Why is work experience crucial for MBA students?

Date: June 4th, 2007 Category; Uncategorized

Today I took part in a conference at the Vereiningung der Bayerischen Wirtschaft (Federation of Bavarian Industries) in Munich, Germany. MBA students and professors from Arizona State University met with Munich business people. In a plenary session and in small groups, we examined cross-cultural issues in doing business globally. Many thanks to Kelvin Strausman for organizing the event!

Athena Mentor suspects that many of our American readers don’t yet know that in Germany, not only workers have unions. The VBW is a sort of union for–employers! So you see, we all have a lot to learn about how business is done in different countries.

We discussed differences in labor laws, education, marketing–and even the importance of accepting an invitation to the home of a German colleague. It’s an honor! Be sure to bring flowers . . .

Though this may have been the first trip to Europe for some of our guests, the visiting MBA students all had considerable business experience. In this video, Prof. Laurie Anderson of ASU explains why work experience is crucial to success in an MBA program