Doctoral Education in the Field of Business Policy and Strategy

This report was originally commissioned in 1988 by the Executive Committee of the Business Policy and Planning Division of the Academy of Management. At that time, the Executive Committee, concerned about a number of issues connected with doctoral education, appointed The Committee on the Future of Doctoral Education to study these issues. There had been, in the last 15 years, a veritable explosion of literature in the field of Business Policy and Strategy. This trend was accompanied by a growth in the number of doctoral programs being established in American universities. As with any evolving field, questions were being raised not only by “outsiders” (faculty in other departments of a business school, curriculum and administrative officers in business schools) but also by “insiders” (professors, students, prospective students in the field itself). What is the nature of the field? What are its boundaries? What are the major streams of literature in the field? What kind of research is most promising?