6. Conclusion
This study has contributed a detailed examination of how online programs at non-AACSB accredited institutions (NAAI) differ from those at AACSB-accredited institutions (AAI). It should provide ample food for thought for anyone involved in higher education or thinking about how the information technologies can disrupt traditional incumbents. Although the study is limited by the use of US data, the Internet makes disruption possible from anywhere, and similar issues must be faced by business schools around the globe. This study has contributed a case study that shows the overall applicability of the theory of disruptive innovation (Christensen, 1997). Though details differ, it is clear that the inexorable rise of digitization is opening an opportunity for “lesser” institutions to challenge the leaders in ways that could not have been conceived a few years ago. Future work should include performing similar analyses for business schools with other forms of leading accreditation in order to further understand how MBA education is open to disruption. As more and more universities decide to take individual courses, certificates, degree completion sequences, and entire majors and programs online, one wonders: just how disruptive will the computer and communication technologies be for this industry? What makes higher education in general, and MBA programs, in particular, quite different from other industries that have seen widespread disruption, is the large number of institutions involved. Each has a relatively small market share. But even this is changing, if institutions such as The University of Phoenix can successfully serve 60,000 on-campus and online MBA students (The Economist, 2010). While it is not necessarily fruitful to view individual institutions, they can be conceptualized using a wave metaphor. Up close, each institution looks like a ripple, but seen from a distance, they take on the characteristics of a large wave.
