Master Of Business Administration Research Articles

Product extension or channel extension – a case of Cronos Industries Pvt Ltd.

Learning outcomes The primary learning objectives of the case are described below:1) Understanding the start-up market segment for an innovative product.2) Analyse the market expansion and diversification strategies of a start-up.3) Evaluate the business expansion through introduction of new product variants or through envisaging new distribution channels. Case overview/synopsis Cronos Ltd. was Iyer's first business endeavour after completing his Master of Business Administration (MBA). Iyer had aspired to be an entrepreneur since he was a youngster. In 2015, a first-generation entrepreneur with full conviction, he entered a market that was tough for a novice to access. Despite several challenges and uncertainties, he persisted and ventured into the company on the edge of extinction with a concept for affordable sanitiser sachets. Strong willpower, but no background, guidance or finances have made him struggle at each stage of his journey. He made this possible as he had understood the need for a specific lower-income segment of customers who could afford to buy the sanitiser sachets for as low as INR1 ($0.013). Until 2021 he was selling through the GT channel in central and western regions of India. He had planned for product extension by introducing three new products in the FMCG sector with manageable finance needs. Meanwhile, he had gotten an offer to enter into the MT channel to compete with big brands in the Gujarat region. Iyer needed substantial funds to expand his business in the MT channel and had to offer equity partnership to the investor, who would invest in the business. Complexity academic level Graduate and post-graduate in the topics of segmentations and market expansion in the marketing management subject. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

Relationship between personality traits and academic performance on a Master of Business Administration programme

Purpose: The main aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between the five-factor model (FFM) personality trait measurements and Master of Business Administration (MBA) academic performance in a triple-crown accredited university in order to assess the effectiveness of current admission systems for a globally accredited MBA degree.Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative database analysis of the academic records and personality profile scores of MBA graduates was conducted. The sample consisted of 663 participants who successfully graduated from the programme during the period 2014–2019. Their final academic results for their MBA and their FFM personality traits (as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire as part of their admission criteria) were analysed.Findings/Results: In the correlation analysis, Openness to Experience and Agreeableness had the strongest correlation (positive and negative, respectively) with academic performance. In the regression analysis, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability were identified as the best predictors of performance.Practical implications: Three per cent of the variance in academic performance was attributable to personality traits. This supports the necessity of further exploring the best predictors of academic performance. Academic institutions may consider re-evaluating their current practice and choice of tests used as part of the admission criteria, and rather focus on assessing and capacitating students in terms of resilience and motivation.Originality/value: This study adds to the debate regarding the ideal selection criteria for MBA candidates, and indicates that the current selection criteria, also those considered more nuanced and culturally sensitive (e.g. personality assessments), may be flawed.

Pineapple: The growth challenges faced by a South African Insurtech disruptor

Subject area of the teaching case: This case study is intended to supplement postgraduate business learning with the facilitation of an academic practitioner. The case draws on a culmination of subjects, and the participants are encouraged to juxtapose the case information with their professional experiences; however, the primary focus of the case material will be centred on strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Student level: The primary audience for the teaching case is management education programmes including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), specialist Masters in Management, and certain Executive Education programmes. Brief overview of the teaching case: This case is about protagonist Ndabenhle Junior Ngulube, the cofounder of an innovative technology-enabled insurance intermediary company called Pineapple. The company has identified an opportunity to resolve the inherent conflict of interest within the insurance industry, as well as the grudge association of non-life insurance purchases. While the competitive landscape of the sector is traditionally dominated by a few large incumbent market participants, Pineapple's digital distribution strategy is more effective at converting ‘clicks-to-clients’, at a fraction of the typical customer acquisition cost. The peer-to-peer business model also allows for superior risk-selection, greater affinity, and lower incidents of fraudulent claims. Ndabenhle and the team develop the company's customer acquisition strategy by drawing on technological trends, reputation drivers, and a concentrated social media approach that focusses on trust, access, product, and value. But, as 2020 begins, Ndabenhle faces choices about the means and methods of scaling the business operation. The case documents the first few years of Pineapple's operations, with a strong focus on business model innovation, distribution, scalability, and technological integration. Expected learning outcomes: To analyse the role disruptive technologies play within sectoral business model innovation To evaluate the industry-specific competitive business landscape and complexities of building and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage within a niche market segment To assess the strategic growth opportunities for an emerging market Insurtech disruptor To critically appraise the entrepreneurial complexities faced by decision-makers when looking to challenge incumbent market leaders

