Wednesday February 16 2011Fun of the virtual fair 18

Focus Report

The cloud’s silver lining 7 French schools’ threat 10-11

MBAHow to fund it

2 1GX THE TIMESWednesday February 16 2011

With the eco-nomic recoverystill rather frag-ile, would-beMBAs are close-ly watching the

economic indicators, especially thejob market. Business schools, too, arehoping that their fledgling graduatesmake a successful re-entry into theworld of work. So how does the MBAmarket look going into 2011?After a surge in 2008 and 2009,applications for places have reached aplateau and even fallen back in someschools. But what about the all-impor-tant job market? What is the experi-ence of the freshly minted MBAs?After two difficult years, the news iscautiously upbeat, with businessschools reporting a faster than expect-ed rebound. London Business School(LBS) reports that the employmentrate for its students jumped by 10 percent in 2010 compared with 2009.The school’s MBA EmploymentReport 2010, published in December,shows that 91 per cent of studentsfound employment within threemonths of graduating.“This highlights the increasingdemand for our graduates across theglobe,” says Fiona Sandford, theschool’s director of career services.“It’s a great achievement consideringthe significant impact that the globalrecession has had on the recruitmentmarket in the past couple of years.”Of those LBS graduates who havealready found employment, the major-ity, 71 per cent, started work with anew employer. A further 12 per centwent back to work with a previous

employer, while 8 per cent startedtheir own business. Some 43 per centof those who graduated and found ajob will be working overseas.Clare Hudson, the director of MBAcareer management services at Man-chester Business School, is also seeingsigns of recovery. “The markets havenot yet returned to pre-recessionhiring levels, but the picture forMBAs graduating is looking betterthan at this time last year,” she says.“Already we have seen a 13 per centincrease in job offers compared to thesame period in 2010 from the finan-cial, consulting, energy and consumerhealthcare sectors.”Other sectors hiring, she says,include pharmaceuticals, telecomsand FMCG (fast moving consumergoods). “We are also experiencingmore interest for the emergingmarkets, in particular Latin Americaand Asia Pacific. With an increase inopportunities within the emergingmarkets there is a need for MBAs tobe more flexible in terms of joblocation as employers look for moreinternationally mobile employees.”

Growing interest from emergingmarkets is a refrain repeated atseveral schools and is good news forMBAs who are prepared to travel.At the University of Cambridge’sCambridge Judge Business School,Fiona Nunn, the head of careerservices, says: “We have seen anincreased number of companies

approaching us. This includestraditional MBA recruiters and multi-nationals, as well as SMEs [small andmedium sized enterprises]. In previ-ous years, the focus was on Londonopportunities, but now the trend istowards international offices, with anemphasis on emerging markets.”Careers offices also report that the

qualification is still a good way tochange direction, despite the reces-sion. “There was concern amongsome of our MBAs that they mighthave to return to previous roles. Butwe have found that 87 per cent of ourclass made a successful sector or func-tional change,” says Colin Hudson,the director of career development atCranfield School of Management.“Encouragingly, too, despite the cur-rent climate, the average package ofour students accepting new positionsis up by 10 per cent, even thoughthere’s still some way to go before themarkets get back to full strength.”With public sector jobs beingsqueezed, there are signs that peopleare using an MBA to beef up theirCV. Brunel Business School reportsthe biggest rise in its full-time MBAsince it started, with strong interest inits Healthcare Management MBAfrom healthcare professionals in bothNHS and private hospitals. “Whatrecruiters want is versatile, adaptableMBAs,” says Professor Amir Sharif,the MBA director at Brunel.Outside the UK, the RotmanSchool of Management in Toronto,Canada, also reports a strong recov-ery in the job market. “We are seeinga promising trend, full-timeemployment is up over 10 per centyear-over-year for the class of 2011,with summer opportunities on asimilar upward trajectory,” says JeffMuzzerall, director of the RotmanCorporate Connections Centre,which directs employers to students.With jobs still at a premium, it isalso clear that business schools withclose-knit alumni networks arepulling out all the stops for graduates.In the US, the Tuck School of Busi-ness in New Hampshire ranked No 1for job placement among all schoolslast year with 97 per cent of graduatesplaced within three months of gradua-tion — as good as pre-recession.It is too early to tell if the jobmarket will continue its upturn butthe signs are positive. And that has tobe welcome news for MBA hopefulsand business schools.

What the recruiterwants is a versatile,adaptable MBA

After the crash, business is finallylooking good for new graduates

In brief Forging aheadto keep up withthe latest trends

FOCUS REPORTSEditor: Isobel Shepherd SmithCover image: Jas Lehal

The MBA is meant toanticipate and reflect thelatest important trends inbusiness, managementand the global economy.At least that is what

recruiters of MBAs must hope. Butwith the basic framework of theprogramme decades old, maybe it istime to consider alternatives to themandatory business function-focusedcore and optional electives approach.In 2006 the Yale School of Manage-ment, in a radical move, replaced itsconventional subject-based MBAcore curriculum with multi-disciplinary, team-taught courses.While other leading business schoolshave yet to follow, there are signs of

change. Some schools are introducingadditional elements alongside thecore, for example.“The core areas have been taughtin blocks for 100 years or so,” saysChris Saunders, the full-time MBAdirector at Lancaster University Man-agement School. “But we have triedto integrate them with a programmecalled the mindful manager, whichruns alongside all of the programmes.It has a number of aims: to getstudents to question everything theyare taught on the core subjects; to tryto integrate the core courses better;and to examine the practical applica-tion of the theory.”In America, MIT Sloan School ofManagement takes another approachto the balance between core and elec-tives. “Most MBA programmes, in theUS at least, have a full year of core,and a year of electives,” says JoAnneYates, the deputy dean at MIT Sloan.“MIT Sloan has one semester of core,then three semesters of electives. Ourcore is a toolkit. We require studentsto take one semester of the tools thatwe think they need, but not the func-tional areas.”With the core more difficult to

change, it is usually the optionalelectives that allow students to studythe hot topics of the moment andshape their learning experiencethrough subject choice.“When there is something new, ourapproach is usually to try and offersomething in that space. We do itthrough electives or through add-itional customisation options,” saysDavid Bach, the dean of programmesat IE Business School in Madrid.“And if we find that it isn’t just a fad,that we’re developing some expertiseand there is sustained interest fromour students, then we try to scale itup.”Some schools have created subject-themed routes through the electives.Before deciding to follow a special-ised elective track, however, it is

worth running your decision past thefirms for whom you hope to work.“We want people who have a verywell-rounded education through theMBA, which covers all of the differentsubjects,” says Robert Thomson, apartner in the London office ofRoland Berger Strategy Consultants,which hired a number of MBA gradu-ates last year.“So I wouldn’t say that greaterspecialisation in the electives wasreally something we would look for. Ifwe were recruiting somebody whohad specialised in their electives infinance, for example, I’m not sure wewould view that as positive. We’remuch keener on the breadth ofoutlook.”Certainly with their array ofresearch centres and network of

alumni, business schools should bewell placed to detect the importanttrends in business and society thatMBAs need to know more about. Aquick sounding of some leadingschools reveals a snapshot of thetopics that are, or will be, makingtheir way on to the MBA curriculum.At LUMS, Saunders identifiesgovernance and ethical issuesrelating to the recent financial crisisas popular topics, as well as sustain-ability and sustainable business,including resource shortages.Demographic trends are alsoinfluencing courses. MIT Sloan hasintroduced a retirement financecourse, and plans to run another onthe design and operations manage-ment of large healthcare deliverysystems.And at the Instituto Empresa, Bachsays that gerontology-related issues(how to get products and services to alarge number of elderly people) areon his list of subjects to introduce. Healso identifies social media — theschool has an elective on mobileadvertising — judgment and decisionmaking, social entrepreneurship,mass customisation in services andsovereign wealth funds, as subjectsgaining momentum.With increasing variation acrossthe framework of the MBA curric-ulum and the subject matter taught,the message for prospective students,says Saunders, is to remember to askbusiness schools the right questionsbefore applying.“Ask about the latest innovationsthat school has introduced on thevarious topics it has on theprogramme,” he says. “And how itensures that it is delivering aprogramme in line with wherebusiness is now and in the future.”

