The SouRCe Term 2 2016 by MBS SRC

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p 1 3 MBS at the 2016 Graduate Business Conference in Switzerland

table of contents From the Editors

From the SRC President

Message from The Dean

Inside Clubs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Getting to Know the WAM Club

Mastering Business Analytics

7th Annual Hult Prize Challenge

Ethics and Big Data

Outgoing Student Exchanges

Inspiring Journeys â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Student Profiles FT and PT

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Incoming Exchange Student Profiles

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MBusA Student Profile and Cup Propaganda

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2016 Graduate Business Conference

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Alumni Spotlight: Enrico Rizzon

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Announcement Board and Calendar of Events

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MBS Student Representative Council 200 Leicester Street Carlton VIC 3053 Australia t f email website

+61 3 9349 8400 +61 3 9349 8404 src @ mbs.edu mbssrc.com.au

facebook.com/MBSSRC twitter.com/MBSSRC

From the editors Welcome to the Term 2, 2016 edition of The SouRCe. In this edition, our featured article highlights the MBS Centre for Business Analytics, now in its second year, by hearing from the Program Director, Professor Ujwal Kayande. The program equips candidates with the language of technology, mathematics and business in the globally competitive data age. We also discuss ethical issues around big data with Associate Professor Sven Feldmann, who enthusiastically shares his point of view around this topic.

Furthermore, we take a sneak peek at our outgoing exchange students from all over the globe and share some of their experiences with you. We also get to know some of our current Full-Time, Part-Time, EMBA, MBusA and incoming exchange students. A special thank you to all faculty members and students who contributed to this edition. If you are interested in contributing to the next edition of The SouRCe, please email us at <src@mbs.edu>

As your editors, we are excited to bring you an edition that encapsulates many facets of the MBS community. We hope you find this edition reSouRCeful and entertaining. Smit Dave Full Time MBA Student 2016 Chelsia Tanoto MBA Part Time January 2015 Emma Young MBA Part Time July 2015

From the SRC President and I look forward to continuing to roll out new functionality as the year progresses. A MyMBS store for MBS merchandise is next, and soon we will have all clubs on MyMBS to improve transparency and make it easier for us to see how we can get involved.

Phil neckers My friends and fellow students: what a fantastic start to the year we’ve had at Melbourne Business School. Our first quarter drinks saw a record turnout of 200 students, and I dare say everybody had a good time. It is fantastic to see our student community so engaged. I write this in the lead-up to the SRC Ball, which by now has come and gone. MyMBS proved itself to be a valuable addition to the school community,

Speaking of getting involved, I trust we all share some excitement in the lead-up to The Cup. This will be round two for me, and many other Part-Time MBA students who got involved last year. Believe us when we all say what a fantastic experience it is. This year, the goal is to see The Cup returned to MBS. I believe we have a solid chance and am confident a strong showing from our community will help get us over the line. There’s plenty to get excited about for The Cup, from our very own Olympian, to a stronger basketball team that put on quite a show last year. From 24 to 26 June, let’s put our best foot forward, MBS! I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage some reflection. We are

approaching the time of year where many familiar faces we see every day will no longer be here. I’ll never forget being at the after-graduation drinks with last year’s graduating class as they said goodbye to each other. Many were taking jobs that would see them move overseas without knowing when they’d be back. Time flies at MBS and it’s bittersweet at the end of the journey. If you’re finishing soon, make the most of your time left and think about how you might be able to leave something behind that will make MBS a better place than when you started. For our club leaders, that can be something as simple as a wellstructured club handover. If you’re only just beginning your journey, don’t wait to get involved. There are opportunities everywhere, and if you want to be involved in the SRC in particular, you know where to find us. Phil Neckers SRC President | MBS SRC MBA Part Time September 2014

Message from the dean In the last edition of The SouRCe, I provided an in-depth update on Project One School – our brand development strategy – which is building on research by Adjunct Professor Mark Ritson to ensure our internal organisation delivers on our brand promise of being a world-class, career-enhancing and elite provider of business education. No one knows MBS as well as our students and I want to thank all of you who participated in the Project One School workshops and subsequent survey that was circulated by your SRC President, Phil Neckers. I also thank Phil and your SRC for their support. Your candid insights about your experiences at MBS have been invaluable and will continue to inform the further development and refinement of our strategy, and I look forward to sharing more about this with you in the next edition.

