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A C Research at Risk Business schools often cut corners in their research programs—but at what cost? and students, the responsive dean must analyze the cost structure of all programs and activities in the school. From a cost-benefit perspective, the doctoral pro- gram is one of the most expensive programs in the school to run and one of the most dif- ficult to fund. Furthermore, given that there is no media hype surrounding doctoral programs, a dean's first reaction is often to decrease the size of the doctoral pro- gram and shift those resources to the MBA program. This reaction seems even further justified by those who T 18 he typical business school dean faces a perplexing dilemma. Confronted with faculty shortages, ris- ing student and alumni expectations, increasing technology demands, escalating costs associated with playing the rankings game, and competition from academic and business markets for faculty by Andrew Policano fundamental research now poses a significant threat to the quality of business schools. Intense competitive pressures already have caused doctoral programs to shrink; and as the shortage of faculty intensifies, only the most heavily endowed schools with the best support structures for research can afford the top candidates. Then, these top schools often use public schools in the same ways that major league profession- al baseball teams use the minor leagues. First, they pass on the "diamonds in the rough" to the publics, letting them train these students for three to five years. Then, they recruit this Unfortunately, the shift away from doctoral education and criticize one of the main products of doctoral programs in business disciplines—research. Many on campus believe research is too applied and adds little to a fundamental body of knowledge; conversely, some off campus believe that it is too theoretical and has little "real-world" application. Faced with the significant cost of research and prominent criti- cisms, many deans have been hard-pressed to defend the expense of doctoral programs. BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2002 research will be conducted at fewer and fewer schools. The vibrancy of faculty at other programs and the overall quality of these learning environments will diminish. The number of doctoral programs will continue to dwindle, so that the qual- ity across the board suffers. However, effective deans can justify the cost of a doctor- al program and respond to critics in several ways. Understanding and communicating at least four key points are essential: newly trained talent, attracting these individuals withminimal teaching loads and high salaries. The result is that, over time, the lion's share of top I A • N • N T S E R T N I O L F O U