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The MBA Solvay will be present at the: ACCESS MBA Tour in Brussels on Tuesday, February 9th from 16:30 to 21:30. Speak with us One-to-One during the event at Stanhope Hotel Brussels, Rue du Commerce 9, 1050 Brussels. Register now on: www.accessmba.com
EU STUDIES FAIR in Brussels on Saturday February 13th from 10.00 to 17.00 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Brussels City Center (Rogier), rue Gineste 3, 1210 Brussels. Register now on: http://www.europeanvoice.com/page/register-here/2593.aspx |
MBA Solvay at the Fairs (February 2010, Brussels)
On the cost of not acting (alumnus guest post)
Carl Fransman is one of the more active MBA Solvay alumni. His drive and commitment are behind the Alumni Newsletter and he is also sharing his knowledge in the Business Voice seminars. If you are an alumnus and would like to publish in the blog, contact MBA Solvay and we will arrange for your participation.Over the couple of the last quarters I’ve come to deal with several companies where a strict “no cash out” rule has been enforced. While cash-flow rightly rules during credit-crunch times, these non-discriminatory decisions should raise some eyebrows. All too often do we see that during upbeat times no expenses seem barred whereas during tougher times the rule is simply inverted.
I believe management is slightly more complex than that. Investments should always serve a purpose and, when they do, they should lead to competitive advantage, which in turn should lead to a better position in the market. Therefore, I’m very surprised to find that even very cash-laden enterprises seem – let’s put this lightly – reluctant to even consider investments.
Queries to find out why this is the case typically lead to either one of the following answers: “this is a decision made at the top” or “this is dictated by the market”. Dictated by the market? What sort of investor turns down an investment with a positive ROI? And decision made at the top? Either these companies are headed by people who turn down opportunities because of what they read in the papers or the people at the intermediate stages are incapable (or even willing) of making a serious case with top management to justify the proposed investment.
Luckily, there are exceptions. If the corporate world mimics the natural world- then in the race of survival of the fittest- these are the companies I chose to bet on to emerge on top of the food chain. Not only are they more likely to catch a lucky strike (how can you win at the lottery if you don’t play?), but also they show that no matter what, they keep looking for ways to outperform. And that’s what true managementship is about: evaluating, sensing and, above all, taking action.
Let’s take an small example: a company running above industry-standard level could chose to invest in a cost-saving project. This would cost them roughly €3 million and would lead to an inventory reduction of roughly €70 million, whilst maintaining service levels this is important as during the downturn, most companies just burned off inventory to then find themselves in a situation where they could no longer serve their customers!). Now, it would be too easy to say they would save €67 million! No, eventually, the inventory would get sold. Therefore, if that company had a WACC of 8%, they’d still be saving €5,36 million – and that’s without considering other benefits than the capital expense. That’s still a positive ROI within one year!
If this weren’t spectacular enough, let’s now go back to the argument that “the markets” want the company to maintain it’s cash flow. Well, an expense of €3 million would lead to a non-expense of €70 million! Who wouldn’t wish to be the CEO able to announce the news that internal efforts have lead to this result? Not only would you be pleasing the investors but the freed up cash should allow you to make other strategic decisions in times when most competitors are standing still.
The best of it all is that the above-mentioned example is real! There is real potential in many businesses and with these sorts of return, many possible financing scenarios can be thought of.
So, if MBA should stand for something, it should really be Management By Acting!
MBA Solvay Kick-off today
Today is the MBA’s kick-off. The new participants will start their once in a life time journey with some activities to help them know each other, the alumni and the staff better, and to get into the hard-working and fun mode of MBA Solvay.
We can not disclose a lot about the programme, as it has some surprises for the participants. What we can advance is that the day will start wiht the welcome of Hugues Pirotte, director of MBA Solvay.
They will then have their first course with marketing professor Christian Bluemelhuber. This is a one day special course to get the brains rolling. The only thing we can advance is the title: Why Strategy?
If you do not know Christian Bluemelhuber, he holds the InBev-Baillet Latour Chair in Euromarketing at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. These videos will give you an idea of his style and what his courses are like. They were recorded during The Top Managers Event 2008, where Christian gave the presentation Successful leaders on Customer focused strategies in a worldwide economy.
After this course, the participants will be given a set of tasks to accomplish downtown, with a final debriefing and networking session in the center of Brussels well into the night.
Welcome to the MBA rush!
Trinh Dang, Class of 2009. MBA Solvay Alumnus testimonial
Trinh Dang is an exceptional woman, who has managed to combine an intensive MBA with giving birth to her first child in the first month at MBA Solvay. A thrilling and intensive experience she has really enjoyed, to the point of highly recommending taking the MBA Solvay challenge.
Of Vietnamese origin, Trinh completed her university studies in London before moving to Belgium, where she quickly learned French and Dutch, and started working for a wholesale distributor of specialty technology products.
When Trinh was considering to apply for an MBA she had some doubts about it bringing value to her. But then she spoke to a friend and alumnus who had really enjoyed the amazing learning experience of MBA Solvay. With this insight she took the decission to apply. Having 5 years of professional experience she considered it was time to stop for a year and learn new management skills, taking into consideration her long term goal of starting her own company.
What does she think of her MBA? Its been just amazing. During the 10 months of the full time program she has worked with people from around the world, who have very high intellectual skills and who are very down to earth at the same time. Another highlight for Trinh is the faculty: amazing professors from top schools around the world, most of whom are also active professionals with current experience in business.
The interview was recorded right before the end of her MBA, during our Alumni Day 2009. Trinh Dang has graduated with her class and celebrated the end of a great 2008-09 year.
If you want to speak to a former student of MBA Solvay, you can contact Chiara Battistelli, our Admissions manager.
Sergio Barbarino, Class of 2004. MBA Solvay alumni testimonial
Thanks to Sergio Barbarino, our Alumni Day 2009 was hosted by Procter & Gamble. He is a very committed alumnus and was very easily convinced to leave his testimonial about why he attended MBA Solvay.
Sergio came to Belgium in the midst of a difficult personal and professional moment. He was forced to move due to the closure of the company’s office in Italy where he used to work. He wanted a change and decided to apply to MBA Solvay. His new managers made a big effort to keep him in Procter & Gamble and with his MBA he has changed jobs into a more technical career. After the MBA program Sergio is working on innovative areas for his company such us the redesign of the supply chains and making small and flexible manufacturing processes for developing markets.
Today, sergio feels that he fits perfectly into the company, is proud of it and says that he owes that to MBA Solvay, because of all the experience and external freshnes that it brought to him.