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    EBM

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    Fast-Cycle Curriculum Development Strategies for E-Business Programs: The Bentley College Experience l 1 the 1990s, organizations invested heavily in new information tech: nologies and large-scale IT initiatives for improved transaction processing electronic commerce, process redesign. and. strategic relationships. These investments were accompanied by si 1 chal: nificant business and techni pressin need for new content in business school ‘curricula. To prepare their students to address these challe schools need to introduce new concepts and skills into the curriculum rapidly and on a conti jous basis, keeping pace with business and technical develop: ments. To accomplish this, individual business school faculty members also their own IT skills and need t0 uy their unde merging bus: ness models, on a continuous. basis Meanwhile, faculty members are stil expected to produce high-quality research publications. Not surprisingly some professors feel that accelerated expectations for curriculum develop: activities conflict with their research agendas, Many academics cite lack of and professional development time, resource limitations, and other factors—such as inflexible bureaucratic processes and poorly aligned reward structures—as impediments in curricu lum development and the infusion of relevant interdisciplinary conte 318 Jowrnd Education for Business JANE FEDOROWICZ JANIS L. GOGAN Bentley Colles Waltham, Massachusetts ABSTRACT. Many academics find it ‘ficult to keep up withthe rapid pace of change in e-siness, let alone 10 introduce new course materials that adequately explore these business and technolo re, This article curriculum development processes: earchlriven and. stakeholder dr led 4 ven intiatives—that ha course modules, elective courses, and graduate programs. on e-business. at Bentley College during its transforma om into the "B-School forthe Infor mation Age.” Suggestions are offered for faculty, together with organization al mechanisms that can facilitate fast teycle curriculum development pre Our institution, Bentley College, has cessfully with (wo experimented su fastcycle” strategies for overcoming these impediments. In this article, we illustrate the wo approaches, labeled research-driven” and “stakeholder dri ven.” by describing several curriculum development examples. In this article. wwe discuss the successes achieved thus far, the remaining challenges, and lessons learned, We believe thatthe two providing the long-term focus and broad ‘market view that business and academia reed to succeed (Slater & Narver 1998), We conclude with suggestions to help other business schools incorporate hese two strate Background: Bentley College Bentley College, a private school located outside of Boston, Massachu set, has a full-time faculty of 360 and serves a student population of approxi mately 4,300 undergraduates, 1,400 Jute students (in MBA and several master of science degree programs), and 2,300 professional and executive educa tion students, Bentley currently does not offer a doctoral program, Throug of its history, Bentley has had a strong regional reputation for its unde 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 mem bers are expected make themselves available to students outside of elass for tutoring and guidance, during both con ventional office hours and “viral office hours” through e-mail, A recent push to | publication productivity led 10 policy begun in aca nie year 1998-1999 and untenured, tenur increase faculty research a ick faculty five ‘course loads (a one-course reduction) Many faculty members also are awarded modest summer research support or ccourse-development stipends. (approxi mately $5,000) based on competitive proposals. Some faculty members are Development at Bentley College Research-driven fasteyele development Research description ‘on tups and estab lished companies adjusted thei strategies to capi lalize on the rise ofthe Web as a n for BB and B2C com Studied technical ‘organizational, and project-manage- 2000 compliance projects Managing Year 2000 Compliance Projects Studied the evolu tion of U.S. laws and legal interpreta tions to address emerging Internet TABLE 1. Examples of Research-Driven Fast-Cycle Curri lum Participants Status Studied how star ing Several cases and faculty member, papers published, several coauthors used in TS and sta and instructors of czy courses, start. frommon courses ing in 1995. Elec tive graduate course, Electronic ‘Commerce on the World Wide Web, first offered in eases and published, tsed in IS and accounting courses, Graduate elective Project core accounting Sever faculty member. pa several coauthors 1 core faculty ‘member, seve authors fom la tax and CIS, Book published, co- used in pioneer undergraduate elec tive course, Cyhor fawn 1098; grade ale course first offered in 2000, assigned graduate student assistants, who work 610 15 hours per week. Grad- uate assistants are drawn from am 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 unde obtain a laptop computer. In 1997 a new college president was appointed who had a longstanding interest research credentials) in the impact of technology on corporate strategy. His significant move was to convince the board of trustees that Bentley need- ced to adopt a new strategy. As reported ina story about him in Fortune (Whit- ford, 1999 [reprint}), the president “emerged from his first trustees’ meet: ing with backers lined up for (construe aduate students (and tion of) the ith Academie Tech- nology Center, plus & commitment to fund the inmerseetion of IT und business. These steps marked the launch of an ambitious initiative reposition Bentley College fas the “Business School for the Infor- mation Age.” A critical element of that repositioni courses, and degree programs needed to be rapidly developed. In this article, we discuss som new professorships” at the of the fastcycle curricu- lum development initiatives that took place: ‘We begin with a description of “ tom-up.” research-driven curriculum development that laid the groundwork {or @ more comprehensive e-business program, New course materials were generated and introduced into the cur riculum within the first 6 months of an ongoing research effort. Then, we scribe the stakeholder-driven curric\ Jum development bes ative, in which -practice companies were called on to help plan of validate ambitious new ‘curricular offerings. In both the research driven and stakeholder-dri es, new materials were rapidly incorpo- rated into courses that address electronic ‘commerce, enterprise resource planning (ERP), knowledge management, and other timely topic. appreich- Research-Driven Curriculum Development Field research on leading-edge topics such as electronic commerce can bene- fit an institution through the rapid intro duction of new teaching cases and exer- cises into the curriculum, In Table 1, we e three “bottom-up,” research- driven curriculum development efforts (E-Commerce Emerges on the Web, Managing Year 2000 Projects, and Cyberlaw) that resulted from the initia tive of one of more faculty members? pursuing their own research agendas. Al three programs of research were Taunched before our new president's arrival and the announcement of the strategic repositioning Electronic Commerce Emerges on the World Wide Web The first program, Electronic Com: merges on the Web, provided partial foundation for the subsequent stakeholder-driven developmer 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, mar- keting, CIS, and accounting. One facul ty member conducted ease studies on dot-com start-ups, motivated by two ‘complementary factors: the opportunity to examine the diffusion and adoption ‘of Web-based capabilities and the need for course matei duce students to the ch: business on the Web. This research, done in collaboration with a coauthor another Boston-area school, used a “grounded-theory” approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), in 319 of our from July/August 2001 which an initial exploratory case study is conducted (emphasizing theory dis covery) and followed by additional eases selected to enable deeper explo- ration of specialized topies (emphasiz- ing theory refinement). An initial open- ‘ended exploratory study was conducted n 1994 at one start-up, Open Matket One- to 2-hour semistructured inter- views were conducted with 7 of the firm’s 12 employees, including the 2 founders. Archival materials (business plan, requests for funding, et), com- bined with recorded and transcribed interviews, yielded extensive qualitative data regarding challenges in formulat ing strategy and designing appropriate ‘organizational structures, control mech- anisms, and human resources practices to cope with industry turbulence in the highly volatile emergi services industry. A teaching case, the first product of this study (Gogan & Applegate, 1995), was taught in an MBA elective course in February 19 and in several executive programs that sp and su AAs 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 curricu development aims were complemen- tary: + To compare start-ups and traditional firms, to reveal varied responses 10 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 pro: fessionals working on electronic com: ‘merce initiatives in seven companies. Two more teaching cases were pro- duced (Gogan & Applegate, 1996, 1997) and taught in MBA IS and strate ay classes In fall 1995, an electronic ‘module, based primarily on the research described above, was introduced into a graduate Accounting Information Sy tems course, In spring 1996, the lead researcher introduced new in plinary graduate elective course, Elec tronic Commerce on the World Wide 320 Journal of Education for Business Web, into the MBA curriculum. This course was based primarily on the find- ings of the previous studies and 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 het for electronic commerce, The case studies and publications in the first two phases of this research had examined companies” business-to-busi- ness and consumer e-commerce efforts along multiple dimensions (strategy technology, human resources, struc ture), leading first to the development of an e-commerce module in an existing course and subsequently the develop- ment of the interdisciplinary elective course. Beginning in late 1996, another series of case studies, conducted with new coauthors, probed further into spe= cific e-commerce technologies, applica- tions, and issues, reflecting emerging concerns as managers gained experi- cence with Web-based business process: ces. The next two teaching cases, pro- duced in 1997 and 1998, focused on ‘more specialized issues: the develop: ment 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 ficld-based research ‘on electronic commere from 1995 through 1998, illustrates the personal and institutional benefits of research-driven curriculum develop ‘ment. The faculty member was able to an efficient alignment of research and curricular activities. Part nerships with fellow researchers. in ‘ther disciplines led to the development of interdiseiplinary 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; Fedorowier & Gogan, 1997; Gogan, 1996; 1996/1997; 1997), some of which were assigned dings in grad achieve rea tate courses, Thus, in this program of research the faculty member made significant progress on both curriculum development and publi cation activities. Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Process A stakeholderdriven curriculum development effort, consistent with the market-oriented perspective for busi- setting espoused by and Dangerfield (2000), starts with an analysis of stakeholder needs and preferences. Business school stake- holders include students, alumni, cur- rent and potential employers, and beni factors. As described above, our new president's first step was to analyze Bentley's competitive position and core competencies, leading to the strategic repositioning (caplured in the phrase ‘B-School for the Information Age" The identification of stakeholders’ rnceds at the intersection of IT and busi- ss was recognized as a crucl activity that would help the schoo! prioritize programs and requirements, Since 1998 all new initia- tives at Bentley—including new facil ties, research programs, and curricular cchange—have been evaluated in light of the strategic focus. In line with this sharper focus, curriculum processes have been streamlined, lead- ing to the approval of new programs in a matter of months rather than years, Recent stakeholder-driven curricu- Jum development processes oceurred in two waves at our institution, In the first ‘wave, a set of initiatives enhanced fae: tulty members” awareness by having key stakeholders provide knowledge about best practices in several [T-intensive business actvite the stakeholders helped to define and inform the development of several new ‘araduate programs. In the second wave, First Wave of Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development Our new president's initial extensive review of the institution revealed that ully members were already doing tightly coupled research and cur- riculum development in topical areas that aligned well with the B-School for Stakeholder driven fact-finding initiatives Description Strategy and New Product Develop rent in the Internet Economy Assessed new product develop nent issues for dotcom and bricks and-mortar industries, Business Processes Interdisciplinary and Enterprise Sys- research, faculty tems development, and ‘curriculum design re ERP systems, business process redesign, and man ‘agement control Knowledg Man: research, faculty development and curriculum design TABLE 2. Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development, Wave I: Fact-Finding initiatives Membership Stans Interdisciplin Initial study group ‘examined high-tech prexluct develop. ment theories and best practices. then sponsored an indus ity guestspeaker series open to all faculty prepared several research caves and Pupers. Led to new ‘graduate course, E Business Strategy and to new MBA E-Business Con: 10 core members Interdisciplinary Faculty received group; membership extensive training invited by graduate in SAP: several dean; 8 core mem- studi bers le Business Processes and IT for Compet itive Advant Led tothe “clean sheet” design of a sew fulltime Toe ation Age MBA program, which twas launched in fall 1098, Inerdisciplinary Ongoing. Several group: membership studies spawned invited by Led to grad dean; 8 core mem- Knowledge Man res human resource bers agement course and FT isues in knowledge manage: the Information-Age strategy. The pro- August, & Schiano, 2001) and to the ‘gram of interdisciplinary research on ¢= ‘commerce on the Web reps 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, undergraduate and graduate Cyberlaw courses. Most of the other faculty mem bers were engaged in traditional special ized research that had litte direct impact on the curriculum? Yet, key stakeholders (including influential benefactors) expressed an interest in seeing a tighter coupling between lead ing-edge research and Bentley's course rculcate a stronger focus mterdiseiplinary research and curriculum development at the intersection of TT and business dis ciplines, 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 electron 2. Funding was obtained for four interdisciplinary chaired professors hired in 1999 and 2000, who helped 10 lead some research and curriculum development setivities 3, Several were luunche fact-finding ini 1, in which appropriate Stakeholders would help existing faculty to identify fruitful avenues for research and curriculum development. Three stakcholder-driven “best-prac tices” initiatives in this wave of curricu- lar activities are summarized in Table 2. Two of them—Business Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management—were launched at the behest ofthe graduate dean, Strategy and New Proxluet Development in the Inter: niet Economy was initiated by the presi- Processes) dent, who was himself an active partici pant in the work of this group. By gathering together individuals from dif ferent departments and representing di ferent research and teaching profiles, the dean and president encouraged collabo. ration across diseiplines on several time ly topics. In each fact-finding initiative, was to quickly learn from alum- nai and current and potential employers about best practices in these key activi- ties and their implications for our gra ate MBA and MS programs curricula Each initiative was expected to provide a