Water in Kuwait: Building a research agenda for practical policy impact and student experiential learning

This paper describes development of a research agenda in the College of Business & Economics at a small private university in Kuwait. One driving factor is the need to satisfy AACSB requirements. AACSB likes to see strong development of student analytic and decision-making skills, as well as a reasonable level of ‘scholarly contributions.’ Action research and experiential learning methods are well suited to these goals. The research agenda was developed around ‘water,’ which is a critical issue in Kuwait. It was constructed to integrate themes from the whole supply chain, starting with raw materials and ending with consumer consumption and use of water. Thus, it can incorporate a wide range of interests in economics and marketing. The projects in the agenda are usually conducted as part of interaction with government entities and private organizations involved in some way with water.