You be the judge

Each January presents the opportunity to participate as a judge in the annual Concordia MBA International Case Competition. Thirty-two university teams of enthusiastic and ambitious young MBAs analysing, strategizing and recommending solutions to the corporate challenges that they are presented.

It does raise the question in my mind of encouraging the arrogance of MBAs to think they can solve corporate issues in a quick study without any relevant experience. Imagine - if they can solve these cases in two hours, what could they do in a couple of years as CEO! Brings me back to Henry Mintzberg and the admonition to focus on creating better managers not MBAs.

Relevant prior experience is the first requirement before embarking on the study of management. The case study is a gross oversimplification of business dynamics and trivializes the need for industry and functional knowledge and experience in addition to leadership and management skills. Perhaps it adds some realism to textbook theory and allows a more complete strategic view of the corporation, its stakeholders and its environment, but in the absence of relevant experience it will be a limited academic exercise.

You be the judge.

Immune to the recession

At the recent Concordia MBA International Case Competition we had a presentation from Jet Aviation on their dilemma of whether or not to scale up their facilities to accommodate the interior design and build for a private Airbus A380 just purchased by Prince Al-Waheed of Saudi Arabia. He already has a private Boeing 747 and has decided to add another $300 million palace in the sky.


An interesting observation by executives during the presentation was that the "low end" private jet market was being affected by the financial downturn, but that the super rich were pretty much immune so far. The explanation was that aside from their continuing ability to afford these luxuries, their planning horizons at this level were also longer than the normal short-term period of an economic recession. Interesting.

Suggests we might all take a closer look at which customers or products are more or less vulnerable to these challenging times. Your Cadillacs and SUVs are in trouble, but maybe not the Bentleys and Ferraris?

Unfortunately the super rich market may be immune but it is not very large. The forecast market for private A380's is only about 8 - 10 over the next 15 years, with three potential competitors. And the other bad news is that the buyers tend to be tough negotiators, slow to pay and quick to sue!

High risk and huge investment. Not much attraction there for most of us.