Danielle Hinan, 31, is one of a new breed of students who have taken a specialist MBA to further their careers. With a master’s degree already under her belt, Hinan was working for high-end fitness retailer Sweaty Betty when she decided she needed another qualification.
“Competition was so tough that I had to differentiate myself in the marketplace,” she says.
Hinan signed up for a one-year MBA in luxury brand marketing at the London campus of Glasgow Caledonian University and learned all about human resource management, marketing and financial accounting.
“It definitely set me apart from the others when I was applying for jobs,” she says. She was first employed at Monocle magazine before joining luxury fitness retailer Striders Edge, where she is now marketing manager.
Business schools are offering MBAs for specific industries to give graduates the edge in the employment market.
The beauty of specialist MBAs, according to Helen Gammons, who runs the MBA for music and the creative industries at Henley Business School, is that it enables people to think how they would apply the generic knowledge they are given to their own sector. “It fills a vacuum,” she says. “A lot of content is delivered quickly in an MBA and people need to think how it relates to their area of work.”
Mike Gillespie, a manager of recording artists and bands, chose to do the music MBA at Henley to discover new ways of working. “I am interested in finding new angles and ways for my artists to leverage their work and make money, and figuring out how to grow my business.”
Salford Business School offers MBAs in sports business and digital business, which are in their first year of operation. “The bulk of the first term is generic,” says Prof Chris Brady, director of Salford’s Centre for Sports Business.
“We’ve developed an MBA that is not so specific that it would prevent you going into other businesses. It gets more sporty as you go along and ends up with a project or internship in the sports industry. Many people find it more interesting to do a case study on Real Madrid rather than ICI.”
Salford’s MBA in digital business is delivered at Media City – the heart of the north-west’s creative industries – and is aimed at business owners who want to join the information revolution. Students learn the core MBA material but also take modules in digital innovation, and search and social media marketing. “It’s aimed at people who want to imbed new technologies in their business to make them more competitive,” says course designer Marie Griffiths.
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