How is Harvard Business School teaching the pandemic?

When it comes to an MBA education, the case study method is legendary.

Pioneered by Harvard Business School (HBS) in 1919 — which itself borrowed from Harvard Law School — the approach puts students in the shoes of corporate decision-makers justifying their business choices.

The method is so popular that the sale of these case studies racked up $260m+ in 2019, about ¼ of HBS’s total revenue.

The pandemic provides countless learning opportunities

According to the Wall Street Journal, prominent new HBS cases involve:

• Operation Warp Speed: Role-playing as Merck pharma execs, students must argue the trade-offs of taking government money.
• Crisis management: Acting as president of Princess Cruises, students debate how to stay mentally healthy.
• Booming business: A deep dive on managing Zoom’s explosive growth.

With HBS producing ~350 new cases a year, we can expect a lot more COVID-related themes.

Is an MBA still worth it?

This is what a lot of students are asking themselves.

Even before the pandemic, MBA applications for the top 10 schools were down 6% in 2019 (vs. 2018).

An 6-figure MBA via Zoom followed by a cold job market just isn’t as appealing, per the New York Times.

At the current pace, another HBS case study might be: “How the pandemic crushed MBA programs.”