Zeger Degraeve Recently, our School welcomed a new intake of Part-Time MBA students and EMBA and SEMBA classes of 2017. It is always wonderful meeting our new students and welcoming them into the MBS community, which is made up of truly outstanding students and alumni, world-class faculty and dedicated staff. The MBS community is here to support you and celebrate your success during and well after your studies with MBS – I strongly encourage you to make the most of it while studying and after graduating by networking, attending events and making the most of the connections our School has with the business community here in Australia and overseas.

This brings me to four outstanding Full-Time MBA students who have represented MBS on the world stage, competing in the Hult Prize regional finals in San Francisco in March. Amy Zhu, Smit Dave, Alex Block and Abhi Ancharya competed against thousands of university students in the famous social entrepreneurship competition. While our MBS team didn’t make the finals, I am incredibly proud of their achievements in reaching the regional finals, which demonstrate the calibre of our students and the many real-world opportunities you can take advantage of during your time with us.

Finally, you may have heard that MBS and the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) have been jointly re-accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education and has been earned by less than five per cent of the world’s business schools. Our re-accreditation demonstrates to potential students and the broader MBS community that we are a worldclass school, and will continue to help us attract the highest calibre of student and leadership talent across our programs. Until next time! Zeger Degraeve Dean

Inside Clubs: Get ting to Know the WAM Club The Women and Management (WAM) Club is a student-run club that aims to provide a supportive platform to discuss women and management-related issues affecting workplaces globally.

What is the WAM Club? WAM is about addressing issues such as: the glass ceiling; a lack of female representation in the C suite; the percentage of females choosing careers in STEM; challenges faced by female entrepreneurs; gender diversity in MBA courses; and the gender pay gap. There is a growing movement in Australia supporting gender diversity in management positions. There are many initiatives in place within organisations to drive change from within. There is mounting pressure on both male and female executives to lead by example. Australian companies are attempting to forge the way and show the world that gender equality in the workplace can be achieved. But are these initiatives working? Are they being led by truly inspirational leaders seeking to make a difference or are they token programs to make shareholders believe they are moving with the times? Are the maternity and paternity leave schemes successful or is it frowned upon to take advantage of them? The WAM Club aims to host events to discuss some of these questions. The Club revolves around its members and their needs and wants. There has been a push in the last couple of years to ensure both male and female students and alumni become involved in the Club, which has been greatly supported by this year’s leadership and members.

What has the WAM Club done so far? In November 2015, the Club hosted ‘Springle’. The purpose of this event was twofold: to provide a networking opportunity for members and to introduce the new leadership team; and, most importantly, to evaluate what the members expectations were for the Club. There was an excellent turnout of both male and female alumni. The main highlight from this session was that members were eager to learn more about what they could do in current and future organisations to foster gender equality in the workplace. And, as future leaders, how they could drive truly meaningful change in their businesses. This feedback led to the creation of the event ‘Agents of Change’. The speakers were McKinsey & Company Associate Elly Brown, Conversant Asia Pacific Managing Director Colin Pidd and ANZ CFO Global Technology, Services and Operations Anthea Kane. The guests spoke about gender equality in the workplace and their views on how Australian organisations are tackling and implementing change. The key messages were clear and insightful. Anthea talked about the need for management to lead by example so that it is acceptable and comfortable for staff (both male and female) to take advantage of flexible working hours, which can help with bringing parents back into the workplace.

Elly is involved with Male Champions of Change, whose stated aim is that “We need more decent, powerful men to step up beside women in building a gender equal world”. This group is driving change from the top down within their organisations. Elly spoke about the need for “targets with teeth”: encouraging workplaces not to simply state gender quotas but to link these quotas to management KPIs and bonuses to see a real result. Colin highlighted the need for organisations to understand what is holding them back from successful change by understanding the people within and learning that most people merely wish to be valued.

