MBA Degree Branded as Baloney by Economist; Search Thrives
December 18, 2009
Lucy Kellaway must be a salty dog. In her write up “The End of the Affair”, which I think appeared on the Economist Web site here, she is fond of the word bullshit. There was a little sniff of offal because the story seems to have originated in The World in 2010. Forget provenance. The point of the write up is, in my opinion:
There has been a bear market in management bullshit since the credit crunch began, but so far this has been on the demand side—managers have been too intent on staying in work to talk much jargon. In 2010 the decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit at source. Pretentious ideas about business will be in retreat.
The benefit is that the MBA talent will invent stuff.
I worked at a firm that was stuffed full of MBAs. In my opinion, the MBA ecosystem is alive and well here and now. One of my colleagues has a PhD and an MBA. A one-two punch, right?
Why do I think the article by Lucy Kellaway is off base? Click to Fortune Magazine’s “Morgan Stanley drinks the Apple Kool-Aid.” Baloney. To top it off, Fortune Magazine is quite happy to amp a Morgan Stanley report about the mobile market. If Ms Kellaway were correct, wouldn’t the Fortune editors spike the Morgan Stanley mobile report.
My recollection is that there are still lots of people getting MBAs—night school, online, regular classroom instruction, Saturday only programs, among others. Furthermore, it has been my experience that the top dog MBAs still get jobs. The pool of MBAs keeps growing. Like lawyers, lesser lights MBA students find themselves having to scramble for work. My hunch is that as college students flee hard programs like math and physics, the cupcake programs will swell. Where else will some unemployed art history majors go to fill up their days?
Granted the US economy is lousy, but is there a slow down in the blue chip baloney business. In fact, the amount of digital baloney generated in a down economy may be higher than in a great economy. Example: business oriented Web logs. I was at a social media conference earlier this week. Guess what? Two days of non stop baloney.
Will there be more students in grad school studying theoretical physics than business? Not in my life time. US business thrives on MBAs, lawyers, and accountants. MBA baloney is a fixture of modern life. Examples: the Economist and Fortune. Why is search hot? MBAs are looking for more fodder, an essential ingredient in baloney.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 18, 2009
Oyez, oyez, I wish to disclose to the director of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars that I was not paid to point out that baloney is easy to make. It may be America’s most significant product.
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One Response to “MBA Degree Branded as Baloney by Economist; Search Thrives”
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While I dislike the wet-behind-the-ears MBA as much as the next guy, or — even scarier that person 20 years later who’s in a position of power without real operational experience to back it — I must nevertheless say that while business is not science, it is nevertheless a field worth studying.
As you well know, in technology industries, technology is only half the battle. Building a business is the other critical half. And a few MBAs, with technical backgrounds and real-world experience, are very helpful in that regard. I think I’m one.
– Dave