A Recommendation System for Selecting the Appropriate Undergraduate Program at Higher Education Institutions Using Graduate Student Data

Selecting the appropriate undergraduate program is a critical decision for students. Many elements influence this choice for secondary students, including financial, social, demographic, and cultural factors. If a student makes a poor choice, it will have implications for their academic life as well as their professional life. These implications may include having to change their major, which will cause a delay in their graduation, having a low grade-point average (GPA) in their chosen major, which will cause difficulties in finding a job, or even dropping out of university. In this paper, various supervised machine learning techniques, including Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine, were investigated to predict undergraduate majors. The input features were related to the student’s academic history and the job market. We were able to recommend the program that guarantees both a high academic degree and employment, depending on previous data and experience, for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. This research was conducted based on a published research and using the same dataset and aimed to improve the results by applying hyper-tuning, which was absent in previous research. The obtained results showed that our work outperformed the work of the published research, where the random forest exceeded the other classification techniques and reached an accuracy of 97.70% compared to 75.00% on the published research. The importance of features was also investigated, and it was found that the degree percentage, MBA percentage, and entry test result were the top contributing features to the model.

The need for sustainability and CSR in undergraduate business education

As global temperatures rise and our planet faces the ever growing consequences of climate change, sustainability practices (especially among corporations) are more important than ever before. More specifically, proactive strategies and shifts in organizational culture should be at the forefront of corporate environmental strategies. Research has shown that environmental values and awareness impact the degree to which business managers or employees implement proactive environmental policies, engage in corporate social responsibility ( and make overall eth ical decisions. Thus, it is important for those in the business field to possess environmental and prosocial values, which may then translate into their decisions or priorities as an employee. Studies on value formation have proven that values are formed early on and during transitional periods of a person s life (such as college), and subsequently becomeharder to change over time. Therefore, some scholars argue for the implementation of sustainability, CSR, and ethics in business education. Some universities and Master of Business Administration (programs have created courses, institutes, and specialized programs to promote these topics, but none have fully introduced sustainability as a requirement for business students. Using a comprehensive literature review, this paper highlights the need for a mandatory integration of sustainability and social impact curriculum into U.S. undergraduate business education. Additionally, this research contains implications for universities and encourages them to reev aluate the purpose and learning objectives ofbusiness education in our changing world.

Acuver: social media strategy for visibility

Learning outcomes ■ Understand the functionalities of various social media platforms. ■ Choose social media platforms to align various business goals. ■Consider how to develop strategies for monitoring, understanding and responding to different social media activities. Case overview/synopsis Acuver Consulting Private Limited (Acuver) is a niche, self-funded IT consulting services start-up. Founded in 2013 with the aim of providing IT consulting services in the supply chain domain, Acuver delivers IT solutions to the world’s leading IT conglomerates, Fortune 500 companies and emerging players across multiple geographies and industries. Changing consumer buying patterns in recent years has forced retailers and supply-chain businesses to invest in digital transformation projects, providing ample growth opportunities for Acuver. To meet increased demand, Acuver needs to acquire direct engagements with clients and hire the right talent to help it ride this growth wave. This case described challenges faced by the start-up in building visibility to expand its reach. The case provided an overview of the IT consulting services industry and Acuver’s vision. It then detailed the reasons for the company’s lack of visibility, which was curtailing its growth opportunities. It described the dilemma and possible strategies to overcome the problem statement. It also discussed the limitations associated with the potential strategies, which needed to be contemplated by the reader. Complexity academic level This case is appropriate for MBA and Executive MBA courses on Management of Information System, Digital Governance, Strategic Management of IT and Managing Digital Transformation. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Labor Market Returns to MBAs From Less‐Selective Universities: Evidence From a Field Experiment During COVID‐19