What’s next? The Club is excited to support the 2016 Annual Women and Management Dinner on 6 June. It promises to be an engaging evening, with discussion from MBS Professor Isabel Metz, Deloitte Australia CEO Cindy Hook, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins and Aurizon CEO Lance Hockridge. If you’re interested, or if you have any questions about the Club, please contact Ciara O’Sullivan <cosullivan@student. unimelb.edu.au>

Mastering Business Analytics success in harnessing technology and data. Our motivation in designing the MBusA program was to develop graduates who will constitute that intellectual capital of the future.

With the Master of Business Analytics program now in its second year at MBS, Professor Ujwal Kayande reflects on the role of the Centre for Business Analytics and the merits of studying for a MBusA.

Can you throw some light on the vision of the Centre for Business Analytics at the MBS? The Centre’s vision is to be viewed as a global thought leader in transforming decision-making with data. We aim to realise our vision by (i) conducting world-class analytics research that impacts industry, and (ii) educating future generations of business professionals on how data can inform and transform their decision-making. By realising our vision, we will be viewed as a key catalyst in helping Australian businesses become globally competitive in the data age.

What was the motivation behind designing the MBusA course? Creating and capturing value requires organisations to harness technology and data. Intellectual capital is the fundamental – and at the same time, scarce – resource in being able to achieve

How does the role of the MBusA student differ from a regular data analyst? The MBusA program design rests on developing tri-linguists – graduates who can fluently speak the language of technology, mathematics and business. Data analysts tend to sit in the backrooms doing what they are told. Our graduates will lead by helping define problems, generating insight on how to solve those problems, and effectively communicating thoseinsights. Our graduates are also different from ‘business analysts’, who tend to be experts on describing data with reports. Our graduates can do that, but also diagnose, predict, prescribe and communicate – that is, close the loop on informing and transforming decision-making.

What sort of industry engagement has been articulated in the curriculum? What has been the response from industry? Industry has been engaged right from the start. The core design principles were developed with input from our Industry Advisory Board, whose members are leaders in influencing the use of data in Australian organisations. The response from industry has been fantastic – we had four named scholarships in the first year of the program, with a named prize for the top student from

the cohort. We have far more companies interested in sponsoring practicum project this year than we have students, which is indicative of the demand from industry for the type of graduates we are producing.

How do you see the advent of cloud computing affecting the need for data scientists? Do you think MBusA students would have an edge in fulfilling this demand? Cloud computing is just another way to process data, but it does enable greater use and easier sharing of data. Our installation of SAS is in the cloud, so students are already familiar in this regard. But I don’t think this is what differentiates our graduates. The one aspect that does differentiate them is that they have unicorn-like skills – that is, the ability to combine technology, mathematics and business insights.

Do you think an elective focusing on ‘Data Science’ for MBA students will be helpful? There is already an excellent elective called Business Analytics at MBS. It covers quite some ground, but of course one could always do more. My view is that it is far more important for MBA graduates to understand what data can do for you and how your organisation can become more data-driven – rather than focus too much on obtaining technical skills. But if an MBA graduate is still enamoured by the romance of shooting from the gut, then they will be left behind very quickly.

7th Annual Hult Prize Challenge Four Full-Time MBS students competed at the regional finals of the Hult Prize in San Francisco in March. They sat down with The SouRCe to tell us all about their experience. At the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in September last year, President Bill Clinton announced the 7th annual Hult Prize Challenge. Students from colleges across the world were asked to build sustainable and scalable social enterprises aimed at doubling the income of 10 million people residing in crowded urban spaces by better connecting people, goods, services and capital. The first round of competition asked teams to write a business proposal outlining the key challenges, ideas around the business model and a short pitch. The team from MBS – Full-Time students Abhi Acharya, Alex Block, Amy Zhu and Smit Dave – competed against more than 25,000 entries from around the world and made it through the first round and into the regional finals in San Francisco. At the regional finals, teams were asked to pitch their idea to an executive jury made up of regional CEOs, non-profit leaders and social entrepreneurs, including John Furrier, Co-Founder of SiliconANGLE; Jeetu Patel, Chief Strategy Officer at Box; Andre Martin, Chief Learning Officer at Nike; and Margarita Quihuis, Co-Director of Peace Innovation Lab at Stanford. The MBS team presented an idea that focused on leasing out rechargeable batteries for domestic use in energy deficit areas by riding power bikes, which gives the crowded urban residents

