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Why are so many MBA graduates interested in becoming budding entrepreneurs? There
are many reasons, especially based on the
heightened expectations experienced by most MBAs
when they are launched into the workplace after graduation. They can do more, they know
more, they feel more confident and professional - but their bosses (often without MBAs) see them in
the same way as before. Worse, they now see them
as a threat, so promotion possibilities might even
be reduced more than before. Bosses sans MBAs may have limited horizons and can be too
conservative to perceive what MBAs can really do. So, as
a result, push factors are there to propel employment-disillusioned MBA graduates into
the world of the entrepreneur.
Many MBA students and graduates are looking to use
their newfound learning to make the transition from a narrow specialism to a
more general management role. But their employers, relying on technical and special skills of
these valued employees, don't want to let them go.
Or they don't appreciate their readiness for wider responsibilities. This especially happens in
the fields of IT, market research, human resources
and accounting. Nevertheless, MBAs don't want to
be stuck doing the same thing forever, however
much this suits the narrow-minded employers! So, again, MBA graduates vote with their feet
and move off to pastures new - very often their own businesses.
In other scenarios, MBA students and graduates are more affected by pull factors
than push factors. They suddenly realize a desire
for entrepreneurship based on their newly-gained confidence from learning business
essentials. Before, they were stopped from establishing
their own businesses by a perceived lack of appreciation of accounting and finance,
marketing, strategy, and other mainstays of every
MBA course. Suddenly finding their way through the maze, and being able to cut through the jargon
of the specialists and advisors, they understand
the possibilities. Writing a business plan or making
a proposal; these are no longer so daunting. |
