An MBA Focused on International Management

TopMBA.com looks at the features of an MBA focused on international management, and why this specialization is increasingly popular with students. 

The debate in academia and business whether the world is ‘flat’ (T Friedman, 2007) or ‘semi-globalized’ (P Ghemawat, 2007) is still ongoing. However, we do have a strong consensus on the fact that national markets in most businesses have become more integrated.

As a consequence of this increasing level of globalization, most firms are forced to operate on an international level by seeking supplies and/or selling their products and services abroad. This, in turn, has boosted the need for managers that are capable of operating in a multinational context.

The skill set needed for international management

Successfully building an international firm is highly dependent on specific market contexts as well as the resource and capability endowments of the internationalizing company.

Suggestions such as ‘expand internationally or die’, ‘penetrate local markets as quickly as you can’ or ‘avoid strategic alliances’ may seem alluring but are in most cases misleading.

This is not surprising. One size fits all strategic advice is seldom adequate or appropriate.

International business is more complex than operating in just one national context because of the increased cultural and regulatory diversity. Most multinational firms are bigger than purely national ones. Organizational mechanisms such as coordination and decision processes are more difficult to understand and to handle.

Effective multinational managers therefore need to develop a particular set of skills:

- Cross-cultural skills: based on a vast knowledge about different cultural practices and worldviews, managers need to develop the ability to identify cultural differences and be able to overcome them by choosing the right form of communication and by adapting the management practices to the local context.

- Analytical skills: cross-border business is more complex, and therefore, multinational managers need to refine their ability to scale up, reduce complexity and find the right mix between local adaptation, cross-border standardization and global arbitrage.

- Technical skills: international business requires managers to think through issues that firms who operate locally do not face: foreign market selection; market entry timing and speed; choice of market entry mode; offshoring decisions; transfer pricing; international product rollout and many more.

How MBAs develop international business skills

Top MBA programs support the development of the above mentioned skills by three main elements:

- Curriculum design: topics that are specific to international business are included in the curriculum. In addition, the basic courses in the functional areas such as Marketing, Finance Production and the like, are thought with an international perspective. This does not just mean that international cases from a variety of national contexts are used but also that the specific challenges that internationalization poses to each function is explicitly addressed.

- Truly cross-cultural classroom experiences: elements of experiential learning are essential to improve cross-cultural skills. Therefore, it is essential that both students and faculty have an international background. Many of the top MBA programs in international management create a learning environment that simulates managerial decision-making and forces students with diverse national backgrounds to get into the driver's seat and find viable solutions for company issues in ambiguous situations.

- International exchange programs and internships: international exchange programs and internships are decisive occasions for testing and expanding newly acquired cross-cultural knowledge and defining a manager’s personality in international contexts. Many business schools that offer the opportunity to specialize an MBA in international management have signed exchange arrangements with partner schools in order to encourage international experience.

The success of MBA graduates in an international setting depends not just on their skills but also on the network of relationships they are inserted into. At the end of a good MBA program, graduates therefore should not only able to grasp complex problems, manage uncertain circumstances, and take crucial decisions. They should also have access to a strong alumni organization that supports them in doing business in countries they have not yet experienced.

As part of the Global 200 Top Business School Report 2010, TopMBA.com asks MBA employers to vote on the suitability of their graduates in many different specializations. See the top business schools for an MBA specialization in international management here.