Whatever you do in your professional life, the chances are that it will involve some ‘business’. Scientists, engineers, even artists, will inevitably have to understand at least the basics of business, and probably a lot more. Today’s management gurus, the people who are forecasting the way we will do business at the beginning of the 21st century, are saying that the companies of the future will consist of groups of specialists who work together on a specific project and then disband. For the next project the composition of the group will almost certainly be different. One of the consequences of this is that many more people will be what we call today ‘independent’, and will have to understand more about the opportunities and constraints of business. In other words, the combination of specialist qualification and business knowledge will become vital. But it is not just ‘knowledge’ of business. Before pursuing an MBA, you need to ask yourself a basic question, ‘what should a business education give me?’ Most subjects that one studies are composed of theory and practice.