ABSTRACT

Neither of the co-authors was around when business first started being taught at universities, but both of us have been taught by professors who were. One such professor is C.L. Abercrombie, now professor emeritus at the University of Memphis. He was one of the first business professors in North America and, like most in his cohort, came from a background in industry. When he first became a university professor, there were a wide variety of professors who believed a wide variety of models for how the discipline should be taught. Professor Abercrombie (no one ever used his first name, out of respect for the long history and amount of his experience) used to tell stories fondly recounting the history of business and business education and when universities first began to offer courses and programs in business administration. Most of the models being used at that time had their foundations in the paradigms of scientific enquire. Some professors believed that business should be taught from an empirical perspective, in order to establish the discipline as more “serious” and “scientific” compared to others who wanted to take a more “applied” approach (Abercrombie 1989).