Hi everyone,
I'm a professional from the high tech industry (handheld devices) with about 9 yrs of experience and a strong technical background. I would like to pursue my career in the same industry but in more business and management facing roles. I think a EMBA would help me a lot. So far I'm considering INSEAD, IE, IESE, London Business School, Cambridge, Oxford, ESCP-EAP -- but that's a lot and I wonder if any of those school is better for people coming from the high tech industry with a strong technical background. Or any other school that I may have missed and that would be a good choice for me ?
Thanks for your advice !
- g

I would also look at US schools, especially the Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA.

Thanks.
In general I find it hard to find out which schools are more suitable to then pursue a career in a specific sector (in my case industry, high tech). My feeling is that some programs / schools are better choice if one want to target a specific industry and/or sector. Maybe b/c the curriculum is more adjusted to that type of sector, or students are mostly coming from that same sector. But maybe I'm wrong, and any program / bschool is equivalent from that perspective.
- g

It's about the students and alumni, not the curriculum. If you're an IT professional, there's almost nothing an MBA can teach you about technology. An MBA can teach you about strategy, marketing, finance -- about ways to change technology and monetize it.

At London Business School, I took their elective on New Technology Ventures, which is quite amazing. But what was striking about that is that we learnt about how to plan and structure a start-up, and how to test a technology, rather than necessarily learning more about the underlying technologies. I think it's the same elsewhere.

I mention the Recanti and US programmes because when you look for MBAs in the handset market, those are the schools where they have often attended.

Agreed -- I'm not looking for learning underlying technologies; but rather for the program that will best suit someone coming with a high tech background.
Thanks for sharing your experience and for your advice, this is really helpful !
- g

You would benefit from the like minded cohort with similar background at

MIT - SDM or MBA
Stanford
Imperial
Cambridge

Adding to what the others have said here, and depending on your goals post-graduation, I'd suggest narrowing your choices by geography: that is, there are certain places around the world where there are networks and infrastructure through which you can leverage your skills and new business knowledge more easily post-graduation. I'm thinking mainly of the SF bay area (Stanford, Haas,) but also Boston (BU) - and even London now (LBS, Cass, etc.)

Thank you all for your replies. For professional and personnal reasons I will have to limit myself to the Europe area. So based on your comments, Kellogg recanati, London Business School are good choices.
What is your opinion regarding the Cambridge GEMBA program ? I could not find it in the rankings. Is that because it is a quite recent program ? Thanks again.

The program launched in 2008, making it a pretty new program and most likely inelegible for rankings for another couple years.

It's definitely maturing as a program, and I think that if you're comparing it to the LBS program, will probably offer a more intimate feel, with smaller classes. The university itself is a research center - and there's a fertile ecosystem for startups. Some people call the place "Silicon Fen," although I sometimes wonder if the buzz is more hype than anything.

What is your opinion regarding the Cambridge GEMBA program ? I could not find it in the rankings. Is that because it is a quite recent program ? Thanks again.

I'm not sure that smaller classes than LBS will be the general experience at Cambridge. I had around 50 people in my core courses at LBS, and that's the same at Cambridge. But with a much smaller list of electives, and a choice of just two, Cambridge students may find that they have rather large elective courses. At LBS there's a huge economy of scale, meaning that most popular electives are taught several times during the academic year, and even quite niche topics become viable since the electives are shared across the degree programmes.

But with a rather low average GMAT of 630, I'm not sure that the level and pace of courses at Cambridge will be comparable to London.

Hi , I am Engineering graduate in computer science, and i am moving to Berlin by end of June 2012. I want to go for MBA course at Berlin , which would be the good University over Berlin? Colleges? Is i should choose the regular MBA program or online or else part time? Is all have same value?
As i am from Computers science engineering, i wish to continue with the similar field like e-commerce. As i have no clue about business school at Berlin, i need some experienced advice to choose right one..

thank you

Why are you going to Berlin if you don't know about the schools there?

Contact the DAAD office closest to you for some better advice about that: www.daad.de

Thanks Duncan, Well i am marring and settling in Berlin so i wish to join MBA there only. This web site i know but i need some more information than in website. I really dont have any idea of the colleges at Berlin, so it would be more help if you share any more information

Thanks again for yours reply

Your lucky that you have the chance to move to Berlin. It's a great city to live in!

These B-Schools are located in Berlin: http://www.find-mba.com/city/europe/Berlin

ESMT is a young school with strong industry links: http://www.esmt.org/eng/about-esmt/founders-and-benefactors/ . HHL in Leipzig has a well-reputed MBA program. Leipzig is just 1:13 hr away by train (see www.bahn.de).

HHL and ESMT are the serious choices since a full time programme will have the best placement support. They also run part time courses, as does ESCP's Berlin campus. Also look at the MSc at the Humbolt University in Management Science. Your real focus should be on perfecting your German.

Thanks Heinz ,Duncan .
Do have any idea about how much expenditure it would come and what is the getting criteria into course ?

You can get that from the schools' websites.