AbstractMaster's degree enrollment and debt have increased substantially in recent years, raising important questions about the labor market value of these credentials. Using a field experiment featuring 9,480 job applications submitted during the early months of the COVID‐19 pandemic, I examine employers’ responses to job candidates with a Master of Business Administration (MBA), which represents one‐quarter of all master's degrees in the United States. I focus on MBAs from three types of less‐selective institutions that collectively enroll the vast majority of master's students: for‐profit, online, and regional universities. Despite the substantial time and expense required for these degrees, job candidates with MBAs from all three types of institutions received positive responses from employers at the same rate as candidates who only had a bachelor's degree—even for positions that listed a preference for a master's degree. Additionally, applicants with names suggesting they were Black men received 30 percent fewer positive responses than otherwise equivalent applicants whose names suggested they were White men or women, providing further evidence of racial discrimination in hiring practices.

Dozee: crafting opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic [1

Research methodology This case was developed from secondary sources. The secondary sources included company websites, social media and news reports. This case has been classroom tested in multiple executive master of business administration (MBA) courses on business model innovation and entrepreneurship. Case overview/synopsis The case traces the entrepreneurial journey of Dozee, a remote patient monitoring system in India. Dozee was manufactured by Turtle Shell Technologies Private Limited, cofounded by Mudit and Gaurav. The primary customers of Dozee’s offering were households with elderly citizens and health-conscious individuals who sought preventive health care. The cofounders identified the unmet need for a convenient and user-friendly contactless health tracker. Dozee team built a thin sensor-embedded sheet and module that can be placed beneath the mattress to track sleep patterns and health vitals. They also provided data analysis and data interpretation services. After four years of conceptualization, Dozee launched its product and service in 2019. Although the initial response was lukewarm, the onset of the COVID-19 crisis led to significant changes in the health-care industry. Demand for virtual assistance and contactless monitoring devices became increasingly important elements of COVID-19 treatment. Unlike other sensor-based fitness trackers, the sheet could be easily placed under the patient’s bed to capture health vitals. Choosing to pivot from a home-based individual customer segment to a medical-grade device provider for hospitals could significantly increase the scale and scope of the offering for Dozee, but it would also place Dozee in direct competition with other health monitoring devices from different business categories. Complexity academic level This case is appropriate for MBA and executive-level courses related to entrepreneurship and business model innovation. The case explores issues such as digital disruption and how start-ups can design a go-to-market strategy. The case works well in the classroom, even if people are unfamiliar with the health-care industry. Participants can certainly relate to the concept of adopting artificial intelligence–enabled devices for monitoring their health. The instructor should be able to quickly engage participants in a lively discussion about Dozee’s vision and the opportunities and challenges in adopting digital solutions in health care.

Chief financial officer’s educational background from reputable universities and financial reporting quality

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between the educational background of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) from reputable universities and financial reporting quality (FRQ). Educational background is divided into two categories: an undergraduate degree from a reputable university and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from a reputable university.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses data from all companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2019, except for financial companies, and obtains 2,583 research samples. The least-squares regression analysis model was used in this study.FindingsThis study finds that the educational background of CFOs with a bachelor’s degree and CFOs with an MBA from reputable universities has a positive and significant relationship with FRQ. This study also performs an additional analysis with high-low growth and high-low tech and robustness testing with coarsened exact matching method and Heckman to corroborate the results.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides a theoretical contribution to the literature on the relationship between CFOs’ educational background and FRQ in Indonesia. It is also expected to contribute to the implementation of company policies, management and educational institutions in Indonesia.Originality/valueThis study provides a novel measurement of CFO reputation, measured using the ranking of CFO alumni from reputable universities and its association with FRQ.

