B-school trends come and go, but one that seems to have legs is the creation of specialized MBA programs, particularly by second-tier schools. The schools find them useful for attracting students and cementing their brand identities at a time when competition among schools for the best students is intense. In recent years, they’ve becoming increasingly common (BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/07) even at high-profile schools. Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, and the Wharton School now offer specialized MBAs, majors, or dual degree programs in areas like real estate, sports management, biosciences, electronic commerce, and health care.

But is a specialized program always a good choice for an MBA student?

Not necessarily. While established programs have placement records on par with those of their general MBAs, many newer programs have not yet established the kind of recruiting relationships that guarantee students high-paying jobs at graduation. And graduates always run the risk of getting hamstrung by their specialties later in their careers, when an industry downturn forces them to look outside their specialties for opportunities.
Chart Your Own Path

Some who have gone through the specialized programs say they are best for those with a firm idea of their future goals, and who are keen to chart their own path. “I knew what I wanted to do,” said Carrie Stern Rathod, who received her MBA from Wisconsin’s Brand ‐ Product Management Center in 2005 and now works for Procter & Gamble (PG), which recruits regularly from the program. “There’s a range of people for whom this program is ideal. If you have an entrepreneurial bent but are not sure you’re ready to take the leap yet, the program might be right.” But, she added, “I think it would be tough if you wanted to go into consulting or something like that.”

For students who aren’t comfortable breaking away from the pack or seeking out professional contacts in unconventional ways, a specialized MBA might not be the best choice. This is especially true at less well-known schools, where big companies often don’t recruit. Students in these programs agree that making industry connections can require a lot of initiative from the student. “If you have a very specific company in mind, you might need to be a trailblazer in making relationships with those companies,” says Rathod.

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The relative efficacy of a global marketing strategy vis-à-vis a tailored marketing strategy remains one of the hotly debated issues of international marketing. As is the case in any debate, polarizing arguments for (or against) each abound. Proponents of a global strategy point to the increasing homogenization of customer tastes and preferences and suggest that significant economies of scale can be attained by standardized products marketing world wide (Levitt 1983). Critics, on the other hand, dismiss the potential of a global strategy and underscore economic, environmental and other cultural differences among nations as impediments to its implementation. They argue that reflect adaptation strategy to market-country differences will generate improved response (Kotler 1986).

Often overlooked in this fierce debate is a middle ground approach that takes into account not only differences or similarities among both markets but. As Quelch and Hoff (1986) point out, the real issue is not whether to standardize but rather how to tailor the global marketing strategy. Indeed, reliance on a global strategy can result in missing out on important target markets and positioning inappropriate. Likewise customizing marketing strategy to individual countries implies loss of potential economies of scale as well as exploitation opportunities for product ideas on a scale against (White Lock and Chung 1989).

The writings of recent genre suggest that comprehensive and tailored strategies are not necessarily mutually exclusive and that they can be used in tandem to reap the maximum benefits. In this vein, Jain (1989) and Kale and Sudharshan (1987) offers interactivity Market segmentation approach to world markets and point to the feasibility of identifying homogeneous segments which transcend national boundaries. Once identified these so-called strategic segments equivalent (Kale and Sudharshan 1987) can be reached via global marketing strategies aimed at different cross-national segments (Verhagen, Dahringer and Cundiff 1989). The idea of reconciling the different viewpoints of global marketing strategies and tailored intuitively appealing and is certainly represents a significant forward link in the design of multinational marketing strategies. However, the empirical support to middle ground viability of this approach is evidence to scanty and its Effect comes mainly in the form of anecdotes (Ohmae 1985, White Lock, 1987).

The study reported here is intended to partially fill in this void. Specifically, consumers in six countries including the United States, Mexico, The Netherlands, Turkey, Thai and Saudi Arabia were studied for InterBase Market segmentation on the basis of two criteria, perceived risk and brand loyalty (Kreutzer 1988). Consumers were questioned about their degree of perceived risk and loyalty for two brand products, bath soap and toothpaste. These products were chosen since they are widely available in different brands and are purchased on a frequent basis by the consumers in these countries. It was maintained that the consumers in these countries are not sufficiently similar regarding the effects of risk perception on brand loyalty, the underlying rationale for a single global marketing strategy at least within the context of products here would disappear under consideration. On the contrary, such a circumstance would render the middle ground approach feasible.

