MBA in Switzerland

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Hello, what do you think about having a MBA in Switzerland?
Is it helpful in Switzerland in the job market or negligible like it may be for the Italian market that I know a bit more?

Any suggestion of a good one here? How much should I account for?

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What could make sense is to calculate the salary inrease you benefit in the long term.
Do you know which position such MBA could help you to reach ?

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I don’t have much experience but whenever I see an executive in Switzerland, they could almost always speak all three languages; German, French, English and they mostly had an MBA. So my impression is that it may not guarantee you an upper position but it definitely help to outrace.

There are bunch of different programs out there. Your interest and the industry you are in plays of course a big role. I am personally interested (only by information on their website) in BFH’s Master in Digital Business Administration program. It is in English and looks very flexible. Take a look at it here. A colleague did EMBA at EPFL and he was quite happy.
There are not much universities in Switzerland. I guess you can go site by site and check all the programs in couple of hours.

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@Bili , did the MBA help your colleague being promoted in your company or another company at the end of his MBA ?

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Yes, right after he finished he got a promotion and changed his position to a more decision-maker one.

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I know that for some positions, especially in government, an MBA is required or highly valued in any case.

What is the objective of your approach? Is it primarily to increase your salary? In that case I can only recommend the best schools (but also the most expensive ones). The calling card of an MBA is above all in which institution you did it. If your goal is above all to deepen your knowledge, I can only recommend you to attend the information sessions and to choose the school that suits you.

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Here some thoughts (having an MBA myself):

  • Don’t do an MBA if you want to enter a new sector. An MBA “boosts” an existing career.
  • If you do an MBA, do it right → Choose a good school (check the Financial Times ranking).
  • Good schools cost a lot of money → Calculate if it is really worse it (one can also just do specific courses = cheaper).
  • Do it in Europe → In Europe people tend to do an MBA when around 30 years old (in US the average age is much younger). Remember that you learn a lot from the experiences from the other school mates → The younger (in US) the less knowledge (i.e. geopolitics for instance). I remember that I was shocked to see the ignorance of some of the US exchange students in my class.
  • Remember that the top ranked schools chooses the best candidates having an international mix (meaning that, unless you are a genius, you have low chances to enter schools like IMD, INSEAD, etc…).
  • The preparation/application process is not easy and takes time (the GMAT test is not that easy for non-natives).
    Cheers,
    P.
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I will be attending the MBA at HSG in September.
Has anyone attended and can provide some feedback?

I talked to some alumni but they are, of course, a bit biased.

Thank you!

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Haven’t done it myself, but apparently excellent network and recognition in Switzerland (from friends who have done it or hired people who have done it.

I don’t really agree on that one. Most people who did a MBA changed completely. With a MBA, you are supposed to be able to go into any sector at a pretty high level (or to say it more profanely : a balance sheet does not change regardless of the sector).

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That’s a grime comment…

Would you mind connecting via PM?

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Hi all,

It’s my time to up this thread. I’m considering giving a more managerial turn to my career and may have an opportunity to do so. As I’m pondering my potential new role, I’m also pondering the tools I need to fulfill it properly.

I’d be leading a small department of roughly 10 people, mostly civil engineers with a focus on cementing the team (which is currently rather fragmented by my understanding) and ensuring profitabillity (as that’s my main tool to convince upper management to go along with my ideas).

I think I can handle the profitability side of things so training in management seems to be what I’m looking for. There are several tools that can give me what I need, an eMBA being apparently the best for further leverage. The purpose isn’t straight salary increase but to develop my skillset, know-how and network (on that part, most of my activity and clients will be in Switzerland so I’m more after a strong local network than an international one). By doing a good job and being a good person with a focus on profitability, I’m confident the salary will follow.

I have a few questions for those of you with experience in management (lower for my current position, upper, hopefully, for my further career):

  1. would an eMBA be worth it?

  2. is there more bang for the buck to get by doing the full curriculum or by hand selecting high value added modules (CAS), potentially piling them to build the whole curriculum on a longer timeframe?

  3. Are there specific schools you would recommend? I’m biased toward a curriculum in German since it’s potentially my last opportunity if I want to someday actually speak it fluently but I’m open to the Swiss area. Part-time is a must, full remote not a necessity (I’d actually rather have some in-person sessions for networking opportunities).

