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A C T University, a private school in Missouri, has reduced its program from 60 active students to two or three. impact of this shortage," says Viswanathan. "Singapore cur- rency weakened after 1997; and, in terms of U.S. dollars, our salaries are not as attractive as they were before. At the same time, salaries in the U.S. have increased dramatically. So schools in many countries—the European countries, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as Singapore—are find- ing it difficult to attract Ph.D.s to join their faculties." At the same time in the United States, Saint Louis age as the candidates he most wants to hire are drawn to the West, where higher salaries beckon. "During the last seven or eight years, we've felt the wo business school administrators on opposite sides of the world share similar positions, but face different quandaries. At the Nanyang Business School in Singapore, Vish Viswanathan is direc- tor of its newly expanded Ph.D. program designed to supply trained educators to a region with few doctoral programs. However, he must overcome a faculty short- a problem that will go away quickly on its own, many edu- cators are prescribing viable remedies tomanagement educa- tion's doctoral dilemma. If business schools with doctoral programs do their part to increase production of Ph.D.s, many believe they not only will revitalize their own Ph.D. programs and strengthen their reputations in the market- place, but also increase the quality of business education and research on a global scale. Whilemost observers agree that the Ph.D. shortage is not al programs over the last five to seven years," says Bernard Milano, president of KPMG Foundation, a global consulting firm with offices in Montvale, New Jersey. KPMG is a top Making the Ph.D. Pay No business school is an island—or is it? One could argue that, where doctoral programs are concerned, business schools have become isolationists. When it comes down to budgets and board meetings, many deans find they have no choice but to meet their own bottom lines, regardless of the effects on the larger marketplace. "Many universities have reduced the size of their doctor- Replenishing the world's supply of doctorates in business has become imperative. Educators worldwide offer their prescriptions for management education's doctoral dilemma. might agree collectively that we should all produce more Ph.D. students, but there is no benefit for individual schools to do so.We pay the students; they don't pay us," says Seitz. Both schools find themselves in the mid- Downsizing the program was a cost-cutting measure, explains the school's dean Neil Seitz. Although Seitz admits that such an action contributes to a faculty shortage, he finds he has no other choice. "It's a very difficult challenge for the profession. We by Tricia Bisoux dle of a cycle that has escalated in the last few years. As costs go up, many Ph.D.-granting institutions are shrinking their doctoral programs in business, especially those in the U.S. As these business schools shrink their pro- grams, fewer qualified educators enter the pipeline. As the number of qualified candidates in the pipeline decreases, salaries in the U.S. rise. As salaries rise, Ph.D.s from around the world are attracted to higher salaries in the U.S.—and schools worldwide find themselves in a salary war that many will likely lose. sponsor of The Ph.D. Project, a program that encourages minority participation in business doctoral programs. "Some will suggest that it's because of an absence of candidate flow; others will say that doctoral programs are too expensive to run, or that they don't have the right faculty mix," notes Milano. "But whatever the reasons, it seems that the people who are complaining about the supply are the same people who are responsible for the supply." Mea culpa, admits Seitz of Saint Louis University. He acknowledges that the faculty shortage will "become an increasing prob- lem" for all schools. "Up to this point, we have been able to fill our open positions with highly qualified candidates, but down the road, we're looking at some extremely tight num- bers," he predicts. "Like every school, we have a limited budget, and like most private schools, we rely heavily on tuition. It may be true that all business schools may be collectively better off if Saint Louis University decided to invest more money in Ph.D. students, but it just doesn't make economic sense for BizEd MARCH/APRIL 2002 21 I A • N • N T S E R T N I O L F O U