Thursday, June 16, 2011

Harvard B-School Admits More MBA Students with Manufacturing Backgrounds: From 9% to 14%


From the WSJ article "Harvard Business School Changes Its Class Profile":


"Harvard Business School's incoming class will have a substantially smaller percentage of finance professionals than in previous years. Instead, a higher number of students will have manufacturing and technology backgrounds.

Students with manufacturing backgrounds make up 14% of the class of 2013, up from 9% the previous year (see chart above). Technology rose three percentage points to 9%." 


MP: Maybe Harvard is preparing more MBAs in anticipation of America's coming "manufacturing renaissance"?

6 Comments:

At 6/16/2011 11:48 AM, Blogger Jose said...

An alternative interpretation is that a higher proportion of people in manufacturing realize that their jobs are at risk of being outsourced and go into Halberd BS to prepare for a career in consulting, finance, or marketing.

JCS

 
At 6/16/2011 12:50 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

i agree with jose.

it's like a lot of people in manufacturing realizing that they need other options.

it's also a bit of a statistical blip.

let's see if it persists for a few years before we get too excited.

 
At 6/16/2011 1:41 PM, Blogger Robotech said...

Actually, a lot of us technical professionals are tired of the "bean counters" controlling our lives and making stupid stupid business decisions, when we know we're often more capable than they are of running the businesses.

Broken businesses are just one more thing for us to "fix", but to be taken seriously, many others seem to assume you need the piece of paper that says "MBA". So, we play the game...

 
At 6/16/2011 1:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't think you can write the United States off for making things (manufacturing). We are always going to do that, and we will do it quite well. We might let other people make our junk, but we will keep the good stuff.

 
At 6/16/2011 2:14 PM, Blogger morganovich said...

robo-

i agree with you.
we have hired 2 MBA's over the years (harvard, stanford)

we fired both within 6 months.

it's not that useful a skill set compared to already knowing what you are doing. it's just a way to transition to new careers or jump up a corporate rung. the reason they are so popular with investment bankers and consultants is that you need one to go from junior analyst to analyst.

it's a check box credential.

 
At 6/18/2011 8:22 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

MP: Maybe Harvard is preparing more MBAs in anticipation of America's coming "manufacturing renaissance"?

Is this an attempt at irony or are you sincere? Since when have MBAs been a major positive for the American economy? Were the great companies that made life so good created by MBAs? Did MBAs do anything profound to make those companies much more effective that would not have been done by anyone with common sense?

I would argue that if the US wants to be more productive it needs to end all MBA and law programs in the US university system.

 

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