In addition to MBS, this year’s competitors included Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Wharton and UCLA.

a chance to make additional income. The idea was well received by the judges and followed up with a few tough questions around financial and industry analysis. “The Hult Prize is an extremely rewarding opportunity to focus on improving the lives of those who are unable to help themselves,” says Alex. “It was great to be a part of this experience and be able to meet like-minded people from other business schools and universities in San Francisco.” As the Hult Prize takes a more regional focus, in 2017 Melbourne Business School should certainly look to participate in tackling the most difficult problems faced by millions around the world. “I have always been interested in contributing to society and helping people who genuinely need it,” says Abhi. “By utilising the management toolkit and knowledge in areas such as finance, marketing and operations, we got a chance to pitch the idea in the most effective way possible.” Amy says the opportunity to represent Melbourne Business School on a global stage and compete with students from top business schools was the most rewarding aspect. “Applying the concepts learnt in classroom to a real-world challenge takes a lot more than just presentation skills,” she says.

“We would like to thank MBS for sponsoring us,” says Smit. “In particular, Professor Kwanghui Lim was instrumental in helping us use the Innovation Bootcamp to investigate the ideas as well as pivot in the right direction. I’m incredibly proud of the way our team worked together to develop a time-critical, effective solution, which was possible due to the syndicate case-based approach at MBS. I truly understood what ‘Global

“It was great to be a part of this experience and be able to meet like-minded people from other business schools...” Business Leaders’ meant when standing on the stage in front of the most senior audience.” It is hoped that more students will take part in competitions like the Hult Prize in the future, to showcase the real-world capabilities MBS students have facilitated by the collaborative work environment at Melbourne Business School.

Ethics and Big Data environmental regulation was adopted to curb the noxious impact of business activity on the ecology.

Sven Feldmann Although there are currently few guidelines for how a company uses its customers’ data, Associate Professor Sven Feldmann says business should prepare itself for tighter regulations around data analytics in the future. In a scene from Mad Men – the iconic AMC TV show about advertising executives in the golden age of the 1960s – protagonist Don Draper takes his family out for a picnic at a park. Upon finishing up, he throws his beer can into the trees while Betty shakes out the picnic blanket and folds it up tidily, leaving behind all the trash they’d created on the green grass. Neither even looks back as they get into the car and drive home. The scene seems shocking today: how could a well-educated, upper-middleclass family have such callous disregard for the environment? In the early 1960s, however, this behaviour would have been the norm. At that time, companies also dumped contaminants into the air, waters and waste sites, and used harmful chemicals in production and agriculture without much thought or inhibition. Anti-litter campaigns emerged in the late 1960s, and progressively tighter

Today we are seeing behaviour similar to the Draper family’s with respect to the treatment of customer data. Advances in technology allow companies to harvest richer and more detailed data about their customers, yet the norms and ethics around the use of these data are in their infancy as they were on environmental issues in the mid 20th century. The collection and analysis of detailed customer data holds amazing promises and raises some concerns, but there are few frameworks or norms that currently guide a manager’s decision making around this issue. Consider the following scenarios. Some day in the near future, if not already today, Facebook will know and track its users’ mood.1 This information could be used to provide ads for anti-depressants or chocolate to those feeling blue and advertise holiday resorts or trendy bars to happy ones. LinkedIn – now or in the future – knows whether someone is looking for a job. Targeting job postings to them increases the likelihood of clickthrough. Even more effective, though, may be to provide a list of job-seekers to head-hunters. The company may inadvertently find itself in a position where the choice of which recruiter gets the list or which user shows up on a given recruiter’s list may affect thousands of people’s careers. By analysing purchases through its loyalty program, a supermarket chain may not only be able to predict which brands and items a customer prefers, but also infer lifestyle behaviours, such as eating habits, alcohol use and sugar intake, and could thus be able to predict health outcomes for the customer, such as diabetes, heart disease, or alcohol abuse. Should this knowledge be shared with

