April 2, 2004

Business Curricula Should Integrate Liberal-Arts and Vocational Skills

By NOREAN RADKE SHARPE and GORDON D. PRICHETT

For more than a century, business schools have tried to gauge how important a liberal-arts background is to functioning in the marketplace. The question now has renewed urgency. Political volatility and the interwoven global economy, the revolution in information technology, and renewed attention to corporate ethics and transparency have all recently buffeted the corporate world, and sparked reconsideration of whether business schools are properly preparing their students to enter