ERIC Number: ED216732
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1982-Apr-5
Pages: 15
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Integrating the Humanities and Business Education: The Experience of International Business as an Example.
Flax, Stanley
In international business education, there has been a general acceptance of the need for a curriculum integrating humanities and business education, since international business, operating within a world environment, requires an understanding of disciplines such as law, geography, psychology, and sociology in addition to functional business areas of marketing, management, and finance. Despite this acceptance, business schools in the United States have not succeeded in preparing students for international business careers. Dealing with the challenges of international business requires a sensitivity to the social, political, and cultural environments in which business is conducted, and American business graduates tend to lack understanding of people and cultures other than their own. Integrated humanities and business courses can help promote this understanding and to modify attitudes such as xenophobia, traditionalism, and ethnocentrism, which promote outmoded or restricted views of the nature of the international business environment and its problems. For example, the problem of the loss of worldwide competitiveness by the United States must be seen as the result of economic and social factors operating simultaneously within and outside of the country, rather than a purely economic issue. Businesses must be willing to learn how to compete effectively in an international context, and integrated business and humanities courses can help their leaders to do so. (HB)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A