دانلود رایگان مقاله برنامه های MBA آنلاین و تهدید نوآوری تحول آفرین

abstract

Online MBA programs are examined through the lens of disruptive innovation theory. Disruptive innovations appear at first to be inferior to the level acceptable to the consumers of the products offered by incumbents, targeting an audience ignored by the latter; as they improve, challengers can challenge market share. Using data from the 2011e2012 US News and World Report survey of online MBA programs, this paper evaluates the extent to which this model applies to online MBA programs offered by institutions accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) (incumbents), and those offered by MBA programmes with other accreditation (challengers). Many significant differences are found, in areas such as acceptance rates, target audiences of potential students, pricing, faculty, class sizes, and support services. These differences indeed cast the incumbents and challengers in the roles outlined by the disruptive innovations theory, indicating that incumbents may be at risk of disruption.

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.