An MBA - More 'Bout Attitude - than anything else

I took part recently in the MBA Advisory Group of my previous university where we discussed with alumni and staff on how to reposition the MBA to new students and potential employers.  There I again realised a belief I always hold in relation to MBA is that this degree is more of an attitude than a piece of paper. 

I think there are three variables working in a triangular relation that make a good MBA holder stand out from an extra ordinary one. They are - institution/environment, your own talent and external perceptions. 

If for example you naturally have some business acumen, entrepreneurial, with superior presentation, analytical and people handling skills and you happen to get a degree from IBA or NSU, chances are high that employers may have a better perception towards your capabilities or potentials. So all your three variables in the MBA triangle are strong and in your favour. If however you turn out to be basically an airhead with a lot of intellectual glamour but little or no flesh underneath, your institute's perception in the eyes of external parties like employers, your parents, friends, girlfriend can still save the day. Infact a strong institution has the power to teach a donkey how to run faster than other donkeys. However it can't still turn donkeys to horses as pure donkeys will not be able to figure out which race is for horses and which ones are for them. Worst is when you are planning to do an MBA and if you lack the talent or attitude and at the same time don't have the degree from a prestigious institute. I believe that if you have the right attitude between your eyes then you can always compensate not studying in IBA with a degree from 'left-right university' (one of any directional universities in Bangladesh will do). However even an MBA from Top B-school cant guarantee your long lasting success if you lack the basic attitude of an MBA. 

An MBA is not a prerequisite to succeed as an entrepreneur or a business leader. An attitude to succeed, innovate, initiate definitely are. Cultivate these first, a degree can follow later. There are too many examples in Bangladesh and abroad where businesses have been established and succeeded by people who didn't have any formal business education but had some basic attitude naturally or gained over time - all of which are attempted to be taught in a typical MBA course. So having the right attitude is important, then turn that into action.

What's in a name?

Its still fine if we Bangladeshis keep on fighting with each other and keep on throwing salt at each other’s wounds for silly issues, but just imagine how you feel when a foreigner takes the opportunity to point out something really silly but which leaves you a bit unprepared and sans réponse too.

In our Chinese class being held at North South University, we learnt that we are xuesheng (students) of Chinese Language at the Nan-Bei Daxue (North South University). She also recalled that she came across another university in Mohakhali called dong-xi daxue (East West University). By the way, we were learning how to say directions in Chinese language. Our laoshi (Teacher) asked naively why the universities were names as such and which other ‘direction-led’ universities were in town. The answers came as Northern, South-east, Eastern etc. We realize that ‘direction-name-slots’ still up for grabs include north-east, south-west, up-down, left-right university etc. Also, ‘ishan-kone’ is one of my personal favorites as the ‘direction-led’ naming of any new born private university. In the same tune, my teacher, who had the eyes of a tourist and paid greater attention to detail in and around the streets of Dhaka pointed out the geographic variety while naming universities. She claimed that many big universities are in place as they have big names of continents and countries such as World University, American University, Asian University and the recent discovery of British American University (not tobacco) Dhanmondi, Dhaka! So no wonder our naming gurus of those private universities cum companies are visionary people who have set their ambitions high and across boundaries, surely they can see the sky much closer from their 10 storey building, which also happens to be their only campus most of the times.

So much so for the Chinese teacher, who cares what she thinks. But I think when I will set up my university I will again write a post asking for your help to propose some innovative names based on directions, geographic locations etc. Your children might get enrolled in Upre-Nichey University, Daaney-Baamey University of which I will be the VC. Education is a hot-cake business in Bangladesh isn’t it? Lets bake it nasty!

NSU; A Pioneer in Business Education

North South University (NSU) is the first private university in Bangladesh. Arguably, in recent years, it has established itself as a well reputable university and as a major supplier of fresh graduate in the job market. BBA is the most attractive subject in NSU as more than 65% of the total students get admitted themselves in the BBA department. However, the burning question is that whether this leading private university offers quality education to the students of BBA.

In university level, it is the duty of the students to enhance their knowledge and develop their skill for struggle of the life. It is the most important phase of the student life. ‘Think globally, act locally’ is the skill what business education tries to disseminate among students.

