How Product Managers Benefit From An MBA Education

| Saturday, June 29, 2013
By Birgit Lund


If you are looking for a role where you can have a lot of influence on a new product, you should look at getting into a product manager position. Besides being interesting, it is a well-paid job. You'll be involved with market research, product definition, product development and launching the product.

Every company that develops and markets products or services needs a product manager to guide the product development process. This means that product management is a career path with plenty of employment opportunities.

To enhance your career in product management, you should consider pursuing an MBA (Master in Business Administration) degree. There is a wide variety of programs available that suit most needs and circumstances.

What a PM needs to be good at The most important skills of a pm are research, an ability to work with different types of people and understanding marketing. This will help you create a product definition, work on it with design and engineering, define its value to consumers and explain it to management.

Besides just being focused on a new product, PMs often also take care of existing products. This is often referred to as product life-cycle management and it involves opening up new sales channels and minor product refreshes.

Needless to say, this is a pivotal role in the company and so the PM needs to be a well-rounded individual. An MBA degree is one way of acquiring a variety of skills that are helpful to the job.

Why you need an MBA From marketing to managerial economics, to organizational behavior, an MBA education covers a wide range of business topics. Usually courses are taught with both theory and case studies for both theoretical and a practical skill building. This is what gives MBAs an edge in the job market.

Especially for those with a technology background and an affinity for business, an MBA degree can be the ticket they needed to move into more business oriented roles such as product management.

Requirements to enter an MBA program The requirements for entry differ per program. Usually, you'll need a bachelor's degree or you must prove you have attained a similar level of knowledge through experience. In many programs you need at least a few years of work experience.

Case study based learning is an essential part of MBA programs and is one reason why you need work experience to join an MBA program. By sharing their real-life experiences on top of the academic theories, students can learn from each-other.

Obviously, the value obtained from an MBA degree is something that gives you a competitive edge in the job market.

Variations of the product management MBA Product management MBA courses vary from one institution to the other. The most common courses involve brand and marketing management.

Market research, consumer behavior and product positioning are all important topics for PMs and are usually covered in marketing courses. Brand management is useful because it deals with the identity of the company and that identity supports and needs to be supported by the product shipping under it's brand.

There are well-respected business schools around the globe, so you have a choice of where you want to study.

MBA study options

Full-time Full-time programs are great, because you get to focus purely on studying and you get to know your fellow students very well. Though this is the quickest way of doing an MBA, it also requires a significant financial commitment. During the approximately 2 years of a full-time program, you'll have to be able to pay for the tuition costs and costs of study materials, while have little to no income.

Part-time programs If you cannot let go of your job or let go of the income it provides, you could choose to do a part-time program. Classes are often in the evening, once or twice a week and frequently also during the day on weekends every second week. It usually takes about 4 years to complete an MBA this way. While this is a more affordable way of obtaining your degree, it also cuts into your free time significantly, so make sure you and your spouse are ok with that.

Online If time and/or money is highly constrained and the acquisition of skills is the most important reason for choosing to pursue an MBA degree, you might also want to do it online. There are several institutions that offer distance and e-learning.




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