January 2008 Archives

Nearly five hours into a marathon economics study session this afternoon one of my cohort-mates noted something that has been on mind since the MBA program started last Fall: every problem is based on a manufacturing environment.

I should explain; I work primarily in the "services" world. As a consulting firm in the civil engineering industry, our firm bills our clients for each hour of each employee's time that is spent working on a project. We don't manufacture anything. I'm not alone, in my cohort there are at least two other students working in our industry along with several JD/MBA candidates (who will one day be quite excited to bill clients for each quarter-hour they can).

I struggle sometimes to truly understand the real-world application of concepts like "production functions" and "reaction functions" which hinge on manufacturing a certain quantity of units. In my business our units tend to be the aforementioned hours and they I'm not sure where to begin applying the quantity-based analytic tools to them.

I have a few thoughts as to why the program is structured this way. First of all, the basics of manufacturing are easy to understand. You have fixed costs that exist before any units are created, variable costs associated with creating units, revenue derived from the sale of units, and most importantly the difference between costs and revenues, profit. Though simplified, each of these fit smartly into spreadsheet columns, can easily be calculated, and make for understandable graphs. Cost, revenue and profit exists for services firms, too (even for those of us so intimately involved in the home building market at such a bad time) but the application is not quite as straightforward.

I also have it in my mind that I read somewhere that early MBA programs were specifically designed as training for manufacturing executives and thought the prevalence of such illustrations were just the lingering effects of tradition but a quick Google search couldn't confirm any such idea.

Another reason may be the fact that Kelley is the premiere MBA program in central Indiana and central Indiana is the home of a vibrant manufacturing community. The program is littered with representatives of large, well known Hoosier manufacturers like Cummins, Lilly, Roche, and Rolls-Royce. As a state-funded institution, shouldn't Kelley cater to the manufacturers that drive such a big part of the local economy? 

A couple weeks ago, I decided to ask Phil Powell. As the program's faculty chair and the economics thought-leader for each of our three required economics classes, I figured he'd be the guy to ask. He explained that I was somewhat on track with my first thought. We're learning to master the building block concepts of disciplines like economics and accounting, and manufacturing examples are a good way to illustrate said concepts. He also assured me that we would work with services-based illustrations yet this semester.

Most importantly, he reminded me that learning something new is the reason we all truck downtown two or three nights a week. Several folks are in this program to specifically be able to move from one industry to another and need to be exposed to concepts that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Even though I tend to get caught up in trying to apply what I'm learning to work the next day there is still a tangible benefit in a greater understanding of economic theory.

Now if he can only explain the need for marathon economics study sessions (I'd guess "that's just the way it is, folks").

The second semester of the Kelley evening MBA is reputed to be the most demanding and one week in I think that could be the case. This semester will frequently feature class three nights a week (instead of two last semester) which provides little cushion to actually study. To top that off, I had a meeting on campus on Friday which put me on campus four days in a row - something that I haven't done since undergrad.

If I had to pick a theme for the first week, it would be "networking". Throughout G511 Economics (Tuesday's class), X522 Professional Development (Wednesday's lecture series and more!) and the meeting on Friday (a BizBlogger get-together) it was a frequent topic.

Networking in today's reality is done as much online as it is done in person and the most accepted business tool seems to be LinkedIn. However, the most popular tools are probably MySpace and Facebook. As a nearly 30 year old, I missed the initial social networking wave that came through high schools and colleges in the last five or so years. I like to consider myself somewhat tech-savvy and I've been in the loop enough to be aware of Facebook and MySpace but until the last six months or so, I always considered them to be something "the kids were using these days" and stayed away.

I jumped into all three networks in the last year and I'm fascinated by the potential. So far, I'm using LinkedIn as a tool to manage business relationships and Facebook as a tool to manage personal relationships but I think that Facebook has the momentum to become the premier corporate networking tool in the near future (as I type this, my Facebook friends include contacts like the executive I report to and my mortgage broker as well as my social friends). I'm registered with MySpace but generally stay away because the interface seems too juvenile and my account seems to be constantly spammed with fake requests.

I'm just starting to look into the possibilities of taking these tools to the next level, playing around with them enough to see how they can assist me in my career goals as well as help my firm to further our shared goals. So far, I use them to manage contacts I make in the real world, to vet job applicants and potential business partners, and to reconnect with old coworkers, classmates, and fraternity brothers but I think the possibilities are endless.

I'm curious if other MBA's are using tools like LinkedIn and Facebook? Has anyone found good corporate uses for social networks?

Speaking of networking and old classmates, I had an interesting surprise in X522 on Wednesday night. The lecture combined my downtown cohort with the cohort meeting in Carmel and the one that started last Spring. There was an attendance sheet being passed around and I happened to glance at it as my friend sitting next to me signed his name. I read the name above his and recognized it as belonging to a friend I hadn't seen since high school. I glanced around and spotted the girl sitting on the other side of the room. I caught up with her at the break and found out that she was in the Spring cohort. Much like the Disney ride in the news these days, it is a small world after all. We graduated eleven years ago in a city more than six hours and two states away; it's not something that happens often.

Where is the oddest place you've ran into an old acquaintance?

Welcome to 2008!

I think it makes sense to start with introductions. My name is Geoff. I graduated early from high school, opting to seek my undergraduate education as a Cyclone at Iowa State University. At I-State, I was a fraternity president, executively directed the largest campus philanthropy and played winger on the rugby team for one season (poorly). I graduated in December 2000 with a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Community and Regional Planning, yet I've never planned a community or region.

I've spent a large part of my career consulting to local governments across the Midwest and Southeast and for the last 18 months or so I've managed a team of software developers and the IT operation for a national A/E/C firm.

My wife and I (and our two labrador retrievers) have lived in Indianapolis for just over three years. We hold a marriage license issued in the United Kingdom, play organized kickball on the weekends and have been the proud owners of season football tickets at Jack Trice Stadium for the last seven seasons.

Oh, and I'm also a student in the evening MBA Downtown Cohort at Kelley Indianapolis. I started the program last Fall and recently volunteered to write about my experiences over the next four semesters (and two summers).

In the spirit of staying on topic, I'll wrap up this post with three observations on life while pursuing a Kelley MBA:

1. You should buy your text books online. This is probably obvious to some but I finished undergrad in 2000 and at that point almost everyone still went to the bookstore. There were a couple discount textbook-only websites that popped up at the time but most of them died with the DOT COM bust (you probably have to be at least my age to remember the DOT COM bust).  I bought all my Fall semester books at the bookstore (I figured that's why they exist, right?) but learned on Day 1 of class that I over paid what you can get from established online exchanges like eBay and Amazon Marketplace.

2. Class takes up a lot of your time. I had it in my head that the MBA program was a commitment before I started but I was wrong - it's a BIG commitment. Class is 5-6 hours a week and I easily spent just as much time studying on "easy" weeks and twice as much time preparing for tests. They told me this during orientation and open houses but until I actually started it didn't register. I heard one student comparing the evening MBA to a half-time job (on top of your full time plus job) and I think that's a valid comparison.

3. You can use what you learn at work the next day. The program chair, Phil Powell, made a promise (maybe not a promise but he repeated it several times) during one of last Spring's open houses that one difference between Kelley and other MBA programs in the area is that you will be able to use what you learn immediately in the workplace. I have certainly found that to be true. In my position (I suppose most would call it "middle management") I lead two teams of people with different missions, I have budgetary constraints, revenue goals, and get to both plan and execute strategy. Each of the first semester's courses has been directly applicable and beneficial. Except for Food Corp - though I'm sure there's a lesson about time management implied somewhere.