Ricky’s Online Business Blog

I just finished reading the book MBA Diary, which contains a collection of articles written by MBA students and graduates, on their experience in pursuing the MBA (Master of Business Administration).

The articles are compiled by Rodney Toh and Benson Wong, who also write many chapters in it. What is so special about this book is that it is like a “devotional” book on MBA. That means it contains short articles that you can read up quickly anytime you are free, perhaps after waking up in the morning, or before you sleep at night.

What is so advantageous about having an MBA in the marketplace? The subtitle gives you an overview – “How an MBA experience enhances managerial skills, knowledge, networking and professional value in today’s competitive world”.

There are people who criticize having an MBA as useless as it is an academic qualification. I have some customers who share this view, especially those who came out from school early and built their businesses from scratch. They would rather hire MBAs to work for them, instead of going for MBA themselves.

But the second chapter “Building Competitive Advantage Through MBAs” by Rodney gives me some answers. While there are some truths behind the criticisms, and while there are poorly run MBA courses around, a good MBA is not just about studying and going to exam.

A good MBA trains our minds to see things differently (rather than always through our lens of experience) and so solve business problems creatively. It is is much more than a course. It is also a self-development training, an eye-opening experience, a life journey, a networking opportunity, and more.

The book is one of its kind in the market. There is no other book on MBA like this (not the kind like the dry “The Ten Day MBA”). The book is a blue ocean product for the authors. I envy the authors must have earned a lot

Besides being a great promotion tool for MBA, the book is also like a dream book for would-be MBA students to “preview” their MBA dream before pursuing it. Am I interested to take up MBA? Of course, otherwise I would not have bought the book!

Too much to share here. Better go buy and read the book yourself!

Recently I went to the Penang Butterfly Park in Teluk Bahang. It’s a popular attraction in Penang with over 4000 butterflies from about 150 species. When you enter the park, you will find yourself surrounded by butterflies flying around you. According to their leaflet, these butterflies have been “trained” that they are not afraid of human!

Butterflies feeding on flowers

I didn’t know butterflies eat pineapples too!

Here are a few funny warning signs for visitors

Don’t pull me from feeding!

Don’t catch me!

Don’t take away my lunch!

The last photo reminds me of a best-seller book called Who Moved My Cheese, in which a rat feeds on a big chunk of cheese everyday, but one day suddenly finds it missing. Now imagine you are a butterfly and one day find your lunch missing? How naught that fella is

In real life, things are always changing. We shall not assume our cheese or lunch is always there everyday. Especially in the current financial turmoil, our lunch can suddenly disappear. Better be prepared than sorry…

I admit to be a big fan of W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, authors of the best-seller Blue Ocean Strategy. They teach an important strategy to develop a new market where there is no competitor, instead of competing with existing competitors head-to-head in the current market space.

Here are a few lessons that impact me most:

• Value innovation – Offering innovative values to customers yet at a lower cost.
• Strategy canvas – A visual tool to assess the state of a firm and reorient it against competitors.
• Four actions framework – Deciding what to eliminate, reduce, raise and create.
• Attracting non-customers – Redefining the market by looking beyond existing customers to non-customers.

Here are two incoming events conducted by Lifelong Learning initiative by MCA (I’m not affiliated to MCA):

1. Talk on blue ocean strategy on 24th April
2. Reading session on blue ocean strategy and the success stories of Malaysian enterprises on 26th April

Would you like to join me?  Please contact me here.