While busy making preparations for applying for the various MBA Entrance Exams, have you ever stopped and asked yourself this: Why do I want to do MBA? Are more MBAs needed? Ponder over this. And do you know how much monthly salary does an MBA graduate in India get on an average? It’s just about Rs. 10,000! Surprising, isn’t it? Thousands of MBA are without a job and many more are still on a struggle to get base level salaries. Exceptionally, some MBA graduates do get multi crore annual compensations but that doesn’t even make 1% of the 90,000 MBA graduates every year. So, if this is the criteria, please think again. Let me help you in that. Here are four better reasons for you to do an MBA; these could be even helpful for your interviews too.

More than 30 years ago, when our parents began their working careers, the key to success was in Production – Eli Goldratt's Goal was a Bible and every manager with an engineering background was focused on improving quantity as well as quality of factory made products. Today, these processes have been so streamlined and automated that you hardly need an education to man these processes. All you need is on the job training and good experience.

Then began a focus on Finance and Taxation - CAs and Company Secretaries were much in demand...And they worked hard to showcase the company's financial strengths and performance every quarter as well as annually. Today, we have well built software packages to fill in and the taxation laws are getting simpler by the day.

Then came an era of fighting government regulations and getting the necessary sanctions – of course this was a pre liberalization era that I am referring to. It was an art and science on its own! But today, thanks to Manmohan Singh and Narsimha Rao, you and I have never studied that art and things are mostly smooth sailing without government interventions, in fact thanks to their support.

The 80s ushered in an era of MIS – Management Information Systems. And all of senior management were putting their heads together to figure out how to present information and use it to the best of their abilities. Today, MIS technology is enabling management to get maximum results with least time inputs. The 80s also saw an era of foreign collaborations. Every manager would spend his time finding out possible partnerships and then using his creativity to plan it. But today, with the FII inflow raising the stock market back to 20K, foreign collaborators are knocking on Indian doors rather than the other way around. So then managers started spending their time on Planning – a very important function, but one that is now supported by robust SAP like technologies that allow this complex job to be completed with ease.

So you must be wondering by now, that with all this automation, what people really do in 12 hour days! Well, the manager today really has to focus on 2 major functions – Marketing and HR. These have not been automated yet! When I talk of Marketing, it needs to go beyond Sales. It's about creating a value proposition for the clients. And HR is no longer about giving Diwali bonuses or tracking attendance. India as a young country sees people as its biggest resource. Managing people, high performance virtual teams, cross cultural expectations and growth is one of the most important tasks of any good manager. So these are some of the functions that you need to learn the basic conceptual frameworks for as you move ahead. That is reason 1.

Coming to the second reason - When the board of directors is looking for a CEO for their company, do you think they look for just financial abilities, or just a good sales person, or just a good people's manager? No. What they really need is someone who has a 360 degree view of all the functions – and that is what your MBA should provide you with. A full buffet is served and it remains with you for life. You can always refer back to it depending on the situation's requirement.  In fact, have you wondered why people spend 12-14 hours in office when work should ideally not be more than 8-10 hours? Well, research shows that 30% of time is wasted in arguing! Arguing about decisions, analysis, requirements and so much more.. Why? Because people do not know enough about each other's functions! And that's why it's important for those who want to rise to have an all round understanding. 

The third reason to pursue this education is Whole Systems thinking: Understanding the impact of one variable on others. And a non MBA can miss this aspect throughout his 40 year career span. Of course it is true that Ambani didn't have an MBA and neither did various other successful businessmen world over. But, those are the exceptions, not the rule. The rest of them with potential are probably still selling petrol somewhere!

And finally, the world is all about Networking – or peer learning. The one gift your post graduation gives you is an alumni base: networks that you can be in touch with electronically, meet at common gatherings and reach out to as you all grow professionally.

300 of the Fortune 500 companies are already in India, and by the time some of you complete your post graduation, another 200 could be here as well. It's time to gear up to prepare and be ready to receive them. An MBA gives you perspective of Core functions like Marketing and HR; an overall functional view that is necessary to rise; the gift of systems thinking and peer learning and a fabulous network. Do you need any other reason?