修炼数字时代的MBA内功 Remodelling MBAs for the digital era

Data will surge through business like the earlier tsunamis of personal computers, the internet and smartphones, predicts Alwin Magimay.

阿尔温•马吉迈(Alwin Magimay)预测，和早先的个人计算机、互联网和智能手机浪潮一样，企业数据流将会大幅飙升。

The partner and head of digital and analytics at KPMG says: “We are entering the fourth wave of digital value creation. I think data scientists are going to be to the present time what computer programmers were in the 1990s.”

身为毕马威(KPMG)合伙人及数字分析主管的马吉迈表示：“我们正在进入第四波数字价值创造浪潮。我认为数据科学家在当今时代的角色就像是计算机程序员在上世纪90年代的的角色。”

If Magimay is right, then a generation of school-leavers and university graduates must think very hard about how they learn the skills for an era when digital platforms and data are at the heart of every economic and administrative activity. Many will ask just how relevant is the MBA, long seen as a passport to leadership, in an era of teenage coders and start-ups?

如果马吉迈说的是正确的，那么新一代的离校生和大学毕业生必须认真考虑，面对数字平台和数据处于每一项经济和管理活动核心的当今时代，他们应该如何学习适用的技能？许多人将会质问，在一个青少年程序员和初创企业盛行的时代，长期被视为领导层通行证的MBA究竟还有多少相关性？

Madhav Rajan is senior associate dean for academic affairs at California’s Stanford Graduate School of Business, close to Palo Alto, the focal point of Silicon Valley — home to cutting-edge technology companies. Unsurprisingly, he believes an MBA from the university that educated Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in the 1930s is an ideal preparation for a digital career.

马达夫•拉詹(Madhav Rajan)是加州斯坦福大学商学院(Stanford Graduate School of Business)负责教务的高级副院长。该校毗邻尖端技术公司云集的硅谷中心帕洛阿尔托。意料之中的是，他认为在该校攻读MBA是面向数字职业生涯的理想准备——（惠普创始人）比尔•休利特(Bill Hewlett)和戴维•帕卡德(Dave Packard)曾于上世纪30年代在该校就读。

“The US tech industry was created and stimulated by the university,” he says. “We have the best computer science and electrical engineering schools on the same campus as the business school and the students are able to take advantage of all the synergies.

他说道：“美国科技业由斯坦福大学创造和激励。在商学院所在的同一个校园，我们有最好的计算机科学和电机工程学院，学员们能够利用所有的协同效应。”

“The other factor is that we have so many alumni who are in this area, who have been incredibly successful and who give back. Many of the courses … are taught by alumni, who act as mentors and advisers,” he says.

“另一个因素是，我们有许多该领域的校友，他们事业有成，而且热心回报母校。许多课程……由校友担任导师和辅导员。”

Stanford continually recasts its MBA programme content. This year’s electives include digital competition in platform markets; business intelligence from big data; data-driven decision-making; and a slew of courses focused on creativity and entrepreneurship.

斯坦福大学不断调整其MBA课程的内容。今年的选修科目包括平台市场上的数字竞争、来自大数据的商务智能、数据驱动的决策，以及一系列聚焦于创造力和创业的课程。

As business reshapes, business schools are striving to stay ahead of the game. Prof Annabelle Gawer of London’s Imperial College Business School, says: “The MBA that used to be taught maybe 15-20 years ago in more traditional schools — a bit of strategy, a bit of finance, a bit of accounting — that was appropriate in a different time.

随着商业模式改变，商学院努力与时俱进。伦敦帝国学院商学院(Imperial College Business School)的安娜贝勒•加韦(Annabelle Gawer)教授表示：“15-20年前在比较传统的商学院教授的MBA课程可能讲一些战略、一些财务和一些会计学，这在一个不同的时代是合适的。”

“Today, business is not just transactional,” she says. “It is about engagement. We need to design experiences, not just produce and sell things.” That requires a very different kind of business education.

她说：“如今，商业不只是事务性的，还关乎接触。我们需要设计体验，而不只是生产和销售产品。”这需要一种非常不同的商业教育。

In the digital economy, start-ups, professional firms and big companies alike need founders and decision makers with multi-layered skills. KPMG’s Alwin Magimay points to the importance of the Ds: a (specialist) discipline, data, design and digital delivery. The would-be entrepreneur or business leader needs a core area of expertise, a discipline that may well be acquired at undergraduate level. In addition, he or she needs design skills (the core discipline for some may be design), mastery of data and the ability to manage digital delivery, Magimay says.

在数字经济中，初创企业、专业公司以及大公司都需要具备多层次技能的创始人和决策者。毕马威的阿尔温•马吉迈指出了几个D的重要性：（专业）学科(discipline)、数据(data)、设计(design)和数字交付(digital delivery)。潜在创业家或企业领导人需要某个核心领域的专业技能，这很可能在本科获得。此外，马吉迈表示，他或她需要设计技能（对某些人来说，核心专业可能就是设计）、数据掌控以及管理数字交付的能力。

Stanford’s Prof Rajan takes a similar view. “Going forward, having an MBA alone may not be what you want. Almost a quarter of our MBA participants now do a three-year joint degree. That spurs this kind of multidisciplinary mindset.”