ESSEC business school launchesa one-year MBA in September,“designed to expand knowledgewith an experiential learningmethod that continuouslychallenges participants”. Studentswill visit emerging markets suchas Africa, India and China.

Ashridge Business School’s latestMBA graduates on its one-yearfull-time course have been giveniPads. The school says they makestudying easier, give access to itslibrary of information and help itsdrive to cut out paper.

Prospective MBA students canwin flights to Holland’s NyenrodeBusiness School. Applicants mustbe considering a full-time MBA inSeptember, and have a GMATscore of 650 or higher. Winnerswill be flown out for a campusweekend. See nyenrode.nl.

Professor Peter Tufano, theSylvan C. Coleman professor offinancial management at HarvardBusiness School, is the new PeterMoores dean of Oxford’s SaïdBusiness School. He replacesColin Mayer in July.

A group from London BusinessSchool attended the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos lastmonth. Sir Andrew Likierman, thedean, and four faculty membersconducted an IdeasLab session exploring “the newreality: interconnectedness in achanging landscape”.

The International University ofMonaco Graduate BusinessSchool has an English-taughtmasters in sustainable peacethrough sport. The ten-monthcourse, linked to the UnitedNations-mandated University forPeace in Costa Rica and Monaco’sPeace and Sport, aims to train anelite group of engineers for peacethrough sport.STEVE COOMBER

The job marketis picking upafter two toughyears, reportsDes Dearlove

MBA MBA

Innovation andtradition unite ina fast-changingworld, reportsSteve Coomber

Tuck had 97 per cent of students placed within three months of graduation

MIT Sloan, bathed in tradition, has opened its curriculum to hot topics

4 1GX THE TIMESWednesday February 16 2011

Use your skillsto bring homethe best deal

Simulation lets studentslearn to trade in safety

Studying for an MBA is abig financial commit-ment. In the UK andEurope, where most full-time MBAs are one-yearcourses, annual tuition

fees may top £30,000. For two-yearcourses, in the US and elsewhere, thecost can be much more.Half those taking an MBA fundtheir studies out of their own pocket,according to research conducted bythe Association of MBAs (AMBA).Fortunately, there are numerousways to defray the considerable costs.Soft loans were once a popularoption. But in the wake of thebanking crisis, these loans are increas-ingly scarce. Indeed, one of the mostpopular schemes run by AMBA, inconjunction with NatWest, closed fornew loans on January 31.The good news is that some schoolsstill offer proprietary loans. LondonBusiness School, for example, offersits tailored loan scheme to studentsfrom all nationalities. “The schemeallows students to borrow up to£50,000 towards programme tuitionfees, with a highly competitive inter-est rate of 4.5 per cent above the Bankof England sterling base rate,” saysStephen Chadwick, the MBAprogramme director at LBS.Professional and career develop-ment loans are also available fromsome banks, with details on theDirectgov website. The maximum

loan is £10,000. Applicants must besettled in the UK, intend to study inthe UK and plan to work in the EUafter graduating. Other loans areavailable to overseas students comingto study in the UK, depending onwhere the student is based. Theseinclude loans through the PudongDevelopment Bank for Chinese-based students, and Federal Staffordloans in the US. It is also worthcontacting the British Council.Pay early and you may pay less, assome schools offer early-bird dis-counts. At Durham Business School,if an offer is made before April 30 andthe deposit paid within six weeks, par-ticipants can save £1,000. Severalother schools offer similar deals.Scholarships are a good way ofalleviating MBA costs. There areinvariably conditions attached, andthese may include geographic restric-tions, but it is worth asking what aschool has available.“We have one of the largest scholar-ship schemes in the UK,” says SusanBalint, the MBA director at Westmin-ster Business School. “The majority ofour MBA scholarships are based onmerit and appropriate workexperience relevant to the MBAprogramme. About half our MBAstudents receive some kind of scholar-ship, be it full-fee waiver or a modestbursary of about £2,000.”Subject-specific scholarships arecommon. If you want to study onNottingham University BusinessSchool’s MBA Corporate SocialResponsibility programme, theschool’s International Centre forCorporate Social Responsibility offersa scholarship for exceptional candi-dates that covers full tuition fees andliving expenses.Cranfield School of Management,in conjunction with the CranfieldTrust, offers managers in voluntaryorganisations the opportunity to

obtain a full-fee scholarship for theMBA programme. Martin Curtis, aCranfield Executive MBA studentwho works for the legal assistancecharity LawWorks, was awarded thescholarship last year. “The MBA wasa course that I would not have hadthe opportunity to do without thescholarship,” he says.Given the current economic

circumstances, the MBA fundingpicture continues to change almostweekly. It is important that potentialMBA students contact their targetbusiness school to discuss options.Despite the substantial costsinvolved, research suggests that it isstill worthwhile taking an MBA.“Our 2010 Career Survey high-lights that UK MBA graduates report

an annual base salary of £73,000,while entrepreneurs with an MBAqualification reported a significantlyhigher annual salary of just under£90,000,” says Sharon Bamford, CEOof AMBA. “There are also clearpositive career trends for MBAgraduates, with many progressinginto strategic senior and board-levelpositions within organisations.”

In the 1987 novel The Bonfire ofthe Vanities, the wife of asuccessful bond trader describeshis work to their children:“That’s what Daddy does. Hepasses somebody else’s cake

around and picks up the crumbs.”Most people know or care verylittle about the way the world’s finan-cial markets work, or the traders whooperate in them. Yet these marketsare at the heart of the globaleconomy, with traders able at theclick of button to make millions ordestroy fortunes, as Nick Leeson didwhen he brought down Barings Bank.BruceWeber, the Professor of Infor-mation Management, ManagementScience and Operations at LondonBusiness School, runs the trading andfinancial market structure elective onthe MBA programme at LBS. Weber,who wrote the software that is usedby business schools to teach MBAs in

dealing room simulations, explains tohis students how modern marketsoperate, how to trade in them andhow to prevent another rogue traderproblem from arising.“It’s tempting to view trading asscavenging crumbs,” Weber says.“But traders discover prices, produceliquidity and enable markets toproduce information about the collec-tive expectations and willingness tobear risk that investors have. Marketsignals enable free economies tochannel investment capital toopportunities and the entrepreneursthat will launch the Facebooks orSkypes of the future.”On the elective, the students,minus the intense pressure of thedealing room, discover what it is liketo trade electronically, using Weber’strading simulation software. “Fourout of the ten class sessions aresimulations. Each team is given acertain trading instruction: it could beto buy or sell a large block of a stock,or to do a certain type of proprietarytrading with a price limit, or positionlimit,” Weber says.“At the end of each simulation, thecomputer stores information on yourtrade, the positions and risks that youhad, and ultimately your perform-ance: were you able to buy the sharesat a price lower than the othertrading teams?”

While only a minority will go on tobecome traders — about five to ten ina class of 50 — the rest of the classrealise how important trading is inthe industry and want to be able tounderstand and manage it.As well as teaching the practicalintricacies of electronic trading,Weber explores modern marketinnovations and new trading technol-ogies with mysterious names such asdark pools, flash orders and high-frequency trading. He also covers thecost of implementing investmentstrategies, and the management andcontrol of trading activities.What does he hope that hisstudents take away from the class? “Iwant to convey to them that having acareer in the capital markets area,around sales and trading, requires alevel of professionalism today thatwasn’t there 20 years ago. You needto be aware of all the different typesof market that are around today —the trading innovations, the newmarket features and how to use thosefeatures to your advantage.“And, if you anticipate being a bank-ing manager, you need to look at thetrading function as a business areathat is potentially very high-reward,but also very high-risk. Like any otherbusiness, managing that risk meanshaving control systems in place andbeing able to understand the

vulnerabilities when such large sumsof money are changing hands.”In The Bonfire of the Vanities, theauthor, Tom Wolfe, tags the WallStreet banking and finance highflyers“masters of the universe”, a namethat stuck. So is it still an appropriatetitle?“If they are masters of the universe

they have a lot less autonomy, andare under a much brighter spotlightthan ever,” Weber says. “Given thevolumes and volatilities today, anindividual trader can generate enor-mous profits. But the controls onwhat they do, and the transparency oftheir market activities, is also greaterthan it has ever been.”

