I was sitting in one of the campuses waiting for the next candidate to come in (she was busy with the process of another company) and since had nothing better to do, decided to brush up my math. Started calculating how many MBAs would be joining the corporate world from the top 20 Indian B-Schools and what is the spend looking like for the corporate world.
Guess what!! The annual spend by the corporate world at a fairly pessimistic average salary for the 2010 batches of the top 20 B-Schools is going to be at least a whooping INR 4 Billion!!!
This has to be one of the most expensive month for the corporates who rely on people and especially aggressive in hiring MBAs. It actually was amazing and it took me time to digest the fact that there is a lot at stake for everyone - the recruiters, the candidates, the interviewers and the B-Schools.
I hope that the ROI is positive otherwise we would soon witness a reverse trend in hiring of MBAs and that would be very bad news for the millions of aspirants looking for a degree/diploma in Business Administration. The key question is whether the corporate world seems to be paying an atrociously high differential to MBAs (nobody seems to be asking for other streams in post graduation) and thus the analogy being questioned in the title of this post.
I would closely be following the trend in both the areas, which seem to be changing already...
PS - I completed my MBA a few years back and do not carry any grudge against my classmates/institute/professors :-)
5 comments:
Agree with you on this Suhel.
MBA’s seem to be gaining the same popularity in the corporate world as cricket in the sporting world. But somewhere I feel it’s the corporate world/recruiters who promote this. Its almost like having an MBA would give you a ticket to the Tinsel Town of a Company’s Board Room. So surprised that many of my friends who are either designers, CA’s, PHD’s, Lawyers are all going in for the o-so-hyped MBA. Guess it’s a vicious circle – the corporate world demands it and the potential candidates supply it. The economics of demand and supply has been adequately met.
Hopefully this trend would change and the same importance (read: salary) is given to candidates from the other fields as well.
Interesting observation Suhel,I totally agree with you. Every profession is important and thus if an individual wants to pursue a certain profession, he should be supported. I still remember when I choose to do B.com, everybody was aghast because of engineering craze and later when my brother choose Fashion designing as a career, same retaliation from society. Its just matter of time before we realize .
An example to supplement your thoughts. My Engg. roommate went on to complete his M. Tech from VJTI Mumbai (which is fairly a reputed Technical institute in Mumbai University) only to end up in IBM Gurgaon where his services are utilized to do technical content creation which is almost at par with the B. Tech Graduates ( or maybe a level higher). But on hindsight when i asked him, was it worth studying for 2 more years and end up doing the same job, he had no answer.
The same may be looked at in a different angle as well. Corporations spend Billions to recruits TOP MBA's every year, but the ROI they expect is short-lived as the moment these MBA's sight another great opportunity they just bail, leaving the recruiting firm nursing their wounds.
Addendum: What is the ratio of post graduates who have previous work experience to those who are fresher’s? I believe in order to appreciate the true value of a post graduate in business administration; the student in question should at least have some previous experience. This helps him to grasp the basics and allows him to relate it better to the real life situations. (as is the case in most post graduate courses in the USA and UK)
May be a change in the education pattern will help!
Agree to the fact that the number of ppl opting for MBA is phenomenally increasing, but wonder whether 'money' is the sole incentive for them to pursue this.. If not.. will reversing in the trend of corporate spending affect the aspirants!
The fact that other PG's specialize in specific domain restricts their spread as against an MBA who can fit in any industry and end of the day management skills is a requisite :), irrespective of your domain specialization.So who wouldnt want to spread their wings??
People specializing in a different arena are also paid in par with their industry standards... so guess its matter of choice - Do you want to be the Master of one niche trade or learn a trade and use this to juggle multiple trades ( i mean the various sectors that can be explored).
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