Anderson School of Management

The 1999 Sixteenth Annual UCLA Survey of Business School Computer Usage replicated the 1987 Third Annual Survey. Deans from 215 business schools from eight countries identified their three most critical general issues and their most critical information technology issues.

Content analysis was used to interpret the dean's general issues. Disregarding priority rankings, 34% of their general responses had some sort of a strategic component, indicated by the use of such words and/or phrases as planning, raising, increasing, continuous improvement, outcomes assessment, leading, strategic focus, reaching the top rank, comparative advantages, or market place competition. Demographic data allowed analysis by several groups including accredited/non-accredited, public/private, school size by student FTE, and type of program. Significant differences in the general response categories were shown when the schools were separated by type of program and accreditation status.

Content analysis was similarly used to interpret the dean's most critical information technology issues. Using priority rankings, strategic issues were consistently the major issue, followed by faculty and technology change issues. When using the demographic data to analyze the data by various groupings, significant differences were seen when the schools were separated by type of program and school size.

Comparisons between the dean's responses to the Third Survey and the Sixteenth Survey showed that the same general issues were recurrent, but with new emphasis. E.g., while faculty development remained an ongoing issue, the school administration issues now seem to have taken on even more priority than before, but with an emphasis on a strategic orientation and an emphasis on leadership and response to competitive pressures rather than being focused on management issues and maintaining the status quo.