The 2012 business school rankings are in, but as Bloomberg reports, applications are down and graduate salaries are stagnant. MBA students need a leg up as they prepare to enter today’s business environment. Today, we look back at a Journal of Management Inquiry article offering an approach that educators can use in a one-semester course to help students improve their global business capabilities and learn more about the real business world:
The need to develop global business capabilities in MBAs is clear and growing, and faculty must create efficient and effective processes for developing these capabilities.The author offers for consideration an approach that utilizes theory combined with practice to begin developing global business capabilities during a one-semester course. The five global mind-sets (reflective, analytical, worldly, collaborative, and action) offered by Mintzberg provide a useful framework for categorizing the desired learning. He demonstrates that by using a variety of complementary approaches, including case analyses in multicultural teams, local and foreign business-opportunity analyses, a business-venture proposal that bridges two countries, and a focused study tour, students can make real progress in learning the five mind-sets. Pre—post questionnaires and qualitative data support the conclusion that MBAs who participate in an organized and diverse learning experience can begin to develop global business capabilities in a concentrated period of time.
Click here to read the article, “Developing Global Business Capabilities in MBA Students,” published by W. Alan Randolph of the Merrick School of Business, University of Baltimore, in the September 2011 issue of the Journal of Management Inquiry (JMI).
JMI explores ideas and builds knowledge in management theory and practice, with a focus on creative, nontraditional research, as well as key controversies in the field. If you’d like to receive updates from the journal, please follow this link.
