Why is MBA so much in demand?
MBAUniverse.com Bureau

According to the report 'Management education in India' by management education experts B Bowonder and S L Rao, "Changing economic conditions and intensification of global competition have given management education an increasingly central role in the success of individuals and corporations. It has emerged as one of the main foci of higher learning, as service industry takes precedence over the other segments."
The emergence of new sectors and businesses, together with economic growth has altered the whole business scenario, albeit for the better! It has made organizations and businesses more complex, competitive and challenging. Dr Prakash G Apte, Director, IIM Bangalore, says, "Meeting and measuring up to the emerging challenges is the prime function of today's managers. To do this, they require keen perception, flexibility and the ability to merge management theories into action plans. The secret is to have a global perspective, while at the same time be keenly perceptive about local conditions. Needless to mention, today's management practitioners must be comfortable with the latest technology and be sensitive to the importance of ethical and human values."
Experts opine that success in the 21st century is all about 'Ideas', and a management education helps in fine-tuning these ideas. Says Santosh Desai, "Today the shift has taken place from the notion that money makes money to idea that makes money. I think this is a substantial shift. Businesses are now more based on ideas. You will have huge opportunity to convert what is your idea you stand for into which you have to follow. It is the power of individuality and idea. All the brands built in last few years have been built by individuals. Look at Nokia, Starbucks, and Nike -- all these are individuals." This shift in notion means to stand out in the business world you need to have unique ideas. An MBA graduate can do it successfully.

New growth sectors are further fuelling demand for management graduates. Take the retail sector. The big Indian retail players who are looking to expand their operations include Shoppers' Stop, Pantaloon, Lifestyle, Ebony, Crossroads, Globus, Barista, Qwiky's, Café Coffee Day, Wills Lifestyle, Raymond, Titan, Bata and Westside. Krish Iyer, a retailing industry expert, says: "The organized retail industry in India is a mere 3 per cent [estimated at Rs 35, 000 crore], which highlights the huge opportunity available, and it is poised to grow to Rs.110, 000 crore by 2010." Recognizing this demand, some of these companies have tied up with institutes like Welingkar, S.P Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, MICA, Mumbai etc, and are offering retail management courses to equip students with the skills in retail sector.
The placement scenario in reputed management institutes is quite upbeat. During the placement season, institutes like IIMs, XLRI Jameshedpur, MDI Gurgaon, SP Jain Mumbai, IMT Ghaziabad and IIFT Delhi are crowded with various big companies like Infosys, HCL, IBM, Wipro, JP Morgan, ICRA, ITC, Godrej, the Aditya Birla Group and Nestle. The fact that many more companies are keen to recruit graduates is leading to fresh demand both in the domestic and the international level.

In the 2007 placement season, at IIM Ahmedabad, all 235 students were placed with their dream jobs in record time. At IIM Bangalore, the entire batch of 233 MBA students got placed within 5 days. At the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi, 105 companies took corporate participation in the year 2007 and made 138 offers. It was not just the number of offers that made the headlines; the salary packages were equally attractive. The biggest surprise emerged in the form of Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad. ISB graduates bagged a record-breaking offer of Rs 1.18 crore.
So who can aspire to be a management graduate? The MBA option is open to graduates from any field. If your current path is less than a perfect fit for your aptitude and interests, B-schools can give you the opportunity to explore your options, and then provide you with training you to change careers entirely. Whether you are a doctor, an engineer, a businessman, all you need is a graduate degree to apply.

Today, MBAs are also being encouraged to turn entrepreneurs. It enables you to think of your own business idea. An MBA can prepare you to do everything from writing a business plan to acquiring venture capital to launching an IPO. In other words, it is developing your entrepreneurial potential by focusing on value-based solutions; developing creative problem solving based skills and perceiving the change as an opportunity.

Apart from this, another key benefit is networking. B-schools encourage teamwork through their teaching styles. Throughout the MBA program, a group of five to seven students work on various assignments. The people in the group are from different backgrounds, with different levels of experience. You can develop important relationships that serve you throughout your life.