Hence, faculties of respective institutions have the responsibility to guide and monitor the students to conceptualize the specific course material and assess and evaluate them based on their performance. They have to be the best in the business. All faculty members of NSU have higher degrees from good foreign universities, with over 90% from the US and Canadian Universities. In my opinion, faculties of NSU deliver their level best. A few exceptions do exist. But overall, we the students of NSU are satisfied about the performance of our faculties. Especially, we have some exceptionally brilliant faculties from whom we can not only learn the course related materials but also we can find an appropriate path for our future. They are the visionary instructors and we are proud of them.

In terms of tuition fee, NSU is okay. Many people may disagree with that as many of them already have astonished at the high tuition fee that NSU charges. Brac University and IUB also charge the same tuition fee (4000/- per credit) as NSU do. However, heavy campus development fee and lab and club activity fee are burdensome for us. It would be lot better if we would not pay the development fee and then the overall fee would be reasonable.

What is the uniqueness of NSU? Why most of the students who have intended to study BBA prefer NSU over other university? Yes, the quality of faculties, efficiency of administration and standard of students make NSU a brand name in the corporate world. I have to admit that some infrastructural problems do hamper our studies but things will change a lot when NSU will shift to its permanent campus in Bashundhara.

This article is from an NSUer seeking anonymity.

Where labours are created

What’s the use of your MBA if you are sitting in the customer care unit of a Telco, pacing up and down the whole day providing your company’s valued-loyal-trustworthy-devoted customers with priceless information about how to activate GPRS service or may be answering how to send an MMS? Again, all those efforts of yours in FBS, DU – where are you using them now? Did you actually take any course relating to customer care service in your BBA? I bet, you didn’t take one even in your MBA. So, why do you sit as a customer care executive and say, “I am really proud to be a member of a winning team!” I find no words afterwards.

I went to a leading Telco’s customer care office, where I found that guy who seems very happy working in an MNC. I can’t think, what’s the use of my BBA from here? Am I heading forward to be in those chairs I have never wanted? I can’t see where the tunnel, I am passing through, ends; I don’t even have any knowledge what’s waiting for me at the end of it? I am in a total despair. If I tell how much blood I shed to get admitted here you won’t possibly believe. But am I striving to be someone like him? Why am I thinking so much? Why my friend from IBA smirk whenever he sees me and say, “. . . too close, still so far . . .” [I apprehend, he is may be saying, your building is too close to us, but your career is still so far from ours.]

However, I have also encountered people from our faculty with some dynamic designations. But one thing is very common in them. They either have a 3.80/4.00 CGPA in BBA/MBA or they had some unusual ways to ticket through the HR depts. of the companies. I admit, I have none of these two. I find it almost evident that I won’t be bossing around in future. I don’t really understand those debits and credits, so my profit & loss account after the exams get serious health hazards!

Being obsessed, I talked to some friends from private universities to find if they are getting benefited or not. But before I move on let me state that, when I took the admission test at the NSU, I passed getting the opportunity to select any subject I’d prefer to study. At the time I went to start my course, I was advised to do some preliminary courses before starting my regular studies just to brush up recently lost memories of English and maths at a cost of around Tk. 36K! With due respect I told my advisor that, ”Sir, since I’ve passed the admission test, and I passed it well, I’d better like to start my regular studies. Besides, I’m really good, very very good at English and maths, so I would like to take an exemption from them.” But I was not exempted. By chance I managed to escape the loss of my valuable money getting admitted at the FBS, DU.

As I was saying. My friends, in NSU, are very much satisfied with the environment they stay in. World class faculties, state-of-the-art features, alluring study mates, tones of exams, and so on. But when applying for a job, “either find a jack-ass or get lost, baby”, says some of the NSUers. Those who are in BracUni are doing well either with similar problems when placements are being made. Some of the AIUB-dudes told me of very unfamiliar circumstances they’ve confronted. One of my mates studying business at Stamford, not the Stanford of the US, told me of unsatisfactory business education system. You won’t believe, just a few days ago I’ve met a guy passed MBA from the AsianUni, and working at a MNC, was trying to get admitted into a Diploma course (!) at an Australian University. Pathetic, isn’t it?

I wish I were the Boss

If I were the boss controlling the educational system in Bangladesh, I would bring all reputed business personnel, business educators, employers in a table to develop a unique business course that’d certainly mean business. May be then, an IBA would not grin at a Bishwa Bishwa-Biddalaya of BD [World-Uni-of-BD, I meant] anymore. What do you say? Hmm?

Disclaimer:
Please note that all names appearing in this article are completely imaginary. If, by any means, a name match up with a real one, that’d be a co-incident only. This article is only for general use. Please do not make any decision based on this work. The author is not liable for any loss occurred by making decisions based on this work.