  4. Would you recommend something else and if yes, what?

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Hello,

I am in this similar position but didn’t do a MBA.
For me MBA is more when you want to achieve executive position and strengthen your professional network. Some positions in big corp are restricted to few schools and require a diploma.

What I like to do when changing team is introducing 1 to 1 every 2-3 weeks around a coffee. It give you the opportunity to discuss objectives but also chitchat and know more about the team.
Another approach is to position yourself as “coach manager” to help them grow. You can find lots of documentation on this new trendy term.
It can also be good to know the personality within your team. Some use the colour methodology (red, yellow, blue, green) or other tests.
It can help you to understand why some are better at sales, some other at support and another bunch will fail to setup a project with clear milestones.

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I looked into MBA a few years ago and asked myself the same questions, longer text incoming. That’s for normal MBAs, I had the impression EMBAs are were rather for people already in some middle-management position, or at least more work experience, but that could be wrong.
To decide whether it’s worth it, if an MBA is the best option, and what’s the best program for you I’d consider different points

  1. What you want to learn, like lecture and textbook knowledge. MBAs do offer a comprehensive, general management education. There’re programs like “MBA in [some specific topic], but those miss the point in my opinion.
  2. That’s amplified by working with your peers, ideally very smart and experienced people from different backgrounds. Especially since group work and problem solving should be a focus over studying textbooks or papers. There are likely not any papers, rather case studies as it’s not an academically focused study.
  3. The alumni network you’re getting into
  4. The signaling from that you took the time and money to do it. Even the fact that you got admitted in the first place can send a signal to employers. However, in many companies I know, an MBA or a big name in the CV might not give much bonus compared to other forms of education or experience.

1 and 2 are always valuable by themself. How much benefit you get out of 3 and 4 depends a lot on your situation. There will also be differences between a full-time 2-year program compared to some evening classes in terms of intensity and content, just as there is between a one-day training and a 4 week course, but even no-degree alternatives offer the same benefits to some extent.
Possibly, you get much more bang for the buck from picking a more down-to-earth program, selected courses or trainings or even something online, and a more useful network by attending some trade show or conference in your target industry. Impossible to judge.

There’re several ranking for MBA programs. St. Gallen at least used to be the big name in German language, but today probably every university or business school has some offering in executive education, with the highest ranked ones also the most expensive and selectibe, and likely in English and international focused.
Programs tend to have lot info material and also provide statistics on their students, like where are they from, which industries, average work experience etc. Once you narrowed it down, they have some info day and you can also get in touch with current or former students for a more inside view.
So it does take some preparation, including the admission process compared to just signing up for a course.

Ideally, you get your employer to support in term of time and money :wink:

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Thanks both for your precious feedback,

@FunnyDjo: solid advice, will do. I personally like the coffee part. I tend to be more formal. The more casual situation can elicit all kinds of discussions, including personal situation matters that I would not have known otherwise.

That’s my impression too, though you can find EMBAs with no work experience requirement (ESM, for example. In my opinion, they miss the point). The main difference I see is that I see EMBAs as more practical and leadership oriented while I see MBAs as more theory and financials oriented, though it depends on the school and curriculum, of course. I’d consider an MBA if I were looking for a CEO/board position. I would say it seems easier to implement EMBAs’ experience to a lower position with a focus on people management, organisation and strategy.

I’m not fond of buzzwords for the sake of buzzwords and am rather in search of a practical learning experience. There are plenty of buzzword modules in EMBA curriculums but it seems it’s easy enough to navigate around them by choosing the right school+curriculum.

Same opinion here.

Yet we make personal decisions and move forward on those impossible to judge situations.

That’s one of the aspects I’m pondering. I like the Berner Fachhochschuhle’s approach where they cut the curriculum down in 4 CAS with an explicit mention that it can be done on a 8 years timeframe. I might very well go for that (starting with a CAS in Leadership or Kommunication as that would be my immediate need).

That’s why I think it’s important that I ask myself the question now as that’s something I want to put on the table before accepting my potential new position. :wink:

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17

As many said, it really depends on what you want to achieve.

  1. Do you do to achieve higher salary?
  2. Changing career?
  3. Higher position within your company?
  4. Gaining knowledge

For #1-2, often a premium institution is better as higher uni reputation may help you to secure interviews with bigger corps and/or switch to consulting (higher reputation and salaries)

Here, I would only consider IMD or Sant Gallen

For #3-4, it matters less the institution.

