FORCES FOR TODAY’S BUSINESS

The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 134 business problems. Unfortunately, the management and business education which is considered to be the providers of the demand are doubtful. There was a question from both scholars and business practitioners on the significance of the management and business education’s product as well as effect of the outcome on managerial capability of their graduates and management practice Chia Holt 2008; Hay Hodgkinson 2008; Pfeffer Fong 2002. Management and business education graduates were seen as highly academic but narrowly business-focused because they were little equipped with skills and competencies that meet the real world of business Mintzberg 2004; Risi 2005. The report suggested that the management and business education institutions should pay attention to several issues such as, curriculum design that embracing soft-skill development, relevance of research and business practices, and an engagement between business education and business itself Friga, Bettis Sullivan 2003. Responding the critiques, some top business schools redesigned their curricula which more emphasis on the relevance to industry’s need Risi 2005. For example, the Northwestern’s Kellog School initiated to develop a strategic partnership with corporate. The School used a business advisory council that consisted of corporate managers and executives. The University of Tennessee-Knoxville transformed its curriculum with the firm-oriented themes of creating value. The Warwick Business School inserted apprenticeship into its curriculum that aim to give a practical skill required by business practices. The Pennsylvania State University redesigned the curriculum involving integrative functional courses which more emphasis on marketing, finance, operational management, and strategic management. Entering 2000s to date, the critiques still remain and even became a long debate. Some commented that management and business education are impractical; in contrast, the others view the institutions are too vocational Pfeffer Fong 2002. The impact of the long debates is that management and business education is like being on the swing. They shift over to a more academic and theoretical curriculum, but then they have to take their journey back as a vocational degree which previously had been criticised as lack of scientific merit. The key word remain the same, it is about the relevance between business education what should learn and business the real practice.

3. FORCES FOR TODAY’S BUSINESS

WORLD Businesses face at least four different forces that is changing the environment within which business operates and in turn impacting the business education. They are: globalization, information and communication technology ICT, demographic shift, and deregulation Escudero 2011; Friga, Bettis Sullivan 2003; Hawawini 2005. Globalization shrinks the space and time taken to travel physically and electronically between places. It points to the increasing connectivity across places or the extension of social relations across distance. The world has become a giant market place due to the development of faster transportation, communication, and the availability of instantaneous information. It makes distances and boundaries amongst businesses meaningless Dhillon 2009. As a result, there is an increased of resources that are not physically present in the locales, including new talented and skilled human resources. In turn, the competition for job seekers is increased. Information and Communication Technology ICT has emerged as one of drivers of business changes that has a significant impact on both businesses and business education Friga, Bettis Sullivan 2003; Schoemaker 2008. With the use of Internet, businesses enable to develop e-commerce, e- auction, e-trade, wherein consumers can buy products from distance companies or businesses as easily as they can from a local store. Firms are not only looking for local competitors, but also worldwide competitors. In addition, ICT plays a number of roles in the business. First, ICT is a catalyst for modernising and improving business performance Powell Dent-Micallef 1997. Second, ICT plays an important role in developing an effective and efficient information building in businesses and organizations Bhatt et al. 2010; Dhar Sundararajan 2007. Third, ICT enables businesses to generate and disseminate information that enable businesses to give accurate and creative responses to markets and customer demands, while the last, ICT become enabler for businesses to create value which will improve their competitive advantages Ali, GE Magalhaes 2008; Ali, M 2004; Bhatt et al. 2010; Yuhetty 2004. As examples, the development of information technology to support inventory management such as electronic data interchange with suppliers enables two large retailers, Toy R Us and Wal- Mart, improve their services and operational efficiencies. The use of ICT in inventory management also supports Xerox to provide just- in-time delivery services and improves supplier relationships. The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 135 The next force behind the business changes is the demographic shifts. It involves population growth, diversity, a new workplace, and familiarity with technology Friga, Bettis Sullivan 2003. A greater number of the population, especially at the productive age, increases the level of competition in searching of jobs. Moreover, issue of diversity, especially with regards to gender more opportunities for women, age, race and nationalities, has also increased the competition amongst employee. However, businesses become increasingly benefited since they have chance to redefine and tighten the job requirements in order to get the best work forces. In addition, the changing of business has also resulted in a shift of job type and workplaces. The biggest change is the reduction in the need for large numbers of unskilled or semiskilled manual workers to operate factories and industrial production lines. This mostly occurs in the developing countries. Market seeks for more people to work in knowledge-based industries, for instance in high-tech sectors such as computing, telecommunications, and biotechnology, and in service industries, such as financial services, health, entertainment, hospitality, and tourism. Consequently, there is a much greater need for highly educated workers. Deregulation is another driven factor for business changes. Business operation is certainly influenced by local government’s policies. In this case, the government regulation and deregulation related to trades and economies have a significant influence on the business of life. Understanding the authority of the government and its relationship with the industries or businesses is essential for managers in developing strategies and in achieving the objectives. In some cases, deregulation from government is beneficial for business, but on other cases it conflicts with businesses’ objectives and creates an uncooperative relationship between business and government.

4. CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES