修煉數字時代的MBA內功 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.

阿爾溫•馬吉邁(Alwin Magimay)預測，和早先的個人計算機、互聯網和智能手機浪潮一樣，企業數據流將會大幅飆升。

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.”

身爲畢馬威(KPMG)合夥人及數字分析主管的馬吉邁表示：“我們正在進入第四波數字價值創造浪潮。我認爲數據科學家在當今時代的角色就像是計算機程序員在上世紀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?

如果馬吉邁說的是正確的，那麼新一代的離校生和大學畢業生必須認真考慮，面對數字平臺和數據處於每一項經濟和管理活動核心的當今時代，他們應該如何學習適用的技能？許多人將會質問，在一個青少年程序員和初創企業盛行的時代，長期被視爲領導層通行證的MBA究竟還有多少相關性？

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.

馬達夫•拉詹(Madhav Rajan)是加州斯坦福大學商學院(Stanford Graduate School of Business)負責教務的高級副院長。該校毗鄰尖端技術公司雲集的硅谷中心帕洛阿爾託。意料之中的是，他認爲在該校攻讀MBA是面向數字職業生涯的理想準備——（惠普創始人）比爾•休利特(Bill Hewlett)和戴維•帕卡德(Dave Packard)曾於上世紀30年代在該校就讀。

“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.

他說道：“美國科技業由斯坦福大學創造和激勵。在商學院所在的同一個校園，我們有最好的計算機科學和電機工程學院，學員們能夠利用所有的協同效應。”

“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.

“另一個因素是，我們有許多該領域的校友，他們事業有成，而且熱心回報母校。許多課程……由校友擔任導師和輔導員。”

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.

斯坦福大學不斷調整其MBA課程的內容。今年的選修科目包括平臺市場上的數字競爭、來自大數據的商務智能、數據驅動的決策，以及一系列聚焦於創造力和創業的課程。

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.

隨着商業模式改變，商學院努力與時俱進。倫敦帝國學院商學院(Imperial College Business School)的安娜貝勒•加韋(Annabelle Gawer)教授表示：“15-20年前在比較傳統的商學院教授的MBA課程可能講一些戰略、一些財務和一些會計學，這在一個不同的時代是合適的。”

“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.

她說：“如今，商業不只是事務性的，還關乎接觸。我們需要設計體驗，而不只是生產和銷售產品。”這需要一種非常不同的商業教育。

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.

在數字經濟中，初創企業、專業公司以及大公司都需要具備多層次技能的創始人和決策者。畢馬威的阿爾溫•馬吉邁指出了幾個D的重要性：（專業）學科(discipline)、數據(data)、設計(design)和數字交付(digital delivery)。潛在創業家或企業領導人需要某個核心領域的專業技能，這很可能在本科獲得。此外，馬吉邁表示，他或她需要設計技能（對某些人來說，核心專業可能就是設計）、數據掌控以及管理數字交付的能力。

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類似觀點。“今後，僅擁有MBA文憑可能不是你想要的。如今我校近四分之一的MBA學員攻讀一個爲期3年的聯合學位。這刺激了跨學科思維”。

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•希施貝格(Dörte Hirschberg)是Rocket Internet負責項目發展和組織的高級副總裁。Rocket總部位於柏林，創建了多家在線企業。她表示，當Rocket招聘初創企業主管時：“我們希望應聘者擁有一流大學的傑出學位，以及在諮詢公司等高強度環境工作的經歷。”

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”.

她補充稱，“既有商業知識、又有深厚技術功底是我們非常重視的難得組合。攻讀MBA是達到這種境界的途徑之一”。

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.”

但擁有MBA學位並不是唯一途徑。Rocket還僱傭專業人員，並開展培訓項目。“我們高度重視企業家精神，重視那些已經自創企業的應聘者。”

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

隨着數據收集在世界各地出現滾雪球式的發展，充分理解數字背後的故事在每個領域都非常重要。

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.

倫敦帝國學院商學院處於數字時代MBA教學的前沿，該校把數據科學列爲一個科目。它的畢馬威高級商業分析中心(KPMG Centre for Advanced Business Analytics)得到畢馬威2000萬英鎊資金的支持，而四面牆上全都是顯示器的數據觀測中心(Data Observatory)旨在讓數據可視化，以鼓勵產生新的洞見。

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.

數字創業似乎也可以作爲教學科目。斯坦福大學表示，在其2015年的MBA畢業生當中，有65人（佔總數的16%）開始創業。斯坦福的企業家校友包括在線投資管理服務公司Nutmeg的創始人尼克•亨格福德(Nick Hungerford)、OKCupid創始人、現任Match Group首席執行官的薩姆•亞甘(Sam Yagan)，以及在線學習平臺Piazza的創辦人普賈•桑卡爾(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.”

批評者指出，當今最爲成功的數字企業家有許多是從大學退學的，比如Facebook的馬克•扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)。拉詹表示：“但並非每個人都是史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)或者比爾•蓋茨(Bill Gates)。我認爲，對我們大多數人來說，在投身數字經濟之前掌握通用的管理基礎知識是非常重要的。”

Tech skills now a core requirement

科技技能現在是核心要求

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.

倫敦帝國學院商學院的戰略和創新副教授安娜貝勒•加韋(Annabelle Gawer)表示，MBA課程必須讓學員們準備好經營數字企業，因爲現在幾乎所有企業都是數字化的。

“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.

“企業和技術的融合處於經濟發展的核心。我認爲我們的MBA學員明白這一點，企業明白這一點，創業家和投資者也明白這一點。”

“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.

加韋表示：“我們有很大一部分學員會在初創企業工作。在他們攻讀MBA期間，他們會結識將來合夥創業的同事，這些人有時來自商學院，但有時來自開發技術的其他院系。”

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畢業生去了大型老牌公司工作，往往是金融和諮詢行業，但也有工程和法律等其他行業。她表示：“企業認識到，他們需要精通技術、擅長商業和具有團隊精神的人才。”