Surveying the Strategic Planning Landscape at US Business Schools: A Comparison of Traditional and 'Agile-Infused’ Approaches

[摘要] This study explored the strategic planning processes of the top schools of business located in the United States as ranked by US News and World Report in March 2018. The study also examined the greatest internal and external pressures that business schools face, their current processes for strategic planning, and the relationship between the strategic planning process of a school and the perceived pressures as described by persons with responsibility for graduate programs within schools of business. Furthermore, the study identified the extent to which each school’s strategic planning process is traditional vs. agile-infused.In order to facilitate this exploration, the researcher designed and deployed a 48-question survey to administrators in the top US MBA programs. The survey instrument was comprised of three sections: Participant & School Demographics, Pressures on Schools, and Strategic Planning. The study and subsequent analysis led to the creation and testing of a scoring system to evaluate the planning processes of schools on five dimensions of comparison between traditional and more agile-infused strategic planning. This scoring system provides scores for each dimension as well as a Planning Process Dimension Score (PPDS).At the conclusion of the study, readers should have a better appreciation for the pressures having the greatest impact on business schools. In addition, readers will have exposure to both traditional and agile-infused strategic planning processes, and see where some schools fall on this spectrum. Finally, readers can use the pilot assessment and PPDS scoring system to evaluate their own planning processes and identify potential areas of enhancement.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh