Purpose

The paper concerns the three main accreditation standards for business schools: EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA. The purpose of this paper is to analyse these standards for accreditation from a quality management standpoint.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is a conceptual review and analysis of the three standards mentioned above from the perspective of quality management. The constant comparative method from the grounded theory approach has been used to generate categories from the two major quality award models, which are then compared with the criteria of the accreditation models.

Findings

The findings show the conceptual quality implications of the three main accreditations. The accreditation models are in line with the tenets of quality management but have a greater focus on production and to a somewhat lesser extent on the people.

Research limitations/implications

One limitation is that the study is only conceptual. Furthermore, the study is limited to the models of quality management and accreditation that have been analysed. Although these are the most common, there are others that could have been included. The research implication mainly lies in an increased conceptual understanding for the quality implications of business school accreditation.

Practical implications

The results of the study will be useful for managers of business schools undergoing or contemplating entering into an accreditation process.

Originality/value

The number of business schools undergoing accreditation is increasing rapidly. Thus, increased knowledge of the conceptual implications of such processes should be valuable.