Opportunity in adversity

Despite the current gloom, employers still value MBAs

Summary:

• MBA students are worried about recouping the high fees they invested
• Business-school officials experienced the worst ever recruiting season
• Demand for MBAs is declining while supply is continuing to grow
• In U.S., Congress has made it more difficult to hire foreign talent
• Consulting, health care, pharmaceuticals, utilities and energy maintained demand
• Downturn has provoked high-profile criticisms of MBA courses content but the corporate world mostly remains as happy with MBAs as it ever was.
• MBAs still more likely to get jobs than non-mbas and, on average, receive higher salary.
• MBAs get twice as much as undergraduates and 30–35% more than  lower-level management degrees holders
• since 1998, 98% of American corporate employers report satisfaction with their MBA hires
• Aspirants are becoming more conscious of value for money – some are abandoning high-profile business schools for their less well-known rivals. some searching the world for best bargains

Source: The Economist

Steering a new course

Foreign B schools’ response to the financial crisis.

Summary:

• B Schools partly blamed for financial crisis – now pondering about reinvention
• Failed firms such as Lehman Brothers were full of prestigious school alumni who were complacent and greedy
• Programme directors’ dilemma: totally overhaul curricula and appear hasty / change nothing and seem to be in a state of denial
• Most schools have settled for modest adjustments
• Slow speed of implementation of ideas is hampering progress at b schools
• Various views of academic experts on the issue
• Renewed interest in economic history to examine lessons from The Great Depression and 18th and 19th century companies that started with a view that emphasized responsible behavior for sustainability
• Greater emphasis on personal development and on imparting soft skills

Source: The Economist