دانش عمده فروشان کسب و کار: چرا مجلات علمی مبتنی بر شواهد  و ارائه ارزش برای تمرین و آکادمی ایجاد می شود؟  Wholesalers of business knowledge: Why evidence-based practitioner journals create and deliver value to  both practice and the Academy

A couple of weeks ago, I was formally asked to become the new editor-in-chief of Business Horizons. Though discussions about the possibility began weeks before, I–—like any recovering CPA and entrepreneur–—did my due diligence before signing the paperwork. Caveat emptor! I met with everyone involved to understand the nature of the job, whether the staff was happy, what could be better, etc. What I found was an editor-in-chief and staff who loved their jobs, an associate dean who respected their autonomy, a surplusin the budget, and an impact factor indicating a journal reputation equivalent to a number of prestigious competitors, including Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review. All of this suggested highly favorable conditions for anyone interested in taking the reins of such a venture, but none of it spoke much to the question that only I could answer: Was I interested in becoming editor-in-chief of Business Horizons, and if so, why? If it wasn’t the money, power, or status (and I can assure you that it wasn’t), then what was it that intrigued me about this opportunity? Something about it had caught my attention, but what exactly did Business Horizons mean to me? More precisely, what could Business Horizons mean to me? How could it be a vehicle to actualize something I care about, something that others care about as well, and something that could make this world better–— even if only marginally–—following my tenure? After considerable reflection, I arrived at a rather mundane answer as applicable to others as to myself: value creation. These two words are used so often by business people and business scholars that they are almost meaningless and cliche´, but they needn’t be. Quite the contrary; they are profound in their simplicity. They convey a concept that can be simultaneously personal in the abstract and corporate in their more concrete manifestation.