Finance is there;simply think ofthe course as aninvestment, saysSteve Coomber

Financing a masters degree atLondon Business School isexpensive, particularly foroverseas students on higher fees.But an American student, WyattMeng, was able to turn theexperience into a business model,paying the £22,000 through apassion for rare violins.“It all started when I picked up

two broken antique Germanviolins on eBay for $50 apiece,”Meng says. “I restored them andsold them on for $800 each. Ithought: ‘This looks promising.’ ”Inspired by his foray into

dealing, the gifted violiniststarted buying and selling antiqueinstruments, using the profits toequip a workshop with toolsfound second-hand on the

internet. “I learnt the art of violinrestoration from books,” he says.To prove how far he has come, herecently built a copy of an Amativiola, the original of which wasmade in Cremona in 1649. It is aninstrument that he has alwayscoveted.The business prospered,

supporting Meng through abusiness degree with Russian atFlorida State University, where hewas also eligible for a scholarship.At first he rode the wave of anonline market opening up inChina, where middle-classparents were prepared to pay topdollar for high-quality violins.“Chinese parents are very keen toinvest in their children’s musicaldevelopment,” he says. “At one

point I was making $10,000 amonth.”As the market began to dry up

and the financial crisis hit, Mengswitched from mid-rangeinstruments to rare violin bows,some of which sell for £22,000.His eye for quality quicklyestablished his reputation. Achance meeting with a wealthywidow seeking to dispose of herlate husband’s collection of rareinstruments started a friendshipthat led to the woman sponsoringMeng’s studies outright.He has played with a symphony

orchestra in the US. Today hisambition is to play and own rareviolins and to work in the City ofLondon as an investment banker.STEPHEN HOARE

MBA MBA

Software aims toprevent a repeatof the Baringsdebacle, reportsSteve Coomber

Another string to his bow Selling violins won degree funding

Wyatt Meng’spassion for rareviolins led to asponsorshipthat paid for hisMBA studies

Real and virtual worlds collide in Professor Bruce Weber’s classroom

Only a week beforeLars Malmqvist andDenis Kaminskiystarted their MBAs atCambridge JudgeBusiness School, in

September 2008, the financial ser-vices firm Lehman Brothers filed forbankruptcy protection and the globalbanking system began to unravel.While it might not have seemed theright moment to be switching careers,a year later Malmqvist and Kamin-skiy had written a business plan,attracted funding and founded theirown company.Malmqvist has always enjoyed theexcitement of working in newventures; during the 1990s he flirtedwith the dot-com boom, working as aprogrammer in Denmark. But as heclimbed through the organisationalranks, like many people with a tech-nical background, he discovered thatthere were limits to his progress intomanagement.“I’ve worked in a lot of start-ups,

and figured that technology andentrepreneurship was the way to go.But as a technical person there istypically a ceiling to your career devel-opment, so the MBA seemed like agood idea.” His original plan was takethe MBA, do some consulting orsimilar, then start a new venture.Kaminskiy, on the other hand, whoworked his way up the corporatehierarchy at both Rolls-Royce andCadbury Schweppes, was undecidedabout his future. “I always wanted todo an MBA to see if that wouldprovide an opportunity for a careershift,” he says. “I wasn’t really think-ing about entrepreneurship at allwhen I came to Judge.”Malmqvist and Kaminskiy wereworking together on the one-monthfull-time global consulting projectthat forms an important part of theJudge MBA programme. The projectfocused on cloud computing.Although definitions vary, cloud com-puting involves computing servicesbeing delivered to a customer organ-isation via the internet — the cloud— in a similar way to a utility, such aselectricity.The firm pays for the service ondemand, per units consumed or bysubscription. The software and data isrun and managed remotely, in numer-ous physical locations. The serviceprovider uses economies of scale toreduce the cost of the IT services forthe customer.“Coming from an IT technical back-

ground, I had heard about cloudcomputing before and this was afantastic opportunity,” Malmqvistsays. “The project was figuring outhow new developments in cloud com-puting, which at that time was stillvery theoretical, would impact on thelong-term strategies of Hewlett-Packard and British Telecom, whosponsored the project.”It became clear to the pair thatcloud computing was going to be thenext IT revolution. So they drew up abusiness plan on a napkin, focusedtheir individual MBA projects onmarket and technology researchrelating to their business idea, andregistered a company, Arcus Global.A key factor in getting the new

venture up and running, Malmqvistsays, was the support from the schooland in particular the input fromMarkThompson, the deputy director of theMBA programme.“Through Mark we wereintroduced to the local governmentmarket and in turn connected with anumber of CEOs of councils. It soonbecame very clear that it was amarket where people were desperatefor someone to come in with a disrup-tive technology like cloud computingand change things.”Today Arcus Global, based inCambridge, is growing fast.Malmqvist and Kaminskiy have em-ployed seven people and are lookingto hire more. They have ambitious

plans for the business. “We want to bethe leading provider of cloud comput-ing services to the public sector bothin the UK, and also in Europe in thefuture,” Malmqvist says.And none of it would havehappened without Judge and theMBA. “Before the MBA I knew howto manage technical people andabout technology, but had very littleknowledge of accounting, marketing,finance or, for that matter, exactlyhow to set up a business,” Malmqvistsays. “The connections we have madeand the people we have met throughJudge have presented us with someamazing opportunities.”“The MBA?” Kaminskiy says. “Itwas worth every penny.”

The bankingcrash led to abooming hi-techcareer, reportsSteve Coomber

Cloud with a silver liningMBA

The banksmight havebeen failing,but cloudcomputingmeant a brightnew future fortwo students

TOM WANG/ALAMY

8 1GX THE TIMESWednesday February 16 2011

What links theseb u s i n e s s e s :WhipCar, theworld’s firstneighbour-to-neighbour car

rental service; ubiCabs, which offers anew way of finding taxi servicesonline; yoomi, a self-warming babyfeeding bottle; the London restaurantchain Canteen; Regent’s Park HeartClinics; the Gelato Mio ice creamchain; and the internet holidaycompany Iglu.com?They were all started by an MBAgraduate. Contrary to the stereotypethat MBAs are destined for theworlds of management consultingand investment banking, an increas-ing number of MBAs now reinventthemselves as entrepreneurs.And there is a growing array ofstatistics to back this up. AlthoughSaïd Business School, in Oxford, has

existed for only 15 years, its graduateshave been responsible for more than170 companies, which collectivelyhave raised more than $1 billion inventure finance.Upon graduation, roughly 10 percent of the International MBA(IMBA) class at IE Business School,in Madrid, consider themselvesentrepreneurs, and five years aftergraduation about 25 per cent areinvolved in entrepreneurial activities.Given this, it is perhaps not surpris-ing that business schools increasinglyoffer courses in entrepreneurship,and the focus of a great deal ofresearch is on unlocking the secretsof entrepreneurs. For example,London Business School has ann-ounced a new Institute for Innova-tion and Entrepreneurship.Many begin the entrepreneurialgroundwork while studying forMBAs. In the IE Business SchoolIMBA class at present are fourwould-be entrepreneurs: GuersonMeyer, Daniel Couto, VittorioLapiana and Sammy Gebele. Theiridea is foodiesquare.com which aimsto connect food lovers with artisanfood producers.“The idea was developed in a first-term class on information systemswith Professor José Esteves,” Gebelesays. “The result is that we are devel-oping an online marketplace to help

