The right stuff
By : Andrew Chilvers
When Mark Davies quit as manager of an emerging markets investment fund, he decided against resting on his laurels. For years he'd fought hard to find new avenues for his shareholders' money, but now felt it was time to look after No. 1 he decided to go back to school.
At 38 years old and with a wealth of experience in some of the world's most difficult business environments, Davies had to do some soul-searching before making the decision. Brushing aside advice from colleagues about moving to another firm, or another emerging market, he opted for an executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) diploma.
After a few months into the course, he still has no regrets about his decision. Davies: "How do you usually learn? By repetition. Well, MBAs offer you education as a conduit. I'm studying finance and it's given me the basis for academic learning.
"When I was a fund manager, I didn't have that intellectual basis during arguments over financial matters, for instance. So MBAs give you an analytical tool, a broader knowledge."
Having squirreled away a substantial chunk of his salary for several years, he could also afford to look for the course that best suited him. MBA courses can be found anywhere in the world these days and anyone armed with enough dollars can choose the program they like, regardless of where it is. So Davies shopped around.
"I'm doing mine in Singapore," he said. "It's a week per month and is over 18 months. I'm also studying in Barcelona and Chicago."
But Davies admitted that a globetrotting education comes with a huge price tag. "Well, it's certainly not cheap the cost is $78,000," he said.
The academic fast lane
MBAs are big business and fairs promoting MBA programs are a regular feature of the modern academic landscape. Last week's MBA exhibition at Warsaw's Hotel Europejski highlighted the sheer diversity of courses available in Poland and around the world.
Universities from the United States, the U.K. and Australia set up stalls offering vastly different types of MBAs with costs ranging from $4,000 to $50,000 or more. The most expensive tend to be full-time exchange programs, where the student studies abroad, while some of the cheapest are distance-learning courses with a foreign college, where the student often learns over the internet.
But MBAs are above all about investing in the future, according to several delegates at the Warsaw fair. How much money the student puts in will determine the type of job he eventually gets out of it.
"The key to the MBA is where you get it and how much you invest in it," said Wojtek Stankiewicz, associate principal at McKinsey and Co., an international management consultancy in Warsaw. "You have to be selective and go to a really good school. An MBA with a good track record will make the difference," he said.
This point was echoed by his colleague Nunzio Quacquarelli. "Distance learning programs can be good if you want to work in Poland," Quacquarelli said. "But McKinsey is very selective and only takes candidates from good MBA schools. There's a huge difference between the top 30 schools and everything else."
Quacquarelli also said students have to be aware of which labor market they target before taking the MBA diploma. "With a good MBA behind you, the labor market is then the world," he said.
But with most Poles constrained by cash, many of these full-time MBA courses are far too expensive. Although Stankiewicz said companies such as ABN Amro in Warsaw have programs for financing students to go to schools such as INEAD in Paris, many courses in Poland are part-time executive programs for business managers who tend to pay for themselves or are partly sponsored by their companies. Other students also take out bank loans to finance their studies. But whatever it takes, the certificate at the end, usually stamped with the approval of a U.S. or West European university, carries a lot of kudos in Polish business circles.
With a little help from
academic friends
Warsaw University's department of management runs a joint MBA program with the University of Illinois in the United States. According to a recent lecture by visiting Professor Case Sprenkle, MBAs "help the competent manager achieve results that go far beyond those attained by his predecessors."
"Students analyze a number of case studies, solve problems, prepare a number of presentations and work on a consulting project," he said.
He added that the results speak for themselves. "Out of the total number of graduates, 70% were promoted and 58% hold top management positions," he said. "A vast majority of graduates are employed by foreign companies."
The executive MBA course at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) is also a joint program run with the University of Minnesota in the United States.
"Our program is for middle and top managers," said Agnieszka Zydlewska, head of marketing at SGH. "Many people who work in business don't have business backgrounds. These people lack solid business skills and we help them.
"We also have managers of state-run industries. Our program has a public sector component. The aim is to let students see the whole picture of different functioning areas of the company."
But for many students doing their MBAs, it's not just the learning experience they're after they also expect substantial financial rewards once they've got their diplomas. "People can double their salaries when they have an MBA," Davies said. "That's across the board." All delegates at the Warsaw fair who spoke to the Business Journal concurred. "Salaries with a good MBA in Poland are $70,000," McKinsey's Stankiewicz said.
No guarantee of success
But not everyone agrees. Dorota Dabrowska studied for an MBA at SGH. Like many students in Poland, her company part-sponsored her executive course, which cost $4,500. After completion, she then had to pay the company back.
