Dr. (Cdr) Satish Seth

Director General

More than a century ago, the first MBA students passed out of the portals of Harvard University to seek their fortunes in the business world. Drawing on the experience of yesteryears, most people today agree that the MBA programme has certainly attained a state of maturity and veritably needs to change itself in order to remain relevant in a VUCA industry.

A question which young students constantly mull over in their minds is the type of graduate degree they should earn. Would it be appropriate to go back to school for two years to earn a generic MBA or should they pursue a specialised MBA or perhaps a Master’s in Finance/ Commerce? As borne out by recent studies, students with broader backgrounds and experiences were more likely to receive multiple job offers and higher compensation packages as compared to those with specialized backgrounds.

The above raises a fundamental issue of what a generic vis-a-vis a specialised MBA entails. A study conducted by the Tulane University in Louisiana, USA refers to a specialist MBA candidate as one who is consistently focused on his or her activities and experiences before and during the program and internship. To cite an example, a specialist would have worked in banking before his MBA, concentrated in finance and joined banking clubs in school before taking up a job in investment banking. A generalist on the other hand could be from the advertising industry, concentrates in finance, interns at a consulting firm and moves into investment banking. In other words, an MBA generalist is someone who has experience in a wide variety of industries and jobs.

The majority of B-Schools in India offer general MBA programs which is a holistic management science. After the first year wherein the student is exposed to the nitty-gritty of management, in the second year he can take up a specialization of his choice. Today these specializations range from the vanilla pack of Marketing, HR and Finance to unique offerings such as Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Strategy etc. In India the sectoral growth in tourism, hospitality, aviation, finance, retail and other sectors has created a demand for specialised MBAs. As a consequence the demand for such types of courses is on the rise.

The Pros and Cons of general versus specialized MBAs are variegated and pose acute decision problems for students experiencing a lack of clarity on the careers they wish to pursue. Whilst it may be argued that the future lies in MBAs that focus on increasingly narrow sectors of business some academics opine that they have grown too fast and that organisations are likely to run the risk of facing a future deficit of top bosses to manage the middle tiers.

Those rooting for the generalized MBA suggest that as the world is getting increasingly complex and heterogeneous businesses need managers who are able to handle all manner of complexity as experienced in a VUCA environment. Hence, a solid educational base coupled with diverse skills, as provided by a generalised MBA, appears to be the need of the hour.

Summing up, it is generally averred that the concept of MBAs is to create top quality managers in many areas of management. Hence to specialise in an MBA would be place oneself in a silo which defeats the original purpose of an MBA. As the business school world is highly competitive institutions must do what they can to differentiate themselves from rivals in a crowded market. They need to be aware that they constitute the supply chain for managers of tomorrow. Knowing everything about the retail industry has its uses but not at the expense of learning how to work a balance sheet. In other words, envision the future and do not mistake the trees for the forest.