Benoit Mandelbrot Critiques the “Efficient Markets” Hypothesis

In a fascinating in-depth interview with John Authers, 85-year old mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot discusses his now 40-year old groundbreaking critique of the “efficient markets” hypothesis and why new theories on price movement discontinuities are needed after the credit crunch. [Hat Tip to FinanceProfessor.com]

Editor’s Note: there are two parts to this video so after watching the first wait for the second to automatically load and begin … [ Read more ]

Bankers pay is deeply flawed

The typical manager of financial assets generates returns based on the systematic risk he takes – the so-called beta risk – and the value his abilities contribute to the investment process – his so-called alpha. Shareholders in asset management firms, such as commercial banks, investment banks and private equity or insurance companies are unlikely to pay the manager much for returns from beta risk. What … [ Read more ]

Q&A: How valuable are online MBAs?

The number of schools offering online MBAs has risen sharply in recent years. But do these distance learning programmes carry the weight of their full-time counterparts and how are they perceived by potential recruiters?

The following panel of experts answered your questions about online and distance learning MBAs: Clive Holtham, professor of information management and director of Cass Learning Laboratory, Cass Business School, London; Matty … [ Read more ]

Lucy Kellaway

For people in any position of authority the ability to say no is the most important skill there is. . . . No, you can’t have a pay rise. No, you can’t be promoted. No, you can’t travel club class. . . . An illogical love of Yes is the basis for all modern management thought. The ideal modern manager is meant to be enabling, … [ Read more ]

Financial Times European business schools 2007

Financial Times’ collection of articles and rankings focused on European business schools.

MBA Gym

MBA Gym is designed to give you some useful insights into what you might learn at business school. Each “workout” provides a free 15-minute introduction to some key business ideas. The purpose is to help you decide if an MBA could help you go further.

Deans’ Roundtable

A rountable discussion between the deans of 11 top business schools was hosted by the the University of Chicago graduate school of business on July 10, 2007. The Financial Times brings you the audio as well as four extracts from the discussion:
– In the first extract, the discussion turned to the differences between European and US-based business schools.
– In the second extract, … [ Read more ]

Financial Times EMBA Rankings

Compare data for the top EMBAs as compiled in this ranking. Use the interactive table to sort the data and find the best program.

Spotlight on MBA Curricula

A report looking at the relevance of MBA programmes suggests that criticisms that the curricula falls short of what today’s global managers need, may be justified.

The report – How relevant is the MBA? Assessing the alignment of MBA curricula and managerial competencies – finds that although essential managerial skills are being taught, there are nevertheless “significant gaps”, specifically in the area of so-called soft skills. … [ Read more ]

Top tips to make the best acquisition, or not

Getting a good deal has never been easy, but picking the right acquisition target is doubly challenging these days, placing an even higher value on a key ingredient in the success of private equity firms: the discipline to walk away.

Gary Hamel

Companies miss the future not because they’re fat and lazy — they mostly aren’t any more — but because they’re blind.

Gary Hamel

What makes the idea of cross-selling so insidious is that it is half-right. Customers do want to conserve their energies when they shop. They like, for example, to be able to buy a pint of milk and a gallon of petrol at the same service station. It is also true that what you learn about a customer in one selling context can sometimes be profitably … [ Read more ]

Stephen Overell

The consensus among economists is that the truly momentous changes in working life since the second world war have been in four areas: the decline in manufacturing, the feminisation of work, the growth in part-time work and increasing professional-ism in the workforce…all these trends are likely to continue.

Competitive Fitness of Global Firms

Professor Jean-Claude Larreche of INSEAD heads an initiative that effectively quantifies the Competitive Fitness of Global Firms. He has published a report each year since 1998, providing an evaluation of the business capabilities of firms among the 500 largest in North America and Europe. Instead of relying on the short-term, financial information that is so easy to find on business corporations, his report delves deeper … [ Read more ]

And Now for Something Completely Paradoxical

“In an age when every idea has a correspondingly heavy downside, managers must try to balance polar opposites: ‘paradox management’, as it has been called. ‘Effectiveness is inherently paradoxical,’ says Paul Evans . . . ‘To be effective, an organisation must possess attributes that are contradictory, even mutually exclusive.’ To its proponents, managing paradox is not just a fancy way of sitting on the fence … [ Read more ]

Less is more

Despite the fall-out from the collapse of Enron, companies are outsourcing everything from manufacturing to human resources. Simon London asks how far re-engineering will go.