Pioneers in business education

Citation

Brian Jones, D.G. (2007), "Pioneers in business education", European Business Review, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2007.05419baa.001

Pioneers in business education

Intellectual biography contributes to our understanding of the history of ideas. It can help to explain the origins of a scholar’s work, the ideological underpinnings of a subject’s thought, and can shed light on the sociology of knowledge. This special issue includes articles that celebrate the lives and contributions of five different pioneers in business education. The subjects represent a range of business disciplines including marketing, finance, international business, and information systems management. Collectively, these intellectual biographies span over a century from the beginning of university education in business through today. The authors in this special issue used a wide range of historiographic approaches including archival research, historical interpretations of published works, and personal interviews with those subjects still living. The articles are presented in the chronological order of the subjects’ lives.

Paula McLean and Brian Jones examine the career of Edward Sherwood Mead (1874-1956), one of the first university teachers of finance in North America. Mead was Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of Business from 1900 until 1944. Among his pioneering contributions, he wrote one of the first textbooks on corporate finance in 1910.

Brian Jones describes the life and work of Theodore N. Beckman (1895-1973) whose academic career in marketing at the Ohio State University spanned some 50 years from 1921 through 1973. Beckman was a university teacher, a consultant to business, and a prolific scholar with seminal publications in the areas of wholesaling, credit, and marketing productivity.

Mohammad Elahee tells the story of Lee C. Nehrt (1926-) who, in 1962, became the first person to earn a PhD in the relatively young discipline of international business. Nehrt is respected most for his role in internationalizing business curricula in the USA, but also made important contributions both as an educator and consultant to various international bodies such as the World Bank. He was also one of the founders of the Academy of International Business.

Srinivasan Ramani’s (1939-) role as India’s pioneer scholar and educator in information technology management is described by Ramesh Subramanian. During his career, Ramani made significant contributions to the development of India’s information technology with seminal work in networking, software, and IT education. Today, Ramani is Director for Science and Technology at Hewlett Packard Labs in India.

Finally, Maureen Bourassa, Peggy Cunningham, and Jay Handelman examine the enormous influence of Philip Kotler (1931-) who has contributed to the broadening of academic inquiry in the field of marketing and has played a significant role in shaping how marketing is taught to and practiced by students and managers of marketing. Of course, Kotler continues in that role as a member of the faculty at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

We hope that readers of this special issue of the European Business Review will find these five articles enlightening and interesting.

The next special issue on views from global thought leaders will appear in the European Business Review in Issue 4, 2007. Included in this next special issue will be another collection of refreshing, thought-provoking and challenging articles from leading scholars in academia worldwide.

So keep an eye out for the special issues and the special issue series that will appear in the European Business Review during 2007 and onwards. For example, other forthcoming special issues in progress for 2007/2008 are on Wroe Alderson’s intellectual legacy, academic publishing and academic journals, and bridging the gap between management theory and practice.

Welcome to the world of European Business Review!

D.G. Brian Jones, Göran SvenssonGuest Editors