Students’ Perceptions of Postgraduate Research Supervision at Botswana Open University

Research supervision in higher education is considered essential in promoting lifelong learning and the creation of knowledge. At Botswana Open University (BOU) research supervision is conducted at a distance. However, this mode of supervision is not without its challenges. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of students on research supervision in three master’s programmes namely: Master of Education (Educational Leadership), Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration and Commonwealth Executive Master in Public Administration. The problem was that despite graduate students being allocated supervisors there continued to be a significant number of students who fail to complete their research on time or even failed to complete their programme of study due to the incomplete dissertation. This study was situated within the theory of Transactional Distance by Moore (1991). The study adopted a qualitative approach to gather data and purposive sampling was preferred to gather data from students who were in their final year of the identified programmes. A thematic approach comprising students- supervisor relations, supervision models, and research support was adopted for analysing the data. Some of the key findings revealed that students encountered a series of challenges regarding supervision, indicating that their experiences were varied. There were variations in student supervisor relations and student research support for the different programmes. Education students had a positive supervision experience while Business students indicated having had challenges with their supervision. In conclusion, the study recommends possible strategies that could enhance graduate research supervision experience and student research completion.

How organizational socialization occurring in virtual setting unique: A longitudinal study of socialization

Based on organizational socialization frameworks used to study newcomers' journey of adaptation from outsiders to insiders, this study develops an evolutionary model to examine their socialization in virtual settings. Extending the existing literature, the proposed model views organizational socialization as a cumulative process that allows the impact of pre-entry variables on accommodation and outcomes. Longitudinal design is used to measure the impact of key socialization factors on newcomers' productivity and commitment by controlling for entry-level perceptions. The virtual setting chosen for this study is the academic units at a premium Business school with multiple campuses in India. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) hierarchical linear regression modeling is used to analyze time-lagged study data of 373 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. The study reports some unique aspects of newcomers' socialization in a virtual environment, and explains how and why some influential socialization factors might show varying effects if traditional physical settings are missing. Contesting the findings of previous studies, results of this study reveal that in virtual socialization process, pre-entry experience emerges as a strong predictor of accommodation for newcomers. However, dissemination of pre-entry information solely through advanced communication technologies might not produce desired results, unless complemented by face-to-face contact with peers and other stakeholders. Overall, this study offers a cumulative view of socialization in virtual settings in which early stages exert influence over later stages even after intervening variables are controlled.

MBA futures: Images from Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) signatories during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper presents key ideas from a Futures study relating to part-time (PT) Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree programmes. The objective of the study was to determine the likely nature of PT MBA programmes approximately 30 years in the future, i.e., 2050, and to do so in the context of an assessment of possible long-term impact of disruptions caused or accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The research involved strategic conversations with ten PT MBA Programme Directors or equivalent across seven countries and each of whom was based in Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME)-signatory institutions. The findings suggest that MBA programmes of the future are likely to be significantly different to current PT MBAs. To close the learning loop associated with the original term of strategic conversations, higher education institutions (HEIs) are invited to consider the findings to inform strategic conversations within their own institutions in respect of future PT MBA design and provision.

Does benevolent leadership consistently lead to employees' voluntary behaviors?

PurposeBenevolent leadership is a leadership style in which leaders show consideration for their employees' work and life. Empirical studies have shown inconsistent relationships between benevolent leadership and employees' voluntary behaviors. Therefore, this study examined benevolent leadership's mediating (gratitude) and moderating (trust) mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachOverall, 792 questionnaires were collected from Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) and continuing education students at a public university in Taiwan. The research model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and the PROCESS module.FindingsBenevolent leadership influenced three voluntary behaviors of employees directly and indirectly through enhanced gratitude. Emotional trust moderated the relationship between work care and employee gratitude such that the positive relationship was stronger for employees with higher emotional trust levels.Practical implicationsBenevolent leadership is an effective leadership style that cares about employees' work and lives, enhancing their gratitude and engagement in voluntary behaviors.Originality/valueThe mediating effect of gratitude and the moderating effect of trust provide a possible explanation for the inconsistent relationships between benevolent leadership and voluntary behaviors.