All the rest in Switzerland

Does it matter to employers? Honestly very little, it may help you to pass to interview stage but after it’s always you that make it or break it. Recently there is even some negative connotations as people that see people with recent MBAs, associate the candidate with wanting a higher salary.

Tell us more about you and we can help you more

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Thanks @Lupin007, that seems to sum it up pretty accurately.

I don’t know what informations you need so feel free to ask more precise questions if warranted.

Field: civil engineering (current - I’m not married to it)
Career situation: Early mid-career (slightly less than 10 years of experience, of which 7 as team leader/project manager (depending on the position).

Current position: project manager for projects involving 2-5 people (the teams themselves are changing from project to project), for projects up to 20M of budget with leadership on specialized partners.

Target short term position: team leader (~10 people) with budgetary and low level strategic responsibilities.

Longer term target - best case: Upper management in the Swiss/European area.
Longer term target - realistic case: Mid level management in a smallish 50-200 people company in the Swiss/European area.

Career objectives:

  • maximizing impact on employees (fostering a work environment that is both efficient and kind (structured and results driven but fair).
  • increasing salary withtout maximizing it at all costs (it’s a balanced entreprise).

Objectives pursued through training - short term:

  • increasing my skills in leadership, negociation and communication with a focus on experience sharing and building a useful practical toolbox.
  • building a network (of both prospective partners, clients and people I can share with and learn from their experience when I’m confronted with a new situation).
  • having a leadership/management line on my resume that I can leverage to make discussing my skillset easier.

Objectives pursued through training - longer term:

  • developing my network more on a Swiss and/or European level.
  • improving on my strategical and tactical skillset.
  • getting a recognized paper that I can use as leverage to further my career.

My understanding is the following:

  1. it is too early for me to consider a full EMBA curriculum. If I do so, I should consider doing it in a reputable school (IMD or St-Gallen) and that would not be justified by my current work experience (if I can even qualify for them, which on paper I wouldn’t) nor the position I’m aiming for on the short term.
  1. It would still be useful to pursue some reputable training in either leadership, negociations or communication, or all three. For that, I can either:

  • target a lower tier program in one of the reputable institutions where I’d be likely to target doing an EMBA to build a relationship with them and profit from their reputation.

  • target a lower tier program elsewhere in Switzerland, ideally in German, targetted on what I can find of the reputation of the teachers and curriculum.

  1. Later on, if my career path warrants it, I can switch to a more complete training in the appropriate school.
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Hey,

I am finishing my 2 year part-time MBA at St. Gallen, I can give you further feedback via PM. With your years of experience I see you fitting better into a part time MBA/full time MBA rather than EMBA. EMBA, at least in St. Gallen is for more experienced professionals. You have the age distribution of the different MBAs so that can give you some guidance.

My main takeaways:
→ If you come from a business/economics/finance background, you will not learn anything new. You have heard about these things before and you will be doing business cases on it. Maybe I am a bit harsh here since for the electives the quality is quite high and you do learn something new but for the core courses, ehhh not much.
→ I see value in Engineers/Lawyers/Doctors doing an MBA.
→ Network is the main thing you will take away. Unfortunately, speaking with a couple of classes it is a coin toss. My year is great but some other years have a lot of competitive people who would rather compete for grades vs making meaningful connections.
→ I would not do an MBA in Switzerland outside of IMD/St. Gallen. I would not do an Online MBA. I would not do a weekend MBA. If you consider schools outside of Switzerland, try to understand if that network will be useful for you or not.
→ I would only do an MBA with significant company support. Paying the 75k out of pocket doesn’t make a lot of financial sense in the short-medium term, might be worth it long term but I don’t have visibility there.

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@ThePortugueseExpat: thanks a lot for your feedback, it helps to envision things better. I’ll very likely take you on your PM offer, though probably at the end of the weekend.

Age distribution is nothing. I totally fit in that average age. :smiling_face_with_horns: (I’ve been late to enter the workforce. I compensate for it with life experience and a quick progression since.)

I do agree it’s too early for me for a proper EMBA, though.

Evening/weekend curriculums would seem to me like the best way to do it while still working a good amount of time and providing adequate output to my employer. Why wouldn’t you recommend those?