Why start an electronic business journal aimed at practitioners? A central statement in the mission of the Graziadio School is, “We seek to positively impact both the society at large, and the organizations and communities in which our students and graduates are members.” Graziadio School faculty and administrators continually seek new means and avenues to serve our students, our graduates, and the business community at-large. The recent boom of the Internet and web access opens another avenue for serving these important stakeholders.
This inaugural issue of the Graziadio Business Review is another entrepreneurial chapter in the Graziadio School’s rich entrepreneurial history. Graduate business programs at Pepperdine began in response to market needs for managerially trained engineers in the aerospace industry in the late-1960s. The Graziadio School’s world renowned Master of Science in Organizational Development Program, now ranked as the premier graduate organizational development program in the U.S., was a result of entrepreneurial thinking in the 1970s, and the school’s Master of Science in Technology Management Program grew out of similar needs in the 1980s.
The focus of this journal is on the business practitioner. Theoretical exposition and intellectual contribution are important to the Graziadio School of Business and Management, but only in the context of serving business practitioners. The format of the Graziadio Business Review will be flexible and responsive to our audience’s needs. Each issue will strive to address current business issues, emerging concepts and ideas, and issues important to practicing managers. We also plan to include at least one article in each issue on personal business, an interview with an important business personality, and brief bytes of information and insight for business leaders in a format we call “The Loop.”
One of our initial experiments will be the inclusion of interactive cases. Cases are being developed based on faculty consulting experiences that allow you, the reader, to share your views on the information presented. Additional points in the case will be unveiled about once a month so that readers can observe and learn how opportunities evolve and offer additional insights. The interactive case is one way that we want to leverage the available technology and encourage you to participate in the interactive case, the reader surveys, and other interactive items we will add over time.
In this first issue we present an examination of the human dynamics involved in downsizing by Dr. Wayne Strom, an expansion of firm marketing strategy that incorporates the increasingly critical issue of technology by Dr. Bruce Buskirk and Dr. Ed Popper, and Dr. Terry Young examines how Southeast Asia is recovering from the recent financial woes. Managing editor Frieda Gehlen and I had the pleasure of interviewing George L. Graziadio, president and CEO of Imperial Bank and benefactor of the Graziadio School of Business and Management. The initial interactive case is centered on AB, Inc., a mythical firm trying to deal with the new millennium and downsizing. The executives of AB, Inc. would certainly be interested in what observations you might offer. On the personal front, Dr. Owen Hall and Dr. Darroll Stanley offer some help on how to pick personal investment software.
I want to express my gratitude for the long hours and hard work of managing editors Frieda Gehlen, Mark Fisher, and Scott Fletcher. Please take a moment to give us your feedback (it’s under “Your Turn” in the index) after you’ve perused this inaugural issue. The support of Demoline Productions, specifically Michael Stamper, is gratefully recognized, as is the direction and guidance of Dean Otis Baskin and Associate Dean Peggy Crawford of the Graziadio School of Business and Management.
Again, welcome and let us know what you think.
