This is the original version of my article sent to be published in MBA Edge Quarterly magazine April 2011 issue. The edited version published in magazine might be a little different. Your feedback is much welcome.
It was 9am in the office when Dennis received the letter of appointment as the Head of Department of the sales department. He had been rotated in his company from one department to another. In purchasing department, he learned to negotiate and push for the lowest prices and best terms from suppliers. In finance department, he learned to manage cash flow to make sure the company had enough to pay for its bills and not cause a disruption in operations. Now in the sales department, he would learn to lead a team of energetic sales force to achieve sales target of the company.
One month later, Dennis became an entreprenuer and started his own company selling environmentally-friendly shipping boxes. He drew up a business plan with five team members and presented it to investors and bankers for financing. They got the funds and started to trade. As the CEO, he managed his team members, who each had a part to play in his or her own functions in the company including sales and marketing, purchasing and operations, accounting and finance, human resources and administration.
Business did not turn out as good as envisioned. Competition was stiff, suppliers were suspicious of the new company, and customers complained of high prices. The prospects did not respond favoriably to their cold calls and staff morale was as low as sales. But the new company needed to survive and pay back RM100,000 loan from the bank plus interest. Dennis managed to motivate the team and they worked together to execute a turnaround plan. They started to collect boxes from their customers, recycle them and sell the reconditioned boxes at discount price. Sales finally picked up and the company achieved a handsome profit after one quarter. The financials were pretty and the investors complimented them for their performance.
Dennis and his team were actually full time students in one business school. They had been sent to a training company where they worked in a simulated business environment. They first worked in an established virtual company to learn different functions in the business. Then they learned to form their own virtual companies and trade with virtual suppliers and customers. The money and products were not real, but the business operations was very real.
Being exposed to such working environment was impactful to students who had no or little working experience. The training was counted in their résumé as valid working experience. They not only learned to appreciate the various business processes in a company and work harmoniously with one another, they also discovered their seed of entrepreneurship in selling products in their own enterprises. They would graduate from their MBA course having a competitive edge over their peers. The training was useful even for trainees who had prior working experience, as many of them had been working in their own field and did not get to see the helicopter view of a business and the interdependence of various departments in it.
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