the customer so that they can adjust their lifestyle? Should it be shared with a health insurer so that health policies can be customised to accurately reflect the individual health risk? Should the data be shared with government health agencies to target individualised health education or interventions to match the health risks? Or should the data be accessible to the supermarket chain which collected it to be used for its own marketing purposes only? Few guidelines are available to managers today to evaluate these questions. A prevailing mantra among managers seems to be: What data can we collect, and how can we make money with it? Correspondingly, terms of service are crafted – and regularly updated – to impose as few restrictions as possible on the company’s use of the data, sometimes with a meek assurance that any data shared with third parties will not contain personal information.2 There is, in principle, nothing wrong with this view, except that focusing on the benefits to the company may lead the manager to inadvertently ignore some of the potential downsides of unrestricted data use. Note that the collection of data relies on a sustained relationship with the customer. Participation in a company’s loyalty program, sharing of personal events on a social networking site, or the continued use of a web portal requires earning and retaining the customer’s trust. Some customers may not care about how their data is used. There is a difference, though, whether these customers are genuinely unconcerned because they accept their lives to be an open book, or whether they simply have no idea what their data may be used for and how this might affect them, be it in positive or in negative ways. Others are intrinsically concerned, rightly or wrongly, about the unrestricted use of their data. When WhatsApp, the

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/07/military-already-using-facebook-track-moods/87793/

In a customer-focused view, the use of his or her data must demonstrate value to the customer.

largest messaging network, was acquired by Facebook, millions of users switched to rival providers such as Telegram or Threema as they did not trust Facebook to responsibly protect their privacy. Facebook apparently thinks that the risk of losing users is not very high. But a loss of trust may also induce more subtle changes in customer behaviour. Customers may stop using a loyalty card, frequent other portals, use privacyprotection when visiting a web site, or share less personal information on the social networking site. Besides affecting sales directly, these changes may degrade the quality of the data collected and thus reduce the value of the analytics.

A third perspective on how to use customer data is a CSR perspective. The question to ask under this lens is: how does the use of data (vs. the protection of privacy) create value for stakeholders overall? By looking at the broader impact of using or sharing data, a broader range of consequences will come to the manager’s attention. This does not necessarily make the decision easier, but it removes blindspots and helps avoid problems that could have costly consequences or provoke regulation and government action later on.

The ethics of Big Data and data analytics is a relatively uncharted arena with few regulations and constraints in place. But how a company handles customer data can affect its reputation and future in the market place. And just as environmental conduct during the baby-boom era was followed by strict regulations, we should prepare ourselves for more rigorous norms, regulation and constraints in the area of data analytics in the future. Sven Feldmann Associate Professor | MBS

See e.g. http://www.clickwrapped.com/results

Outgoing Student Exchanges Vappu is one of the biggest holidays in Finland along with Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Midsummer. It begins on 30 April and continues

through to 1 May, with the whole of Helsinki turning into a giant carnival. The streets and parks are full of locals wearing their high school graduation

caps (the white caps in the photo) and uni students their faculty overalls.

 Aaron Yeak (PT MBA) at Aalto University School of Business – Helsinki, Finland Benedict Quinlan (PT MBA) at HKUST – Hongkong, China 

 Tai Jia Lee (PT MBA) at Wirtschaftsuniversitat Wien (WU) – Vienna, Austria

Rishi Garg (PT MBA) at Kellogg School of Management - Chicago, USA 

inspiring journeys Two current MBA students – one Full Time, the other Part Time – share the challenges and rewards of their MBS journey.

Yvette Chan (Full-Time MBA, Class of 2016)

Why did you choose MBS for your MBA? Going into a well-respected school was my main goal. I realised that a one-year program would be quite intense but the School’s practical approach and highimpact curriculum were key selling points.