food lovers discover and buy artisanfood products from small independ-ent food producers across Europe.”Sceptics routinely suggest that realentrepreneurs have no need of anMBA, but MBA entrepreneurs coun-ter that the qualification does make adifference. “When you are working inthe rat race it is hard to really taketime out to think,” says DominicLake, a London Business SchoolMBA graduate and co-founder ofCanteen. “I was working all the time,but then on the MBA programme Iwas encouraged to think about whatI’d like to be doing in five years. Ithought I would like to be part of ateam selling a business or, at least,running a successful business.”For Lake, his MBA really had an im-pact when he had to sell the conceptfor his restaurant chain. “None of uswas independently wealthy and weneeded some money. That’s wherewhat I had learnt at business schoolreally kicked in — in terms of struc-turing a business plan, doing your duediligence, writing it and presenting it.It meant I had the language; coulddefine not only the strategic side ofwhat sort of business it was going tobe; how we were going to deliver it;and actually challenge the numbers.”Jason Watkins, a serial entrepre-neur, did anMBA at NottinghamUni-versity Business School. Pre-MBA, he

set up kitbag.com, an online sportinggoods retailer, but, despite its success,he felt that he had gaps in his know-ledge, especially strategy. Post-MBA,he set up Inndie Intelligent Networks,a technology consultancy, based inthe Incubation Centre on Notting-ham’s Jubilee Campus. His co-direc-tor, Simon Ling, is also a NottinghamMBA Entrepreneurship graduate.Other MBA entrepreneurs benefitfrom the direct input of their teach-ers. “The entrepreneurship class gaveus the time and guidance to craft ourbusiness plan, and then many profes-sors gave us very helpful insights, tips;

and contacts on technology and inter-net businesses, our business plan, sup-ply chain and logistics and our mar-keting,” says Gebele of foodiesquare.com (which goes online in April).The subjects in an MBA — every-thing from accounting to marketing— also appeals to entrepreneurs. “Iwas an engineer before doing anMBA and really didn’t have muchfinancial knowledge,” says LorenzoCaffarri, a co-founder and director ofubiCabs, and a London BusinessSchool alumnus. “I didn’t really knowmuch about subjects such as strategyand marketing either. I knew how my

job worked, managing projects andoptimising processes. I can do thatpretty well, but the rest was not mycup of tea. As an entrepreneur youhave to do everything — from thelegal side to accounting, marketing,business development and IT design,a man of 1,000 talents.”All this means that entrepreneur-ship is now part of the MBA main-stream. Nottingham University Busi-ness School offers both a full-timeand a part-timeMBA in entrepreneur-ship and the Nottingham Institute forEnterprise and Innovation is a centreof excellence in enterprise education.Saïd has a Centre for Entrepreneur-ship and Innovation, which bringstogether entrepreneurship research,teaching and practice at the Univer-sity of Oxford. An entrepreneurshipproject is compulsory in the Saïd full-time one-year MBA. It challenges stu-dents to develop a business plan andpresent it to a panel of venture capital-ists and other practitioners.Many of these projects develop intosuccessful ventures. Saïd also has a£1 million venture fund, run bystudents from the present MBA class,and has just established the OxfordAlumni Investments initiative agroup of University of Oxford alumniinterested in new business opportuni-ties, contacts and seed capitalfunding.

It gave us the timeand guidance to craftour business plan

Graduates arebehind brilliantideas from cabsto ice cream, saysStuart Crainer

If you wanted to create atemplate for the truly globalexecutive, David Pyott would bea good place to start.

Before joining theCalifornia-based healthcarecompany Allergan in 1998, he ranthe nutrition division ofSwitzerland-based Novartis andwas a member of the executivecommittee. At Novartis and,before that, at Sandoz Nutrition,Pyott worked for 17 years in jobsin strategic planning, marketingand general management inMalaysia, Singapore, Austria,Spain, the United States andSwitzerland.To this potpourri of global

experience can be added hisScottish origins (his accent is stillmore North Glasgow than NorthHollywood); childhood years on asugar plantation near Poona,India; a degree from theUniversity of Edinburgh; aDiploma in International andEuropean Law from the Universityof Amsterdam; and two yearsspent working in the City ofLondon. Pyott has lived in tencountries, worked in seven andspeaks four languages.Now this eclectic career has

been capped by more than adecade as CEO at Allergan, whichhas nearly 9,000 employeesworldwide and is most famous forbringing Botox to the world.Pyott’s CV also includes an MBA

from the London Business School.When he decided to do an MBA,he was working for Kleinwort

Benson in the City. “I had somepoorly trained managers. Theyhad no idea what they were doingand I thought: ‘I’m not going tolearn much from these charactersbecause, if they don’t know whatthey’re doing, how can theyimpart knowledge to me?’ I wasso appalled by this, I thought: ‘I’dbetter get myself a decentbusiness education so I’m neverflying by the seat of my pants.’ ”He graduated in 1980. So how

has his MBA informed his career?“From a formal point of view, theMBA gives you the toolkit tomanage, and of course beyondthat it gives you the opportunityto work in syndicates or groupswith some very bright people,”Pyott says.“Looking back, the painful

process that all business schoolsput people through is to load youup with so much work that youcan’t do it unless you work in ateam. That, of course, is anincredibly valuable experience,because you realise quickly that ifyou can’t work with others thenyou’d better be a soloentrepreneur of some kind. If youwant to run a larger organisation,it’s all about the human side.”Pyott admits that he has the

stereotypical Scottish aversion toneedless expenditure and anappetite for precision. Yet thecompany’s success is firmlypinned on the imprecise art ofinnovation. Allergan’s R&Dbudget for 2010 was estimatedat $730 million (£453 million).

“I think a good company says:‘How are we going to becomemore efficient?’ Thepharmaceutical industry has beeninherently inefficient because themargins are very high,” hereflects. “The cost of producingthe first pill is gigantic —researching the drug, deeming itsafe and effective, thenproducing all the regulatory filesand getting the drug approved.Roughly now, including thefailures, it costs $1.3 billion.“The cost of producing the

next pills is low because themarginal cost of production islow relative to the enormous costof research and development.

The goal is clear; how you reach itis less simple.”Keeping on top of the detail is a

big part of Pyott’s approach. Hetends to spend an idle Sundayevery month poring over700-page operations reportscovering sales and marketingreports, as well as competitor,customer and market intelligence.“Holding people to a very highstandard is the way anorganisation is kept andmaintained in a very high-classway,” he observes.But, given the demands of the

CEO job, how long can anyoneremain effective? “The day youstop enjoying what you’re doingis probably time to do somethingelse,” Pyott says. “I tell peoplethat this is the best job I’ve everhad, yet in many ways it hasn’talways been the same job. Thetitle has remained pretty muchthe same, but the job content haschanged dramatically and I thinkthat’s because of various factors.“It goes back to the growth of

the company. When I came,sales were just above $1 billion,then we spun off the companywhich we were, historically, bestknown for.“And then there was Botox. As

proud as we are of Botox, it’sonly a third of our sales.Consumers don’t know that wehave two of the world’s top fiveglaucoma drugs, but that’s notsomething you talk about atcocktail parties.”STUART CRAINER

School where everyonewants to be a big cheese

MBA MBA

MyMBA:David Pyott

Alfred Becker’s 25kg Bavarian cheese will feature on foodiesquare.com

SAMMY GEBELE

10 THE TIMESWednesday February 16 2011 111GX

You’d ideally need tolearn Mandarin —and that’s a big ask

There are plenty ofcountries ready tosteal our place

As senior sales manager forFrankfurt International Airport,Christa Klingensteiner spends alot of time travelling to China andnegotiating with Chinese airlinesabout opening new routes toGermany’s financial hub.“China is an expanding market

and we have various ventureswith regional airports such asGuangzhou,” she says. “We havea management exchangeprogramme and I wanted to learnhow to better understand myChinese opposite numbers.”Nottingham University Business

School’s Executive MBA (EMBA)gave Klingensteiner the chance tostudy Asian business at first hand.Part of her MBA was spent at theschool’s new Singapore campuslearning from Asian case studiesand visiting local companies.

“Staying in the country andspeaking with local people, youget a much better idea of theculture,” she says.Nottingham is committed to the

expanding Asia market and isnegotiating partnerships withChinese universities for studentand staff exchanges. These tieswill add value to the businessschool’s MBA and are designed togive students an experience ofissues in Asia. Nottingham’s deanRob Dixon says: “We have anincreasing number of studentswanting experience in China andwe are developing links withFudan University in Shanghai. Weare now in a position to offermodules based in China to smallnumbers of students on ourglobal EMBA.”STEPHEN HOARE

Sixteen years ago CEIBS (theChina Europe InternationalBusiness School) in Shanghai

was set up by the European Commis-sion to export Western-style inter-national business education to China.Now the roles are reversed. “We arebringing China to the rest of theworld,” says professor Lydia Price,CEIBS’s American dean.With economic growth topping10 per cent a year, China, Singapore,Hong Kong and South Korea areoverturning old models of Westerncapitalism. Asia is now a seriousplayer in the global MBA market.Three of China's leading universities— Zheijang, Shanghai Jiao Tong andSun Yat-Sen— are AMBA accreditedand a further dozen business schoolaccreditations are in the pipeline.Meanwhile, INSEAD Asia Campusin Singapore is competing head tohead with Singapore ManagementUniversity and National University ofSingapore, both of which offer MBAstaught in English by top internationalfaculty.Despite being a relative newcomer,CEIBS’s MBA programme has beenranked in the world’s top 25 by theFinancial Times for the past eightyears and the school has been accred-ited by EQUIS, the European stand-ards organisation for higher educa-tion. The mix of international stu-dents is a vital ingredient to CEIBS’ssuccess and its MBA cohort is a mixof Chinese nationals and expatriates.As with any developing economy,there are vast social divisions, ayawning wealth gap between rich andpoor, issues of quality control andovercapacity of supply stemmingfrom an uneasy mix of centralist statecontrol and raw capitalism.Price says: “A company in Chinacan go from undercapacity to over-capacity in a couple of years. If youwant to do business in China youlearn to read the signs and adapt.”The interest sparked by the recentstate visit to Washington of China’spresident Hu Jintao reflects a rise inthe currency of a Chinese MBA.When the MBA World Tour organ-ised a fair for the five top Asian busi-ness schools in New York last Septem-ber, the event attracted 250 potentialstudents. Nunzio Quacquarelli, chiefexecutive of QS, the organiser of theMBA World Tour, says: “Five yearsago, if we’d run such an event we’dhave only seen five students. There isa real interest now in Asia.”In a blog for CNN.com, PatrickMoreton, the managing director ofWashington University’s Olin Busi-ness School’s executive MBA pro-gramme at Fudan University inShanghai, believes an MBA taken inAsia will give business executives the

edge in a growing market. “We knowChina is likely to be one of the mostsignificant centres of economicgrowth in the next 50 years,” he says.“For that reason, knowing how to dobusiness here, being connected to thebusiness community and knowinghow to solve its problems are verygood skills to have.”ButMichael Jenkins, the chief exec-utive of Roffey Park Institute (whichis setting up a campus in Singaporelater this year), warns that studentsheading for Asia need to have to offera lot more than just a willingness tolearn. “People going to study in Asia

need to have a high emotional intelli-gence and be willing to have their cul-tural preconceptions challenged. Youwould also ideally need to learn Man-darin alongside your studies — andthat’s a big ask.”Perhaps the best way to learn howto do business in Asia is in Singapore,where English remains the mainlanguage of business and Mandarinone of three local languages spoken.INSEAD Asia Campus celebratedits tenth anniversary last year, duringwhich time it has grown from 53 to420 students, outstripping expect-ations. INSEAD dean of research,Ilian Mihov, says: “We offer the sameinternational MBA as on our maincampus at Fontainebleau, but in a dif-ferent context. We use Asian casestudies and we constantly update oursyllabus to reflect what’s going on inthe region. There is a module calledStrategies for Asia Pacific and we’vejust started running sessions onmone-tary policy and inflation in China.”

Anger is growingat changes thatwill hit foreignstudents, saysStephen Hoare

Low fees andhigh quality arean attractivepairing, saysStephen Hoare

Asia’s schools tellus how to workin emergingmarkets, reportsStephen Hoare

Nick Mellis worked as amanagement consultant in theMiddle East and wanted an MBAprogramme that offered value,international culture, goodrankings and small classes. Heconsidered several UK schoolsbut chose Rouen. “It ticked all myboxes and offered good facilities,including our own common room,supportive IT and a dedicated PAwho co-ordinates our activities.”Mellis is among a growing

number of UK students who lookacross the Channel for an MBA.Rouen’s programme is in English,and an added attraction is freeFrench language tuition. “It’sgood value,” he says. “The feesare ¤21,000 and I rent a house for

¤650 a month. Living costs arecomparable to the UK and we’rean hour and a half from theChannel Tunnel so it takes menine hours to drive home toScotland, while the airport is onour doorstep with £25 flights.”Doing an MBA away from home

broadens your outlook, Mellissays. “You become moreculturally aware and culturallysensitive.” He plans workexperience in France aftergraduating before taking up aconsultancy post in London.“French schools work hard attheir alumni links and offer anattractive intern programme,which helps your CV.”WIDGET FINN

French business schools arepoised to overtake Britain in thelucrative market for inter-

national MBA students. And if pro-posals to curb the right of inter-national students to stay in this coun-try go ahead, the highly prized UKMBA could be under threat.According to Mark Thomas, theassociate dean of Grenoble Ecole deManagement, the UK Government’sposition represents a spectacular owngoal. “Visa restrictions in the UK willhave a very positive effect on Frenchbusiness schools. My heart is in bothcountries but, if I’m looking at it froma cool-headed business point of view,the UK is doing French schools ahuge favour.”

Most French business schools nowoffer MBA and masters programmestaught in English; they haveinternational faculties, lower feesthan their UK equivalents and offerquality that is on a par.Rouen and Grenoble price theirMBAs at ¤24,000 (£20,000), while atthe top end of the market, HEC Parischarges ¤45,000 for a 16-month full-time MBA, undercutting the equallyhighly ranked London BusinessSchool’s £49,000.That French business schoolsshould be taking on the UK in inter-national markets should come as nosurprise. Thomas describes an almostbuccaneering attitude to expansion.“Markets change quickly and weneed to adapt. In France businessschools are generally independent ofuniversities: there are no layers ofbureaucracy. If I want somethingdone, I’ll just talk to the dean, ThierryGrange, and he will say: ‘Yes, get onwith it.’ ”A third of Grenoble’s intake is inter-national and numbers have grownsince the school opened an office inDelhi and formed partnerships inRussia, Moldova, Saudi Arabia and

Egypt. Thomas attributes Grenoble’sinternational success to a willingnessto listen to what students want anddeliver on it. For example, 1,500 stu-dents a year are placed in internships;after graduation many will be offeredjobs with a high starting salary.This is a sore point with Séan Rick-ard, the director of MBA admissionsfor the Cranfield School of Manage-ment: “Being able to work for a few

years in the UK is a huge incentivefor international students, many ofwhom come from poor countries.How else are you going to repaying ahefty study loan unless it is by land-ing a highly paid job?”HEC is not as expansionist as someFrench schools; an established player,it takes a long-term view. HEC’s newdean, Bernard Garrette, believes thatthe UK Government’s proposed visa

restrictions are as much a threat toEurope as an opportunity for Franceto score points. His view is that theEuropean Commission’s Bolognareforms were an essential counter-weight to the historical dominance ofUS business schools.“International students can applyto programmes based in Spain, theUK, Italy and the Netherlands,” hesays. Broadening the market hasincreased competitive pressure,which has benefited the whole indus-try. Any kind of government interven-tion in the long term would have anegative impact on the performanceof the whole industry.” Indeed,INSEAD business school has lent itsweight to the Association of MBAs’response to the government consult-ation on student visas. “INSEAD isagainst visa restrictions becausemany of its international alumni wantto work in the City of London aftergraduating,” says AMBA’s chief exec-utive, Sharon Bamford.EMLYON business school appealsto a growing number of internationalstudents. Over the past five yearsnumbers have risen from 20 per centto 43 per cent of the cohort. “To win

students from India and China, whichhave been developing their ownhighly ranked MBAs, we have to offersomething unique,” says PatriceHoudayer, the vice-president ofEMLYON graduate programmes.“We see our position in Europe andteaching in English as a real opportu-nity for us. But I cannot imagine theUK will want to turn its back onhigh-potential MBA students. My

guess is we’ll still be competing hardwith the UK for these top students.”Rickard believes that UK businessschools can retain their position bysticking to core values: “The averageage of EuropeanMBA students is get-ting younger and that’s a worryingtrend. We focus on personal develop-ment for an older age group. Youonly operate as a senior manager ifyou’ve got good people skills.”

