MBA is a traditional high value-added degree for students all over the world. It used to provide students with general business knowledge. Nowadays, the MBA generates a lower return than before. The course structure switches from general knowledge to specific concentration since students now have clear career plan. Meanwhile, more and more schools adopt online courses platforms to teach students. Under such a trend, more MBA students are able to gain strength on a certain business area and they are able to take courses with more flexibility. Due to a lower ROI, the students are more likely to have a stronger motivation to find a job quickly after graduation.

The trends offer Lenovo a great chance to have employees with advanced knowledge in certain areas. Since the candidates are clear about their care goal, they are more likely to do internship and learn a lot of information about Lenovo before applying for a formal offer. In that way, the cost for Lenovo to find a suitable candidate will be lower if they are able to show their criteria clearly. However, although the candidates are more determined, due to the adoption of MOOC, the candidates pool grows since more students have the chance to get similar education. Since the quality of MOOC is hard to differentiate, it will be hard for the Lenovo to differentiate the candidates. To face such a recruiting challenge, Lenovo should have a clear idea about its criteria toward employees.

There is also big negative influence towards Lenovo since for the management team, concentrated knowledge is not enough. Business knowledge is also important for the manager to better control its teams and to better run the organization. Therefore, the cut of general business courses will lead to the lack of important business management skills of candidates.

The current change also has a blow back is that since the current courses have strong concentration, the students may face strong threat from the fluctuating market. If there is any industry change of the concentration they choose, the students may face great problems in find a job or have a high payment. The concentration, although meeting the students career goal, increases the student’s risks of have a much lower ROI after graduation.