Sam Leetham (Part-Time MBA, april 2014)

The Business in Asia practicum allowed the students to work with Australian companies that wanted to increase their presence in China. To me, the value of this is that it requires you to delve deep into cross-cultural business dynamics.

syndicate assignments or other group work. It is here that conflicting work ethics and team dynamics really play out, which takes some getting used to, but once you do get to know the people, you find that everyone is amazing.

What are the greatest challenges of doing the MBA?

Tell us about your MBS experience so far and your plans for life after graduation

Moving to a new country was a major challenge. I was living in Manila, and Melbourne is definitely a polar opposite. Accommodating day-time classes and schoolwork throughout the week, coupled with the hassles of settling in a new place, was quite overwhelming. Also, interacting and working with people from various cultures is not something you can learn overnight. Our cohort has more than 15 nationalities, so a challenge was to understand the cultural contexts via

It has given me a whole new perspective on different cultures and on business education. It has helped me build that network and drive to narrow down on my career aspirations. I plan to stay and work in Australia post-MBA, particularly in the urban planning sector. I believe there is so much you can do in this industry with B-School education, and working on different projects in an everevolving space excites me.

continued to build a robust reputation across all these pillars – so the decision itself became quite automatic.

in May and having reflected on the last two years, it’s been an amazing journey. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with top teaching faculty, make some strong friends and business relationships, live and study abroad in Switzerland and contribute to active projects for brands from AT Kearney to the World Economic Forum. I’m currently consulting with the internal strategy team at MercedesBenz in Australia along with a few fledgling start-ups – and I certainly see my immediate post-graduation time working with these brands to create sustainable commercial and community value. I’m also about to get hitched in September so that will be a fantastic celebration to close out my time as a Melbourne Business School student.

What are the greatest challenges of doing the MBA part-time?

Why did you choose MBS for your MBA? When I was canvassing potential options for my MBA, I remember weighing up the traditional combination of global recognition, network potential and international mobility. MBS has since

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Managing expectations of key people around me – including faculty, syndicate members, wider cohort peers, family, friends and work colleagues. I think most people come into an MBA with the technical toolkit to achieve strong results – but it’s the ability to manage your time in a way that allows you to make an impact which is critical and this is fundamentally a question of massaging the expectations of those around you. Tell us about your MBS experience so far and your plans for life after graduation The MBS MBA experience has been incredible. I completed Capstone

GRAHAM VAN DAMME (semba, 2014)

Why an MBS SEMBA? As a business owner, I have over the years gained a very broad set of skills and knowledge, but limited in depth in running my business, a jack-of-alltrades. The reason I wanted to do an MBA was to deepen that skill set in the science of business. I selected the MBS SEMBA program because I wanted to collaborate and leverage off others who had years of experience in their fields and the new structure of 10 nine-day modules allowed me to concentrate the workload in a manageable period of time without disrupting my business. What has been the greatest challenge you’ve faced during your program? From an academic point of view, nothing. However, over the last three

Incoming Student Exchange

ANITA GIERBL (MA, Accounting & Finance) University of St Gallen

Austrian native Anita Gierbl joins MBS for Term 2 from Switzerland’s University of St Gallen.

years, since acquiring the business, we have seen a reasonably large revenue decline, which required a number of actions to turn the business around. Using the tools from the MBA, we have been able to return the business to growth and substantially improve the profitability and cash flow position of the business. What will you do when you finish your program and how will the SEMBA benefit your career? Focus on growing my business. I have already seen a real and meaningful return on my investment in the SEMBA within the business, and no doubt this will continue as I implement the learnings from the program.

I am originally from Mondsee, a small town in Austria, but I am pursuing my Masters degree in Accounting and Finance at the well-known University of St Gallen in Switzerland.

What brought me to MBS? Well, to be honest, I wanted to go as far as possible away from home and somewhere I had never been before – mission accomplished, I would say.

Before arriving in Melbourne, I had already seen quite a bit of the world. While doing an exchange semester in my undergraduate studies in Hong Kong, I used the chance to explore China, Taiwan and South-East Asia with my backpack. After finishing my undergraduate studies in Austria, I felt the urge to pack my backpack again and discover South America. Ready to settle down for a while, I worked at Auxilia Accounting in New York City and gained some work experience at KPMG, PwC and Credit Suisse.

At MBS I am taking Operations, Game Theory for Business Strategy and Business Analytics. I am really enchanted by the very warm welcome I received from all of you. Since day one I have felt like a full member of the MBS community. A big thank-you for being so welcoming and helpful with everything. I am looking forward to meeting many more people from the MBS community and being inspired by their life story and the wisdom they share with me.

Besides being passionate about travelling, I am also very enthusiastic about accounting, which leads me to my next big dream – pursuing a PhD in Accounting. On the journey to that dream, I have the honour and the privilege to study for a term at MBS.

Please do not hesitate to approach me if you have any questions regarding my university or doing an exchange in general. I can highly recommend an exchange term to everyone, because it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore a different part and culture of the world.

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MBusA student Godfrey Cheung (MBusA, 2016)

Why an MBS MBusA?

How will you use your MBusA?

After finishing my Bachelor of Commerce degree, I want to further develop my practical and professional knowledge. I believe that big data and AI will drive incredible innovation in the world and so I decided to continue my learning journey in the MBusA.

Since I was young, the business world has always intrigued me and it is my dream to pursue a career in a multinational professional services firm. Upon graduating the program, I will try to secure a business analyst role in the consulting field. I believe that the analytical mindset I develop from the program will allow me to look at problems from different angles.

What has been the greatest challenge you’ve faced during your program? I think that the greatest challenge is to always keep an open mind in accepting new things, as the amount of knowledge we learn every day is unreachable.

NEW MBS APPAREL COMING SOON! With the MBA Cup around the corner (24 – 26 June), a new range of MBS apparel will be here. Based on the apparel survey sent to students in February, your SRC has been working to create the items you wanted! Items will be for sale via MyMBS.

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2016 Graduate Business Conference Sustainability and ethical business practices were key themes at this year’s Graduate Business Conference in Switzerland, as MBS SRC President Phil Neckers reports. In early April this year, Emma Young and I were proud representatives of Melbourne Business School at the annual Graduate Business Conference (GBC) in St Gallen, Switzerland. Held annually, the GBC is sponsored by the Graduate Business Forum (GBF), which was founded in 1983 by student representatives from top business schools in the northeast United States. The conference remains a student-led initiative which aims to deliver on three key items: 1. To bring student representatives from top business schools together

Speaking of good hands, each and every conference delegate was in the highly capable hands of our very own Mirza Shamid. At the GBC last year, Mirza was nominated and selected for the role of GBF President. Mirza coordinated many of the high-level activities at the GBC, and made sure that the conference was a roaring success. On the SRC, we’ve affectionately been referring to Mirza as POPs for the previous 12 months – President of Presidents. Although he has retired from his position of POPs, I encourage his name to continue. The best-practice sessions at the conference were incredibly insightful. Emma and I have already brought back a number of strategies and frameworks that we have applied to the SRC to improve our capabilities. We have also put together a detailed report for the School, which looks at

the many different areas of the student experience, including engagement, alumni relations, careers, the classroom experience and more. In this report we discuss the practices and initiatives employed at other top schools, and identify areas where we believe we can improve. While there was much to learn, it was also apparent that MBS had much to share. Although it is important that we continue to strive to be better across all aspects of the School and our experience as students, it is positive to know that we can offer recommendations too. Emma and I walked away from the conference feeling proud of our School. Phil Neckers SRC President | MBS SRC PT MBA September 2014

2. To spread best practice; and 3.. To form a voice of opinion on contemporary issues. This year, the theme of the conference was sustainability. The discussion, not surprisingly, evolved to focus largely on ethics in business. It was inspiring to see what can be achieved at such a conference. All student representatives coalesced around the idea that if we are changing the way we measure business success, then we need to change the way we measure the success of our business schools. Although an idea is only the beginning, it will be interesting to see if this year’s GBF Leadership team can create change involving this message. Nonetheless, it was motivating to see a group of student representatives from top 100 business schools globally show such passion around sustainability and ethical business practices. Hopefully this means our future is in good hands.