斯坦福的拉詹教授持类似观点。“今后，仅拥有MBA文凭可能不是你想要的。如今我校近四分之一的MBA学员攻读一个为期3年的联合学位。这刺激了跨学科思维”。

Dörte Hirschberg is senior vice-president for venture development and organisation at Rocket Internet, a Berlin-based group building a stable of online businesses. When Rocket recruits people to head its start-ups, she says, “we expect an outstanding degree from a top university and work experience in high-performance environments such as consultancies”.

德特•希施贝格(Dörte Hirschberg)是Rocket Internet负责项目发展和组织的高级副总裁。Rocket总部位于柏林，创建了多家在线企业。她表示，当Rocket招聘初创企业主管时：“我们希望应聘者拥有一流大学的杰出学位，以及在咨询公司等高强度环境工作的经历。”

She adds that “deep technical competency with business knowledge is a rare combination that we value a lot. An MBA is one way to reach this”.

她补充称，“既有商业知识、又有深厚技术功底是我们非常重视的难得组合。攻读MBA是达到这种境界的途径之一”。

But an MBA is not the only way in. Rocket also hires specialists and runs training programmes. “We highly appreciate entrepreneurial spirit and candidates who have already started their own business.”

但拥有MBA学位并不是唯一途径。Rocket还雇佣专业人员，并开展培训项目。“我们高度重视企业家精神，重视那些已经自创企业的应聘者。”

As data-gathering snowballs worldwide, understanding fully the story behind the numbers is vital in every field.

随着数据收集在世界各地出现滚雪球式的发展，充分理解数字背后的故事在每个领域都非常重要。

Imperial College is at the forefront of MBA teaching for a digital era and teaches data science as a discipline. Its KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics is underpinned by ￡20m of funding from the advisory firm and its Data Observatory, featuring an enveloping circular wall of monitors, is intended to enable visualisation of data in ways to help encourage new insights.

伦敦帝国学院商学院处于数字时代MBA教学的前沿，该校把数据科学列为一个科目。它的毕马威高级商业分析中心(KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics)得到毕马威2000万英镑资金的支持，而四面墙上全都是显示器的数据观测中心(Data Observatory)旨在让数据可视化，以鼓励产生新的洞见。

Digital entrepreneurship can also be taught, it seems. Stanford says 65 of its 2015 MBA graduates, 16 per cent of the total set out to found a business. Stanford’s entrepreneurial alumni include Nick Hungerford, founder of Nutmeg, an online investment management service; Sam Yagan, founder of OKCupid and now chief executive of Match Group; and Pooja Sankar, creator of online learning platform Piazza.

数字创业似乎也可以作为教学科目。斯坦福大学表示，在其2015年的MBA毕业生当中，有65人（占总数的16%）开始创业。斯坦福的企业家校友包括在线投资管理服务公司Nutmeg的创始人尼克•亨格福德(Nick Hungerford)、OKCupid创始人、现任Match Group首席执行官的萨姆•亚甘(Sam Yagan)，以及在线学习平台Piazza的创办人普贾•桑卡尔(Pooja Sankar)。

Critics note that many of today’s most successful digital entrepreneurs, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, are college dropouts. “But everybody isn’t a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates,” says Prof Rajan. “I think for most of us it is important to understand the general management foundations, before you go into the digital economy.”

批评者指出，当今最为成功的数字企业家有许多是从大学退学的，比如Facebook的马克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)。拉詹表示：“但并非每个人都是史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)或者比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)。我认为，对我们大多数人来说，在投身数字经济之前掌握通用的管理基础知识是非常重要的。”

Tech skills now a core requirement

科技技能现在是核心要求

MBA programmes must prepare students to run digital businesses because today almost every business is digital, says Annabelle Gawer, associate professor in strategy and innovation at Imperial College Business School.

伦敦帝国学院商学院的战略和创新副教授安娜贝勒•加韦(Annabelle Gawer)表示，MBA课程必须让学员们准备好经营数字企业，因为现在几乎所有企业都是数字化的。

“The fusion of business and technology is at the heart of where the economy is going. I think our MBA participants understand that, corporations understand that and entrepreneurs and investors understand that.

“企业和技术的融合处于经济发展的核心。我认为我们的MBA学员明白这一点，企业明白这一点，创业家和投资者也明白这一点。”

“A large proportion of our students go on to work in start-ups. During their MBA they meet people with whom they will form their team — sometimes from the business school, but sometimes from other parts of the college which are developing the technologies,” says Prof Gawer.

加韦表示：“我们有很大一部分学员会在初创企业工作。在他们攻读MBA期间，他们会结识将来合伙创业的同事，这些人有时来自商学院，但有时来自开发技术的其他院系。”

Other MBA graduates go to big, established companies, often in finance and consulting but also in businesses ranging from engineering to the law. “Companies have realised they need people who are very good at technology, good at business and good at working together,” she says.

其他MBA毕业生去了大型老牌公司工作，往往是金融和咨询行业，但也有工程和法律等其他行业。她表示：“企业认识到，他们需要精通技术、擅长商业和具有团队精神的人才。”