Rethinking the MBA

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A Rising Chorus of Concerns

TO BETTER UNDERSTAND current concerns about the MBA, one must begin with some history. From its start in the late nineteenth century, graduate business education has been the subject of nearly continuous debate. As one dean put it over twenty years ago, “No professional field of study has been more consistently inspirational both to its friends and critics.”¹ Surprisingly, the substance of these debates has changed little over time. There have been alternating waves of suspicion and support, each motivated by the same basic tension: how to balance the demands of scholarship and practice.

The “Two Cultures” Problem

The development of university-based business schools is, in many ways, a story of aspiration and acculturation—a ...