EMBA Alumni Profile: Novica Savic, ESSEC & Mannheim

The program which I attended was very team-orientated. Within the first weeks especially, it is difficult to get back in the "learning mode" of your undergraduate days. Basically, learning in the very specific MBA environment is quite different from anything I knew before. The major difference is the exchange with other professionals and class discussions where we shared our experiences; this gives you the chance to implement the learning in your job environment immediately.

I chose the ESSEC & Mannheim program due to the strong focus on teamwork and broad, cross-functional emphasis on general management. It enabled me to implement newly acquired knowledge rather quickly in my professional environment. And sometimes it is a nice experience to see examples from successful companies which actually confirm your own approach. Overall, I would say that the program strengthened my leadership skills, which is something you can implement very easily as a "quick-win".

I don't think that innovation can be learnt, even though there may be some rare exceptions. However, professionals starting an MBA program are usually "naturally innovative", at least this was the case within the ESSEC & Mannheim program. We learned that innovation is actually a team approach; you cannot do it on your own as you need the whole team to follow your path. This theory was supported by many different real-life cases of successful, as well as non-successful, companies.

Yes, it was the case for me as well. I made a career change in the middle of my program. In addition, I changed company right after finishing the program. Initially it was not my intention to do so, but due to some internal restructuring and a good offer from another company, I decided to go for a new challenge.

Yes. Due to the change of my job I significantly increased my income (>40 per cent), however it isn't easy to say how much of this increase can be assigned to the MBA program. The fact that the program which I attended is recognized by HR managers as one of the best in Germany meant it was certainly very helpful for my career development.

Next to the academic benefits, it was clearly the network of successful professionals all over Europe and Asia. The experience we shared together has strengthened our personalities. If you are willing to apply your learning and you are open to new ideas, it will automatically result in promotions and increased earnings.

This is probably the major benefit of the ESSEC & Mannheim program. Instead of writing a classical, theoretically based thesis for our MBA diploma, the business school has a different approach. We were asked to prepare a real-life case, an innovative business idea, which has never been done before, preferably within your company. Doing so, you are forced to apply everything you learned during the program with a strong focus on practicability. It is real entrepreneurial life, not just theory. And it is highly appreciated by the companies as they usually see a big benefit for themselves. In my case, we are currently evaluating the implementation of our work: a very promising, totally new business field for the company!

There is nothing I would do differently!