What is the secret of my energy?

What is the secret of my energy? Horlicks. What is the secret of Veronica? Ahh…sorry for derailing the conversation…I wanted to ask what is the secret of IBA’s success…as the premiere business education provider of Bangladesh? I, neither studied in IBA, nor am a teacher there, nor have ever employed IBAites…but yes, I have surely worked with them and many of my friends and relations are infact IBAites. Whenever I have tried to investigate the secret of their successful job placements and career progression by posing questions like ‘As a graduate of IBA, how and why do you think that you are better?’….answers mostly were confined in ‘We are better because we are better’, ‘We are not better, we are the best’, ‘We are better because the rest are idiots’ etc. So my probe didn’t see much headway with the Direct Interview method. Arranging FGDs was never possible as most of the IBA grads are busy with jobs or switching to better jobs, they don’t want to be bothered by external curious airheads….me that is. So being unable to get into the ‘sacred cult of IBAites’, I stood at a distance and tried to derive clues from here and there. May be you can help me put the missing puzzles in.

I think the teachers and management of the Institute tried to apply the business theories to the Institute itself first even before they started preaching it to the students. Infact it will not be wrong probably to argue that perhaps it was only one or two dynamic visionary teachers who saw merit in positioning the Institute as the best in the country from early on. They advocated on behalf of their students to the multinationals of Bangladesh. They nurtured the brand of IBA in such a way that other private players like NSU, IUB were caught napping. I am not sure whether there was or is any expectation of personal gain in terms of cash, kind, status, fame, affiliation or anything else, but the effort surely paid off. I don’t know how the business schools in private universities conceive the branding of their education. Perhaps they have left the job of job-hunting for their students only, while they are busy with their ‘own career prospects’. No wonder IBA teachers must be doing that as well, but the foundation laid down by them has certainly given rise to a snowball effect, by virtue of which, the next generation IBA students and their destiny in the job market is automatically taken care. Now the question will remain, how long will IBA will be able to maintain this monopoly as far as the quality of business education and business graduates is concerned.

National Career Fair 2007.....joto gorjey toto borshe na!

I have been seeing this poster advertising the National Career Fair 2007 of Grameenphone.The poster has some young professionals smiling which gave the sign of bright future for the job seekers and people who are ambitious to have a bright career.I consider myself in the latter category and therefore,landed up there at BCFC on Friday 20th July. One local radio station said there were 70 companies from all over the country as well as overseas companies.Another leading English newspaper published that about 100 companies took part in it.I am a prothokhkhodorshi of this Fair and i saw nothing but about 20 companies(maximum) and most of the big-shots didn't even bother to be there.Infact Grammenphone who took the responsibility to promote it didn't even put up their Company name or Logo any where in the stall but later it was noticed that they wrote the name of the company in hand in a piece of paper and put it infront of the stall.Do we expect this from the company who was promoting the event and that too Grameenphone?

Coming to the organizer of this super flop-show event....which is the leading Private Business School in the country who promoted it as more of a Job Fair rather than a Career Fair.If they would have shown a little bit prudency, their own existing as well as ex-students would have been benefitted.

Some of the companies were there about whom people don't even know.I would not like to give all the blame to the organizer and promoting partner but also to the visitor.You would be surprised to know that i saw one gentleman standing infront of Nestle stall and asking one employee of Nestle that'what business you do Sir?'

So,the so called Career Fair had everything....all rotten ingredients to spoil the cooking!

Go East....As China Comes To Town

FE Report

One-to-one business meetings between the local business entrepreneurs and visiting 50-member Chinese economic and trade delegation will be held today (Sunday) in the city's Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. Assistant Minister of Chinese Ministry of Commerce Wang Chao, Chinese Ambassador in Bangladesh Zheng Qingdian, Ministry of Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed and DCCI President Hossain Khaled will also remain present on the occasion.Bangladesh-China business dialogue will be followed by purchase contacts signing ceremony between 11 Chinese importers and 11 Bangladeshi exporters for export of raw jute, leather, sea-food, herbal and pharmaceuticals medicines, textile, ready-made garments, chemicals etc from Bangladesh to China. Chinese conglomerates -- Sinochem Corporation, Chinatex Group, China National Light Industrial Products Import and Export Corporation, China Grains and Oils Group Corp, China Mecho Corporation, China Textile Resources Corporation (CTRC), China National Native Produce and By-Product I/E Corporation, COFCO Grains and Oils Imp and Exp Co, China National Service Corporation for Chinese Personal Working Abroad, China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation Limited, and China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) -- with interest in items like jute, leather, sea-food, herbal and pharmaceuticals medicines, textile, ready-made garments, chemicals, fuel oil and petroleum, gas, fertiliser, hotel, real estate, rubber etc will remain present in the one-to-one business meetings.