Brunel University’s new£30 million businessschool is under construc-tion, with its openingplanned for April nextyear. It is intended to

deliver a better learning environmentto Brunel’s full-time MBA cohort, allof whom are from outside the Euro-pean Union. But as the Governmentconsiders tightening the rules govern-ing overseas student visas, it may wellprove of greater benefit to domesticstudents rather than boosting theuniversity’s international profile.The new school is already intendedto offer improved facilities for UKand EU nationals, who are are study-ing for the part-time executive MBA.However, Professor Zahir Irani, thehead of the business school, arguesthat overseas students on full fees arevital in enabling the university toinvest in its future.“My concern is that the Govern-ment is building a brand that willmake UK higher education less attrac-tive and less competitive,” Irani says.“If we deter foreign students there areplenty of countries ready to steal ourplace in the world, such as the USAand Canada. German and Frenchbusiness schools who already teach inEnglish are rubbing their hands inanticipation.”The business schools’ main con-cern is the Government’s redrawingof the rules for Tier 4 student visas. Inthe past, overseas students graduat-ing in the UK have been granted analmost automatic right to a work visa

and many have stayed. But this rightcould be axed within three years andstudents asked to leave at the end oftheir degrees.Business schools consulted over theproposed restrictions by the HomeOffice are angered by what they viewas ill-considered and piecemealattempts to hack away at establishedrights. They warn of economicdamage to what is one of the UK’sbiggest export markets as well aslong-term harm to the country’s inter-national interests.Sharon Bamford, the chief execu-tive, of the Association of MBAs(AMBA), which accredits 47 MBAprogrammes in the UK and 168 world-wide, pleads a special case for theMBA, arguing that it should beexempt from the regulations.“The numbers of internationalstudents in this group is smallcompared with the 38,000 overseasstudents in UK higher education,”she says. “International MBA

students are self-funding, pay anaverage course fee of £30,000 andmost only want to work in the UK fortwo or three years. If the UK issincere in its wish to attract the bright-est and best to its universities thenthis should be coupled with an aware-ness that international MBA studentsmake a significant contribution to theBritish economy.”AMBA counters criticism thatsome highly skilled overseas gradu-ates are prepared to work in burgerbars or on supermarket checkouts toremain in the UK by recommendinga salary minimum of £25,000. “That’s

25 per cent higher than the averagesalary and reflects the value MBAsbring,” Bamford says.Karen Siegfried, the executive direc-tor of the University of CambridgeJudge Business School’s full-timeMBA, says: “Eighty per cent of JudgeMBA students come here on a Tier 4student visa. Part of our offer to over-seas students is the chance to work inthe UK. Visa restrictions will makethe UK less attractive as a study desti-nation.”Fiona Sandford, the director ofcareer services at London BusinessSchool, has a different concern. Herworry is that Tier 1 post-study workvisas will be withdrawn. Under theexisting rules, as part of its “highlytrusted” status, the business schoolcan endorse a work visa for a studenton completion of their MBA.New rules could mean thatstudents wanting to extend their stayin the UK after they have completedthe course will have to find a job firstand apply for their visa through anemployer.“Restricting post-study Tier 1 visasis an option the UK Border Agency isconsidering. Employers would haveto go through significant hoops [toemploy an overseas student],” saysSandford, who is appealing for anychanges to the rules to be phased ingradually.As the representative of all 118 ofthe UK’s business schools, theAssociation of Business Schools(ABS) accepts some tightening up ofthe visa system is needed but is con-cerned at the damage to the UK’sbrand if overseas students are scaredof applying to business schools forfear of what might happen in future.Jonathan Slack, its chief executive,says: “My fear is that this country willbe seen as out of step with the rest ofthe world over what is genuinely aglobal market. Let’s not forget thatUK business schools are running high-ly profitable businesses that are cross-subsidising undergraduate provision.”

Look east for educationas China becomes aneconomic powerhouse

French schools will be winners if the UK scores an own goal

Visa plans don’t make business sense

Tunnel vision Learning across the Channel

MBA MBA

Flying high Studying in Singapore

Entering the country to study could become a lot harder — and our business schools badly affected — if changes to visas for overseas students get the go-ahead

CONCRETE IMAGES/PHOTOLIBRARY

Grenoble is one of the French schools that could lure international students

The INSEAD Asia Campus in Singapore, which offers an international MBA

12 1GX THE TIMESWednesday February 16 2011

Few MBAs rub shoulderswith heads of state andgovernment ministers aspart of their work. But forMichael Shearer, a Dur-ham Business School

graduate, the leadership and manage-ment skills he learnt on the MBA areput to daily use, honing his diplo-matic skills as Deputy British HighCommissioner in Sierra Leone.After a first degree in Japanese andChinese at the University of Leeds,Shearer worked for the JapaneseGovernment in grassroots inter-national relations, before deciding tofocus on a career in finance. He usedthe full-time MBA at Durham to helpin the transition. “I wanted a qualifica-tion that would give me internationalcurrency and credibility wherever Iwent,” he says. “TheMBA seemed thelogical choice.”Shearer joined HSBC as aninternational manager after graduat-ing in 1996. As one of a small group ofpermanently expatriated generalists,he embarked on a global bankingcareer that took in Manhattan,

London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, andTaipei City.In 2006 his career took a newdirection. “HSBC gave me theopportunity to work as an employeeresearch fellow with Earthwatch, aninternational non-profit organisationthat looks at how to make projectsmore sustainable,” he says. “I went toGhana for several weeks to live withcocoa farmers and see how we couldhelp them to raise their crop yield in asustainable way.”It left Shearer wanting to do moreof that kind of work. So he resignedfrom HSBC and in later that yearwon an open competition for a seniorposition with the Foreign & Common-wealth Office (FCO) as assistant direc-tor for diversity and equality. Earlylast year he became the Deputy Brit-ish High Commissioner to the Repub-lic of Sierra Leone. Shearer representsUK interests in Sierra Leone, promot-ing UK commerce, helping to safe-guard national security and support-ing British nationals abroad.“In a typical day I might have tolobby at Cabinet Minister level andabove on issues such as migration,human rights, or airport safety,”Shearer says. “Then go straight intoan internal strategy session on design-ing the High Commission of thefuture, to a meeting with representa-tives of visiting companies — helpingthem to market in Sierra Leone —and round the day off with a sessionon stemming the flow of drugs fromthe West Africa region to the UK.”Even after all these years, Shearer

is adamant that his MBA experienceis invaluable in his daily work. “TheDurham MBA was fairly intensive. Inthe first semester, for example, wecovered nine or ten subjects. It helpsyou to show that you can managemultiple priorities in quite apressured environment. That is theessence of the diplomatic world.“Then there’s the ability to absorb alot of information at short notice andquickly become credible in a subject

area. I can think of several situationsin which I have been in the car on theway to a meeting with a minister andonly had minutes to try to makesense of a brief or a lobbyinginstruction.”Shearer also points to the inter-national diversity of the MBA class.“When you are working in diversegroups to complete projects there areinevitably some misunderstandingsand misinterpretations of whatpeople are saying,” he says. “Thebread and butter of diplomacy indifferent countries is trying to makesense of different perspectives.”A career in diplomacy might not beon the radar of most MBAs, but whatyou learn on an MBA is very relevantto the role, Shearer says.“Against the background of return-ing Britain to strong growth, andhelping to create the conditions ofprosperity, they are trying very hardto inject a new sense of commercial-ism into the work of the ForeignOffice,” he says. “The profile of thediplomatic service is changing, it isincreasingly diverse in every perspec-tive, and I think an MBA from areputable business school helps togive you credibility.”As for the future, Shearer hasambitions to run his own post oneday, especially a post with a strongcommercial focus. Meanwhile, he con-tinues to deploy his knowledge andskills, including those acquired on theMBA, to represent the UK Govern-ment aboard in his constantly chal-lenging diplomatic role.

