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Closing the Gap between Graduates’ Skills and Employers’ Requirements: A Focus on the Strategic Management Capstone Business Course

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Listed:
  • Meredith E. David

    (Marketing Department, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA)

  • Fred R. David

    (Business Administration Department, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC 29506, USA)

  • Forest R. David

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Hungary)

Abstract

Strategic management has long been the capstone course for business majors at most colleges and universities globally. As originally designed, the capstone course sought to teach students an array of skills and tools needed to actually perform strategic planning, primarily through integration and application of functional business concepts and techniques. Times have changed, however, and business schools have come under scrutiny regarding their ineffectiveness in developing graduates’ skills commensurate with employers’ requirements. Such criticism is justified as academics teaching the capstone business course have partitioned their instruction efforts to focus increasingly on theory rather than practical applications. After a pertinent evaluation of current academic research, we illuminate how and why increased focus on practice is needed in strategic-management pedagogy. We delineate how the once well-designed business capstone course has evolved into a course that too often fails to impart practical competencies to graduating students. To facilitate closing the gap between graduates’ skills and employers’ requirements, we present a strategic management pedagogical model designed to promote student learning and development of hard and soft skills related to actually doing strategic planning. The proposed model can help reduce the gap between graduates’ skills and employers’ requirements with the intended purpose to provide increased interest for teaching practical tools that were developed by practitioners. Such tools include the BCG matrix, developed by the Boston Consulting Group, and the Internal-External (IE) portfolio matrix derived from the General Electric (GE) Business Screen developed by Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. The proposed model also reveals the process of including both internal and external aspects into strategic decision making as evidenced by countless organizations performing Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat (SWOT) analyses. The proposed model significantly enhances previous theory-based approaches for teaching the capstone strategic-management course.

Suggested Citation

  • Meredith E. David & Fred R. David & Forest R. David, 2021. "Closing the Gap between Graduates’ Skills and Employers’ Requirements: A Focus on the Strategic Management Capstone Business Course," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:11:y:2021:i:1:p:10-:d:487362
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Uyar, Ali & Gungormus, Ali Haydar, 2011. "Professional Knowledge and Skills Required for Accounting Majors Who Intend to Become Auditors: Perceptions of External Auditors," Business and Economics Research Journal, Uludag University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 2(3), pages 1-33, July.
    2. Henry Mintzberg, 1990. "The design school: Reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 171-195, March.
    3. Sarah J. Marsh & Terrence R. Bishop, 2014. "Competency Modeling in an Undergraduate Management Degree Program," Business Education and Accreditation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 6(2), pages 47-60.
    4. David, Fred R. & David, Meredith E. & David, Forest R., 2011. "What are business schools doing for business today?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 51-62, January.
    5. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    6. David, Fred R. & David, Meredith E. & David, Forest R., 2011. "What are business schools doing for business today?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 51-62.
    7. Francisca Rosa Álamo-Vera & Lidia Hernández-López & José Luis Ballesteros-Rodríguez & Petra De Saá-Pérez, 2020. "Competence Development and Employability Expectations: A Gender Perspective of Mobility Programmes in Higher Education," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Melanie Marks & R. Wixel Barnwell & Ashley Crute, 2024. "Speaking to a General Audience: Activities for an Economics Capstone Course," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 9(1), pages 46-66, February.

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