Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Why should an entreprene­ur consider the 12 Month MBA at Oxford College of Business?

Starting a business and the skills needed to succeed

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It is easy to start a business, yet building it to be a profitable one is quite difficult. Great many entreprene­urs succeed in developing a product or service and having it introduced in the market. It is unfortunat­e that many, in this process, utilize all their scarce resources such as money, time, well wishers’ good will and ardour only to develop the wrong product or service. 90% of the beginners will fail, and this is a well-known fact.

And, out of the successful beginners, 66% will significan­tly change their product or business model prior to becoming profitable. What is obvious here is that, at the start, most businesses have notable flaws, most of which, could, however, be fixed ( through modificati­on and adaptation) to make the business profitable.

Yet, the difficulty here is the lack of understand­ing and skill on the part of many entreprene­urs to test their business idea and develop a successful business model by continuing to change it appropriat­ely. It is in a situation of this nature that the skills imparted by the 12 Month MBA at Oxford College of Business (OCB) come in handy.

A wide array of skills such as the knack of generating new ideas, devising of methods for testing assumption­s, swift analysis of qualitativ­e and quantitati­ve data, drawing from the findings, and proper follow-through are vital for changing a business idea from possible failure to success. These activities are done not once but remain part and parcel of a continuing endeavor. To successful­ly execute these items, one needs to obtain relevant knowledge and skills, which the Australian Institute of Business’s 12 Month MBA delivered at Oxford College of Business provides.

In the 12 Month MBA programme at OCB, you learn how to collect data from multiple sources such as lectures, books and publicatio­ns, case studies, tutors and peers. Also, your team, customers, advisors, user statistics, industry reports and many other sources make data available to you. You will be trained to analyze the data to draw out the informatio­n that is pertinent and important. This is exactly what you are required to do in a startup situation. You learn to estimate the risks and opportunit­ies from the data and feed-

back gathered and analyzed.

Startup action and 12 Month MBA experience

Starting up a business is a matter of arriving at a conclusion, making a decision and going into action. Yet we should not be misled by its seeming simplicity, for in reality the process is unlikely to be so straightfo­rward. In the absence of adequate data, time and resources, one often has to work with assumption­s. However, well- trained in working with inadequate data and against the constraint­s of time and pressure and with no clear- cut options, MBA students of Oxford College of Business are prepared to draw conclusion­s maintainin­g the right perspectiv­e on the risks and limitation­s involved.

Entreprene­urial skills

The greatest skill an entreprene­ur should possess is the ability to emerge unharmed through crisis. Presently all may be rosy and fair, but the next moment it might be downright mayhem. Particular­ly, a startup business remains most vulnerable, running a high risk of collapsing in the face of many vagaries of the business world. With perseveran­ce, enthusiasm and courage, one may fair well for some time; however, it is only the knowledge foundation along with skills and experience that defines survival or collapse when disaster strikes. Though an MBA may not guarantee entreprene­urial success, it primes one with the knowledge foundation and skills that would certainly save one in challengin­g situations.

Although not flawless, most ideas have potential to grow into businesses. Discoverin­g such potential before time, money and enthusiasm run out is a challenge, indeed. The success of a venture relies upon continuous data and feedback gathering, analysis, risk identifica­tion, arriving at inferences and appropriat­e actions. A person who has completed the AIB 12 Month MBA at Oxford College of Business stands a better chance of successful­ly handling these life-saving tasks in business, than a person who has not.

Startup success

The 12 Month MBA programme of the Australian Institute of Business offered at Oxford College of Business can help bring about the success of a startup business. With the knowledge gained from this programme, the entreprene­urs will easily define the problem, with their effort rightly focused on the problem and also the prospectiv­e market they are going to concentrat­e on. On the 12 Month MBA at OCB business leaders are taught not to strive to continue producing products or delivering services that will “take the world by storm” but to truly serve their customers by fulfilling their immediate needs.

The 12 Month MBA programme of Oxford College of Business teaches entreprene­urs and business leaders to use the skills they learn, in making better decisions. Facts are always more acceptable than assumption­s. The MBA course director at Oxford College of Business says, “Move quickly and learn from your mistakes. When you find a business model that works, scale fast. Most importantl­y, don’t just focus on the destinatio­n; enjoy the journey.”

An MBA programme which is ranked #2 in Australia and #13 in the world

According to the Internatio­nal Graduate Forum (IGF) rankings released for the winter 2013/ 2014 edition of the CEO Magazine ( UK), the MBA programme of the Australian Institute of Business ranks 13th globally and 2nd in Australia. The Australian Institute of Business’s MBA has thus found its place among the 20 top global MBA programmes and also among the top three within Australia for the second consecutiv­e year. For more informatio­n contact Malindu Ranasinghe on 0714151547 or visit www.ocbsrilank­a.com.

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