Good times? Bad times?

One thing we know: there is a downturn of sorts. Its depth may be a matter of some debate, but jobs in the financial services industry—traditionally a huge hirer of MBA graduates, not to mention the payer of the biggest salaries—are being cut in their tens-of-thousands.

Which MBA? has found that both business schools and students seem to be taking the downturn in their stride. Students are showing a remarkable, and some may say uncharacteristically reasonable, attitude towards the tougher job market, downgrading their internship and job placement expectations. Applications to business schools, meanwhile, seem to be booming.

But we would like to hear your own experiences. What effect has the downturn had on your prospects as an MBA student? Have you had to settle for a placement that was below your expectations?

If you are considering applying for an MBA, how are you factoring the downturn into your thinking? Do you see it as a good time to shelter away from economic woes, or would you prefer to defer what is a large financial outlay until more certain times?

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Diverse opinions in Barcelona

George Bickerstaffe reports from the Future of Leadership and the Role of Business Schools conference in Barcelona.

The atmosphere at the Future of Leadership and the Role of Business Schools conference (part of IESE’s celebrations of its 50^th anniversary) was surprisingly upbeat. Surprisingly, given the unseasonably rain-lashed Barcelona streets outside and the equally turbulent economic storms around the world.

Still, management academics can usually be relied on to find something to worry about. One of the most challenging speakers (among a line-up that included such luminaries as Joel M Podolny and J Frank Brown, respectively deans of Yale and INSEAD) was Arnoud de Meyer, dean of the University of Cambridge’s Judge business school.

Mr De Meyer’s first thought was that the “information overload” society, represented by the “Crackberry” generation, and its concomitant pressure on people’s time was likely to prove a serious threat to the traditional two-year and even one-year full-time MBA formats.

Second, he called into question the much-vaunted diversity of MBA classes. However many nationalities might be represented, he pointed out, MBA students demonstrate a remarkable similarity in their social and financial backgrounds and they particularly share an “international” outlook and attitude towards business and society.

Any differences are smoothed further by the ubiquitous GMAT, which requires a standardised approach to mathematical problems and especially the comprehension and manipulation of a certain kind of written English.

Finally, the strictly conceived and applied admissions criteria of leading MBA programmes complete the homogenisation process.

In other words, don’t expect to be challenged too much by those exotic foreign students — they are probably more like you than you think.

A slightly different take on diversity came from strategy guru Pankaj Ghemawat, a professor at Harvard Business School and IESE. He raised a few eyebrows by commenting that there is good evidence that the more you add diversity to a group the more likely you are to produce a negative group performance.

INSEAD dean Frank Brown came up with an idea for new-style business school programmes that tap an unexpected market. Since we are all going to live to be 100 in pretty good health (apparently), why not offer “conversion” and training programmes for those in their 50s and 60s approaching retirement and those in their 70s looking for somewhere to apply their skills? Indeed, why not?

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Harvard at 100: case closed?

So Harvard Business School is 100 years old this week. Many happy returns. Although the argument will continue as to whether it was Harvard or its near-neighbour, Dartmouth, which actually invented the MBA, few can argue that HBS has played the defining role in management education over the last century.

Perhaps most significantly, it was the first to have the bright idea of applying the case study—until then largely confined to law schools—to the world of the MBA. Harvard is still the world’s pre-eminent producer of business school case studies. Schools that teach almost exclusively through the case-study method—which also include West Ontario (Ivey) in Canada and IESE in Spain—point to the fact that it is the nearest a classroom will come to replicating real-life business situations. Furthermore, the cut-and-thrust atmosphere of the average case discussion inevitably breeds confident and persuasive speakers, able to think on their feet.

But the method is not without its detractors. One of the biggest criticisms is that it merely rewards those who shout loudest, not necessarily those with the most cogent arguments. With marks awarded for class participation, the clamour for “airtime” can lead to an overly competitive culture—something that most schools say they are trying to move away from.

Although the situation is improving, the other major criticism of the method is that cases also have a tendency to be US-centric. The question used to be asked about whether it was relevant for an Asian student, for example, to study case-after-case examining American business dilemmas. But in this world of globalisation, it is fair to wonder whether it is even relevant for US students any more.

