How to choose the specialization area in an MBA course?

A typical two-year MBA course, the first and the second year of which is separated by the summer internship, orients the students to the field of MBA management in a holistic manner. The first year is more generic in nature where the students get an idea of all that they must know regarding various management functions. All introductory MBA course are taught in the first and second tri-semesters during the first year. Later in the first year, they are also introduced to the specialized areas.

In the second year, the students have to choose from a variety of specialization choices. There are five main specializations that are offered by almost all MBA school. They are Marketing, Finance, Human Resource Development, Operations Management and Information Technology.

Which Specializations?
Dr. SP Parashar, former director of IIM Indore says, "An MBA course do not provide many choices during the first year. Students generally learn core subjects in the first year in all MBA courses. But at the end of the first year, the choice of specialization should become pretty clear in an MBA course."

IMT Ghaziabad Director, Late Dr. Anwar Ali said that the second year of elective papers and specialization are designed to give the students an in depth knowledge about a particular field as well as the industry. "The second year of an MBA course provides them with a lot of exposure to the practical field also, as they have to do a lot of project work and case studies."

Talking about the area of specialization, Dr. BS Sahay, Director of MDI said, "In the second year, the students take an elective or optional MBA course to specialize in a maximum of two functional areas. These areas are: Finance, Information Management, Marketing, Strategy and Operations Management. To specialize in an area, a student must take a minimum of five elective course credits offered in that area."

Making a choice for an MBA course
Dr. Pingali Venugopal, Dean, XLRI Jamshedpur gave broad criteria on choosing the specialization of MBA course. He mentioned, "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.

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."

Specialized MBA school 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 said, "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 MBA 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 in MBA course 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," Dr Venkataratnam, Director, IMI said.

While doing an MBA course, 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? An MBA school 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.