Turner Business

Research by Turner College professor of management and holder of the Turner College’s Ray and Evelyn Crowley Chair, Kirk Heriot , recently surpassed 1,000 career Google Scholar citations.   Additionally, Google Scholar reports that his i 10-index is equal to 26, meaning that Heriot has published 26 studies that have each garnered at least 10 citations.   Google Scholar also reports two additional metrics.   One of these is a scholar’s h -index, which is the largest number, h , of a scholar’s publications that have each garnered at least h citations.   Heriot’s h -index is 17, meaning that his 17 most-cited studies have each generated at least 17 citations.   Another Google Scholar metric is a scholar’s g -index, which is the largest number, g , of a scholar’s publications that have collectively garnered at least g 2 citations.   Heriot’s g -index is 30, meaning that his 30 most-cited studies have collectively produced at least 900 citations.  Heriot’...

A new study appearing in the current issue of the Small Business Institute Journal by Turner College management professors Kirk Heriot and Neal Thomson  describes the use of field-based students consulting  projects in sections of the Turner College's Small Business Management course.  Although previous studies have observed field-based consulting over shorter periods of time, Heriot and Thomson opt for a longitudinal approach by examining course sections taught from 2006 to 2021.  Additionally, Heriot and Thomson employ  a case research design in order to observe the  evolution of the small business institute program and to explore the program in much greater detail than other research designs.  According to Thomson, "qualitative research designs [like that in our study] have previously been used to describe field-based student consulting programs." The study explains that r equiring students to work with a small business  is experien...

The Turner College of Business hosted a Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) workshop on November 9 th aimed at helping new entrepreneurs and small business owners understand the importance of business strategy.   The workshop was delivered by Turner College management professor and holder of the Ray and Evelyn Crowley Chair in Entrepreneurship, Kirk Heriot , who also serves as a mentor and Vice Chair for Workshops for the Columbus chapter of SCORE.   During his presentation, Heriot discussed the differences between operational effectiveness and strategy, as well as the differences between a differentiation strategy and a low cost strategy.   As Heriot explained, a successful or sustainable strategy is about being different from rival firms in a purposeful way, not just for the sake of being different.   This means doing activities that are different from those of rival firms.   In making these points, Heriot referred to the example of Southwest Airlines...

Turner College associate professor of accounting Charles Boster is one of three nominees for the 2025 Turner College Graduate Teaching Award. Boster teaches accounting in the MBA program, which moved to hybrid teaching schedules in Fall 2024. To accommodate this move, Boster revamped his course, including in- and out of-class activities along with scheduled topics. As part of that process, he added practice  exercises to develop application skills for fundamental concepts and altered  material sequencing to better align classroom activities and group project  deliverables. Learning assessments in Boster's accounting course include  vocabulary exercises, calculation exercises, and problem solving. In each case, he takes a formative approach to emphasize learning over grade performance. Joining Boster as a nominee is Kirk Heriot , the Crowley Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship. Heriot teaches in both the Georgia web MBA program and the Turner College's graduate-l...

A new study on the history of business education in the U.S. by the Turner College's Kirk Heriot and Neal Thomson , along with Kennesaw State University's Shelby Meek, opens by pointing out that t he introductory business curriculum in the United States has remained largely unchanged since  the 1920s, despite dramatic shifts in higher education, business practice, and student needs. As the authors assert, the persistence of historical practice increasingly undermines student  success, institutional sustainability, and the relevance of business education. The researchers explain that m ost students encounter business education for the first time through accounting and economics,  which are the two courses with the highest national failure and withdrawal rates.  High failure rates are  also well documented in business statistics, another early-stage gatekeeper, where structural,  instructional, and system-level factors all contribute to widespread student di...

At today's meeting of Turner College and TSYS School faculty and staff, the Turner College's Crowley Professor of Entrepreneurship, Kirk Heriot , informed business and computer science faculty and staff that the Turner College's new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has been shelved indefinitely. Heriot announced the launch of the new Center in early August, at the Turner College's Fall 2025 kickoff meeting. During that meeting faculty and staff were informed that the Center, which was developed to  be mostly for students, would be located in 347 Synovus Center and that it would be working with local non-profits like SCORE, the Columbus Chamber and the Small Business Development Center, in formalizing the existing BizPitch competition and other activities. Later, in early September, Turner Business reported that the new Center's webpage had launched , naming Heriot the Interim Director. That post also indicated that the Center's mission, vision, and a...

