What is an MBA?

I’ve had two interesting discussions over the past few weeks, the first was with a human resources professional at a blue chip company and the second was with a managing consultant at a big four consulting firm.

On both these occasions I found myself explaining in detail, what is an MBA. I was surprised by this. However, since then I have started asking people about their understanding of this degree and the more people I ask, the more it seems that most people have heard of this degree but few people understand the components of an MBA. I’ve therefore taken the opportunity to present the components of an MBA in a clear visual format in order to give a better understanding of this degree.

Here it is. If you have any questions I’d be delighted to answer them.

What is an MBA? This is based on my MBA at the University of Southampton, UK.

The Anchoring Heuristic and the Mzungo effect.

I’ve just returned from Kenya. Hopefully, I’ve successfully defeated the flourishing Amoebas in my intestine. I thought you might like to hear about my recent experience with the anchoring heuristic whilst building a primary school for the children’s charity CBSM Kimilili, in western Kenya.

Some of the 250+ pupils at CBSM School Kimilili enjoying lunch

I find it both exciting and challenging working with cultures different to my own but often such differences can lead to mistakes being made; for instance our lack of knowledge of the environment means that we are working with incomplete information. In such situations we are likely to draw on our previous experience, which may have little bearing or relevance to the current problem. These subjective judgements are called heuristics.

Heuristics are “a method of solving problems by finding practical ways of dealing with them, learning from past experience” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary). Heuristics are often good; they help us make decisions quicker. However, by being aware of when we may be using them we can hopefully make better, more balanced decisions.One such heuristic is the “anchoring and adjustment” heuristic. Research has found that individuals tend to anchor their subsequent answers around a given starting point (Johnson, 2011).

Let’s take a look at buying cement, an expensive commodity in any country. On the school build we needed to purchase and have delivered 150 bags of 32.5N Bamburi cement for blinding the foundations. Lacking transport, we had to source the cement from hardware shops in town rather than buy from the wholesalers in Bungoma. I was sincerely advised at this point that I would be subject to the Mzungo (white man) effect and it would be impossible for me to get a fair price.

Mixing the cement and aggregate used in the blinding

Loving a challenge, I suggested that Masika, the construction manager and I work separately; we would each take a different side of the town, meet in the middle and the winner with the lowest price would win of a bottle of (cold!) Tusker beer. Well, I won the beer, having found a price of 5KSH lower than Masika!

Masika the Construction Manager, Agnes Kuhne and Dominik Klimmek at site

It was during the cement negotiations that I realised I had succumbed to the anchoring heuristic. We roughly knew the price of cement direct from the factory; add on a margin for the wholesalers and then for the retailers and we therefore assumed that the very best price (BATNA) might be KSH850.

Checking the quality of the cement before accepting the delivery

Sure enough, each hardware shop was quoting around the KSH860/870 mark, give or take KSH10. I therefore based my negotiations around this figure. That was until I came to Highway Hardware towards the end of Kimilili’s main street. Here, the owner opened the bidding with a price of KSH835 for the 100 bags! I realised my mistake that I’d been anchoring my bids at the KSH850 level. Now my negotiations would start from this lower price. In the end, I managed to knock a further KSH5 off the price and settle at KSH830 for 150 bags including delivery.

The 150 bags of cement arrive at the school

I think this experience is a good example of the anchoring heuristic; it also shows us that the colour of our skin doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t get the best price.

First price anchored at the higher level, Highway price much, much lower.

Pimp Your SWOT: 2 Steps To A Customer-Focused Strategy

On a consultancy assignment in Denmark last year my team gave the company’s directors a shock; a good shock. Our findings helped form a great strategy for the company and drive it to further success. Here’s the team.

ESSAM G14 Consulting Team (L-R: S. Yeo, P. Hatcher, W. Ellis, I. Christiansen, J. Burrows)

SWOT’s are pretty misaligned, they’re seen as a chore, most of them are done badly and most people mistakenly think they’re easy. However, they can be very usefuI; here’s an example and a top tip, which will make you look good and give you a much-improved strategy.

Completed your SWOT? Now check with your customers.

On your next strategy review, once you’ve completed your SWOT, ring a few of the firm’s customers, it’ll only take a few minutes and see if they agree with your findings. If they don’t; review and improve it.

