range of best practices, leading-edge techniques, and deeper consideration of emerging business and technical challenges.

Our institution is business focused. Although we are a large business school, we are a small academic institution. Our faculty members do not have to compete with schools of engineering, medicine, liberals arts, and law for scarce resources. Thus, some university-based business schools may experience an additional set of challenges when they attempt to rapidly introduce new courses and programs into their curriculum.

Another element that may have influ- enced our ability to blend the stakeholder-driven and research-driven activities successfully is our geographic location. The greater Boston area has more academic institutions than any other city in the

world, so our faculty have many opportunities to do research with colleagues at other schools (indeed, the reference list includes cases and articles that Bentley faculty coauthored with professors from Babson College, Boston University, and Harvard). Furthermore, because our institution is within a few hours’ drive of

an impressive array of dot-com and traditional companies along the Northeast Corridor, the costs of conducting field- based case research and of tapping stakeholder views and resources are not pro- hibitively high.

Finally, it is important to acknowl- edge that these research-driven and stakeholder-driven curriculum development initiatives took place in the con- text of an organization that was in the midst of a dramatic strategic repositioning, led by a president who was able to clearly articulate the new strategy and build broad-based support for it. He ensured that critical resource allocation processes were streamlined and aligned with the new strategy. He was able to obtain significant financial support from key external stakeholders, leading to the funding of four new chaired pro-

fessorships; several state-of-the

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art spe-

cialized IT laboratories (such as the Trading Room and the Center for Mar- keting Technologies); and a new Acad- emic Technology Center, which houses some of our faculty and many high-tech classrooms. Though the money he raised certainly helped to maintain the faculty’s focus and enthusiasm, we believe that the president’s ability to elicit a high level of commitment from the faculty and key stakeholders was a far more important element in our rapid curricular change. Recall that the facul-

ty groups listed in Tables 1,2, and

5 did

not receive extra compensation for their research-driven and stakeholder-driven

activities, other than summer support provided through the usual channels. The chaired professors did receive reduced course loads, which freed up their time to participate actively in many of these activities; however, they

were only

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4 professors in a full-time

faculty of 360.

QUICK: What Did We Learn?

The research-driven and stakeholder- driven curriculum development processes shared several common elements, which are summarized in the acronym QUICK (see Table 6).

Question: What’s happening? Are new skills needed? Both the research-driven

and stakeholder-driven initiatives arose as a result of questions asked by one or more members of our faculty and administration and aimed at understanding the implications of the Internet economy on business strategy and prac-

tice.

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As participants in this process, we

observed that both research and curriculum development efforts necessarily involved continuously asking probing questions, because the pace of technical and business change has been unrelent- ing. To cope with this pace of change, it is necessary to frequently re-examine the assumptions underlying curricular offerings. For example, our E-Business Concentration was launched in fall 1999, yet 1 year later, we were already planning for its dissolution.

Use flexible, field-based research strate- gies. The grounded-theory, case-study

approach works well as a means of quickly generating new teaching materials and subsequently authoring credible refereed publications. Note that this research approach depends heavily on the generosity of the business leaders who permit academics to write cases about their organizations-including cases in which management made mis- takes or faced seemingly irresolvable dilemmas. Furthermore, it may require the researcher to undergo new training in case research design, semistructured interview techniques, and qualitative analysis.

Identifjl key trends, best practices, and pitfalls. Management education needs to JulylAugust 2001 325

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reflect current best practices in business strategy, structure, and operations. This requires the ability to learn from success-

ful and unsuccessful initiatives. A

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way to

achieve this understanding (in addition to the use of a case-study research strategy) is to use a stakeholder-driven approach, tapping into the expertise and insights of alumni, recruiters, and benefactors. The business professionals who serve on our formal graduate school advisory board, as well as the many stakeholders who are available to us on an informal basis, provide invaluable guidance as we continue to plan for new and revised program offerings. These linkages between academics and practitioners are an absolute necessity in keeping up with today’s

business practices.

Collaborate with those who bring com- plementary skills and resources. The e-

commerce research stream that was described above involved one faculty member who initiated the study and along the way recruited eight coauthors representing multiple disciplines

(accounting, MIS, strategy) and institu-

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tions (Bentley College, Babson Col- lege, Boston University, and Harvard). The other research-driven initiatives that are described in Table 1 also involved a mix of academic disciplines. Similarly, each of the stakeholder-driven efforts that are summarized in

Tables

2 and

5 used an interdisciplinary

mix of academics, and all made effective use of business advisors.

Know thyseg Be true to both your core competencies and your strategic vision.

Our president played a pivotal role in identifying a set of competencies that were already in place at our institution and that would serve as a foundation for further curricular change. Once he clearly articulated a strategic vision for the school’s future, many individual faculty members were inspired to upgrade their skills and knowledge and to focus on those research and curriculum-development activities that would help us achieve the vision.

Conclusion

It is trite, yet truer than ever to say that business schools need to stay abreast of

326 Journal

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evolving technologies and business practices in order to meet the job market’s demand for new skills. To note just one of many possible examples, over the next several years wireless comput- ing technologies will give rise to significant new mobile commerce appiica- tions and challenges, which will create demand for graduates who can effec- tively contribute to “m-commerce” initiatives.

The emerging e-business environment is turbulent, information-intensive, and complex. Successful firms have found that old organizational structures and practices cannot keep up with the pace of e-business change. Thus, neither can business schools’ old structures and practices. To address the evolving needs

of the stakeholders that we serve,

21st-

century business schools also need to develop a new focus and new organizational mechanisms. Both research-driven and stakeholder-driven curriculum development initiatives can give rise to a need for new or redirected resources and reconsideration of existing policies and practices. For example, mechanisms for funding faculty development, research, and curriculum may need to be revised to reinforce interdisciplinary work and to reduce artificial barriers between “research” and “curriculum.”

As has been the case at Bentley Col- lege, when an institution’s leader articu- lates a clear vision and aligns organizational structures and incentives with that vision, then tightly linked research-driven and stakeholder-driven initiatives can yield effective and timely curricular change. To offer content and experiences that will engage students’ interest and prepare them for today’s turbulent e-business environment, business school professors are working harder than ever on new course development and traditional research efforts. The complementary activities of research- driven and stakeholder-driven may offer some hope of working smarter and faster, with relevant results that our students will appreciate.

NOTES

I . By fall

1995, other institutions offering elec-

tronic commerce courses included Bowling Green; Columbia; Duke; Harvard; the Universities of Illinois (Springfield), Michigan, Pittsburgh,

Rochester, ‘and Texas (Austin); and University College, Dublin.

2. We do not wish to imply that research is only valuable if it directly affects the business- school curriculum; however at this stage of our school’s strategic repositioning, it was felt that an efficient linkage between faculty members’ research and curriculum activities would be bene- ficial both to the institution and to the time- pressed faculty members.

3. A Bentley platform committee is charged with achieving synergy across multiple curricular programs. For example, the accounting information systmes (AIS) platform simultaneously addressed undergraduate, MBA, and MS offer- ings, and the e-business platform simultaneously addressed MBA, MS, and executive education offerings.

4. These courses are listed in Appendix A.

5. Nor is this the entire story of curricular

change at our institution. The finance faculty recently redesigned their graduate programs, leading to new MS in corporate finance and MS in global financial analysis programs. And the CIS department is replacing its MS-CIS program with a new MS-IT program, which will entail the design of 12 new courses during the 2000-2001

academic year.

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