The Turner College's Crowley Professor of Entrepreneurship, Kirk Heriot , announced at the Fall 2025 Welcome Back Event on Monday that CSU is now home to the new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The Center, which Heriot stated "will be mostly for students," will be located in Room 347, which is on the third floor of the Synovus Center. Heriot also informed those in attendance that the new Center will be working with local non-profits like SCORE, the Columbus Chamber and the Small Business Development Center, in formalizing the existing BizPitch competition and other activities that he has been doing on an individual basis in the past. Stay tuned for more information on the Center's logo, the buildout of Room 347, and the new website, which is slated to include a blog. 

Turner Business is pleased to announce that three faculty have been nominated for the 2024 Turner College Faculty Service Award. The first of these is Kirk Heriot , holder of the Turner College's Crowley Chair in Entrepreneurship. Heriot, who joined the Turner College in August of 2007, is currently the faculty sponsor of the Turner College's 2024 Study Abroad program set for Ireland in May. He also sponsors the Turner College's annual Cougar Business Pitch Competition, and is the founding editor of the American Journal of Entrepreneurship . During the 2022-2023 academic year, Heriot co-hosted a "Meet the Editors" roundtable as part of that year's  CSU Graduate Research & Writing Boot Camp, while later that same year he delivered  a Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) workshop aimed at helping new entrepreneurs and small business owners understand the importance of business strategy.      The second nominee is Fady Mansour , the recently appoin...

The long-awaited journal review being conducted by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) has been released and there are a number of news items that relate to faculty in the Turner College. Some of these pertain to proposed changes to the ratings of journals that have published research by various Turner College faculty. First, it is proposing that the journal Administrative Sciences  be added to the ranking as a C-rated journal. Turner College economist Frank Mixon has a 2016 publication on farmer-entrepreneurs and agricultural innovation in this journal that has to date garnered 20 Google Scholar citations. Second, and on the negative side, the group is planning to downgrade the American Business Review from an A-rated journal to a B-rated journal. Mixon has three papers published in this journal, while Turner College management professor Kevin Hurt published a servant leadership study there in 2024. Additionally, Turner College management professor Kirk Heriot has pu...

Three Turner College faculty – Phil Bryant , Kirk Heriot and Frank Mixon – led a “Meet the Editors Roundtable” session at CSU’s 2022 Graduate Research & Writing Boot Camp on Saturday, October 15.  Bryant, an associate professor of management in the Turner College, is the co-founder of Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice , and the current editor-in-chief of Compensation and Benefits Review , the leading practitioner journal in human resource management.  Heriot, holder of the Turner College’s Crowley Endowed Chair and professor of management, is the founder and editor of the American Journal of Entrepreneurship .  Mixon, holder of the Turner College’s Buck Endowed Chair and professor of economics, will take over as editor of the Journal of Financial Economic Policy in January of 2023.  Bryant opened the presentation by explaining the difference between subscription-supported, traditional journals and newer, open-access publishing formats.  He also st...

According to IvyClimbing.com, as business education tends to focus on functional areas, such as accounting, marketing and finance, where the courses are often organized around a focus on the “how.”  This type of educational training is typically preceded by a more general education, often referred to a pre-business education, focusing students’ attention to the “why.”  It is this type of educational training that Turner College management professors Neal Thomson and Kirk Heriot are looking into in their new research examining the history of the pre-business curriculum over the past 100 years.  As part of their analysis, they are also proposing some recommendations to update the pre-business curriculum so that it better reflects the current era of business education and the needs of businesses.  Thomson and Heriot are also teaming on a second project investigating the relationship between social attribution styles and preferences for procedural or distributive just...

Set for May 2024, the Turner College's upcoming study abroad program set for Ireland is inching closer. Faculty sponsor Kirk Heriot will be visiting classes during the first few weeks of the new semester for about five minutes in order to inform students about the particulars of the program. For maximum impact he hopes to visit 2000- and 3000-level courses that have larger enrollments. Turner College faculty also have an incentive to invite Heriot to speak to classes about the program. "If I visit your class, then your name will be entered into a random drawing for a $20 gift card from Chick-fil-A," Heriot stated.

