|
 Simon Green,
Kone Corporation
HSE MBA Program
Simon Green works in eBusiness development for KONE Corporation, a global elevator and escalator company with annual net sales in excess of 3.5 billion euros. The multinational employs 29,000 people worldwide - no small potatoes, by any means.
When you ask the Helsinki School of Economics MBA graduate to cite a course that helps him maneuver the complex ins-and-outs of life at KONE, Simon responds the MBA entrepreneurship module taught by Andrea Hershatter. This seems strange, at first. How can a module in entrepreneurship help towards work for a major multinational corporation?
"I use the skills I learned in the entrepreneurship course and in the MBA, in general, everyday!" responds Green. The enthusiasm in his voice is genuine. The MBA Green received in 2005 has a concentration in high technology entrepreneurship. "
"My work in global development means that I need to define and implement ways to leverage the online channel in support of the corporation's overall goals."
"From the entrepreneurship module, I learned how to develop ideas and how to present them in a manner that I gain support from outside parties; say from a business angel or venture capital firm if I need financial backing, or support from management. I have to convince management that if we spend X amount of money, we will get Y returns. I learned not to be afraid of ideas, that it is O.K. to think of crazy things at first. But I also learned the practical steps to implement the ideas."
Tailored exercises helped augment the lectures. Green recalls that professor Hershatter gave the class three minutes to think of business ideas and present them to the class. On another day, students were asked to do a presentation on an entrepreneur they admired or on types of entrepreneurship. A Helsinki-based business angel even visited the class and discussed the investments in his portfolio.
Green realizes that it is always good to refresh skills after a few years at work, and says there are certain perils that may follow from not taking occasional academic breaks: "There is the danger that you don't see what is happening in the outside world. When you are in an academic setting, you learn new ideas and get to see things from other people's perspective."
Green's suggestion to fellow students in the midst of studies, or thinking about attending classes, is that they throw themselves into the process. "You can just go along and do the work and be done with it. Or you can throw yourself into it. It's exhausting, in a way, but definitely worth the jump."
|
