Gautam Ghosh points to and comments on an article related to made-to-order business school curriculums. Gautam comments:
I’m not so sure whether such a trend is good or not. Sure, it gives a focus and builds knowledge about a particular industry, but as we HR specialists are finding out, the growth then becomes limited to the function/industry.
In my mind, one key benefit recruiting people badged with an MBA is that I have a good idea about what core base of knowledge that they possess. While perhaps not as rigid as engineering training, say, when someone has an MBA I can be pretty certain that they have more than just a basic working knowledge about things like competitive analysis methods, marketing strategy frameworks, discounted cash flow analysis, and financial or managerial accounting. These are transportable skills, and the foundation also helps one to be creative and adapt to unusual circumstances. One learns about core methods without being tied to what the current industry looks like. This can be important, especially since industries change over time and are influenced by other industries. In any case, if course curriculums are made-to-order, this may help to relieve supply shortage pressures in the near-term for companies, but depending on how the program is designed, training may have its limitations to the function/industry as Gautam mentions.
On a different note, the article does claim that business school curriculums are becoming outdated. While my MBA is pre-turn-of-the-centuryish vintage, I have not seen things that suggest the curriculum should be radically rehauled. Although I haven’t follwed the space rigorously, some areas that are more recent adds to business school curriculums are likely in the international business, ethics, innovation, and technology areas. What else have a missed? What else should be added? Or perhaps the article is just claiming that curricula is outdated in the sense that we are missing made-to-order b-school curricula that can serve long-tail needs (or at least vertical-specific needs)?
Edit (2/23/07): Social entreprenurship (tip to Wakechick) classes may also be more recent adds to b-school programs.