Twenty years ago, the MBA was unquestionably the degree of choice for ambitious young managers; these days, the picture is less clear cut, as shifts in the global economy highlight the need for competing types of management education and greater student choice.
While the MBA still dominates the North American degree market, a diverse range of programmes are blossoming in developing economies.
South America is emerging as a non-degree market, with executive education the norm in Brazil. In China, executive or part-time MBAs are the premium programmes. In India, the flagship postgraduate programmes are targeted at those straight out of undergraduate courses.