In MBA Students Aren’t Learning to Avoid Future Crises from Net Impact, 90% surveyed blame short-term business focus for the crisis … and fewer than a quarter think their courses help them avoid future crises. Still not seen any sign of strategy approaches to help with this, as featured in my recent presentation, which offers some suggestions.
It seems today’s MBA students, if not all those they follow, are pretty smart.
Whilst business schools are seeing more applications by analysts and execs being down-sized from banks and other sectors, I see from the Economist [Giving advice in adversity] consulting firms are not faring so well. I hope they were expecting this and prepared their staffing plans for it over the last couple of years, as it’s exactly what happened after the dot-com bubble. Last time round some messed up so badly they withdrew MBA job offers within weeks of making them, and I am told Harvard B School actually banned some from hiring there as a result – now there’s strategic mastery!
Anyone experienced similar this time round?
I took the trouble to post a query on one of the Academy of Mgmt discussion lists, asking what colleagues felt we had failed to do to allow professionals to graduate with the basic strategic incompetence [as well as financial] to bring about the current global crisis. Replies so far seem to focus almost entirely on the issue of ethics – not at all on what those people actually learned or didn’t whilst in our tender care. Continue reading »
Good to know that, as in earlier tough times, applications at business schools are running at record rates [+20% on last year in one case I heard of] . Let’s hope – really hope! – they get taught some solid, professional strategic management skills while doing their MBAs, so they don’t repeat the awful errors of some who went before !
