EMBA Alumni Profile: Novica Savic, ESSEC & Mannheim

Novica Savic is managing director at Nobel Biocare Germany and completed his Executive MBA from ESSEC & Mannheim this year. He shares his experiences shortly after completing the program.

What motivated you to pursue your EMBA?

Before I started the EMBA program, the major steps of my career were taken at one company, leading to a VP position managing a division. I reached this role by proving my potential to succeed as an entrepreneur in previous positions of Product and Business Unit Management. Much of what I knew about management came from "hands-on experience." This experience and my education in marketing, together with several management seminars, were rewarding both educationally and professionally. However, I had to realize that I had only scratched the surface. I needed an additional theoretical base and the opportunity to learn from others in order to make effective decisions across an entire organization, from finance to marketing to sales.

Did your company suggest this, or did you persuade your company and if so how?

I was in the lucky situation of having a boss who really cared about his people, especially those who were seen as having high potential. He was a great help and actually the one who finally convinced me that I would get full support from the company with regards to time and program costs.

What are the realities of juggling professional responsibilities with family commitments and academic pursuits?

The crucial factor for success within the program is having full commitment from your company, and especially family, before you start the program! Most people already suffer from an unsatisfactory work/life balance; an MBA program makes this worse. The question is: where do you get the extra time required? The company will certainly not accept any major step down; your job needs to be done like before. However, it is essential to make clear that your availability will be somehow limited during the program. Even more important is the commitment of your family. You need to make clear that your social life (eg meeting with friends or vacations) will probably suffer most. In my case, more or less every weekend was blocked by lectures, assignments or other study preparations.

How steep is the learning curve when you're back in the classroom after all this time?

The program which I attended was very team-orientated. Within the first weeks especially, it is difficult to get back in the "learning mode" of your undergraduate days. Basically, learning in the very specific MBA environment is quite different from anything I knew before. The major difference is the exchange with other professionals and class discussions where we shared our experiences; this gives you the chance to implement the learning in your job environment immediately.

What concrete skills, techniques or knowledge did you acquire from the course that you were able to immediately apply in your company?

I chose the ESSEC & Mannheim program due to the strong focus on teamwork and broad, cross-functional emphasis on general management. It enabled me to implement newly acquired knowledge rather quickly in my professional environment. And sometimes it is a nice experience to see examples from successful companies which actually confirm your own approach. Overall, I would say that the program strengthened my leadership skills, which is something you can implement very easily as a "quick-win".

Would you say that the EMBA program taught you how to think innovatively? Can innovation be taught / learnt?

I don't think that innovation can be learnt, even though there may be some rare exceptions. However, professionals starting an MBA program are usually "naturally innovative", at least this was the case within the ESSEC & Mannheim program. We learned that innovation is actually a team approach; you cannot do it on your own as you need the whole team to follow your path. This theory was supported by many different real-life cases of successful, as well as non-successful, companies.

A lot of EMBA candidates get promoted even before the completion of the program, or very shortly after. Is this your case?

Yes, it was the case for me as well. I made a career change in the middle of my program. In addition, I changed company right after finishing the program. Initially it was not my intention to do so, but due to some internal restructuring and a good offer from another company, I decided to go for a new challenge.

Have you seen your earnings increase?

Yes. Due to the change of my job I significantly increased my income (>40 per cent), however it isn't easy to say how much of this increase can be assigned to the MBA program. The fact that the program which I attended is recognized by HR managers as one of the best in Germany meant it was certainly very helpful for my career development.

With hindsight, what was the main benefit you reaped?

Next to the academic benefits, it was clearly the network of successful professionals all over Europe and Asia. The experience we shared together has strengthened our personalities. If you are willing to apply your learning and you are open to new ideas, it will automatically result in promotions and increased earnings.

How does an EMBA help your intra/entrepreneurial approach?

This is probably the major benefit of the ESSEC & Mannheim program. Instead of writing a classical, theoretically based thesis for our MBA diploma, the business school has a different approach. We were asked to prepare a real-life case, an innovative business idea, which has never been done before, preferably within your company. Doing so, you are forced to apply everything you learned during the program with a strong focus on practicability. It is real entrepreneurial life, not just theory. And it is highly appreciated by the companies as they usually see a big benefit for themselves. In my case, we are currently evaluating the implementation of our work: a very promising, totally new business field for the company!

If you had to do this again, what would you do differently?

There is nothing I would do differently!