A friend of mine enrolled in Chinese language course in Confucius Institute at North South University was describing how her Chinese teacher was lamenting of the 'Bangla Peoples' lack of enthusiasm about learning Chinese. According to her, 20 years from now, the land of the 2 billion red dragons will be the center of world's trade and commerce. So it is high time that 'Bangla People' learn Chinese and make the most of their business opportunities. Some of the Bangladeshi students did argue that our base of basic English is very poor in the first place, let alone learning such a difficult langauge such as Chinese. However, some students also mentioned there are a few, who are learning French, mostly because French has got a different sort of appeal associated with it, its 'cool' if you are learning French....but learning Chinese? You must be a nutter! So the frustrated Chinese professor was advised by a few sympathised enthusiastic Bangladeshi students to better promote the Confucius Institute. One idea was if the Chinese embassy makes available the list of Chinese companies in Bangladesh, the Institute could forward its students to those companies for jobs, as those students will be well equipped with Bangla, English and ofcourse Chinese. Say big names like ZTE and Huawei are only a few to mention, there are many others. The professor also mentioned that 'so many Bangla People have business relations with China....I wonder why they don't want to learn the language, even if they get enrolled, they don't continue, I understand that everyone is busy, but you have to make time for achieving something worthwhile in the end'.

So as China comes to town, I think we need a rethinking of our USPs, the language itself is a good starting point, that is the proposition.

Student brains ad money

The 3rd Dhaka Advertising Festival will begin at Sonargaon Hotel on September 7 aiming at cementing the ties between the participants and visitors. A competition on the print, outdoor and other creative advertisings by the young and ambitious people will be held during the two-day festival, the Advertising Club Dhaka, the festival organiser, disclosed this at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday. The festival organising committee said the festival would provide opportunities for advertising and marketing people to work together for the industry, where outstanding advertising ideas would be encouraged and rewarded. The festival will feature exhibition on outstanding print and outdoor advertisements, television commercial screening, cultural programme and discussion on advertising theory and practice by local and international scholars. The theme of the festival is ‘Advertising-Redefined’, the organisers said adding that everyday the concept of marketing communication was changing with the changes of consumer needs. Organizers said without catering to the consumers’ demand and bringing required changes in the products and ideas one cannot sustain in the present-day competition. They also said the advertising industry in Bangladesh was growing in confidence and international competitive standard and they believe that festival will be an ideal forum for advert firms and visitors.


No wonder our ad firms have matured over time in terms of conceptualization, use of technology and creativity. Asiatic MCL, Adcomm, Mattra, Bitopi, Windmill, Unitrend etc. have timed their 'coming of age' with the growth of various sectors in the country. Nevertheless, the word is in the air that the mushrooming of ad agencies is facilitating the exploitation of creative students. Many ad agencies are using these students to work for them so they 'gain experience', the companies are selling those creative designs, concepts to high prices to corporates and worst of all, many such student workers are complaining of not getting paid and being harassed by the management! Many such vibrant brains from IBA, NSU, IUB, Charukala Institute, etc. are alleged to have been exploited by a few ad agencies in this way. Lets hope the ad agencies will continue maturing and coming up with world class advertisements for their clients, but at the same time, lets give due credit to those young student brains who are helping you get that big ad deal.

The growing importance of introducing CSR education in Bangladesh

Very good read from FE

CORPORATE social responsibility (CSR) is still in its early stages in Bangladesh. Whilst only a few (mostly multinational enterprises) practise CSR, the larger corporate houses and SMEs - essentially the critical mass of the economy - remain unaware about both tangible and intangible benefits of CSR. Businesses in Bangladesh are yet to realize how these practices could give them the competitive edge - both in the domestic and international markets - and make them more efficient in the long run by improving their reputation and image in the eyes of all stakeholders.Most businesses in Bangladesh, large, medium or small, currently perceive CSR as charity or philanthropy, or an investment that shows no return at least in the foreseeable future.

