EMBA for Marketeers: Springboard to the Executive Chair
The previous article explained that the EMBA is designed for executives and therefore places higher demands on participants. The adjective "executive" also indicates that the continuing education program is part-time. An EMBA tends to be more individually tailored and is designed to strengthen participants' existing management experience. It is a globally recognized [...]
Marketing Manager becomes CEO
Ultimately, the students are well positioned on the market, have a networked, practice-oriented way of thinking and have specialized know-how based on the individually selected courses - be it in marketing, sales or communication, and it is precisely in these areas that an EMBA is a welcome qualification. Quite a few use it as a career springboard - from marketing manager to CEO of a large company. Or to become self-employed.
Marketing without online - unimaginable
"Most of the students who come to us have already achieved a lot professionally and now want to build up specific business knowledge, or their studies are further back and they want to keep up with digitalization," explains Caroline Kähr Serra, Co-Head of Continuing Education at the Institute of Marketing and Business Management at the University of Bern (IMU), because the EMBA has had to change significantly over time, especially in the marketing industry. "Marketing without online is simply no longer conceivable. Online marketing accounts for 50 percent of our teaching," confirms Kähr Serra. Working with models has also become central. These include the buyer behavior model or competitive behavior, which are dealt with intensively in class. "Our two "CAS Digital Transformation" and "CAS Online Marketing and Social Media" are directly related to the digital area. These can be combined with a third CAS to become an EMBA," explains the director. In general, students can choose from various CAS courses and thus tailor their degree to suit themselves.
Managers who switch to marketing
Students at Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences can also put together their own learning modules. "For example, marketing topics can be supplemented with other subjects such as leadership, digitalization, psychology or strategic management," explains Maika Lange, head of the course at Kalaidos UAS. Students can choose between full attendance (16-18 teaching days), partial attendance (9-11 teaching days) and online (no attendance). "We specifically target managers who are either already working in marketing and want to get a know-how update, or managers who want to switch to the marketing sector and need sound, practical and up-to-date marketing knowledge," says Lange.
Shaping the future
The EMBA has been running at the Zurich School of Business (HWZ) since 2004. "We have continually updated and developed the course. New subject areas were included, and the week abroad at the Darden School of Business was added. Most recently, the course was comprehensively revised with the focus on offering an integrated perspective that brings together the old and new digital marketing worlds," explains Michael Grund, Head of the Center for Marketing & Sales at the HWZ, adding that students choose either General Management or Marketing. "These are separate study groups. The topic of digitalization is naturally very important in the study program, and the HWZ also offers a series of CASs and an MAS with a focus on digital topics through its Institute for Digital Business," Grund continues. As a rule, EMBA Marketing students continue to work 100 percent of the time, although a few reduce this to 80 percent. "This means that students are not only up to date in terms of content and can develop topics, but also implement them immediately and can thus play a decisive role in shaping the future of the company." The course lasts one and a half years, with 13 months of classroom teaching. This is followed by the Master's thesis.
