There’s currently extensive media coverage of an “ideas boom” now underway in Australia. This “boom” is being strongly supported by the Federal government, who have recently introduced a range of measures to promote and foster the boom in the form of special tax incentives and direct government funding. Increasingly venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are looking for the next winning idea.

What is the relevance of an MBA to this ideas boom? Naive thinking has it that an MBA is incompatible with the new environment of innovation and disruption, however nothing could be further from reality.

While it’s a popular myth, disruptive, innovative ideas don’t spring from nothing. Rather, developing and articulating a new idea or concept requires a careful and structured consideration of a wide range of factors – the size and dimensions of the marketplace, the “problems” being faced by consumers, the competitor environment, and proposing a solution that addresses these competing considerations, that is viable and executable. The skills required to perform this kind of analysis are broad based and an ability to work effectively across business disciplines is required.

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