However, Professor Johnsons assertion is tenuous at best. That
should be obvious. Secondly, we do not have a model which
allows us to compare the effect of graduate management education on
the success or failure of a single business let alone the economy of
the country. So the increase in MBA's should provide no insight to
the success or failure of the American economy. Monetary policy has
a better group of models associated with economic growth.
Professor Johnson's otherwise fine accounting book is a great sequel
to the Relevance Lost book he wrote with Kaplan (1987/1991) it
alluded to the need for Activity Based Costing as I recall. But I
fear that doesn't qualify him to assess the use of a graduate
education on an economy. To wit:
We now graduate over 80,000 MBA's per year as of 1992, and their
entry level salaries continue to rise (BW October 17, 1994). And
the US has the highest productivity per worker in the world. And
guess which country has led to the largest growth of its citizens
attaining the MBA degree? (Not the US).
Seeing as few European countries have professional graduate level
education in Business, and very few graduates it would not be
appropriate to make such comparisons. Although, the other coutnries
seem to have a grwong appetite for the American education. I'd hate
to think all that growth was simply to learn what the enemy was doing.
Clearly Johnson makes several well argued cases for adjusting our
appetites for information.
Charles Barclay 2404 Maile Way
Dept. of Mgmt & Ind Relations Honolulu, HI 96822
University of Hawaii Fax: 808 956-2774
barclay@busadm1.cba.hawaii.edu Phone: 808 956-8545
"The genetic code of the Republicans is to create an environment
that is more conducive to business." ---Joe Costello, CEO of
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.