foundation for developing new teaching materials, new courses, and new gradu ate and executive programs, Membership was voluntary: there was no compensa- tion for participation, We next briefly describe the Strategy and New Product Development in the Intemet Economy initiative foundation for our new MBA Concentra- tion in E-Business The president’s interaction with benefactors, alumni, and ‘other institutional stakeholders prompt ced him to assemble this group and to which ultimately provided 3 recruiters, July{August 2001 324 REQUIRED COURS 9 ereditshours from the following elect Area Accounting Accounting Accounting Business communication Computer information systems Computer information systems Manages Human factors in information design Human factors in information design Law Marketi *Blecive iF wot taken as the required course, TABLE 3. E-Business Concentration After they complete their core MBA courses, e-business com centrators rake either Electronic Commerce in the Global Econom (offered by the (CIS department) or E-Business Strategy (offered by the management department), and Elective course title Business Process and Systems Assessment Assurance, Attestation and Auditing Frameworks Electronie Commerce Assurance Services “Managing Corporate Communication on the www ‘Communication Networks 1 Elecironie Commerc in the Global Economy" E-Business Strate Iniroluction wo Human Factors Testing and Assessment Programs Cyber Marketing snd Information Technology 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 10 explore product development issue's from multi- ple perspectives. Its membership included junior and senior faculty from the accountaney, CIS, finance, market- ing, and management depart Uially, the group's work was similar to that of a doctoral seminar; they read a series of papers together, brainstormed research ideas, and discussed implica tions 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 gradu: ates, or both) were invited to visit cam- pus and informally discuss the chal lenges they faced in designing ternet-based products or services. ‘This popular luncheon series, which was opened up to the larger faculty ‘community, helped bring faculty me bers up to date on rapidly evolving stakeholder issues and practices. Seve al new streams were initiated by faculty men research-and-curriculum 322 Journal of Education for Business bers as a ditect outgrowth of the semi= nar. For example, one member of this fact-finding group, an assistant profes- sor in the management department, subsequently developed popular new course, E-Business Strategy, Another effort, a follow-up sty at Open Mar: ket, Inc., and led by Gogan (the lead researcher on the first wo case studies nization, op cit.), included sam 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, & Haselkorn, 2000) subsequently 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 per spective was a key motivation behind fone 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 depart ments, Guest speakers in the above- noted recruiters who visited the school, had clearly indicated that graduates with e- commerce knowledge would be highly valued in the marketplace and that aca: demie institutions were bet sive t0 this need. The graduate dean asked the proposing faculty member to perform an analysis of stakeholder heeds and. preferences, 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 I month. Several stakchold: ers, including recruiters and alumni, were consulted about the viability of an imerdisciplinary e-business. concentra tion. At this stage, thy explored in informal interviews and phone conversations, Their unanimous enthusiasm provided leverage for the proposal’ approval by our Graduate ‘Council in spring 1999; its first students were accepted in fall 1999, The propos- for the new concentration (and gradu ate certificate) explained, 1g unrespon- ‘The primary target audience for these offerings is individuals with some func- tional espetise, and an established care track. Par-time MBA students with work experience in engineering, computer information systems, accounting, mirket- ing, finance, and management, for instance, will bencfit from understanding the impacts of e-commerce and e-bisi son their organizations. They neo 10 think the framewerks in which business dlecisions are made, These issues and challenges were not part of their graduate or undergraduate experience. These i ‘duals wil, however, be competing with Young, technology-savey business pro- fessionals as they seek to avance in their conganizatons, The designers used a broad definition of e-business, as articulated by consul- taney PricewaterhouseCoopers: [An e-business is an enterprise designed for suceess in the Information Economy: E-business brings into play an onganiza in new and innovative ways to udvantage. The potential of e-busi toes far beyond new technologies —t0 Impact and engage all aspects of a bus: ress—strategy, process, ofpanization and systems... Beyond marketing aspects of ecbusiness involves “optim human capital, hamessing technology, and man aging risk and compliance.” (Pricewater: hnouseCoopers, 1999) ‘The interdisciplinary E-Business Concentration was designed for those of four 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 fan MS in Information Age marketing and several departments other than mar- keting already offered courses address ing e-business topics. The E-Business Concentration capitalized on efforts; the structure of the concentra- tion is shown in Table 3. OF the courses listed in Table 3, only