Autologous versus allogeneic: the future of manufacturing and standardization in cell therapies

Rupa Pike, PhD is the Senior Director of Technical Affairs for Advanced Therapies, Pharma Services Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific. The Office of Technical Affairs comprises scientific experts that serve as a strategic, innovational and educational leaders in the area of cell-based therapies, plasmids and mRNA therapeutics. In her prior role as the Director of Enterprise Science and Innovation Partnerships, she developed and managed strategic partnerships with global BioPharma, Biotech and Healthcare customers in the area of Cell and Gene Therapy. Prior to this, she was the Head of Technical Operations (Patheon/Thermo Fisher Scientific) where she worked closely with customers to conduct technology transfer and process optimization activities related to GMP manufacturing of cell-based therapies. She has over 15 years of expertise in GMP manufacturing and has successfully led GMP operations, Process Development and MSAT activities, infrastructure buildout, customer relations and business development.Delara Motlagh, PhD the General Manager of Cell Therapy Technologies at Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado. She is passionate about the cell & gene therapy market and the potential these innovative therapies hold to improve the lives of patients.She brings more than 18 years of experience in biotechnology and healthcare in various therapeutic areas including oncology, cardiology, orthopedics, hematology, and nephrology. Prior to joining Terumo Blood and Cell Therapies in 2017, Delara served in diverse leadership roles at Baxter Healthcare in marketing, research & development, and operations. Her cross-functional background provides a unique perspective and deep understanding of development, cell manufacturing, and commercialization elements in the industry. Delara received a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Illinois, fellowship in Vascular Tissue Engineering at Northwestern University, and Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management.Patrick Hanley, PhD is the Chief and Director of the Cellular Therapy Program and an associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s National Hospital and the George Washington University, respectively. He oversees processing for standard of care stem cell transplantation as well as the development, manufacture, quality, and testing of novel cellular therapies and is responsible for seeking partnerships and commercialization of promising cell and gene therapies. Trained as an Immunologist, Dr Hanley has an extensive background and interest in cellular therapy and is passionate about improving regulations for cellular therapy, training the next generation of cell therapists, and facilitating the translation of new therapeutics. Over the past 15 years he has helped to translate more than 300 products on over 25 cell therapy protocols – ranging from mesenchymal stromal cells to cord blood virus-specific T cells and tumor-associated antigen specific T cells – into the clinic.

Prediction of Graduate Admission Using Machine Leering

The goal of this study is to create a model that may assist students in selecting the best institutions based on their scores and their profiles. We can evaluate candidates across a broad range of disciplines, such as Master of Science (international), Master of Technology (India), and Masters in Business Administration (India and international). We intend to build a machine learning model in order to produce outcomes that may benefit the students in choosing the right University. The dataset includes facts on the university and student profiles, together with a field that indicates whether or not the admission was successful. Key performance indicators have been used to compare the predictions made using a variety of algorithms, including Ensemble Machine Learning (KPI).The dependent variable, or the likelihood of admission to a university, is then evaluated using the model that is performing the best. The chances of admit variable, which has a range of 0 to 1, represents the anticipated likelihood of being accepted to a university. Additionally, we want to build a portal that sorts universities according to their acceptance range before listing them.

The Influence of Board’s Educational Background on Indonesian Top Firms Profitability

This paper aims to observe the implications of higher education on firm performance based on a financial indicator that is most likely depicts the expertise of board members to utilize given assets to generate revenue. This paper will analyze both of board of commissioners and board of directors on Indonesian companies that have been consistently listed among the top 100 companies based on market capitalization during the period of observation which is 2010-2018. The education data of said Board of Commissioners or BOC and Board of Directors or BOD will be collected and analyzed to see how well they affect the ROA. It can be noted that only MBA degree on the BOC and doctoral degree on BOD does indeed have a significant positive correlation. It can be concluded that the managerial skills do help BOC to give advices and strategies that would help the firm performance, and the specialized expertise in the form of doctoral degree might give an edge to the directors to help them during day to day operation.