Dr. V Manoirs, president of the Institute of Rural Management, said, National Dairy Development Board should consider the second joint-ventures. He told journalists: “I do not think it will be possible joint ventures. We can not give market forces, unbridled freedom. He spoke of a two-day workshop in companies Designing Cooperative / joint ventures in the economic development scenario. “The secret of success Amul, He said that “it is a dairy farmer in possession, managed by their elected representatives, and sensitive to the needs, if the farmer.” Dr. Manoirs, said the appointment of the next President of the NDDB was a problem, because the incumbents Miss Amrita Patel, is to promote joint ventures is to retire after 10 months. If the successor has no obligation of faith in the cooperative movement, faith in man in the country, it is a sad thing. “In his remarks, in the workshop, Dr Manoirs said:” The core functionality Anand model is the model agricultural control over all phases of the acquisition, processing and marketing. ” He warned that the proposed joint-venture companies mainly NDDB has paved the way for the loss of farmers’ control of the brand and marketing.

Sify Limited (Nasdaq: SIFY), a leader in Internet and consumer services company in India with global delivery capabilities, today announced the promotion of V. Sivaramakrishnan as the chairman of the Business Portal. Previously, Siva Vice President of the key iWay Cyber Cafe chain.

It is a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, with a track record of success for the management of trademarks, distribution and customer service for world leaders as Procter & Gamble and Ford, both in India and abroad. During his career with them, it reached the mark, distribution and customer service teams championing successful marketing and sales initiatives for brands such as Vicks, Pampers, Old Spice, Ford Fiesta, Ford and Ford Ikon Endeavour. For the launch of the Ford Ikon, Siva pioneered the promotion online as a major Web initiatives at the time.

Comment on his appointment, Mr. Raju Vegesna, CEO and Managing Director, Sify Limited, said: “I am very pleased that Siva as president of promotion, Sify portals. In his previous role as Vice President of the iWay Cyber-Cafe chain Siva has a deep insight and understanding of consumers and implementation of initiatives to increase turnover in innovative services, products and special offers synergy with the strategies of our portal. While we will see the result of these efforts, go ahead, I believe it marks a fresh perspective to grow, as our portals and online advertising business in India and overseas. Thanks to its rich experience in developing trademarks, understanding the media, marketing and consumer behavior, I am confident he will play an important role in further strengthening and increasing our portal Business in tandem with access to our strategies. ”

Mr V. Sivaramakrishnan said: “I’m really excited about this opportunity, because it allows, and me to bring all my past experiences with consumers, brands, marketing, media and the Internet in developing our portals. The network is the most exciting medium of our time, and it is our intention for the many possibilities of this medium for content and relevant mandatory for Indians online, thus improving their quality of life. This includes the extension of the conduct that we have broadband content portal www.sify.com www.sifymax.in our People, our central city broadband and strategies www.samachar.com portal site most People for non-resident Indians. I will also be in expanding online - advertising business with distributors as they begin to understand the flexibility, concentration and strength that gives online advertising profitable for them to brand promotion and supervision of consumer marketing Sify brand for both portals and businesses access to more synergies. I think they are the most exciting and challenging phase of my career and I look forward to a difference of Sify’s revolutionary efforts to capture the central India online content in synergy with our access businesses. ”

Siva brings with him over 18 years experience in marketing brands and consumers in the structure of their businesses. Under the Ford Asia-Pacific sales team, first in the USA and Great Britain later, he led the development and marketing of Ford’s new generation of small cars, Ford Fiesta and Ford Fusion, in markets such as Australia, Japan, South - Africa and China. He was also part of the India-Ford sales and management team, the successful introduction of Ford’s Ikon, Fusion, Fiesta and Endeavour in India. In his previous role as Vice President of the iWay Cyber-Cafe business, he played a key role in transforming their main centres of Internet browsers, e-shops by the introduction of breakthrough alliances and initiatives.