Harvard Business School Associate Professor Decries Lack of Stewardship at Nation's Business Schools

Business Wire, Sept 28, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas -- Traditional MBA programs cringed earlier this week when the Wall Street Journal published a story that critiqued business schools' evolution over the past 50 years.

In the article, Harvard Business School Associate Professor, Rakesh Khurana, asserts that business schools "have lost track of their original mission to produce far-sighted leaders. The logic of stewardship has disappeared."

That may be true for most schools, but certainly not at the Acton School of Business (www.actonmba.org), the nation's only MBA program tailored exclusively to entrepreneurship.

At Acton, students spend 80 to 90 hours each week standing in the shoes of an entrepreneur making tough decisions in over 300 real-world case studies, running real assembly lines and selling products door-to-door.

Acton students are taught by successful, practicing entrepreneurs, not professors who have spent a lifetime in academia. In fact, tenure is not an option at Acton. All entrepreneur-teachers are evaluated by the students, and salaries, bonuses and whether or not a teacher continues in the program are determined by how well students feel they have been served.

Acton's focus on teaching and private sector incentives has paid off. The Princeton Review has consistently ranked Acton's entrepreneur-teachers among the best MBA faculties in the country.

What's more, Acton students must take a "Life of Meaning" course in order to graduate. This course requires students to delve deeply within themselves to find a calling in business; a lifelong mission that will allow them to use their greatest talents and passions to satisfy a burning need in the world.

About Acton School of Business

The Acton School of Business, based in Austin, Texas, is in its fifth year of operation. Its one-year Entrepreneurship Program is taught by successful entrepreneurs and features intensive 90-hour work weeks, where students tackle real world problems and even sell products door-to-door. The student-faculty ratio is lower than any MBA program in the country, allowing students to develop strong bonds with their entrepreneur-teachers. The Princeton Review ranks Acton MBA students as the "Most Competitive" in the country and rates Acton's professors among the top three business faculty in the nation.

The Austin, Texas, based Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship is offered through Hardin Simmons University.

Media should contact Holt Hackney at press@actonmba.com, or 512-478-8858, Ext. 115.