Two UA Business Programs in Top 30 in Bloomberg BusinessWeek Survey

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The corporate strategy and operations management programs at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce were both highly ranked in a Bloomberg BusinessWeek survey of more than 85,000 students at more than 100 top schools.

The survey asked students to rate program performances in 14 academic disciplines ranging from calculus and ethics to marketing and sustainability.

On the survey website, Bloomberg BusinessWeek said, “Choosing an undergraduate business program is a complicated endeavor, at least in part because all schools have different strengths and weaknesses. A school with a terrific accounting program may not have the best finance faculty, and a program renowned for its strategy courses may not be as strong in marketing.”

The Culverhouse College of Commerce was ranked No. 75 overall, behind only Florida and Georgia in the Southeastern Conference. UA’s corporate strategy program is ranked 28 while the operations management program is ranked 29. The top-ranked institution, Notre Dame, is No. 39 in corporate strategy and 10 in operations management.

“Corporations have undergone enormous changes in the past three decades,” said Dr. Diane Johnson, head of the department of management and marketing at UA. “Businesses have been forced to refocus, which makes corporate strategy even more important.

“We are fortunate to have Dr. A.J. Strickland, who along with Art Thompson is author of five books on corporate strategy, all of which are in multiple editions,” Johnson said. “The latest book is the best-selling strategic management textbook in the world and is currently being used at 900 universities worldwide. It is published in multiple languages. Dr. Strickland is recognized globally as an expert on corporate strategy, and I think the opinions of the students in the survey reflect that.”

“The operations management program at UA has made some great progress over the past several years,” said Dr. Charles Sox, director of the operations management program. “It’s rewarding to see that success recognized again this year in the Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranking.

“We have great OM faculty who are committed to the success of our students and program and who are willing to put in the extra effort to make it happen,” Sox said. “A large number of our students are able to pick up valuable work experience through internships and co-op positions with great companies like Mercedes.

“There has been an increasing number of corporate recruiters from major national and multinational firms coming to campus to recruit operations management students,” Sox said. “Employers clearly recognize the value of the OM skills and knowledge that our students can use to improve their firm’s operations and supply chain.”

As part of Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s annual ranking of the top undergraduate business programs, senior business students from the 139 participating schools were asked to assign letter grades from A to F indicating how well their business programs teach 14 specialty areas: quantitative methods, operations management, ethics, sustainability, calculus, microeconomics, macroeconomics, accounting, financial management, marketing management, business law and corporate strategy, as well as entrepreneurship and international business, which were added this year.

Based on those grades, scores were calculated for each of the ranked schools in each specialty area. Twelve schools were removed due to an insufficient number of student responses.