Guide to the flagship of management education: MBA, Executive MBA or executive education?

Via an executive or EMBA/MBA education, you will acquire the latest theories, methods and tools within strategy, innovation and management, and you will challenge your personal boundaries and develop your leadership. An MBA, Executive MBA or a shorter executive education from a reputable business school will be a strong card – on the CV and in all the contexts in which you move.

But what should you choose?

» Executive Management Programme INSEAD – Alternative to Mini MBA

MBA, EMBA or Open Executive Education?

An MBA is aimed at managers who have management experience, but who are not necessarily at the top of the company yet. Many who take an MBA are middle managers or managers who want to gain theoretical and practical knowledge and increase their personal market value, and who want to know about the challenges that are at the top level of an organization.

An EMBA or an Executive MBA is a management education tailored to top-level managers who would like to have more management tools and personal management development, so that they can manage and manage companies even better with strategic and innovative tools. As the EMBA is aimed at top managers at executive level, the teaching and the course are targeted at the challenges top managers face and the situation top managers are in.

What should you choose?

Jakob Møller Hansen, who is the CEO and founder of the recruitment company Comentor A/S, has worked with recruitment, HR and competence development for several decades. He points out that it is to a large extent situational, which management education you should choose.

– Whether you choose an MBA, an Executive MBA or a shorter executive education largely depends on the situation you are in as a manager. An MBA can work well for a younger manager who is well into his career but may not have risen to executive level yet. However, if you are already in a top management position at C-level, it probably makes the best sense to choose an executive education that is more targeted at the concrete, hands-on challenges and opportunities you face in your everyday work, he says and continues:

– In addition, to the highest degree, you should assess how long you have to train. Of course, a full MBA education will provide a deeper theoretical understanding of a number of subject areas, but for many top managers it is not desirable to take one or two years off the calendar. In that perspective, it may be advantageous to assess a shorter executive education. Regardless of what you choose, it is important to be quality-conscious in relation to the choice of educational institution – and also to be clear in relation to whether it is significant that the education has an international character.

What should you choose?

MBA is not a protected title. But there is a tradition for the terms MBA and EMBA (Executive MBA) to be used for management programs at university level. In many cases, an MBA program is approved by the Ministry of Education – this applies to the MBAs offered by Danish universities – or it is accredited in another way. In recent years, however, many new variants of the MBA have appeared, and therefore you should be critical of the many offers on the market – so you know what you are getting for your money.

Stick to recognized ranking lists

It can be difficult to discern the quality of an MBA based on websites and brochure material alone. The most effective method of assessing the quality of a given MBA is to check how high the provider is on the ranking list of business schools and universities. If, for example, the institution is high on the annual international ranking lists developed by recognized media such as Forbes and the Financial Times, you can safely invest time and money in a management education there.

Here you can see the Forbes and Financial Times top 10 list of the best MBA programs:

International MBA Ranking 2020

1. Harvard Business School
2. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
3. Stanford Graduate School of Business
4. INSEAD
5. Ceibs
6. MIT: Sloan
7. London Business School
8. Columbia Business School
9. HEC Paris
10. University of Chicago: Boath

Open Executive Education – Ranking 2020

1. IMD Business School
2. University of Oxford
3. INSEAD
4. University of Michigan
5. Stanford Graduate School of Business
6. University of Chicago, USA
7. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
8. HEC Paris
9. ESMT Berlin
10. IESE Business School

International or local MBA?

Another crucial choice you must make is whether your career plans are best enhanced by an international or a local management education. If you want to keep the option open for an international career or a career in a company that operates globally, it is a good idea to choose an executive education, an MBA or an EMBA from one of the internationally recognized business schools.

If you choose an MBA from one of the universities on the Forbes or Financial Times top 10 list, it is defined as international – even if part of the teaching may take place in Denmark.

What qualifications do you need before the MBA?

Many universities and business schools require you to have work experience or management experience of a certain extent before you can start the MBA. If it is an EMBA you are considering, the requirements will usually be higher – here you typically have to be a manager at executive level to be accepted.

Some universities and business schools also carry out one or more tests – for example, you will come across the GMAT test (Graduation Management Admission Test) in many places, which tests your linguistic, mathematical and analytical understanding and skills. In most cases, you will be called to a personal interview in the final phase, before it is finally decided whether you match the program and its professional level. The thorough procedure that the most recognized business schools follow must ensure that interested candidates can complete the education, so that they get something out of their investment and ensure that the level of the education is kept high.

What do the headhunters say?

An MBA, an Executive MBA or another executive management education gives you the opportunity to make a quantum leap in your career. But what exactly does taking a management course at this level mean for a manager’s career?

– One of the first things a headhunter will look at relates to what results a potential manager candidate has contributed to in previous jobs, and what the probability is that that person will also be in the job he or she is currently being assessed for able to contribute positive results. There must be a common thread through the person’s job journey, and if the management training fits into the career plan, it can definitely help to strengthen the candidate’s opportunities – it can act as the “topping of the cake”, says Jakob Møller Hansen in Comentor, before he concludes:

– Participating in an education at this level shows that you are purposeful, ambitious and want to acquire new knowledge, and typically through an education of this caliber the candidate will also have gained a strong network of like-minded people who can contribute positively in a job context . In conclusion, there are also some companies and organizations where it is actually a prerequisite that top management candidates have already completed an education at executive level – and here it will of course be absolutely crucial. However, it is absolutely essential that you do not “headlessly” jump into an executive education – it must make sense in relation to the career plan and the “job journey” before anything else.

Full-time MBA or EMBA

A full-time MBA study or a full-time Executive MBA is a very time-consuming study that must be completed in addition to the regular job. It is therefore important to align expectations with both workplace and family, because both will have to do without you more than usual when you start your management training.

The workplace must, for example, adjust to the fact that you are away more and may not be able to solve quite as many tasks during the training period. Also make sure to clarify what will happen if you are made redundant or resign while you are doing your MBA, so that you are not suddenly left with a large unexpected expense.

Family support

Not least the family’s support is crucial. A 2-year MBA can simply tear a family apart if the situation is not thoroughly discussed in advance and everyone supports it. If you or your family consider that the burden will be too great, you may have to look for shorter alternatives to a full MBA or EMBA.

The Scandinavian Executive Institute tailors management courses

At the Scandinavian Executive Institute, we take into account that the participants are busy people. That is why we have tailored all our management courses so that the ambitious manager, who is also a spouse, mother or father, can maintain a healthy balance between work life, family life and leisure time.

All courses are completed over a total of 8-12 days divided into three courses, and the workload is therefore manageable for most. All the programs have been developed in close collaboration with international business experts and the high-profile business school INSEAD i Frankrig.

Read more about our executive education Executive Management Programme.