Entrepreneurship MBA Grows in Popularity
Entrepreneurship has become an increasingly popular concentration among MBA students who are interested in starting their own businesses as well as those who are hoping to develop innovative business ideas. According to The Independent, “in the past big employers might have been reluctant to hire MBA graduates with significant entrepreneurship coursework for fear that the new recruits would use the job to learn the ropes before leaving to start ventures of their own, today’s large firms are increasingly recognising that innovation and entrepreneurial skills are vital to enable them to compete.”
TopMBA.com explains that completing an MBA in Entrepreneurship has been a controversial decision. “For some, the degree will be a huge help in building a professional network, seeking venture capital and building a successful startup. It also affords you a rare chance to fail in a safe environment, whereas a failed venture outside of a business school environment can be devastating.”
Harvard Professor Discusses Mad Men’s Don Draper in Case Study
One of the defining features of the Harvard Business School‘s MBA program is its Case Method. According to the HBS website, “The case method is a profound educational innovation that presents the greatest challenges confronting leading companies, nonprofits and government organizations—complete with the constraints and incomplete information found in real business issues—and places the student in the role of the decision maker.” Professors present case studies to students to help them apply the skills that they are learning in the program to real world issues by analyzing the problem and presenting solutions to the issues.
Gautam Mukunda, a Harvard Business School professor recently wrote a case study that analyzes Don Draper, the protagonist from the AMC television series Mad Men. Don Draper is considered to be the most talented “ad man” in New York. However, he does present the companies that he works for with issues. The case study titled, “Don Draper: Is he worth it?” presents students with the problem that managers face with professionals who often make more problems for the company but whose talent usually out weighs the issues.
Earning the MBA Becomes More Family Friendly
Women have always faced certain biases when it comes to business. Pay gaps, maternity leave and the overall balance of work and family life have limited women to positions that are available to them. However, over the last few years the number of women in leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies and in political office has increased. According to the Pew Research Center, “Women have made inroads in this area slowly over time.”
Twenty years ago, there were no female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Now, women make up 5 percent of CEOs in the country’s Fortune 500 companies, 17 percent of the corporate board members among Fortune 500 companies and there are now 104 women who serve as members of Congress, according to the Pew Center. The number of state legislators who are women has also risen from 4.5 percent in 1971 to 24.2 percent in 2015.
The corporate and political worlds are not the only places where women are beginning to see changes. Colleges and Universities are now seeing more women enrolled in MBA programs than ever before. According to Pew, in 2013 women earned 36 percent of MBAs. Specifically, the Sloan School of Management at MIT welcomed the largest class of women in the school’s history in 2014. The incoming class of MBA students at Sloan in the Fall of 2014 was 40 percent female, up from 33 percent from the last year.
Harvard Partners With Amherst College for HBX CORe
Harvard Business School‘s online digital education initiative, HBX announced that it has partnered with Amherst College to provide additional benefits for Amherst students participating in the Credential of Readiness (CORe) program. CORe is an 11-week online program for students to learn the fundamentals of business on a platform that was designed by Harvard Business School faculty.
HBX CORe was first offered in summer 2014. The next program is scheduled to begin on June 3. The agreement with Amherst College will work to increase access to HBX CORe for its students. HBX will reserve seats in upcoming cohorts for Amherst undergraduates. Amherst College will verify their financial need information to enable HBX to award additional financial aid to those with need. The additional financial aid will make HBX CORe more accessible for Amherst students.
Gabelli Students Improve Business Skills Through Improv Workshop
A group of Full-Time Cohort MBA students at the Gabelli School of Business visited the Upright Citizens Brigade to take part in a corporate improv workshop. The half-day workshop gave students an open environment to practice improvisation fundamentals that can also double as professional skills. The comedy theater instructors directed a customized curriculum of improv-based exercises focused on agility, interviewing and advanced presentation skills.
The students spent time learning how to adapt quickly in situations, working with partners and on smaller teams in improvised situations. The skills learned through acting in improv will help students in interviews and with on-the-job response to situations. The workshops also provided students with the opportunity to collaborate and build off one another’s ideas by supporting their fellow classmates in a safe environment meant that more creative ideas would flow.
HBS Launches New Recruiting Program for Women
The Harvard Business School will launch a new recruiting program, called PEEK that will address the underrepresentation of women in its student body. Of the 1,859 MBA students currently enrolled in the Business School, 41 percent are female. The new recruiting program will target women’s colleges to help increase the female study body.
The program will host about 70 to 80 rising juniors, seniors and recent graduates during a weekend in June and will expose them to the Business School and familiarize them with the MBA program at Harvard. The PEEK program will diverge from a more traditional visit. Program participants will partake in assigned case studies, live on campus and meet with faculty, current students and alumni.
