[aruchalam]

Does a person need a MBA to be a entrepreneur ? I would say no, as most of you would.

But what are the advantages of having a Business Degree ?

Any disadvantages ?

[Sam Barona]

Everything counts, it either adds, or it detracts from, but every single thing you do counts.

With this in mind, it wont do you any harm to learn the skills and tools that an MBA education will teach you.

However, as discussed in an earlier thread, Akula rightly identified that an MBA is not the best suited educational product for entrepreneurs.

I have an MBA, but havent done a formal entrepreneurial course, so I cant draw any reliable comparisons between the two.

Investors do look favourably on an MBA, as it gives them the peace of mind, that although you dont have the experience, you certainly have the skill sets to manage your business efectively.

MBAs are about management, which in my view is paramount to having lasting success.

Would I do an MBA if I had my time again? Most deffinately, the answer is a resounding NO. But its nothing to do with the MBA product itself, but rather because I believe that my time would have been better spent doing a nanotechnology degree (non where available when I did my MBA).

An MBA will most deffinately help, but have a look around at the entrepreneurial degrees first in order to decide which is the best tool for the job.

Sam

[jpmorgan13]

This topic has been talked about extensively on this board. A simple search should reveal what you are looking for.

My opinion, no an MBA does not make an entrepreneur. The advantages are obvious as a person would be skilled in the fundamentals of running a business. While entrepreneurship involves those same fundamentals, it also involves passion, drive, creativity, and the ability to persuade and motivate people.

One might argue having a business degree may pidgeon-hole a person's way of thinking. I tend to disagree with that as any knowledge is good knowledge.

[The Stealthy One]

Definitely not.

But as you have noticed, there are advantages. An MBA (especially when concentrated in an area such as Accounting) may train you to see specific problems that blue-collar-level entrepreneurs may not see (not a knock on blue collar folks). On the flipside, with an MBA you may tend to overemphasize planning....which can totally destroy your company.

I plan to start on my MBA as soon as I graduate this spring - I'm not looking forward to two more years in school, but ultimately I want to do this for three reasons:

1. Insurance
2. Connections
3. You do actually learn useful things

[made4success]

Here is an article that might just explain in short order advantages of an MBA. by Philip Schofield

__________________________________________________ ________

Don't expect your MBA to suffice for a lifelong executive career.

US Department of Labor evidence shows that technological change and new knowledge requirements have cut the half-life of skills (the amount of time it takes you to lose half the value of your skills) from between seven and fourteen years in the late 1960s to between five and seven years by the late 1980s.

With the accelerating pace of change, this half-life will have shrunk even further. Even basic management theories are changing. Consequently, you need periodically to update your knowledge through a continuous professional development (CPD) programmer, usually involving a few days a year of seminars, discussion groups and focused reading groups.
Is it all worth it?
Will all this effort (and often personal financial investment) enhance your career prospects and earnings? The answer is a qualified yes.

At a time of global economic uncertainty, MBAs from the best schools are the most attractive to employers. During a boom, almost any MBA is employable. As for earnings, most full-time MBAs who pay their own way and attend a good school can reasonably expect to recover their fees, subsistence and lost salary from their enhanced earnings in under four years on a one-year full-time MBA, and an average of five or six years on a two-year programmer.

Three years after earning an MBA from a top school, graduates can earn three times their pre-MBA salary. Even an average MBA will earn an immediate 40% extra (to a base salary in the UK of £64,000).
Written by: Philip Schofield.

[jg_macarthy]

Yea I mean its obviously foolish to say that every person graduating with an MBA is a certified entrpreneur. But does reaching an MBA make 90% of the questions people have on this board solvable. I would say yes. So from a standpoint of helping find clarity in understanding business, it does go leaps and bounds. But like alot of people also say, for some experience on the job can be just as useful. So like everything in this world to each his own.

[The Stealthy One]

Originally Posted by jg_macarthy

But does reaching an MBA make 90% of the questions people have on this board solvable. I would say yes.

I would say no...that is a very flawed statement.

[Sam Barona]

I concur with JG. Purely because of the nature of 80-90% of the questions/problems on here pertain to basic knowledge that anyone with an MBA will have the answers/solutions for.

Sales, marketing, legal and finance being the most prevalent subjects.

If most people here had an MBA, topics would be more strategic in nature; or more specific to choosing between different models to solve a problem; or about using advanced management tools like Balanced Scorecards, Price Engineering, quantum analysis, etc.

Another trend that I have come across (anecdotally) is that more and more MBAs are leaving the firms that paid for their training to set up shop on their own. Not only is the knowledge of value, but it does fill those who attain an MBA with increased confidence in their abilities to run their own companies more successfully.

Everyone who has earned an MBA has mastered the science of management. A good manager does not make a good entrepreneur necessarily, but it certainly does increase one's ability to handdle/manage situations effectively that would otherwise mean a learning curve (or the cost of bringing in a consultant) to a less learned individual.

I believe that it IS beneficial to an entrepreneur to earn an MBA, but not necessary.

If you can juggle studies with working and setting up a business all at the same time, and are willing to sacrifice your social life for the knowledge, then its deffinately worth the investment.

The speed that you can grow and manage your company is tremendously increased with the knowledge acquired during an MBA. Decisions are made faster and better, and less mistakes need to be rectified; resulting in a far more efficient and effective company.

Compare it, if you like, with being a surgeon. If people where alowed to practice medicine without first acquiring the necesary skill sets, then a young doctor operating on an emergency patient would most probably kill the patient as he/she struggles to search on the internet for the best course of action to take under the circumstances.

Similar laws apply to entrepreneurship. If you dont have the skill sets required, then you're more likely to make decisions based on incorrect, or insufficient information. This is easy to see when one looks at MBA's who place much emphasis on planning; whilst their less learned counterparts laugh it off as unnecessary.

If you want to start a life-style business (one where the profit primarily pays for a higher standard of living for you and your family) then an MBA is overkill; but if you're looking to set up an entrepreneurial firm (one where the profit primarily pays for the growth of the firm) then you would do well in earning one. Again, its the difference between choosing to be a general practitioner, or a surgeon.

Knowledge capital is rapidly becoming a sound way to differentiate your business from the competition. With a group of quality and creative MBAs at the helm, your company is more likely to succeed if its directed by a group of non-MBAs.

I will try to summarise it thus; an MBA does not make an entrepreneur, but an entrepreneur with an MBA is more likely to experience success faster.

Sam

[Sam Barona]

Came acroos trhis view from a blogg on the theme...

Is an MBA a Requisite for Entrepreneurs?

Wilson Ng:

Is an MBA necessary? If you are like me, a bizdriven person, one of whose goal is to make my dreams come true in the form of my business, then it is. If you want to excel in the field, be one of the top 5 percent of the business, you will. If you want to grow twice, thrice or 10 times your size now, you will.

However, if you are the entrepreneur which I earlier dubbed as alterpreneurs, whose goal is to go into business for a certain lifestyle which the business will provide, and not necessarily focus on the satisfaction oor experience of owning or operating a business, maybe not. Your goal after all, is not to build something lasting, but just to make enough to ensure a comfortable lifestyle which allows you to do many other things.