"I learned strategic thinking, having to analyze company cash flows. We did case studies and brainstorming, which makes a difference because you wouldn't necessarily do that on your own," Dabrowska said. But she said the diploma did not guarantee her success she had to earn it later.
"I do believe if you're successful, you don't need an MBA," she said. "You can get a lot of lingo from books." I got this job in a freight-forwarding company afterward, but I'm not sure how much difference the MBA made."
Indeed, Polish companies are often ambivalent about MBA qualifications. They are prepared to send their staff on the courses only if they see a commitment to the future. All too often, an employee is awarded an MBA and then takes up a more lucrative offer elsewhere.
Aleksandra Michalik, a human resources manager at Polish oil giant Polski Koncern Naftowy (PKN) Orlen, said the company encouraged MBAs for middle to upper managers, but was only prepared to go 50/50 on expenses. Also, the employee would have to sign an agreement not to leave the company for some time after graduating.
"There has to be some accountability," Michalik said. "Our policy is if we help fund your studies, you have to sign an agreement to stay with us. It's a joint commitment."
Tomasz Ludwicki, the MBA coordinating manager at Warsaw University, said companies were right to be wary about paying out too much for a student. "In many cases companies are very reluctant to pay for MBA studies," he said. "If they do so, they usually require students to sign a special contract saying they would work for a certain time or return the money."
Artur Czynczyk, head of human resources at Elektrim, said MBAs always looked good on a resume, but wouldn't be taken as a guarantee of a reliable employee.
"We like to look at the quality of employment," he said. "We value a person's success and an MBA is no guarantee of success. If I see a lousy employment track record, plus an MBA, I'm suspicious."
Companies are also skeptical about the different MBA courses now being offered around Poland. Many personnel managers are worried that third-rate foreign universities are guilty of MBA dumping going to emerging markets to peddle substandard diplomas.
PKN Orlen's Michalik said the company previously sent its employees to Warsaw, but had recently looked closer to home to educate the managers.
"There's an MBA course that just started in Plock," Michalik said. "Our managers went to Warsaw before, but I'm very cautious about the Plock MBA. If it's O.K. I would encourage it. There's a connection with a British university, but it's not a diploma."
Both Michalik and Czynczyk said it was essential for company human resource managers to keep an eye on the rankings of MBAs in Poland. They echoed a criticism also being voiced by university lecturers that the number of MBA courses being offered around the country was spiraling out of control. According to McKinsey's Stankiewicz, there are currently 10 MBA programs available in Warsaw and 30 being offered throughout the country.
Looking at the small print
Ludwicki said it was essential to check out the background of the courses first. He said there were too many unregulated MBA programs in Poland and that the Education Ministry should take steps to standardize them.
"There is enormous confusion about MBA titles and almost anybody can claim to have such a course," Ludwicki said.
"Now, especially with British universities and former polytechnics looking for international cooperation, there are numerous courses affiliated with foreign institutions. You have to be very careful and check what it really means; if they have visiting professors, exchange students and so on.
"I am very suspicious about the quality of some MBA programs. The most obvious criteria are the name and reputation of the Polish institution and also the foreign partner," he said.
Ludwicki said the Education Ministry should play a part as a regulating body. "I think we need a body that will be recognized by universities and private high schools as well as companies that would be accrediting MBA programs," he said.
He added that colleges in the United States were ranked by institutions, but in Poland rankings were published by journals, and none could be relied on to be impartial. "Most of the rankings in Poland are based on so-called expert opinions or data given by schools," he said.
Other professors were also critical about the number of colleges trying to set up MBAs in Poland. One Polish lecturer, who wished to remain anonymous, said many third-rate colleges from the United States and Europe were in Poland to exploit the MBA system. "They have money and want to make money, so they come to Poland. It's not fair, particularly to the Polish institutions," the source said.
Teresa Bader, director of the department of higher education at the Education Ministry, admitted the ministry doesn't regulate MBAs or postgraduate studies.
"Postgraduate studies are administrated by private schools and MBAs are in relationships with other countries," Bader said. "In Poland, they control themselves, we have no plans to control them."
But regardless of the quality of many of the MBA programs, educated Poles continue to flock to courses around the country. While many students regard MBAs as a step up to a better, more lucrative life, PKN's Michalik sounded a note of caution. "We support our employees," she said. "We invest in a great deal of training. But people have big expectations, they have to be careful. Normal postgraduate studies are simply lectures and that has nothing to do with teaching adults."