Cycle Pure Agarbathies: branding fragrance across the world

Theoretical basis This case facilitates the learning of marketing concepts like segmentation, targetting and positioning, marketing mix, branding strategies and digital marketing strategies. Research methodology The case is written based on the facts available in the public domain and hence it follows secondary data research design. The secondary sources include company websites, industry reports, newspaper articles, social media sites and other online articles and reports. The case is classroom tested with MBA students in digital marketing course and PGDM students in brand management course. Case overview/synopsis Cycle Pure agarbathi, the leading brand of NR Group, became the coveted brand among the households of India. This success amidst high competition can be attributed to the concerted effort on product development coupled with mindful branding. To keep abreast of time and competition the company opted to go digital with an e-portal. Cycle Pure had a digital presence much earlier through social media, but the e-portal www.cycle.in, was a novel attempt. All the fragrance products of the brand were available for consumers through www.cycle.in. Moreover, the product assortment consisted of a collection of top-quality products and auxiliaries linked to multiple categories such as invocation necessities, personal care, air care and lifestyle. Furthermore, using in-house fragrance research lab, the company experimented with local aromas through numerous variants and also extended to related products such as sambrani (benzene) and dhoops. With consistent product augmentations along with access to innovative sectors such as air fresheners, the company expected to grow at a rate of 15%–16% annually. However, the company targeted to grab one-third share in the total market within the next five years. Complexity academic level This case can be used in Marketing Management, Brand Management, Digital marketing and Strategic Marketing courses at the Master’s level. It is suitable for MBA and executive MBA students.

The long-term impact of coaching in an executive MBA program

Purpose The purpose of this qualitative study is to conduct an exploratory investigation of the impact and sustainability of coaching on career and leadership development of students and later, alumni, in an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program. Design/methodology/approach The sample for this qualitative study consisted of 14 alumni of an EMBA program at a private university in the Southwestern US who graduated between January 2012 and May 2019. Eleven alumni participated in the focus groups, and three alumni participated in personal interviews. Findings The open coding of the data resulted in three emergent themes (personal development by overcoming personal deficiencies, coaching translates to learning about leadership and coaching motivates sustained change) that confirmed the positive long-term effect of coaching as part of an EMBA program. Practical implications By participating in an executive coaching engagement, the EMBA students learned a development process that they could repeat for themselves after graduation and transfer to others. In addition, the EMBA students were able to leverage knowledge gained from the coaching experience for the development of others. Originality/value While the positive impacts of coaching are well-documented, its long-term impact on EMBA students/alumni has not yet been studied. This study builds on other evaluative studies to identify the benefits of executive coaching.

Experiential Learning: The Case of Training MBA Students in an Asian School

Consulting for a startup company is an effective way for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students to learn about management consulting, and the ways and means of a startup company. This paper discusses the experience of an MBA startup project within the context of a core corporate finance course. The project requires the active engagement of several groups of stakeholders—MBA students, the university’s entrepreneurship incubator, a selection of startup companies, and the project’s academic collaborators. In line with the literature, we find that entrepreneurship education through student-startup collaboration contributes to the students’ entrepreneurial learning, and that the offering of an experiential learning course provides students with the opportunities to work with the external business community that yield positive benefits for students, startups, and the university. Our findings add to the experiential learning literature in business education and show that practice-based learning offers an effective learning experience for students whereby all stakeholders are exposed to various communities of practice that facilitate multiple streams of learning. We provide insights on experiential learning from the implementation of a “new” learning pedagogy for MBA students at an Asian institute of higher learning.

From small acorns: Using a creative metaphor in postgraduate course design

The acceleration of online education especially during the COVID-19 pandemic has been well documented, and many educational institutions prepared online materials for their learners with great success. Existing fully online programmes, however, continued to operate and be developed as a matter of course. To expand the online Master’s portfolio at the University of York, a new Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme was proposed. The use of a visual metaphor in teaching is not uncommon; however, the metaphor of a tree allows a path to be traced from the roots/key themes to the fruit/key skills. The metaphor works as a template or map showing how programme learning outcomes are linked to module learning outcomes. The tree metaphor also has transferable applications such as embedding employability or decolonising the curriculum. Using the tree as a template enables future-proofing of the course’s integrity, because revisions can be embedded and linked at an ideas stage rather than in a more ad hoc manner. Examining the underpinning concepts which were derived from the University’s strategy, this paper explores the influences on the MBA’s programme design and how the inspiration and subsequent adoption of a metaphorical tree facilitated the construction of a relevant, creative and coherent programme.