Business fundamentals: Management education slowly catching up to the entrepreneurship wave

Observing the current generation, almost any 25-year old fresh MBA graduate from a leading Indian B-school is looking to break the corporate wheel, start his own venture, and hustle to make it big in the competitive world is not aware of how or where to start. With startup success stories making the headlines about their new acquisition or turnover figures, there has been a strong wave among people to go down the startup lane and make it big. However, the reason that the number of such stories has not increased can be attributed to the lack of attention towards the importance of additional initiatives in management education.

Role of additional initiatives in MBA

In spite of the revolution of e-commerce as a business and the prominent presence of entrepreneurship as a career, the leading b-schools of the country have had a laidback approach when it comes to introducing initiatives aligned with these concurrent changes in the industry. Running with the old curriculum and textbook based approach, business education urgently needs to realize the shift in the Indian business community and implement subsequent changes.

While the students can learn business fundamentals with case-study based theoretical knowledge that increases their analytical quotient, additional assignments can provide a platform for the practical application of business and management learnings. In this way, the student would undergo an exhaustive, all-inclusive development program that could enable him to handle any kind of hurdles associated with the business nature ranging from conglomerates to startups. In addition, the management professionals can further learn the intricacies of their core specialization while gathering an innate understanding of other business aspects.

Although efforts are underway in various colleges, B-schools such as Woxsen School of Business account for a handful of institutions that are leading the entrepreneurial development of today’s management aspirants. This can be corroborated by the Trade tower initiative, an exemplary attempt at bridging the gap between entrepreneurship dreams and student knowledge. Woxsen School of business encourages the students to come up with a unique startup idea that can create a market for itself with a service or product.

With a suitable market grade proposition, the students’ startup idea undergoes critical analysis from the B-school faculty, industry professionals, and Woxsen stakeholders in individual rounds. Provided that the idea excels through the three stages, Woxsen School of Business offers funding up to Rs 1 crore. This not only positions the B-school as a springboard for the entrepreneurial mindset individuals, but further encourages students to take a step towards their aspirations and start building a business in college.

Building Business in college

As management education catches up to the entrepreneurial wave, building businesses in college provides the precise practical exposure required by a management professional to not only work effectively in a startup environment, but further apply the learnings in their own venture. Initiatives such as Trade Tower by Woxsen School of Business enable the professionals to improve their soft skills, communication skills, thought articulation, and most importantly, experience a simulated version of real-life scenarios.

Such simulations could prove instrumental in minimizing the fear of addressing a large crowd or trying to secure capital from one of the leading investors in the country. In addition, the group of student that come up with startup idea individually understand the value of having co-founders along with the enhanced ability of handling logistics. It further enables them to perform and study a qualitative market analysis so as to apply its findings for better decision making and profit margins.

Observing the onset of changes in the business industry, the leading B-schools of India are expected to formulate, design, and introduce such initiatives in the management education curriculum that follow a balance of experience and knowledge.