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Expert Chat with Anjaney Borwankar of IESE Business School
Continuing in our series of Expert Forums from the world’s top business schools, Anjaney Borwankar of IESE Business School in Spain answered questions sent in by Scorecard’s registered users and MBA candidates on May 23rd 2008. This is a transcript of that forum.
About IESE
IESE Business School, the graduate school of management of the University of Navarra, offers the MBA, Global Executive MBA, Executive MBA and PhD in Management degrees, as well as a wide range of executive education programs for global senior executives and continuing education programs for alumni. The top ranked full-time MBA program located in a world-class campus in Barcelona provides for a solid foundation in general management in a highly international setting (about 80% of the students come from outside Spain). Throughout the program emphasis is placed on developing leadership skills and entrepreneurship capabilities. The learning approach is practical and the case method is used heavily in the class to teach students the tools to solve business problems. IESE MBA students also have the opportunity to learn Spanish during the MBA program.
Anjaney Borwankar (Anjan) is a member of the Admissions Committee of IESE Business School's full time MBA program. He is also an IESE MBA alumnus and a member of the Board of IESE's India alumni chapter. Anjan has a Bachelors degree in nautical studies from the University of Mumbai and spent five years working in international shipping operations prior to his MBA. During his summer internship while at IESE, he worked with McKinsey & Company, Madrid and also with a USAID funded NGO in Serbia. Since graduating from IESE in 2003, Anjan has consulted for several organizations on sustainability and base of the pyramid related issues in countries such as Sri Lanka, Serbia and Spain. He also co-founded two successful companies and currently maintains advisory positions within these organizations.
Q: Why is a two-year MBA better than a one-year MBA?
A: Two year MBA programs in general are different from shorter (typically around one year) programs. However there is none that is “better” or “worse”. The important question to think about is which format is appropriate for you. It is more a matter of a personal fit. I will state some of the major differences in the two formats which will give you pointers:
• Two-year programs usually include an internship and an optional exchange semester in another school. This may be important for students who want to explore a different career through the internship experience or may want exposure to another geographical area (exchange school). Shorter programs may not offer these options.
• In longer programs, the ability to learn a new language (such as learning Spanish if you are part of IESE) is a real option. It takes a lot of time and effort to pick up a decent level of fluency in a new language, from my personal experience, and may be difficult to do so in shorter programs.
There are also factors such as the relationship you develop amongst your classmates (likely to be stronger if you have more time), time for extra curricular activities, and self-reflection to consider. In shorter programs, there is a risk of these elements of the MBA value suffering. In top MBA programs there is already a lot of demand on the time of the students and the long programs may not seem so long if you subtract the time for reflection, job search, networking, exchange and internship. The advantage of shorter programs is obviously the direct opportunity cost in terms of investment of time and money away from the job market. So it may be an excellent option for those who are pure career accelerators.
Q: I was looking for some help in opting for the right executive MBA. I have six years of RIM-IT experience and now started my own organisation, which is in its infancy level. The companies I have worked with were huge and the company I am setting up is very small.
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