On any day I mayhave to lobby atCabinet Minister level

The qualificationhas its uses evenat the ForeignOffice, reportsSteve Coomber

From global banking to a diplomatic role

MBA

Our man in Sierra Leone feels his MBA helps him with his diplomatic role

DAVID LYON/ALAMY

We haven’t equippedthem with thejudgment and skills

The advertisinggiant is at theheart of a skillsrevamp, saysSteve Coomber

Saatchi’s vision sparksa year-longmakeover

Business schools can beaccused of focusing onthe theoretical at theexpense of the practical.MBA students mayspend months analysing

business cases, engrossed in manage-ment and business theory but, on thewhole, business is not theoretical, crit-ics say. Strategy or marketing modelsdo not always fit real circumstances.Kevin Roberts, the CEO Worldwideof Saatchi & Saatchi, the advertisingagency, says: “Originally, I thoughtbusiness schools gave you a fantastictoolkit, a great framework, but sentyou out with zero creativity andinnovation skills.“But, as I gained knowledge aboutbusiness schools and the MBA, Irealised that not only is there a lackof creativity and innovation but alsothey miss business-savvy judgmentand decision-making skills. We live in

a world that is volatile, uncertain,complex and ambiguous.“MBAs come out with a way ofdoing business, and discover it is notthe way it was in the business case.And we haven’t equipped them withthe judgment and decision-makingskills to cope with that.”Roberts, who has worked withvarious business schools, is involvedwith the MBA class at Lancaster Uni-versity Management School (LUMS),providing students with unique accessto his experience and insights.“We’re going to take my typicalyear running Saatchi & Saatchi, everyindustry, market and problem thatthat involves, and I’m going to givethe MBAs every piece of informationI give to my board, in real time.Jointly we are going to figure out thekey strategies for the challenges weface, the key things Saatchi should beworking on.”Over four sessions, with variousactivities in between, MBAs will learnabout business judgment and deci-sion-making and how to work as aclose-knit executive leadership team.LUMS is not the only school thatmixes MBAs and business leaders.The HEC Paris business school’sVisions of Leadership (VoL) initiativeinvolves a series of seminars withCEOs, culminating in a week-longprogramme in which students can

learn what is taxing the minds ofsenior executives from organisationssuch as Alcatel-Lucent and L’Oréal.Strategy consulting projects areanother popular method of blendingMBA theory and practice. At CassBusiness School in London, MBAstudents pitch their services to differ-ent companies, do an analysis of theorganisation, and apply the conceptsthey learn in class, whether market-ing, finance or strategy, to a problem.“The link between the conceptsand what you see in the outsideworld, the incredible complexity andrichness of detail, is absolutely crucial

but very difficult to do for mostpeople,” says Joseph Lampel, aprofessor of strategy and innovationat Cass. Recent projects at Cass havehelped a leading sports team to assessthe implications of building a new sta-dium, and a car company examinethe launch of a new model.Students get the satisfaction of

applying theory to actual businesschallenges, plus the prospect of a job.Kanwar Gill, an MBA postgraduatefrom Imperial College BusinessSchool, completed his individualstrategic consulting project at Rolls-Royce, the aerospace, power systemsand defence company. “It was aboutappraising the corporate strategy of

the defence aerospace side of the busi-ness,” he says. “Most of the MBA isabout throwing theoretical conceptsat you, without actually putting it intopractice on the ground; the projectallows you to do that.”Gill’s final project presentation obvi-ously impressed: He now works atRolls-Royce, as an IT strategist.

MBA

Saatchi’s Kevin Roberts has strong views on the content of MBA courses

CHRIS RATCLIFFE/REX FEATURES

College clubs canhelp you to makefriends and get ajob, students tellSteve Coomber

In a tough jobs market, postgrad-uates must leverage every oppor-tunity that business schoolpresents to secure their dreamjob, and MBA clubs andsocieties are one route to that

prime position. Whether it is becom-ing president of the consulting club ororganising a business summit, belong-ing to business school club can helpMBAs to get hired.When selecting an MBAprogramme, alongside ranking,reputation, subject strengths and starfaculty, it is wise to consider the rangeand quality of the clubs that a schooloffers, as club membership can provea useful and rewarding experience.“Clubs bring together like-mindedstudents with a common interest in acertain area of business,” says DerekWalker, the careers director at SaïdBusiness School (SBS), University ofOxford. “They complement theeducational process by allowing thestudents time to consider and discussissues, involve practitioners and runtheir own events.”Clubs serve a number of important

purposes, such as gaining deeperindustry knowledge. “Both theentertainment and media club andthe marketing club have really helpedme to get a better sense of where themedia world is going,” says SamSingh, an MBA student at RotmanSchool of Management at theUniversity of Toronto, Canada.“From my side as a content producer,but also from the boardroomperspective of what the large mediacompanies are doing, because there’sbeen a lot of media convergence hereover the last decade.”Business school clubs run sector-related events allowing students tomake important industry contacts. AtManchester Business School (MBS),for example, Michael Vachon, anMBA student, is organising a digitalmedia summit for later in the year.“We are going to focus on mobilityand how the mobile landscape ischanging the way people do businessand interact with the web. It willcover areas such as content deliveryand location-based web services,”Vachon says. “It is an opportunity tolearn more from companies in theindustry about their strategies forgrowth in new markets, and fornetworking and meeting like-mindedindividuals.”Being a club member can certainlyimprove the chances of a getting a jobafter graduating, as many clubs runspecific careers-related activities.There is an emphasis on preparingstudents for potential job opportuni-ties, says Collin Poage, the chairman

of the Management Consulting clubat SBS. Activities include learningabout and practising for case-basedinterviews, doing peer CV review,cultural fit interview practice andexperience and information sharing.At Rotman, joining the businessdesign club helped Singh to find aninternship with Telefónica, the Span-ish telecom provider, in Barcelona.“We had lectures and seminarsfrom practitioners of business design,including Procter & Gamble, andIDEO, the design consulting firm, forexample. These people would talkabout how they used business designto revamp or revive their products,brands, or internal processes withintheir organisations.“When the summer job posting for

Telefónica came up, I pieced togetherwhat I knew about design andinnovation and applied. That’s how Iended up spending a summer in Bar-celona. In a big MBA class, you needto differentiate yourself from yourpeers. A club is an extra-curricularactivity and a major way to do that.”Belonging to a club may also saveyou from making career mistakes. AtMBS Laura Mace, a current MBAstudent, joined the finance andbanking club, among others. The clubprovided networking opportunities totalk to alumni and others in theindustry, to talk about their roles, andhow they felt about their work.“You ask yourself, ‘Is this what Iwant to be doing?’ Mace says. “Idecided it wasn’t for me. That’s valu-able because you have several careeroptions and, by a process of elimina-tion, you can choose where you’regoing. And there’s no pressure onyou, being part of a club, to follow aparticular career path.”It is not all about manoeuvring forlife after the MBA, though. Clubs area great way to socialise and get somedowntime from the hard academicstudy slog of the MBA.“There definitely is a social elementto it, and it’s something thatrecharges your batteries,” Singh says.“After you’ve spent all day in a class-room learning what sometimes canbe arduous or dry material, it’s nice tohave more of a holistic environmentwhere you can talk about some of theinteresting trends and currents thatare shaping the world of business.”