So will the method continue into Harvard’s second century? A joke among management consultants tells of the freshly-graduated MBA who waltzes in to the office on his first day and demands: “bring me the first case!”. Business life has always been more complicated than that. But with the modern emphasis on learning through action—particularly with students being parachuted into real-life companies to solve real-life problems—surely there are better preparations for post-MBA employment?

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Ask the expert: Does size matter?

Dear George,
I can’t decide whether I’m better suited to a large, full-range school, or if I’d be happier in a more intimate, smaller programme. What are the pros and cons?

Dear prospective MBA,
The first thing to say is that size (large or small) is not by itself an indicator of quality. The two oldest business schools in the world, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, both in the US, respectively admit around 800 and 250 full-time MBA students each year, but both are generally acknowledged as “alike in dignity”.

However, as you imply, the effects of the size of an MBA programme on students’ experience can be considerable. Both large and small programmes have advantages and disadvantages.

The emphasis on personal interaction with other students and close involvement with faculty is one of the key factors stressed by smaller MBA programmes.

Small programmes are generally seen as providing the best class cohesion and collegiality of approach. Faculty and staff know all the students well and students get to know each other closely. A small cohort fosters cohesion and loyalty. It also produces a strong alumni network. This can be hard to achieve effectively with a large number of individuals.

On the other hand, a hefty student body can support a large faculty, allowing breadth and depth in teaching—especially noticeable in the choice of electives—and a large career services effort. This is not always the case with smaller programmes.

Large programmes also allow a wide range of student clubs, which are an important element of the student experience, and attract good guest speakers. It also makes a school more attractive to recruiters and gives a school a large and extensive alumni network.

It is also worth pointing out that large programmes are inevitably broken down into classes of around 60 students and much smaller groups for group working.

In the end, the choice is down more to personal inclination. And the only way to find out what suits you is to visit a school and see for yourself.

What the real experts—the people who run MBA programmes and admissions directors—say is that size should not be an overriding factor in making a choice about which business school or MBA programme to attend. The most important consideration should always be the quality of the teaching on offer and how a programme fits with your aspirations.

George Bickerstaffe.

If you have any advice for our prospective student feel free to post it below. If you have a question for George Bickerstaffe please email it to: AskTheExpert@economist.com

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Should students care about faculty research?

 

The AACSB—the world’s leading business school accreditation agency—has just announced that it has formally accepted proposals to try to improve the practical relevance of academic research. Under its plan, accreditation of business schools will, to some degree, be dependent on schools proving that their faculties’ research programmes have some relevance to real-life work issues, and, furthermore, will have to demonstrate its impact in the business world.

It has long been a bone of contention amongst business schools as to whether research has—or even should have—any practical benefit. Some argue that it is too esoteric and quantitative, and rarely surfaces outside of equally esoteric and quantitative journals, read solely by other academics (and often not even by them). Others argue that research is “translated” into the real world through, among other things, teaching on MBA programmes.

But opinion is divided on this matter. Kai Peters chief executive officer of Ashridge Business School in Britain, told the Economist that he saw no overlap between what is being researched and what is being taught, arguing for researchers to concentrate on solving useful problems. Robert Salomon, Assistant Professor of Management at New York’s Stern School, on the other hand, wrote on his blog that “it is up to [professors] to expose students to state-of-the art research, to discuss the important questions of the field, to synthesise the existing findings [and to] explain those findings in an accessible way.” He even goes as far as to say: “I feel that if we are not bringing research into the classroom, then we are failing our students.”

But, for students, there is another side to the research debate. Schools’ reputations, and therefore, eventually, students’ career prospects, often hang on the research output of their faculties. A good reputation means getting research published in academic manuals which have little concern for the everyday world. Having “guru” professors—even if they rarely actually do any teaching—can therefore be beneficial, even if the ideas they are researching never surface in the classroom.

All of which begs some questions: how much do students actually care about the research that is being carried out in their business school? Does it matter whether that research is being applied in the real world? And how often do you feel that research filters through into the classroom?

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What makes for a good b-school website?

A study carried out for the Association of Business Schools has evaluated the websites of various UK schools. While some were easy to navigate, others were criticised for being over-complicated, and for hiding useful information—such as careers and alumni data—behind passwords.

Over two-thirds of students say the Internet is their primary research tool when initially looking in to business programmes. So just how good (or bad) are schools’ websites? What are some examples of schools that do it right? And is having a picture of the dean on the homepage really the turn-off that the study claims?

