Responses from 12 Authors to the Article on 'Do Business Schools Have a Role in the Current Financial Crisis?'

摘要

The excellent opinion piece argues that business educators need to emphasize new areas and teaching techniques in light of recent economic problems. I applaud this sentiment. I would also like to point out that virtually every aspect of the recent crisis can reasonably be characterized as a failure of time horizons. Would Madoff have taken the same path knowing the outcome would be spending the later years of his life in prison? Would banks have invested so heavily in subprime mortgage instruments knowing the overheated housing market would drop precipitously? Would the automakers and the United Auto Workers have agreed upon such generous benefit provisions knowing those provisions would ultimately threaten their very existence? What is remarkable is that it does not require hindsight to predict these outcomes: Ponzi schemes necessarily fall apart; bubbles always burst; a company cannot continue operating at a competitive disadvantage indefinitely.