On the Danish consultancy project, having spent many hours with our client thrashing out a SWOT, we decided to call the firm’s customers. This was a truly eye-opening moment. Astonishingly, the customers had a markedly different view of the firm’s strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats. For instance, the customers were unaware that the firm offered consultancy and project management of R&D projects, with a distinctive competency in the pure bio energy context. This was a unique competitive advantage of the company and yet their customers were unaware of it.

The 2 Steps To A Customer-Focused Strategy

Companies need a customer-focused SWOT

The customer’s responses helped us create a much improved business plan and identify new revenue streams. In addition, the customers were delighted to hear from the company and valued the interaction. Once again this goes to show that companies need to be customer centric. As the management guru Drucker wrote “[…] it is the customer who determines what a business is, what it produces, and whether it will prosper” (Drucker 1954)”. Unfortunately, far too often as Jack Welch noted  “everyone has their face toward the CEO and their ass toward the customer”.

Recommendation

It’s pretty simple really: before taking action on your SWOT, it’s a good idea to speak to your customers.

Further Reading

Denning, S., (2011) “The Alternative To Top-Down Is Outside-In” Forbes, 2/13/2011 (Online) Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/02/13/the-alternative-to-top-down-is-outside-in/ [Accessed: 18/10/2011]

Drucker, P. (1954). “The Practice of Management”. New York, NY, HarperCollins.

Ellis, W. (2011) “9 Reasons To Harness The Power Of Testimonials” williamellis.org (Online) Available: http://wp.me/p1RUDq-1k [Accessed 18/10/2011]

Try using an “Emergent Strategy” when you’re not sure which path your business should take.

Many companies, particularly when it comes to new technologies, are often unsure about which strategy to use. Experimenting on a small scale and seeing what works is called an “Emergent Strategy”.

It looks a bit like this:

Graphic adapted ex "Strategy Safari", Mintzberg et al (2009).

Emergent Strategy: A definition

Emergent Strategy is defined as: “A pattern is realized that is not expressly intended. Actions were taken, one by one, which converged over time to some sort of consistency, or pattern” (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, Lampel, [2009])

When to use an Emergent Strategy:

Emergent strategies are a good option when companies are not sure which approach to take. It’s particularly valuable when companies are entering new markets as research shows that companies in this situation tend to start with the wrong strategy (Anthony et al. [2008]).  An Emergent Strategy is about taking small tentative steps, testing the ground until you discover the right path. Social Media experimentation is a good example where companies are deploying an Emergent Strategy.

Emergent Strategy Example: Warwick Business School’s Social Media Strategy

Researching my MBA dissertation on the use and development of social media, I came across a video on Vimeo detailing Warwick Business School’s (WBS) use of social media.

Take a look.

The video, published 2 years ago, outlines how WBS’ social media strategy developed “organically” in 3 phases, moving from an emergent to a deliberate strategy as WBS found out what worked.

1. Students and alumni began to experiment with social media.
2. The school decides to adopt social media and focus on 3 sites: Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. Each with a different focus. The Twitter strategy was about getting to know the team and used as a heads-up for events. Linkedin was used as a formal portal to highlight professional interest groups and post jobs. Facebook was used informally for instance to display old photos and encourage alumni to get in touch.
3. From the success and failures of these experiments the school is now looking to implement a “top down” or “deliberate” strategy to ensure a coherent, branded approach.

3 Steps towards designing your own Emergent Strategy

If you’re unsure about which strategy to use in your company, an “Emergent Strategy” might be a prudent option. The 3 steps steps towards building an Emergent Strategy are as follows:

3 Steps to an Emergent Strategy

Further Reading:

Anthony, S., Johnson, W., Sinfield, J., Altman, E., (2008) “Mastering Emergent Strategies –Taking Uncertain Ideas Forward” Excerpt from “Innovator’s Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work”, Boston, Harvard Business Press. Available (online) http://blogs.hbr.org/innovation/flatmm/mastering-emergent-strategies.pdf [Accessed 15/10/2011]

Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B., Lampel., J. (2009) “Strategy Safari” 2^nd Edition, Harlow, Prentice Hall.

Does a picture paint a thousand words? Here’s an infographic of my cv via vizualize.me

Click on this link to see the full infographic of my CV:  vizualize.me – William Ellis, BA (Hons), PMP.

Infographic of my CV using Visualze.me

Trying to make your CV stand out from the crowd is difficult. So why not try a visual representation?

This infographic was created using the Visualize.me (http://vizualize.me) website. It’s very easy to use particularly if you have a Linkedin profile. All you have to do is link the site to your Linkedin profile (enter your username and password) and it will automatically create an infographic such as this. You can then use the sharing tools to post your infographic cv to your blog, Linkedin and Facebook profiles.

