B-Schools: Perspective on Financial Crises

[davidlee0222]

快要一個禮拜前的文章
現在美國商學院最夯的話題

非常值得思考的現象
在兩年就換成即將申請的各位
看一看這篇文章
美國各大商學院尤其財務強校
對這次號稱大蕭條後最大的百年財務危機
處理狀況就跟這篇文章的呈現模式很像
且戰且走,投石問路
誰也不曉得老天的下一步會是什麼

現在各商學院忙到翻
是在忙趕緊聯繫投行校友
還有處理正在主修投資財務的學生
在美國財務崩盤沒有主要投行的就業方向時
如何挽救數千名失業畢業生
還有如何避免下一波財務主修的畢業失業潮
和如何招收未來的財務學生

在MBA數萬申請人估計四分之一寫財務投資為未來方向的申請人
幾乎都要重寫
而商學院,聯準會,美國現任及未來總統
都想破頭要解決困境
馬侃甚至提出將選戰的財務危機辯論延後
被歐巴馬拒絕

想一想
若是申請商學院的版眾是聯準會主席
或是想像我們就是這些即將失業或已經失業的投行天才
換做我們遇到這樣的歷史難題
該怎麼處理
MBA的案例討論就是這麼進行
會學到很多 真的

Business schools are busy explaining the financial crisis to the public and advising companies and policymakers on how to respond
by Phil Mintz


In times of crisis, perspective helps. With the staggering financial events of the past week, business schools have been called upon by the public, businesses, and policymakers to help give historical background and guidance in what many observers consider to be uncharted and frightening economic territory.

As the year-old crisis reached a more acute stage this month, business schools began fielding a legion of requests from the media for explanation. At the same time, faculty members were busy talking to companies where they consult or serve as board members about the implications for their businesses.

Whether they're talking heads on the nightly news or acting as economic advisers to Presidential candidates, business school professors agree that the key role for business schools right now is putting the economic disorder in context. "It is difficult for most people to fathom the billions of dollars that are being lost in value or used as bailouts and to be able to follow all of the twists and turns. The key questions I get asked are: 'How did this happen' and 'what does this mean for the average investor?'" Steve Foerster, professor of finance at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario (BusinessWeek.com, 1/15/08), said in an e-mail. "It is important to put these events in historical perspective since many market participants have not been through similar events."

Peter Ricchiuti, founder and director of research for Burkenroad Reports at Tulane University's Freeman School of Business (BusinessWeek.com, 1/15/08), which does investment research on 40 small-cap companies in six southern states, said he and the students in the organization have been speaking to companies in a two-way conversation about the financial crisis. "They're telling us where their business is heading, and we explain what's going on with the rest of the world." Ricchiuti, who has followed the markets for 30 years, added: "One of things we're trying to do is take the sizzle out of the story and look at the fundamentals."

"The Meltdown Is on the Agenda"
Tom Snee, spokesman for the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business (BusinessWeek.com, 3/10/08), said that the school's dean, Curt Hunter, is on the board of the Bank of Italy and is attending a board meeting in Rome. "I don't know specifically what the board is discussing, but one would think the meltdown is on the agenda and he is providing his advice." Additionally, Snee said, the school's Institute for Economic Research provides quarterly estimates of future state revenues used by the Iowa budget office, and its director, economics professor John Gewke, has been working with state officials to monitor "how the ongoing financial crisis might affect state spending."

The thirst for knowledge is worldwide. José Manuel Campa, professor of financial management at IESE Business School (BusinessWeek.com, 1/15/08)> in Barcelona, said that executive education programs and courses will be helping companies "synthesize and analyze the deeper and longer-term trends" of the financial crisis. "I was talking today to board members of a major utility company on how this is going to affect them."

Perhaps the most valuable insights are those that provide a clue as to what happens next. Robert Bruner, dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (BusinessWeek.com, 1/15/08), co-authored a book on the causes and lessons of the Panic of 1907, described in the book's subtitle as "the market's perfect storm". The book was published in the summer of 2007, just as the real estate meltdown was gathering momentum. Bruner said there are lessons that can be learned from that century-ago crisis, which followed the failure of several businesses and brokerage firms. Financial panics share several common features—most follow a period of overoptimism and increasing financial complexity—that could be used to extrapolate the course of the current financial distress. For instance, he said, while all financial crises affect the financial system sharply, the after effects of a panic can last for several years.

Brain Trust
But can business schools actually step in and help? Probably not in the short term, says Bruner. "We are in the world but not of the world. We are not at the levers of executive action, and that's probably just as well. We will be able to judge and assess in real time and after the fact the adequacy of action."

On the other hand, Bruner says that the role of economist John Maynard Keynes in advising the British government on monetary and fiscal policy during the Great Depression can be illustrative of how academics can join in a "brain trust" to help generate ideas. "Academies are often sources of fresh thinking," he said. "I would not be surprised to see academics drawn into the discussion of where we go from here."

Maybe so, but there are limits to what business schools can offer policymakers from the outside, Frank Warnock, an associate professor at Darden and a senior fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Globalization & Monetary Policy Institute, said in an e-mail. "Unless you are knee deep in a situation like this, you can only guess, and guesses cannot be helpful in times like these."

Mintz is BusinessWeek.com's B-schools channel editor in New York.

[cburger]

I think it will be a good interview question to prepare at least...

[dior homme]

我想請問一下已經唸過MBA的大大們
如果你現在是一位原本打算要以財務為主修的MBA申請者,看到目前美國金融危機,你接下來在申請MBA的過程上,會做怎樣的改變,亦或是不變呢?

[agk99]

我坦白說
變或不變這問題很難回答
每個人的想法都不一樣
但我認為根本的方法
就是你必須徹底了解这個問題, 這個金融海嘯的問題與成因
以及每一個環結每一個參與者
同时再以一位預言家的身份, 預測可能的事態發展
我想, 你就有答案了

答案是什麼不重要
但只要是深思熟慮後的答案
就是好答案
但如果在深思熟慮後
或是和朋友討論之後
你還是不曉得這是什麼話題
那也刚好是告訴你
換個主修吧....

[sleeplessboy[origen]]

I agree with you. If you don't even understand what it is about, I don't think MBA would be a good fit.