7 niche MBA programmes that give you an edge

Ipsita Sarkar Gupta | shiksha.com

Management education over the years have become a vast field with specialization programmes being introduced in multiple industries. This is a boon for management aspirants as it not only allows everyone a share but also increases more employment opportunities. Moreover, these programmes educate candidates in meeting the managerial needs of fields other than sales and marketing, finance, human resourses, operations and IT.

Also, it may be noted that general MBA programmes are slowly veering towards saturation, thus allowing a new breed of management degrees to rise. These MBAs focus on specialisations in a particular industry or niche portfolios.

In India, educational institutions are gradually realising the importance of management studies in a particular field. Various new courses have been drawn up. Shiksha.com takes a look at seven such niche specialities and suggests some websites/forums where you can read more about them.

1. Rural Management

It is a well known fact that India is an agrarian economy. But with changing times, even rural-based sectors are being influenced by corporate trends. With a steady rise in rural enterprises, there is a growing consciousness for quality both at product-end and consumer-end. As a result, the demand for qualified rural management professionals “who could work towards efficient restructuring” has gone up.

2. Insurance

The Indian insurance industry has been valued at US$ 72 billion (2012 data). According to a report in India Brand Equity Foundation, the industry has the potential to reach US$ 280 billion by 2020. There is a dire need of qualified personnel who can provide a strategic outlook and undertake policy research. Some of the sub-specialisations include actuarial management, risk management and reinsurance.

3. Forest Management

Woods are a source of livelihood for more than 15 million people in India. Forest management (FM) is a highly niche field that focuses on building talent to conserve natural resources and prepares students for careers leading to management responsibility in forestry. Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) offers a post graduate programme in FM.

4. Telecom Management

India has the second largest telecommunication network in the world. It also has one of the lowest call tariffs and third-largest Internet user-base. The industry has grown over twenty times in ten years and has a revenue of US$ 34,344 million (Rs 171,719 crore) in 2010-11, informs Imagine More. Such a big industry requires specialised managers who have the knowledge and skills in all functional areas of a Telecommunication or what is known now as Information & Communication Technology Company (Read more).

5. Aviation Management

The country seeing a boom in air travel. With more airports coming up and the old ones being made state-of-the-art, it is only wise to specialise in the sector for an edge over others. Here’s a forum that talks about the best colleges providing MBA in Aviation.

6. Disaster Management

We all know how an impending disaster in cyclone Phailin was averted due to efficient disaster management and how the lack of it led to the death of thousands in the Uttarakhand floods. So there is pressing need for people trained to mitigate disaster and hence the need to train efficient managers.

7. Sports Management

According to a Times of India article, sports management combines work as an agent along with the business and marketing aspects of the game. Their role involves business development, generating revenues/profit, planning and strategising, promotions, client servicing and so on.

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