Vinita Bali says that the MBA in its present form needs a major redefinition. The former Managing Director of biscuits to bread maker Britannia Industries, who is herself an MBA graduate from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, says that nothing has changed greatly in the last three decades in the MBA course offering.
Vinita Bali
“The business world has changed massively; we are looking at industries and business models that didn’t exist earlier and at go-to-market structures that are path-breaking. An MBA has to prepare one for greater agility and versatility, which I don’t think many of our MBAs are doing; we are still very traditional in what we teach, yet we expect managers to be thinking out-of-the-box and be creative. But unless input changes, output can’t change. Things have to be taken apart and put together again,” she explains.
The MBA of today needs a lot more of experiential learning, says Bali emphatically. The MBA also needs a different infusion in the process of creativity and innovation which can add value to a customer. “I would include a lot more of liberal arts in an MBA; we want to create people who are curious, who have interests outside making money and stock prices. It’s good to be hard-nosed about business, but also good to be sensitive to the environment they are operating in. I would like managers to see how their businesses impact society and communities; it’s not just about quarterly results,” she elaborates.