Mirza Shamid, Emma Young and Phil Neckers in attendance at the annual Graduate Business Conference in St. Gallen.

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Alumni Spotlight: Enrico Rizzon A.T. Kearney partner and MBS alumnus Enrico Rizzon shares his thoughts on the future of consulting, the value of an MBA and the benefits he gained while at the School.

3) Data is more ubiquitous and lower cost than it has ever been. Combine that with exponential growth in computational power, which is both cloud based and on-demand, and you have the ability to help your client not only today but also perpetually (through leavebehind tools and capability). Having worked with peers from across the globe, how do you value the MBA from Melbourne Business School?

What does the consulting business model of the future look like? What do the clients expect from a consultant? The model is changing on many fronts. I have chosen to outline three fronts that I see in my day-to-day with clients: 1) Clients demand specialists to help them with their problems. Thus, the model has moved from a generalist to specialist requiring consultants to start building their preferred platforms early in their careers. 2) Given the level of disruption, be it ‘digital’ or otherwise, the small incremental change may help clients in the short term but certainly not enable them to compete (from a different basis) in the medium to longer term. Thus, clients are starting to think in three-yearplus transformation windows. Consulting offers are following suit: for example, the A.T. Kearney Advantage program helps clients move from being incremental to transformational in their approach.

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Forty per cent of the A.T. Kearney partners are MBS grads, with others coming from leading US and European business schools such as Columbia and London Business School. And the composition of our consulting pool is equally varied. Whilst my opinion is undoubtedly biased, my experience is that MBS MBAs are equal to those of other global business schools. What underlies this, is that great talent will always shine, no matter where it comes from. Zeger’s push over his tenure to keep the bar high ensures that MBS grads are of the quality wanted and needed by the market. What motivates you to contribute to the MBS community? I find it hard to understand why one wouldn’t. At a very personal level, I owe so much to MBS; the teachers who helped me grow as an individual, the networks that have helped me succeed, the opportunities provided to, and evermore so, the friendships that have endured. If I can in a small way give back to the School and be of help to the community, that is what motivates me. What are the top two changes you would implement at MBS to improve the students’ learning experience? 1. More experience at applying what one has learnt to solve real business problems.

2. Programs/approaches that help people become self-aware so that they become better leaders. On the first point, we have worked with Professor Kayande to establish the MBS – A.T. Kearney Student Lab program that brings together the School’s best students with leading clients. Students are taught by faculty, coached by A.T. Kearney partners and work with the companies to develop solutions to real business problems. It’s the inaugural year of Student Lab with several ASX top 50 companies involved. As a partner at A.T. Kearney, what have you found to be the top challenge of running the consulting business? Finding and retaining great talent is my biggest challenge. The competition for great talent is fierce. We don’t lose talent to corporates or other consulting firms; we lose talent to the entrepreneurial yearning of these ‘younger’ generations. To this end, we have established programs that allow people to fund and run entrepreneurial ideas aligned to helping our clients as well as providing flexible breaks from work to follow their aspirations. What is your favourite MBS memory? While my own graduation was memorable (especially the after party, although my memories of it are somewhat hazy), being asked to deliver the inaugural graduation class for the Centre for Business Analytics is now one of my fondest memories. What is your message for the student body? Follow your passions. Take risks and back yourself, then enjoy and learn from the great journey that lies ahead and all the lows and highs that will come with it.

Announcement Board Intel Case Competition Winning Team

MBA Ball

The 2016 Intel Case Competition winning team â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Andrew Davey, Yogi Thevaraj, Phil Neckers, Emma Young and Daniel Buzacott

Your SRC Executive Team at the annual MBS Ball

Calendar of Events

June 2016

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Mon

Tue

Wed

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Sat

1 Jun

AGSM-MBS Cup

1 Jul

AGSM-MBS Cup EOT 2 drinks

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