Conceptual maps of the leading MBA programs in the United States: core courses, concentration areas, and the ranking of the school

Abstract

This paper captures the structure of MBA programs in 25 leading U.S. business schools at the beginning of the revolution these programs are undergoing. It is a study of strategic groups in the MBA industry, and a baseline for examining adaptation and strategic change in educational institutions. We use the Co-plot method to map the schools according to the 1993 structure of their core courses and existing areas of concentration. The maps indicate similarities among business schools and shed light on their 1994 ranking. Each of the five top schools has been found to be in a different cluster of MBA program structures. The findings suggest that program structure content-the particular mix of core and concentration areas-in itself is not a source of superior performance.

Being Good or Being Known: An Empirical Examination of the Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences of Organizational Reputation

“…A business school's rank in BusinessWeek's 1998 rankings was used to measure media rankings. We used the BusinessWeek ranking because it is the oldest and best-established ranking of U.S. business schools and has been used by multiple prior studies (D'Aveni, 1996;Elsbach & Kramer, 1996;Martins, 1998;Segev, Raveh, & Farjoun, 1999). In addition, the BusinessWeek rankings were more appropriate for our study then those published in other media sources, such as the Financial Times or U.S. News & World Report, because the latter include observable organizational attributes and economic outcomes (such as starting salary).…”

Financial System and Equity Culture Development in Central and Eastern European Countries: The Effect of Institutional Environment

“…However, a relatively new clustering method designed for multi-criteria analysis -the Co-Plot method -has the advantage of analysing variables and observations simultaneously and in a simple manner (Raveh, 2000b, Segev et al, 1990, Raveh, 2000a. The method produces three results.…”

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