Joint-Efforts Programs: A Proposal for Integration of International and Functional Concepts

A major challenge facing teachers of international business subjects during the decade of the 1970's will be the efficient and effective integration of international concepts with the functional areas of current business school curricula. This challenge is a consequence of the development of international business programs during the 1950's and the shifted emphasis toward concern with “greater internationalization of the functional areas of business” in the 1960's.11Schuyler F. Otteson, Internationalizing the Traditional Business Curriculum, International Business Research Series #1 (Bloomington, Indiana: Bureau of Business Research, Indiana University, 1968) p. 90. (The problems of the 60's are also discussed in Stefan Robock and Lee Nehrt, eds., Education in International Business, (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University, 1964). the current task is broader than the former ones in that it involves “total” integration. Such integration, however, necessarily involves optimal allocation of resources within the university. Thus administrators must find the proper combination of internationalized functional business courses and functionalized international courses. Achievement of such a condition necessitates obtaining the effective faculty interaction needed in any successful interdisciplinary approach. Furthermore, it adds additional pressure to the fact that many business school resources are already strained with no immediate relief in sight.© 1971 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1971) 2, 61–70