The social or community activities that companies undertake are driven by philanthropy and often involve "writing cheques" or "donating land" to help the local community to build mosques, schools or hospitals to address social needs. These charitable ventures, mistaken as CSR, are generally not linked with the core business processes, and play no strategic role in the businesses that undertake them.This misperception can be minimised, among other ways, by integrating courses in CSR in the business schools in Bangladesh. Although corporate social responsibility is currently one of the most frequently used buzzwords in the corporate world and among business students, the lack of a proper CSR module or course in the curricula of business schools in Bangladesh contributes towards this misperceptions about CSR.

This article attempts to shed light on the potential roles that leading public and private business schools can play in making CSR a reality in Bangladesh, and eventually, create a platform for a win-win situation for all stakeholders of a company and the company itself.Leading business schools, such as, the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), North South University (NSU), East West University (EWU), BRAC University (BU), American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) have already contributed to our corporate world by producing some of the country's brilliant business graduates. In addition, the private universities have fostered a healthy competition among business institutions and students alike by providing them with the opportunity and access to alternative business institutions besides the public ones.It is essential that business school students of today, who will be leading the corporate world tomorrow are aware and knowledgeable about how CSR can ensure sustainable benefit for both business and consumers. As such, business schools can play a pivotal role in promoting CSR education in the country.

To prepare business students, who are envisioned to become the future corporate leaders, and to ensure greater CSR adoption in Bangladesh, five leading business schools in Bangladesh - NSU, IUB, EWU, AIUB and BU - have already undertaken an initiative to integrate CSR education in their curricula.These business schools will work together to advance the agenda of incorporating CSR modules in business curricula at the tertiary level through synergy and cooperation, and encourage other business schools to follow. As a proponent and champion of corporate social responsibility, the CSR Centre at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) will facilitate the promotion of CSR through business schools. This would be done either by developing new CSR courses or by redesigning existing courses to ensure a better understanding of CSR concepts and practices among the students.The responsibilities of businesses towards society and environment generally occupy an important spot in business courses, such as, business ethics, but these issues are usually not included as mainstream business subjects, such as, finance, strategic management, marketing and accounting. As these concepts seldom appear in the core business courses, which a business student is required to take to receive the degree, most business graduates remain unaware about the growing importance of CSR in the strategic intent of a business.

Most European and North American business schools have already started revisiting their curriculum to assess how best they could accommodate the issues and concepts of corporate social responsibility. They are either incorporating these in the core courses to start with or redesigning them to highlight and emphasise the importance of CSR for businesses receives due attention. Globalization and the recent wave of public and private corporate scandals resulted in an increasing demand for improved and enhanced knowledge on CSR in order to comprehend the complexities of the current global economic environment, and the challenges businesses and executives face to integrate into it while maintaining a cutting and competitive edge.In the United Kingdom (UK), University of Birmingham offers a Masters programme on Corporate Governance and Corporate social Responsibility and University of London in Corporate Governance and Ethics. The University of Nottingham offers Masters, MBA and PhD in Corporate Social Responsibility through its International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. Harvard Business School and other Ivy League schools, University of Notre Dame and the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College are among those institutions that are spearheading CSR education in the United States of America (USA).While it is up to the business schools to incorporate CSR in the core business curricula, the corporate world should also come forward and create a demand for such skills in executives. Business graduates are not only an integral part of the workforce, but also constitute other stakeholders, including those in the company's supply chain, consumers and investors.

To prepare future managers and leaders for the realities of a more complex business environment, it is essential to combine CSR knowledge with core business skills through education. This knowledge could empower and equip them with a powerful understanding of the value addition of CSR, and social, environmental and economic perspectives required for operating in an interdependent world and in a competitive and evolving global economy. Farooq Sobhan is President, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute and Sherina Tabassum is Communications Coordinator, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute

Private Games People Play in Private Universities

A classic case of principal-agent clash is going on in private universities in Bangladesh. The founders/directors of universities are tightening their grip on teachers whom they hire with high salaries. Someone mentioned that IUB requires new teachers to sign bonds as long as 3 years, so that recruited teachers can't switch to better paid offers. Management in AIUB gives more importance to its Administration than to its teachers and they are also coming up with innovative ways to keep students second, teachers last. Word is in the air that North-South University is also a hotbed for teacher-admin bureaucracy. Its common knowledge now days that private universities are there to make more money for its owners and directors at the cost of students' money. So if you are planning to teach in private universities, plan beforehand when you want to jump and surprise your controllers.