POLL - Would Harvard Business School - Executive Management Be Successful if Expanding to Sydney With a Small Campus

metro2012 on 29/01/2020 - 08:56

Hi OZB!

Just a simple poll to get everyone's feelings on this.

As everyone is in different industries, we are looking to see what everyone thinks of top-level Corporate Culture in Sydney (/ around Aus and willing to fly in for the program) and seeing the value in sending their top execs to upskill in a niche Harvard Business School program (ie, they would be offering 2-7 week Senior Executive Leadership Programs, General Management Programs, and potentially Digital Transformation programs.)

It would also open be for execs to enroll themselves, however, we imagine it would be rarer as the price tag would be around ~$60-70k for a targeted 7-week program and so it would be a highly niche audience of top-level management or directors, we envision. Whilst some may think it's a lot of money; if the company stands to gain a great ROI based on the changes that are likely to be implemented by the exec after the upskilling.

Feel free to comment as well with your thoughts on the expansion. It's simply a short assignment, so please be kind, we just want to see what people may think about this happening. :-)

Background:

Our group was tasked to create a small report to present Monday on that argues "Why it's beneficial for Harvard Business School to open an Executive Management campus in Sydney."

The hypothetical case is that they would start very small in Australia and only offer Executive Education, and as demand grew, their offering would grow. We have our own assumptions as a group on this and are researching different aspects that will affect them in the hypothetical expansion however due to how niche the offering would be, combined with it being on its own level when it comes to global brand of executive education, we were going to come from the point of view that there would be a market, albeit relatively small to start, however, with potential for them to offer their MBA program here as well, after they have established themselves better.

Thank you :-)
- Curious Student Group

Poll Options expired

  • 7
    Good Idea for them to enter Australia
  • 11
    Not a good idea for them to enter Australia
Education & Work

Comments

  • Seraphin7 on 29/01/2020 - 09:13
    +8

    The value of these courses, beyond what you are taught, is meeting other people from around the world to (1) learn from their experiences and (2) build a global network of contacts. Effectively limiting the cohort of students in the way you've described detracts from the course value.

    • metro2012 on 30/01/2020 - 11:11
      +1

      Great point indeed!

  • Kail on 29/01/2020 - 09:32
    +4

    I can't imagine a positive ROI with that kind of price tag, and I think a lot of businesses would be reluctant to spend that much money on training. You can get an entire Masters degree for a lot less than that so for a 2-7 week course, that's a big ask. Which means that the classes would be very small, seriously limiting the amount of networking these execs could do.

    • metro2012 on 30/01/2020 - 11:10

      Great point. It's more of a targeted program offering for those with specific needs and many of the case studies we've seen show that the alumni of the short programs took the learnings back to their companies and believed they got a great ROI for the course. All is relative though and whilst the programs may be out of many business budgets, multi-nationals etc are able to potentially make millions if better systems/ innovations are rolled out in their organizations. - Great feedback though as very relevant to just how small their market may be.

  • Muzeeb on 29/01/2020 - 09:38
    +1

    If you register with the cash back sites then count me in.

    Preferably like those vpn offerings - 90%

  • orangetrain on 29/01/2020 - 09:53

    If I'm not going to meet the next Bill Gates then count me out.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/01/2020 - 10:03
    +1

    Are there entry standards other than money?

    • TheMindsetTraveller on 29/01/2020 - 10:10
      +3

      Extremely difficult to get into any Ivy League School, with or without money.

    • metro2012 on 30/01/2020 - 11:04

      Hope not! ;-) The financial part is much higher than others however HBS Executive Education appears extremely particular in who it accepts as also wants to see those accepted are at similar levels in business and that the applicants desire appropriate outcomes as a result of the course. (ie: Professional pursuits) - A large part of their assessment seems to be the level of success already experienced by the person applying. It's a different product and far more targeted compared to very long (time-wise) MBAs. ie: If you're an exec at a company and your CEO wants a better offering and to innovate, they may pay the fee for you to go to the HBS program and implement what you've learnt, back in the company. They will (hypothetically) learn what programs/ products are best suited for Australia however best starting small and targeted and being open to learning what people would actually go there for.

  • Hithere on 29/01/2020 - 10:20
    +1

    Will they accept Flybuys and Woolies EDR cards?

  • HighAndDry on 29/01/2020 - 10:43
    +3

    The value for Harvard would be greater access to the Australasian and South East Asia market, which is currently experiencing very fast growth in local and regional economies and in the financial services sector.

    Basically, location.

    But you wouldn't cheapen the Harvard brand by offering cheap or short courses. You would start with full service full fee offerings.

  • Muten-Roshi on 29/01/2020 - 10:48
    -1

    Why Sydney and not Melbourne?

    • Archi on 29/01/2020 - 12:08
      +1

      probably targeting Chinese international students, and there is probably more in Sydney than melbourne

  • brendanm on 29/01/2020 - 11:23
    +3

    Do your own homework.

    • Archi on 29/01/2020 - 12:09
      +1

      that's what the school is teaching you, why waste time doing things yourself when you can crowd source your material for you.

    • metro2012 on 30/01/2020 - 10:52
      -1

      Hehe. We are however theory and local opinions are very different. It's a short assignment and we wanted to at least check in to see what others thought, OZB has a wide range of people here and it means differing opinions. :-)

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