cone, 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 concentra- tion. So, in fall 1999 the E-Business Platform” Committee’ was formed at the request of the graduate dean and chaired by the e-business. programs coordinator, The purpose of this com: mittee was 10 conduct a new compet tive analysis of the e-business concen tration in comparison with schools’ offerings (which were rapidly emerging), and to conduct a new stake- holder 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 con- ducted its competitive and stakeholder analyses as of spring 2000, The compet: itive analysis focused on 26 schools identified by the AACSB as offering an MBA concentration in e-co related field, as well as on curricula posted on the IS World Electronic Com merce Course Syllabi page (IS World, 2000). The competitive fied e-business course categories offered at other schols (see Table 4). The stakeholder analysis included infor- ‘mal interviews. with students, alumni, and recruiters, other Following its competitive analysis, the committee concluded that Bentley's TABLE 4. E-Business Course Categories Offered at Other Schools No. of courses E-business course area or dom 96 Computer science (networking and telecom, Web ste design, systems, data mining/warehousing) 2 E-commerce overview (introduction/principles/specal ropics/securtyrisks) 66 “Marketing on the Internet or Management of online business (strategy, operatons—ee., supply ‘hainflgistcs) 6 (Cyher-law and eyberethics o Intemshin/capstone course/practicu 70 ‘Online finance ‘investmens and trang) 6 Economics of the Internet 5 Ecentrepreneurship 6 Accounting information system/consultancy e-business curriculum offers a unique redesigned to more heavily emphasize sel 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 competitors) The committee recom- mended that the graduate dean and department chairs encourage faculty members 10 propose new courses. in areas such as data warehousing and data mining, Java programming, global stan- ddards-setting processes, and manage ment of emerging e-commerce tech nologies. The committee concluded that the rapid growth of competitors” offer ings 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 ‘must our e-husiness 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, s0 student demand for our e-business courses continues 10 be strong, Our ‘most recent stakeholder a gests that a deep understanding of © business issues and techniques is neces: sary for all MBA students, Hence, beginning in AY2000-2001, the required core MBA courses are being ds evolve, so lysis sug. the e-business topies and skills that are currently being taught in elective cours ts. Once the cone 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 fon the books only until about 2003, when the terms “e-business” and “busi ness” will become synonymous, again reflecting stakcholder 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 plinary faculty team, informed by stake holder analysis. Several related initiatives merit men: tion, The undergraduate core curriculum ‘was also revised extensively, to reflect the same technical and bus that drove changes to the graduate cur- riculum, Several new undergraduate ‘courses on e-business topics have been introduced, and a stakeholder assessment is underway to determine course-devel- ‘opment priorities in both the core and lective undergraduate curricula. Signi 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 July/August 2001 323 Stakeholder-driven platfon Desert MS in Accounting Information Sys tems and BS in Accounting Infor ‘mation Systems Platform of gradu ae and undergrad te programs ‘designed with {input from indus try. Faculty research feeds Content of many platform Foll-time tegrated MBA curriculum based on business processes rather ‘han functional areas, Heavy reliance on adviso Fy boul for de of and participation MS in Homan Fac tors in Information Graduate and exce uve programs studying sofware design and usabil ty. Heavy industry influence Focus on Web: based and dataase marketing inti tives. Strong indus try links. MS in Information Age Marketing MBA E-Business Concentration and Graduate Cerificate Progra and faculty deve! ‘opment to energize frescarch program across disciplinary lines. Synergies with other F-based programs TABLE 5. Second Wave of Stakeholder-Driven Curriculum Development at Bentley: New Programs Membership Status Several accounting Faculty members in ‘cooperation with CS faculty. Both programs have been offered and have produced ‘graduates, Ongo- ing reviews and updates, Ongoing research efforts, First student cohort sive all 1009, Tn AY2000-2001 second year courses {course content and being offered for student rl the frst time, ships o Program teaching faculty who meet regularly to design and coordinate Business communi-- Suecesstul execu: cations faculty tive program. Grad. working with CIS ate courses faculty. offered. Ongoing esearch and com salting Marketing faculty Second year of graduate progran Executive program underway. Exten sive research at imersection of mar keting and TT, Faculty. Curricular recom mentions and plas completed, First students admit. ted fall 1999, Exce tive programs hegun, Ongoing research focuses around an edited volume on e-bus- ess perspoctives and launch of 3 dt ‘om incubator e-ranging ierisiplinary faculty commit, chaired by e-bus hess programs diretoe infrastructure to support under and graduate programs, Discussion Independent rankings (by U.S. News xd World Report, Computerworld, and other sources) provide early