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.

More : businessweek.com

University at Albany-SUNY students in the evening and weekend MBA programs are in Budapest this week as they visit seven companies there and immerse themselves in Hungarian business, history and culture.

The School of Business entourage includes two dozen students, retired Dean Paul Leonard, and several faculty and staff. New School of Business Dean Donald Siegel popped in for a visit last weekend.

In the evenings, the future MBAs take an international business class with Professor Yasha Crnkovic.

A unique opportunity for higher education aiming to prepare future leaders of the community is coming to Pickaway County this fall.

Berger Hospital is teaming up with Ohio University in Athens to offer OU’s professional Master of Business Administration in Circleville.

“We’re constantly meeting to talk about what we might do to expand educational opportunities for the community,” Berger President Tim Colburn said. “Why an MBA program? Because health care is a business, and we need to make sure we’re building and developing future leaders.”

Berger already has a partnership with OU at its Chillicothe branch to train nurses in Circleville, and Colburn said the success of that program gave Berger an inroad for more educational offerings locally.

The program, which takes about 22 months to complete, consists of one evening a week of classroom activities held via video conference with instructors in Athens and a weekend course once every six weeks on the Athens campus.

OU has been offering the professional MBA through outreach programs for the last five years, according to Dr. Ed Yost, OU’s director of executive graduate education and development, and he said it’s been very successful preparing students for the business world.

“This program is aimed at working professionals to complete an MBA in a non-full time environment,” Yost said. “It’s designed for people that who maybe don’t have a business degree to give people a background to turn into a managerial career step.”

Yost said the course is delivered with more group projects rather than class work, and that was part of the appeal for Berger, according to Suzanne Welker, Berger’s human resources director.

“We’re excited about the synergy the group will have and think the teamwork will benefit the hospital and community,” Welker said. “Business management develops over time and we want to maximize skill development.”

Students in the program will learn about analytical decision making, which focuses on making good business decisions and professional development, including managing people and resources, teamwork and leadership, according to Yost.

He said the course also gives professionals the opportunity to meet people in other businesses and build on local networks.

More : circlevilleherald.1upmonitor.com

Who are the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs of the corporate world? Ever heard of co-opetition? And how does one term mutual funds that will not cover liquor companies?

Not just the competitors, even the audience had a fun time, guessing answers to these questions at the finals of the business quiz, conducted by the IIM-Ahmedabad Alumni Association’s (IIM-AAA), Chennai chapter, here on Sunday.

In the end, when the Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchi, walked away with the IIM-AAA Anchor Cup 2006, it was a well-earned victory, followed by S.S.N School of Management in the second place and Bangalore’s ICFAI Business School in the third. The P.S.G Institute of Management, Coimbatore, stood fourth.

The quiz was being held to sensitise business school students in south India to the latest corporate happenings, said A. Satish Kumar, president, IIM-AAA Chennai chapter. Anchor Health and Beauty Care was the chief sponsor.

The preliminary written test had been conducted in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Madurai. The finals consisted of 12 rounds, including an audio-visual round, two oral rounds and a rapid fire round, with quizmaster S. Jagan keeping the momentum going.

The last winner of the trophy was also BIM in 1994 after which the quiz was discontinued till the IIM-AAA decided to re-launch it, Mr. Satish Kumar said.

Handing over the cup to the winning team, N. Murali, Joint Managing Director, The Hindu , said such quiz contests should be made part of the college curriculum as they were not just clean fun but also of educational value.