The Turner College’s 2017 Business Plan Competition                                                                   was, according to Jack Goldfrank , the most impressive of any over the six-year history of the competition.  According to Goldfrank, the Turner College’s Executive-in-Residence and a member of the advisory panel for the competition, there were 51 business plan submissions from CSU students, secondary school students from the Muscogee County area, and residents of the greater Columbus community.  The competition’s faculty advisor, Kirk Heriot , the Turner College’s Crowley Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship, was pleased to announce that CSU student Michaela Waldeck won first place, and a check for $3,000, for a concept known as Tata Toga.  Waldeck’s product con...

A number of readers have contacted Turner Business  both providing and seeking more information about the details provided in the recent blog post concerning the Turner College's current AACSB accreditation cycle. That post indicates that three years into the most recent and successful accreditation cycle Turner College business faculty had published 98 journal articles, and that almost three years into the current cycle there are only 69 journal publications. Additionally, the data provided in that recent post indicates that Turner College business faculty averaged 95 journal publications through the first three years of the two most recent and successful accreditation cycles. What we know is that having 95 journal publications through the first three years can be associated with an ultimately successful accreditation cycle. It is not yet known whether 69 journal publications over that time frame can also work out. A second element of the process is the distribution of journal pu...

Turner College management professor Kirk Heriot , holder of the Crowley Chair in Entrepreneurship, has released an informational video that should be helpful to students who are considering the 2024 Study Abroad Program in Ireland, which is set for May 2024. The video, accessible by the above link, is only about nine minutes in length, yet includes detailed information on cost, potential business course credits, trip itinerary, business and cultural activities, walking tours and an optional excursion to Belfast, Northern Ireland. "This is a unique opportunity . . . to have fun while learning. Participating in study abroad also distinguishes students . . . which can be useful in a job interview setting," Heriot stated.

New research by TSYS School computer science professor Rania Hodhod , Turner College management professor Kirk Heriot , and TSYS School graduate students Md. Nurullah , Helle Friis and Walker Smith  moves beyond anecdotal evidence to uncover deeper insights into entrepreneurial decision-making by  employing artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) in order to analyze feedback from 100 entrepreneurs. By processing large datasets, the study, which appears in the current issue of Electronics , identified patterns and correlations that provide valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, with implications for education, policy, and practice. This project is the latest collaboration between TSYS School and Turner College faculty, and involves two distinguished chair holders in Hodhod, who holds the Rothschild Chair in Business Leadership, and Heriot, who holds the Crowley Chair in Entrepreneurship.    

The 2024 iteration of the Turner College's Study Abroad program will occur in Ireland, a destination that was last selected in 2019. Leading the 2024 program is  Kirk Heriot , the Crowley Chair of Entrepreneurship and professor of management. "The itinerary has been finalized, and we have made some changes to the program that will make it more affordable for our students," Heriot explained to Turner Business. Interested Turner Business students should contact Heriot with any questions they may have about the 2024 program.

The Ray and Evelyn Crowley Endowment A number of stories at Turner Business have mentioned the Turner College’s Ray and Evelyn Crowley Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship.  The current holder of the Crowley Chair is Turner College management professor Kirk Heriot , as each of these prior entries has noted.  None of these prior entries provides details about the origin of this particular endowment.  Established in May of 2005, the Crowley Endowed Chair is named for Ray Crowley and his wife Evelyn, both of whom have contributed substantially to support quality education and scholarship in the Columbus area.  Ray was born in 1932 in Lennox, South Dakota.  He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota in 1955, and later, in 1963, went on to complete the advanced management course at Harvard University.  During his professional career, Crowley, a certified public accountant, held positions with Peat Marwick & Company, Bay State Milling Com...

Turner Business  recently spoke with management professor Kirk Heriot , the Interim Director of the Turner College's new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Heriot holds the Crowley Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship, and, among his teaching responsibilities inside the Turner College, instructs in Georgia's Web MBA program. The transcript of our talk is shown below.   TB: ‎Is there any news to report at this point in the semester in terms of activities in the Turner College's new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation? KH: We are hosting workshops to prepare students for the 2026 Cougar Biz Pitch Competition. The deadline for submitting will be Monday, April 6, 2026. TB: Since you are currently the Interim Director of the Center, are there any plans in place for naming a permanent director? KH: This decision will be made at the pleasure of the Turner College Dean. It is largely dependent upon funding. Right now, we are having to find money here and t...