A fascinating top-of-the-fold article in Advertising Age (registration required) today.
Apparently people who get MBA degrees suck at Marketing.
You think I am overstating it, right? - but read AdAge's own headline: "Don't Study Too Hard: MBA's Fail At Marketing... Surveys Find Those With Degrees Underperform."
The research suggests that the big winners in Marketing work within corporate departments that spend a bit more (marketing accounted for 12.4% of sales vs. 11.6%) and work a bit harder (they're understaffed) than those in the peer group who are underperforming.
The study also found that out-performers tended to be more supportive of their staffers' professional development. Lastly, the outperformers were more generous with stock options - these companies incented their employees by making them stakeholders in the organization's financial future.
It all sounds like common sense: spend money on what's important (brand/reputation/lead gen); keep costs down; work really hard; stay focused; be nice to your people.
The irony is that these are lessons that they ought to be teaching in business school, eh?