Feedback:

I’d be interested to hear your views on the whether you think that a visual representation of a CV is useful? In particular, it would be great to get feedback from those in HR or the recruitment industry. Of course, any tips for my cv are most welcome too.

What is Our Emotional Response to Change?

The Emotional Response to Change (ODR, 1989)

The Emotional Response to Change

Facebook changed its format again last week didn’t that annoy you? Let me guess, were your reactions something like this?

“It was it was great before, now it’s just a mess, it was perfect, why did they need to change it? Right, that’s it, I’m going to open a Google+ account! This is all such a huge hassle. If I keep my Facebook account I’m going to have to work out how to use these new so-called features.”

If this is similar to what you thought last week when you saw your “new improved” Facebook account then I sympathize. I felt the same. So too, did a lot of my friends; there were lots of witty posts about how annoying it was. Then, last evening I logged on and I actually found that the new news feed on the right hand side was pretty good and I thought, hey maybe this isn’t so bad. I might just learn to like it.

The above graphic shows our negative response to change. Next time you’re in the workplace and you’re trying to bring about change, you might like to consider this chart, perhaps even show it to your colleagues. I think it’s a pretty accurate representation of our emotional response to change and it made me laugh the first time I saw it.

Are You an Adopter or a Laggard? Roger’s Technology Life Cycle: Embracing the Future.

Roger’s technology life-cycle

Roger’s technology life-cycle showing move from my current position (x) of “late majority” to “early adopter” (graphic: BlueSkunkBlog, 2011).

Technology, love it or hate it; it certainly makes life easier.

Hydra, Greece.

I was recently on holiday on the small island of Hydra in Greece. Although the house in which I was staying did have running water and electricity, the drinking water had to be drawn each morning from the well outside. This involved letting the bucket down on a long, long rope into the depths of the well and then hauling up the full bucket before siphoning the water into containers. It took a long time and it was hot, hard work. What amazed me was how many of the locals were doing the same. Even more surprising was the fact that nobody had installed a pulley to help draw the water. The application of a little technology would have made the whole exercise so much easier.

My MBA studies have caused me to reflect on my views on technology. They made me realise that I was starting to fall into the criteria of the “late majority”. Throughout the course and in particular in my last module “the Application of Management Skills” I saw how once great industries had failed to keep up with technology. To remain relevant and innovative we must constantly scan the horizon for new technologies that may change or influence our industry. The example of Brooklands (the original formula 1 UK race track) which quickly became obsolete due to lack of improvements shows just how quickly a business or an industry can become obsolete.

The same goes for us all. The diagram above shows my intended progress from technophobe (ish) to technophile. Starting this blog has been another small step in the right direction.

Welcome

The author

Welcome

Firstly, welcome to my blog, it’s great to have you here.

I’m always looking to make new contacts and share ideas so please feel free to get in touch or share your thoughts.

About me

I’m an Executive MBA student from the University of Southampton in the UK and I’m currently writing my dissertation on social media marketing.

Why a dissertation on Social Media?

Before starting the MBA I wasn’t exactly a keen on social media, I didn’t even have a Facebook account, let alone Linkedin. I suppose a lot of that may have been due to the fact that I was living in Guernsey, the Channel Islands where everyone knew everyone, you hardly needed to tell more people what you were doing.

Of course, now I realise that social media is about so much more than letting people know what you are doing. It’s about connecting people with diverse passions, learning about different perspectives and sharing ideas. This is pretty exciting. Whereas before the days of Web 2.0 we might tell a couple of friends what we are interested in, now at the touch of a button we can theoretically reach millions, if not billions of people.

This is having a huge impact on companies across the world. Not only is social media changing the way we communicate with each other, it’s also changing the way companies communicate with us. No longer are we happy to just accept what companies tell us or be spammed by their marketing material. In fact, we trust the information companies give us less than the reviews of total strangers. Strange but true.

My dissertation research is focusing on the development and use of social media marketing and its use in academic and learning environments. I’ll be surveying the websites of Europe’s top 40 business schools and looking at their use of social media. I’ll then survey MBA students, past and present and see how they like to be marketed to. Following an analysis of the results, I hope to make recommendation to my business school (University of Southampton, UK) on possible ways to improve their social media strategy.

If you have any ideas, which you think might be helpful, please feel free to get in touch either by Linkedin, via my Twitter feed or leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.