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Harvard Business School to Favour people with

Professor Warren McFarlan says move is response to changing job market

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Warren McFarlan, an emeritus professor at Harvard Business School, said that both business school admissions and post-MBA job offers would be “more factory than strategic” in 2009.

McFarlan has served on the School’s faculty for over thirty years, is due to retire for the second time - from his post-retirement role as HBS Baker Foundation Professor - this year. He was speaking to an audience of Chief Information Officers at conference on the future of business and IT.

He said that the School is keen to find students who are not experienced in finance: out with the hedge fund managers and in with what he termed “real jobs” in services, manufacturing, supply chain, retail, transport and utilities.

The traditional MBA destinations, investment banks and management consulting firms, were struggling to maintain hiring in the downturn. Harvard’s response has been not only to direct more of its graduates to other sectors where they are more likely to get hired, but to admit more students with non-finance backgrounds too.

He mentioned ventures set up by his business students to take advantage of the specific opportunities that the recession offers, such as Renttherunway.com, Local-motors.com. McFarlan said he has invested his personal funds in some of them. He described his students as an “energised 20 to 29 year-old cohort”.

In his opinion the most exciting company in today's economy is “BYD”. He then asked whether anyone in the room knew what this company was, and no one could answer. BYD is a Chinese company that is the world’s leading manufacturer of electric cars.

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Comments

7 August 2009

Dear nameless ambassador of renttherunway,

We fully concur with you...who'd snub a good deal? Show your face and register and we'll post an advert for you on the site for free. There's a space on the school list page for plucky entrepreneurs just like you.

BusinessBecause Team

bbadmin

For all of you cynics out there, Professor McFarlan knows what is up - Rent the Runway is going to be the hottest trend in fashion. Sign up now as a founding member on www.renttherunway.com.

Anonymous

26 June 2009

"He said that the School is keen to find students who are not experienced in finance: out with the hedge fund managers and in with what he termed “real jobs” in services, manufacturing, supply chain, retail, transport and utilities."

YEAH RIGHT! Like Harvard is going to do this. This will never happen.

Recipe for getting into Harvard:

- Mckinsey
- ivy league undergrad
- rich dad

Anonymous

17 June 2009

what a smart-ass.

Anonymous

11 June 2009

I'm all for electric cars, and like the bold BYD "Build Your Dreams" ethos. But difficult to take a marketing campaign seriously when the tag line for their F6 model reads "Attention to Safty and Details". What is Safty? Hopefully they pay more attention to the details of building their cars than the wording on their website!
http://www.byd.com/showroom.php?car=f6

Anonymous