Can research be basic and applied? You bet. It better be for B-schools!

TLDR: New organizational forms for accomplishing this include what are sometimes referred to as the “core and cloud organization forms” described in this paper, suggested for delivering education and effecting the kind of applications-driven theory that management schools will be better able to undertake.

Abstract: This article reviews some of the very severe criticisms of university education and research that are now being made by businessmen and government officials as well as by distinguished members of the academy such as Peter Drucker and Milton Friedman. The focus is on business schools, and, in particular, business schools in research universities. One part of the response suggested in this paper can be described as “applications driven theory”, meaning that relevance is to be attained by starting with a concrete problem in the context of an actual application. This is what we mean by “applications driven”. “Theory” becomes a recognizable part of such a research effort when the approaches used are generalized and made publicly available (e.g., by publication) for interest, and use, by others with sufficient rigor and precision to admit of validation by “third parties”. Classroom relevance is attained by addressing the need for bringing research and its management uses into the classroom. This is also to be done in a manner that will help and encourage students to learn to use the university as a resource in their subsequent careers. New organizational forms for accomplishing this include what are sometimes referred to as the “core and cloud organization forms” described in this paper. Uses of this form with accompanying examples are suggested for delivering education and effecting the kind of applications-driven theory that management schools will then be better able to undertake. An Addendum compares US higher education with the situations in other countries.