GIS and Colleges of Business: A Curricular Exploration

Geographic information systems (GIS) have become a powerful research and operations tool in the world of business, especially in real estate. However, few geography departments in the United States combine the fundamentals of business curricula with their most important geospatial technique—GIS. This study explores whether colleges of business in institutions of higher education in the U.S. incorporate GIS courses into their curricula to ensure that graduates have a better comprehension of spatial analysis in business endeavors. From a sample of 140 public and private institutions across the country, this study identified only five colleges of business that include GIS courses in their curricula.