Making a choice
Dr. Pingali Venugopal, Dean, XLRI Jamshedpur shares some of the broad criteria for choosing the specialization of MBA programs. He mentions, “You have to choose your career very carefully. You should select the right path on the basis of your interest and instincts and not on the basis of peer pressure or high salary.”
“Students who have mechanical ability, who prefer to work with objects, machinery and tools should choose Production and Operations. Students who love to observe, learn, investigate, analyze, evaluate or solve problems, interact with people and have a good communication skill should go for Marketing. Students who have artistic, innovating or institutional abilities and like to work in unstructured environment using their imagination and creativity should work for the Strategy sector,” says Dr. Venugopal.
>“Students who like to work with people to enlighten, inform, help, train, or are skilled with words should join HR and those students, who like to work with data, have numerical ability, carry out tasks in detail or follow through on others' instructions should go for Finance,” adds Dr. Venugopal.
Specialized MBA institutes offer some specialized options too. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) provides specialized MBA in International Business. The MBA program is also called MBA (IB). While recommending international oriented programs, KT Chako, Director of IIFT says, "Indian businesses are now going global in a big way. Indian companies are now fully participating in the globalization process. Today’s business executives need to be equipped with understanding of international business and trade."
IIM Ahmedabad has launched an elective course for its PGPM second year students. The name of the course is ‘Contemporary Film Industry (CFI) – A Business Perspective’. The course aims at giving a general background of the film and entertainment industry in India and abroad. It will introduce the MBA students to various kinds of film and entertainment businesses like feature films, ad films, documentary filmmaking, animation films and a glimpse of the global film industry.
MBA experts recommend that passion and interest should be the key, rather than external reasons like market condition and job prospects. "Choice of specialization is a function of your aptitude and what you want to do in future. Don’t let short-term market forces drive or alter your specialization choice. Having a long-range perspective about one’s career helps students make the right choices. Marketing opportunities are more and in service sector, the experience will offer potential for cross-sector mobility as well," says Dr Venkataratnam, Director, IMI.
While doing an MBA program, the specializations should be chosen on the basis of your passion, choice and capability. The first year is the time when you will have the hunch regarding choosing your specialization subject. The MBA institutes can only introduce you towards the various domains of an MBA program. But you have to be your own judge to take decisions regarding specializations.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more articles on MBA Primer.
MBA Primer is a series of exclusive articles prepared by MBAUniverse.com keeping in mind the needs of the MBA aspirants. Based on comprehensive and updated inputs from experts & credible sources, these articles by MBAUniverse.com cover topics like Basics of MBA, How to crack written tests like CAT and How to select the right MBA institute.
Next: What qualities an MBA institute look for in a candidate?
----------------------------------------------------------------
