Like most folks, I took my MBA/MTM after about seven yrs of working. I felt it was time to learn more about management and to equip myself with whatever skill or knowledge that was necessary. My own family ran a very successful metallurgical business and I was hoping to replicate the same success my granddad and dad had.
I went looking for a suitable MBA and came away with an MTM. What's an MTM you ark?
Well, it is Master of Technology Management or an MBA for technological folks like me who's trained in engineering and who has been in the business of manufacturing and product development.
Moreover, I didn't just want to earn just any MBA as the courses for working adults were usually conducted in the evenings after work. That MBA had better be worth my extra time and money.
Fortunately for me, my inquiries led to the MTM, which at the time was new. Even the top business schools in the US and Europe weren't conducting one. I looked through the course material, spoke to the lead professor, and was convinced that it was indeed the MBA I was looking for. The MTM addressed many deficiencies of past MBA programs - namely a lack of case studies, projects that were more academic than real, a lengthy course with little flexibility for folks who travel much in their jobs.
In terms of subjects studied, most MBA programs at the time also failed to address the rising matter of patent and copyright law - two very important issues in the newly arrived Dot-com age. Aside from consumer tech, there were also tech businesses in aeronautics and space. And with space, executives have to aware of another set of issues and by-laws.
So, in a nutshell, I saw the MTM offered by the Graduate School of Business at Griffith University as an entirely new MBA in the making, one that was very suited to the then new business environment defined by fast comms, shorter life product cycles and informed customers.
"Business as usual" can no longer be business as usual.
This MTM course that I went through did a few things different.
1) We had to pick and start an MTM thesis project right from Day 1. We did wonder how we were supposed to cope, given that we were novices. Our professor's reply was: "You are in a management course, no? You will ask and learn!" Sensible.
2) Our projects had to be real life ones, not "on paper" or hypothetical ones. It was preferable that the project looked at an existing problem that a company could benefit from in real terms.
3) We were to use the case method. What case method? we asked.
"It's when you are put into situations that test whether you will sink or swim," said our professor. Wow, that's a lot of pressure, we chorused. "But that's how you learn to make effective decisions," he said, noting, "No worries, we have many case studies from past situations, so you are learning from someone else's dilemma. You'll see."
And so, throughout the year-plus course, we learned from many case studies. Of how paint giant ICI turned themselves around in the 1970s. Of how famous motorbike company, Norton, thrived, failed and reinvented themselves. Of how Intel was too big and too inventive for its own good.
Interestingly not all the cases were technological though. Cases that involved organisations like the Outward Bound School worked us through matters such as program viability and suitability (i.e. for Summer and Winter seasons). Of programs that had to be both profitable and lived up to the school's creed. There were also case studies on garment and food businesses, such as how a pioneering shirt company had to literally go back to the their drawing board. Of how Ben and Jerry's ice cream biz was different from that of Haagen-Dazs'.
As the MTM course wore on, I found myself enjoying and enjoying it more. There was so much new and relevant to learn. That we had to sacrifice our weekends and a week's worth of evenings for it did not matter. We were being moulded and empowered!
A general manager from Aiwa was all praise. "Our audio products are facing obsolescence at the moment and this course and its case studies give me hope, " he said. Another course mate - an IT integration company CEO - felt it was money well-spent. "I am now more fearless about the challenges facing my company. These case studies showed me no crisis is hopeless. There's always a way out!" She was probably taking to heart the case study of a metropolitan police force made more effective and quality conscious. If a public institution could do such startling self-reinvention, she figured a for-profit company could do more!
My own takeaway from this MTM course was no less startling. I took on a real world project many said was impossible to do. The industry's "protected", they say. They will only do business with established brands, others quip. But we were unfazed as we had a strategy, no less emboldened and inspired by the numerous MTM case studies that put us through the ringer. I also had industry knowledge (having worked in Thomson Consumer Electronics before).
In the end, my team and I did make our project a success and in quick time too! We helped a big-name US consumer product giant capture new market share from zero (to 1st and 3rd respectively) and raised its revenues from a mere $200k annually to $1.8 million! It was all without additional advertising spend!
Besides the real world projects and having to start our projects on Day 1 (unlike other MBA programs that made the project the last thing to do), another startling new thing we had to embrace was a module on Case Writing and Training.
We did ask our lead professor why this module was included in our course. Weren't we there to be better executives, not writers nor trainers?
His reply was that case learning shouldn't end with our MTM course.
"It's a life-long knowledge build and sharing," he said, with the usual twinkle in his eye. I couldn't agree more. This is why I continue to open my eyes (and ears) to companies trying to do things different. Or understand why one company succeed and others fail.
TC's words on his MTM course:
"Come to think of it, this MTM course had both immense value and quality. And for that, I thank my course lead professor for his foresight and practical approach to it all, including coming up with a course timetable that suited managers who might have to travel.
In subsequent years since my MTM, companies started to pay attention to the value of patents, learned to run short product cycles, mobilised quickly in-company resources, broke down intra-company barriers, and generally erased inertia... -stuff that me and my course mates were able to mull and ponder over many years prior to mass adoption by other MBA programs, esp those in Europe. This MTM course of mine was thus rather prescient and future proof.
But who knew such an innovative MBA course could come out from a quiet graduate business school in a university located in Brisbane, Australia? A university that was better known at the time for its nursing and engineering courses. Now it is better known for architecture and environmental sustainability. Gladly, it's Executive MBA/MTM program is still much sought after. The biz school that runs it is still ranked in the top 150 of 13,000 business schools worldwide. It is something to be proud of!
To share, here's my MTM thesis in a graphical nutshell:
Note: Many of the case studies used in my MTM course were rented from top business schools such as Harvard, Sloan, and Wharton. Post MTM, I used the knowledge and experienced gained to offer business consultancies. Two such cases involved 1) the setting up of a new-age car dealership; 2) of how a major telecom company could thrive in the new 3G/4G space.
(Please check Pages above for more information and porfolio, thank you.)
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