Choosing the right MBA to fast-forward your career is an incredibly important decision. At MBA News we have made the process a little easier with the launch of the 2023 Australian MBA Guide.
The free Guide provides information on all the best Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programs offered in Australia in 2023. The Guide includes detailed information on 29 MBAs from 18 of Australia’s leading providers as well as a range of valuable insights and information on choosing the right program for you.
At the beginning of the 1900s, the United States was undergoing rapid industrialisation and instead of factory workers, businesses were demanding a new type of workforce that was educated in financial and management best practices.
The business community got together to lobby Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to help train this new workforce and the master of Business Administration (MBA) was created. It has now been 112 years since the first 47 students at the first MBA program graduated.
After it was first created the MBA quickly established itself as the preeminent qualification for a new breed of manager and by 1930 there were over 1,000 students in the Harvard MBA program. There are now millions of MBAs with 30,000 graduating in Australia every year alone.
Just as the business world has changed over the last century, so has the reputation and value of an MBA. What hasn’t changed is the MBA’s ability to produce leaders that reflect the changing nature and demands of business.
In the heady days of the 1980s stock market boom, when conspicuous wealth and a win-at-all-cost attitude permeated corporate life, an MBA was the ultimate door opener for every wannabe Gordon Gekko. After the stock market crash of 1987 and the recessions of the early 1990s, the business community, and society at large, started to question the value of business education and the primacy of shareholder wealth maximisation.
By the 2000s, business schools and MBAs were proliferating around the world, as emerging economies (particularly in China and India) needed a massive new managerial class to help navigate the opportunities and pitfalls of global capitalism.
In the 2010s, the goals of aspirational young executives changed drastically. Everybody wanted to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos and managerial goals were replaced with entrepreneurial ambitions. Smart young executives didn’t want to work for large global companies; they saw the opportunity to create their own global business. Once again, business schools pivoted to the needs of their customers and began offering a new type of program with entrepreneurialism at the centre.
Where to now for the world’s most popular business degree?
In a post-pandemic world where the digital revolution has slowed to more of a gentle evolution, a new type of MBA is emerging. The focus for business, and business schools, is increasingly on building leaders that can manage organisations to be responsible, sustainable and equitable.
The ability of a leader to deliver financial outcomes, is quickly becoming superseded by their ability to achieve gender, climate and social outcomes. Perhaps, for the first time in history, we will see a new breed of MBA that prioritises a better world, not just a richer one.