evidence 324 Journal of Education for Business our efforts have begun to bear fruit plember 1999, Computerworld ced Bentley's new Information Age MBA program in the nation’s “Top 25 ‘Techno-MBA Programs.” In April 2000, USS. News and World Report ranked Bentley in the list of top electronic com: ‘merce pros ‘Though the rise in rankings is encou aging, challenges have arisen also, Sev- cral nonstrategic programs were climi- sd because they did not align well ‘with the repositioned strategy’ prisingly. some members of the 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 withthe Information Age MBA and the MBA E-Business Concentration n unprecedented pace of curricular change in our institu Not every program is as yet financially self-sufficient, and much work still needs to be done to develop ces and keep them up to date ‘Our experiences lead us to suggest that when research 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. A classic dilemma in higher education is that of motivating faculty 10 Pt time into rejuvenatis lum 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 pursui research is widely seen as a recipe for faculty burnout. We believe that an angwer to this dilemma is found in con- ducting field case studies on emerging business topics. Well-designed case study research, using the grounded-the ory methodology, can yield both teach ing cases and credible refereed publica- tions (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 conduct merging topics related to e- commerce, but not all of those efforts are a tightly linked with curriculum devel- ‘opment as the research-dver described in this article ‘members of our faculty have neither sue cessfully incorporated research into their activites nor updated their courses. 10 reflect current best practices. We hope that this will be a temporary challenge in represents, and curriculum the custic traditional research on example Further, some QUICK check ‘Question; What's happening? A ‘TABLE 6. QUICK: What Did We Learn About the Two Types of Fast- Cycles? new skills needed? Use lexble, ield-based research and appropriate advisors ify key wendls, best practices, and pital. te with those who bring complementary skill and resources Know thyself: Be true to your core competencies and strategic vision. ‘our ongoing transformation from a tra tional “teaching schoo!” to an institution dedicated to bringing best practices the field rapidly Age curticul Our experiences suggest that research-driven and stakeholder-driven curriculum development are comple ‘mentary activities and that neither alone is sufficient. Stakeholder-driven curric- ‘lar initiatives help establish a mandate for change, help us raise the necessary financial resources to make changes, hholp ensure that good jobs will be able to our graduates, and give us a mechanism for building a long-term relationship with our alumni, However, whi 10 our Information ll faculty members do not conduct well-designed research on the topics that our stakeholders point to, they are Jess able to design meaningful cl room experiences for their students. Research-driven curricular change helps to ensure that our st are exposed to a broader range of best pra leading-edge techniques, and deeper nsideration of emerging business and technical challenges. ur institution is business focused. Although we are a large business school, we are a small academic institu- tion, Our faculty members do not have to compete with schools of engineering, medicine, liberals arts, and law for es. Thus, s0 ty-based business schools may experi ence an additional set of challenges when they attempt to rapidly introdu new courses and programs into their curriculum. Another element that may enced our ability to blend the Wve influ: old wch-driven activities cerdriven and res successfully is our geographic location ‘The greater Boston ‘mie institutions than any other city in the va has more acade- work, so our faculty have many oppor- tunities to do research with colleagues at other schools (indeed, the reference list includes eases 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 tradi tional companies alos Corridor. the costs of conducting field based case research and of tapping stake- hholder views and resources are not pro- hibitively high Finally, it is important to acknowl edge that these research-driven and stakeholder-driven curriculum develop- ment initiatives took place in the con- text of an organization that w ‘midst of a dramatic strategic reposition- ing, led by a president who was able to clearly articulate the new strategy and build broad-based support for it. He censured that cr the Northeast in the ical resource allocation processes were streamlined and aligned with the new strategy. He was able to obtain significant financial support from key external stakcholders, leading to the funding of four new chaired pro- Fessorships: several state-of-the art spe~ cialized TT laboratories (such as the Trading Room and the Center for Mar keting Technologies); and a new Acad- cemic Technology Center, which houses eof 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 « high level of commitment from the faculty and key stakeholders was a far more important element in our rapid curricular change. Recall thatthe facul- ty groups listed in Tables 1, 2, and 5 did not receive extra compensation for their researeh-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 4 professors in a full-time faculty of 360. QUICK: What Did We Learn? The research-

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