Member-only story
MBA: DOA?
Age has not been kind to the Master of Business Administration degree
Few degrees other than Art History generate as much criticism as the time-worn MBA.
What is an MBA? At its core, the MBA is a post-graduate degree that purports to teach essential business skills such as being able to read an income statement, balance sheet, and various managerial accounts; grasp the basic principles of marketing (i.e. lie shamelessly to dupes); dip a toe into the murky waters of operations management, and to an increasing extent attempt to explain entrepreneurship.
All while being careful, as one must be these days, not to upset anyone, anywhere, at any time, with anything that could be interpreted either today or in ten years’ time as being Politically Incorrect.
It’s easy to mock the MBA: after all, what knowledge of corporate realities do academics possess? Academics are people who’ve carefully insulated themselves through tenure from the precariousness of commercial activity and whose notion of “output” is writing largely pointless papers that few will ever read. Promotion is mostly based on time served rather than competence or innovation, and often the cherished notions of academics have zero relevance to the real world.
