Build it and they may come

An interesting article from The Economist this week titled ‘Build it and they may come’.  

Several prestigious business schools are investing vast sums building new facilities. These include The Kellogg School of Management in Illinois $200m, Stanford Business School $345 million, Columbia Business School (in New York) $600m, Judge Business School in Cambridge $85m. Several prestigious business schools are investing vast sums building new facilities.

Downsides identified in the article: the demand for MBAs is ‘soft’ and distance learning technology may reduce the need/desire for participants to meet as often in one physical location.  

To MOOC or not to MOOC

‘To MOOC or not to MOOC’ by Bert De Coutere, Training Journal, January 2014

I have chosen this article to review because, as the author states early on, MOOC is the ‘new big thing’ in learning, even though its impact has so far been felt mainly in academic circles.  As I mentioned in a previous review, MOOC is an acronym that, on the face of it, seems to be the antithesis of everything that MTP stands for.  ‘Massive Open Online Courses’ does not bring to mind the essential elements of learning that our clients are looking for – targeted, tailored, carefully designed solutions.  Only the reference to ‘online’ seems to fit with modern trends.

What makes strategic decisions different?

‘What makes strategic decisions different’ by Phil Rosenweig, Harvard Business Review, November 2013

There are the second of two interesting articles on strategic decision making in this edition of Harvard Business Review.  The author of this article is a professor of strategy at the Swiss Business School IMD and he starts the article by making two complaints.  First that advances in understanding of business decisions have not resulted in improvements in practice (or, knowing the way business school professors think, that no-one has been listening to what he says!).  Second he argues that most research goes into simple quantifiable decisions without sufficient emphasis on the more challenging long term strategic judgments.

Deciding how to decide

‘Deciding how to decide’ by Hugh Courtney, Dan Lovallo and Carmina Clarke, Harvard Business Review, November 2013

This is the first of two interesting articles on strategic decision making in this edition of Harvard Business Review.  This first article has strong connections with McKinsey; Courtney worked for them before becoming a US business school professor and Lovallo advises McKinsey while also working as a professor of strategy at Sydney University.