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.
Where do disruptive ideas come from?
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.
This broad and multi-disciplinary skillset is facilitated through The University of Western Australia (UWA) MBA programme – developing the ability to critically consider and assess a wide and unstructured range of factors, and then proposing solutions which work in the real world.
A great idea needs great execution
An idea is one thing, execution is another. Empirical studies suggest that very few start-ups eventually become successful, viable businesses. While some proportion of these failures is attributable to a poorly conceived idea in the first place, a significant proportion are also due to poor execution. In other words, an inability to turn a great idea into a great business.
The development of execution capability is also instilled through the UWA Business School’s MBA programme – the ability to plan, organise and implement a wide range of projects, tasks and resources into practical, coherent and effective business outcomes.
Summing up
A personal highlight of UWA’s MBA program has been the Leading Global Collaborations unit, which connects MBA’s across the world using collaborative technologies. This experience exposed me to the challenges and rewards of working in international teams and reinforced the belief that businesses operate in a global marketplace – an important lesson for start-ups. Units such as Small Business Management and Management of Technology & Innovation offered in the UWA MBA program also deliver vital knowledge in this space.
The skills and knowledge gained from an MBA provide the platform to engage and flourish in the ideas boom. Far from being irrelevant; there has never been a time when an MBA has been more valuable.