Find your place in a society Network news

MBA

Justin Belkin studied for his MBAat Saïd Business School, at theUniversity of Oxford. While therehe joined the finance club, part ofthe business school’s OxfordBusiness Network.“I went on an MBA to learn

skills, but also to get a job thatpaid better and gave me moreresponsibility. So when you join aclub, you want to get certainthings out of it. You want to beable to ace the interview process,and put your best foot forward,”Belkin says. “A good club shouldprepare you by doing case studyand interview preparation, andbeyond that taking you out intothe business world. It forces youto reach out and contact firms.”In Belkin’s case travelling to the

US with the club led to a job.“Every year the finance club OBNworks with career services andalumni relations to organise a trekto Wall Street during Easterbreak. Twelve Oxford MBAs flewto the US to visit ten of thelargest finance companies in bothNew York and Boston.”While in Manhattan, they

cold-called SecondMarket, acompany that provides marketsfor trading illiquid, restricted andalternative investments. After atour of the floor and apresentation, Belkin persuadedthe company to take on six MBAsfor a strategic consulting projectas part of their MBA. Belkineventually secured a permanentposition as a vice-president ofbusiness strategy.

There is strength in numbers

18 1GX THE TIMESWednesday February 16 2011

You do not haveto travel halfwayacross the worldto network, saysStephen Hoare

Academic outputcan produce astartling effecton salaries, saysDes DearloveM

BA fairs have longbeen a fixture in theacademic firmament.Several times a yearlarge numbers ofacademics will head

for Washington, Beijing or Moscowto meet and greet, along with a hostof competing business schools.Now a new route to market hasappeared courtesy of the GraduateManagement Admission Council(GMAC), whose GMAT test is usedby business schools to help them tofind the best candidates. GMAC nowhosts a virtual fair, GMATCH, and ispromoting it as a way of adding valuefor time-pressured students andbusiness schools.The idea works a little like a datingagency: business schools areintroduced to the most eligible candi-dates, who self-select on the basis thatthey have already passed their

GMAT test or are registered to takeit. For the students the virtual fairenables them to attend onlinediscussion forums on topics such ascareer planning and applying tobusiness school, with academics fromAmerican, European and Asianbusiness schools.At the launch in November, 56 busi-ness schools and 1,750 students from136 countries came together onlineover two days to learn more abouteach other and, crucially, to presentprospective students with informa-tion that will help them to select themost appropriate business school.The event is to be followed thisMarch with a more ambitious eventheld over three days. Julia Tyler,GMAC executive vice-president, says:“We hosted our virtual fair acrossthree time zones in London, NewYork and Beijing. One of the chall-enges of designing a virtual fair isgetting a timescale that fits everyone.Academics like the ease of meetinginternational students from the com-fort of their desk — even if it’s 2 inthe morning.”GMAC has a pool of about 264,000test-takers worldwide and the smallfraction who choose the online faircould eventually translate to largenumbers as word of mouth spreads.“The fact is that our technology isimproving all the time,” Tyler says.

“Social networking is the students’natural home.”Has the traditional MBA fair finallymet its match? Working a roomful ofprospective students would seem tobe a hit-and-miss affair. In fact, faceto face events are going from strengthto strength. “In 2010 we grew theMBA World Tour by 10 per cent andthis year we’ll run 110 events across45 countries,” says Nunzio Quac-quarelli, chief executive of QS, organ-iser of the MBA World Fair.QS has 400 business schools on itsbooks and each school will meet on

average 70 to 80 prospective studentsat each fair. So the tried and testedworks. Nevertheless, QS is keen toplay the technology card. It has set upConnect, which delivers one-to-onemeetings online through its website,topmba.com. QS experimented withrunning a virtual fair three years agowithin which student “avatars” couldmeet chosen academics in a virtual

world. It was a flop. Quacquarelli isnot deterred by the experience.He says: “The future of fairs will bea mix of media, with online meetingscomplementing bigger face to faceevents.” That said, online research byprospective students plays a very bigpart in narrowing the choicesbetween competing business schools.Besides the schools’ own websites,

there exist a number of online MBAforums.Set up by young entrepreneursMaria Ahmed and Kate Jillings as anonline MBA magazine, BusinessBecause tapped a seam of gold asyoung people hungry for informationon their business schools started blog-ging and using the site’s social net-work. “We’ve been growing rapidly

over two years and last year hit criti-cal mass,” Ahmed says. “The site isfree for our 12,000 members and busi-ness schools now sponsor content.Business schools have started postingrésumé books for their MBA classand employers can post vacancies.”

Business schools havebeen criticised for carry-ing out esoteric andirrelevant research, buta new study suggeststhat the research they

produce has a surprising pay-off ongraduate salaries.The authors — Paul Drnevich andCraig Armstrong, both from the Uni-versity of Alabama, T. Russell Crookfrom the University of Tennessee,and Jonathan O’Brien from Rensse-laer Polytechnic Institute — studied658 business schools over eight years.They monitored the number ofarticles each institution published inleading academic journals andcompared their findings with the

salaries of graduates three years aftergraduation.The paper, in the current issue ofthe Academy of Management Learningand Education, concludes that “thelevel of scholarly research activity atbusiness schools appears to addconsiderable economic value to MBAstudents’ future salaries”.According to the report, the differ-ence can be as much as 21 per cent.Given that the average salary ofMBAs from the top schools threeyears after graduation is about$115,000 (about £71,000), the authorsestimate that the premium on qualityresearch could be as much as $24,000a year.“This result strongly suggests thatresearch-intensive schools generallydo a superior job in helping theirstudents acquire and hone their know-ledge, skills, and abilities, which paysfinancial returns to the studentsthrough their future employment,”say the authors. “One might concludethat the actual state of the relevanceof business school research is notnearly as dire as some havesuggested.”Some schools take a harder line.

“The distinction between academicand applied research is a false one,”says Santiago Iñiguez, the Dean of IEBusiness School in Madrid. “Thereare only two types of research —good research that is applicable toreality; and bad research, which hasno value to business. The best busi-ness schools produce the former andtheir faculty transfer this to studentsthrough the learning process.”The idea that dry academicresearch can add to the market value

of an MBA qualification will come asa surprise to many people. But per-haps the link between research andsalaries is not as tenuous as it seems.Business school reputations areaffected by their standing in the rank-ings, which typically include a meas-ure of research quality — based onarticles published in top academicjournals. Schools that perform well inthis area do better in the rankings,helping them attract better studentsand recruiters — and higher salaries.There are other financial advant-ages to superior scholarship. Schoolssuch as LBS, Saïd (Oxford) and Judge(Cambridge) enjoy a reputationamong the world’s academic elite.UK business schools that do well inthe Research Assessment Exercise(RAE) — an assessment carried outevery five years or so for the UKhigher education funding councils —are also more likely to attract govern-ment funding. This has a positiveeffect on a school’s reputation andresources.Manchester Business School(MBS) was highly rated in the mostrecent RAE, carried out in 2008.Professor Michael Luger, the dean,says: “MBS has always been knownfor the calibre of its original thinkingand the RAE results confirm that weare pacesetters for internationalresearch.”But research is not always a goodthing. As the four researchers note, atsome point the law of diminishingreturns kicks in and the relationshipbetween additional research andMBA salaries becomes negative: “If aschool places an excessive focus onresearch, faculty will invest relativelyless effort in teaching and studentoutcomes will suffer.”Business school deans beware.

Online meetings willcomplement biggerface to face events

Schools that performwell in this area dobetter in the rankings

Graduates cashin on research’sadded value

All the fun of the fair,whether real or virtual

MBA fairs are a magic roundaboutof useful and popular meetings

GRANT FAINT/GETTY

MBA MBA

Good research can turn to gold