Which MBA?

KNOWING your way around a balance sheet is no longer enough for today's job-hunting MBAs. Each year cohorts of fresh-faced graduates thrust themselves into the market, each coming from schools skilled in producing business-savvy individuals. No wonder, then, that industry bodies such as the Association of MBAs report that employers are increasingly keen on MBAs with sector-specific skills—or that business schools are matching that demand by producing more specialised courses. Nowadays, simply having an MBA is no longer sufficient for some pernickety employers: they require an MBA in something.

And that something can be nearly anything: from how to run a business in the thoroughbred-horse-racing industry (coming to the University of Liverpool’s Management School this September) to managing vineyards (the first such programme, hosted by the Bordeaux Business School, was launched in 2001; now there are tens of graduate programmes for vintners). Think of an industry, and there is probably an associated MBA programme.

In some parts of the world these specialist courses dominate. According to Rainer Sibbel of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany is one such country. Dr Sibbel directs the school’s International Healthcare MBA, which has been running for just over a decade. It takes 30 or 40 students each year, training them how to run hospitals, medical supply firms, or launch biotech or medtech firms. The average student is in his mid-30s, with a prior degree and around seven years’ experience in the health-care sector. Many are doctors who have been fast-tracked into management without much training, and who need to brush up on demand models and staffing spreadsheets.

Though the programme been independent since 2008, the school initially set it up in conjunction with Fresenius SE, a big European health-care firm. Fresenius built hospitals, and then found itself stumped when asked to identify someone suitable to run them. The programme allowed it to produce a supply chain of qualified candidates. “Every health-care system is different in its detail,” explains Dr Sibbel, “but the basic issues around health care are the same.” Frankfurt’s MBAs, 90% of whom are from non-German speaking countries, look at all aspects of the health-care industry, visiting hospitals, startups and suppliers to gain a better understanding of medicine.

The students on the one-year Hospitality Revenue Management MBA at the College of Charleston’s school of business also travel: to Hong Kong, where they undertake case studies in situ at Marriott hotels. Sandra Krezmien-Funk of the school says that of the 50 or so students who take an MBA at the college each year, five or 10 will find their way onto the specialised hospitality track. In part this is because of the school’s location: Charleston is regarded as a centre of the hospitality industry and the school has a strong undergraduate hospitality programme. The difference between the undergraduate and MBA courses is simple: “Students who are MBAs see themselves in leadership roles,” Ms Krezmien-Funk says.

Students like specialised MBAs because they are encouraged to apply what they learn about an industry in a practical way. Generalist MBAs, some feel, just impart abstract business concepts. This helps graduates hit the ground running when entering employment. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, a business-school body, three in 10 employers see an MBA specialisation or concentration as critical when selecting candidates for a job interview.

For all of that, there are drawbacks. Silos may serve a purpose, but it is cross-disciplinary experience that can make a good executive great. Some worry that when an MBA become too specialist, it stops being an MBA at all.