Going the distance

The University of Florida’s Warrington School of Business tops the Economist Intelligence Unit’s just-published ranking of distance learning MBA programmes. Florida’s students are impressed with the quality of the school’s distance learning materials, the programme’s value for money and their sense of connection to the school. Spain’s IE Business School ranks second, with UK’s Warwick University third.

Distance learning MBAs are becoming an increasingly important sector of business education, allowing students from around the world to earn degrees from top-quality schools without having to changing jobs or move abroad—often at a fraction of the cost of a full-time programme. For these very reasons they are also becoming increasingly popular with employers.

The idea that distance-learning programmes are in some way the “poor relation” of the MBA, particularly compared with full-time programmes, is no longer tenable. But they are not for the faint-hearted. Have you taken an MBA by distance learning? What advice would you give to those looking to go down the distance learning path? Or do you think that there is no substitute for immersing yourself in campus life?

Ask the expert: Why do I need work experience?

 

Dear George,

I am 22 years old and in my final undergraduate year. I would like to go straight on and do an MBA but all the top schools seem to demand years of work experience. What is the point of that?

 

Dear Prospective MBA,

You are correct in saying that the MBA is somewhat unusual among postgraduate qualifications in generally demanding that students already have some experience in the area it professes to teach (management and business).

Most notably, the two professions of law and medicine do not require this, instead including large amounts of “on-the-job” learning as part of the teaching process. (Few people, of course, would want a doctor to be allowed to practise before being qualified.)

Rightly or wrongly, management is not regarded as a “profession” and individuals require no previous qualification to undertake it. The argument for the MBA requiring some previous experience of work—whether as a manager or something entirely different—is that students can apply their experience to the theoretical concepts they meet in the classroom.

This is especially true in analysing case studies based on real situations. In many areas there are no rights or wrongs in management—it is not a “hard science”—just options and making decisions often requires drawing on previous experience of similar situations.

More cynically, it has also been suggested that MBA graduates with previous experience tend to do better in the recruitment market, and attract higher salaries. This looks good in alumni data and can also be important in rankings.

That said, you are incorrect in saying that all MBA programmes demand prior experience. Harvard and Stanford, for example, make it explicit that they will accept MBA applications from people straight from college (though usually they ask for a superior academic record and an indication of “leadership potential”). It is true, though, that it is almost universally expected at leading business schools in Europe.

There have been some concerns in the US that the insistence on work experience is narrowing the applicant base for MBA studies and it is possible that they may follow the European model of specialist masters degrees in areas such as finance or marketing and, particularly, the so-called “Master’s in Management”—a pre-experience MBA in all but name.

For anyone eager to get a qualification under their belt before starting work, a specialised masters or general masters in management is the obvious route. You can always take an MBA after gaining some experience.

George Bickerstaffe.

 

If you have any advice for our prospective student feel free to post it below. If you have a question for George Bickerstaffe please email it to: AskTheExpert@economist.com

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Can GMAT predict academic performance?

A study from the GISMA Business School in Hannover, Germany, has found little correlation between GMAT scores and the performance of its full-time MBA class. According to the school, “academic performance by students who had achieved modest GMAT scores in the range of 600 (out of 800 possible points) was found to be on a par with that of fellow students whose GMAT scores came in at a very good 740 points, and vice versa.”

The school did recognise that the GMAT was a reliable indicator when it came to the more quantitative subjects. However, it went on to add “for overall academic success, however, other traits also play a major role, for example leadership ability, strategic thinking, marketing and communication skills, creativity and persuasiveness – none of which are assessed by the GMAT.”

If this research is borne out, then is there a case for saying that schools put too much emphasis on GMAT scores? There have been complaints that the GMAT is culturally biased; multiple-choice questions are said to work against Asian students, in particular (this was one reason why essay questions were introduced). Furthermore the test is available only in American English.

Although many schools claim not to have a minimum GMAT requirement, there is a suspicion that most will have a de facto entry-level, not least because it is such an important component in the major rankings (the EIU, for example, gives GMAT score a 4% weighting in its full time ranking).

If anything, the number of schools requiring GMAT is likely to be extended as MBA programmes continue to sprout in countries such as China and India. But here, perhaps, is the nub. In an environment where schools are competing for students from different countries–and the product of different education systems—is a standardised test the only way of truly comparing candidates’ academic qualities?

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