Is an MBA still a Game Changer in 2023?

Getting a PGDM/MBA degree makes sense for some, but not for all.

Before deep dive into the article, let me inform you that this article is based on data shown by Google tool. Our team did thorough research into, collected the Google insights and Google trends on a couple of keywords related to MBA, PGDM, Management courses, etc.

Here are a few questions that you will be able to answer after reading this article.

Why and how doing an MBA could be your 2023 career game-changer?

Is MBA losing its value?

Can MBA help your career?

How MBA help your career?

Is MBA a Waste of time?

How to survive and succeed in MBA program 2023?

A recent study at Taxila Business School on the analysis of Google search trends found that an MBA was the most searched master’s degree in India from Jan 2019 to Dec 2019. During this period 216.52 lakh searches were done on an MBA. 

That’s really amazing! A huge number of students or aspirants are looking for MBA. 

The total searches on Google for MBA colleges in India from Jan 2019 to Dec 2019: 216.52 Lakh

	Jan	Feb	March	April	May	Jun	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
Total	17.82	15.20	17.81	18.14	22.49	22.29	21.68	17.71	16.41	13.84	16.78	16.35	216.52
IIMB	4.64	4.19	4.86	4.91	6.11	6.37	6.25	5.08	4.69	3.85	4.44	4.29	59.68
IIMA	3.33	3.07	3.58	3.62	4.45	4.52	4.51	3.59	3.36	2.73	3.18	3.09	43.03
Taxila	2.88	2.65	3.10	3.12	3.92	4.22	4.10	3.16	2.88	2.33	2.77	2.72	37.85
IIMC	2.61	2.38	2.82	2.81	3.52	3.64	3.62	2.78	2.58	2.10	2.44	2.35	33.65

Google Searches in Lakh

Total search based on Management colleges trend (MBA/PGDM)

Breakdown of the total trend by Platform and Location.

During 2019 the Management Degree MBA was the most searched higher education program than to any other post-graduate degree. The most interesting trend is about the oldest IIM; IIMA, which lost the race to IIMB.  

#1st – IIM Bangalore

IIMB stats

MBA Search Volume Trend of IIM Banglore – Data from Google tool

IIMB with close to 60 lakh searches remained the choice No1.

If we check the stats we found that MBA/PGDM is still the first choice of students. May to June 2019 was the peak time when aspirants searched a lot about MBA. You can also see that Mobile users are immensely increasing in comparison to other devices.

People from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the major target areas for IIM Bangalore.

#2nd – IIM Ahmedabad

IIMB stats

IIM Ahmedabad is in second place with 3.66 Lakh searches. Here I found that IIMA has more mobile searches in comparison to IIMB. Which means niche-specific aspirants are looking for IIMA.

#3rd – Taxila Business School, Jaipur

Taxila Business School overtakes IIMC and becomes the third most popular management college.

While comparatively a new business school; Taxila Business School was searched close to 38 lakh times in the year 2019 which is higher than the search volume of IIMC. 

Taxila Stats

If we look further breakdown by platform, TBS trends clearly show the maximum % age of searches on mobile among the above 4 Management colleges.

Searches over mobile devices are more than 78%.

Despite being one of the priciest degrees on offer, numbers are rising at India’s leading business schools. Over 3.34 lakh students had applied for CAT 2023 and around 98242 students wrote XAT 2023.

4th – IIM Calcutta

IIMC is in 4th place in Google searches with a total monthly average searches of around 3 lakh.

IIM Calcutta Stats

Tania Sharma works in a different world from a lot of MBA holders. Instead of climbing the corporate ladder or making waves at a big-name consulting firm, she uses her MBA as owner of the Desimochi.com (Nice Shoes LLP) firm to help small shoe workers create effective and efficient marketing campaigns.

“It gave me a larger perception that has been extremely valuable in working with smaller businesses and start-ups, where everything is so closely tangled,” says Tania, who got her MBA from the Taxila Business School in 2017 and started her company in 2018. “So when I start a meeting with a client, I know to ask, ‘How are you getting this new product to market?’ and ‘What is your production cycle?’ Then I plan a marketing campaign to that — not just ‘Oh, we want to launch on January 1.’ ”

A lot of individuals kick around the idea of getting an MBA at some point in their careers. 

Step one is figuring out your career goals and exploring whether reaching them needs an MBA. In some fields, like consulting, or in some big companies, an MBA is a need for progression. “Without my PGDM at Taxila Business School I could never have made it to Hindustan Unilever Ltd,” says Mallika student of class 2023.

“I keep on hearing from employees over and over again that to move to the next level in their companies, they need to be certified,” says Prof. Rajat Bohra, professor of leadership at Taxila Business School.

What could PGDM do for you? 

• Make you richer? 
• Boost your career?
• Help you change direction entirely? 

MBA/PGDM is a broad business degree for professionals, but it is, as business schools tell you, more than the sum of its parts.

The variety of backgrounds MBA/PGDM specialization attracts is evidence of the course’s broad appeal – elite athletes, military officers, engineers, doctors, fresh graduates, coders, junior managers, Lawyers as well as the people from the world of finance and consulting.

With an extensive syllabus and options to specialize, an MBA/PGDM is designed to nurture the soft skills demanded by blue-chip companies – leadership, understanding, and global awareness – as well as the nuts and bolts of the business. A few years down the line, it’s these soft skills that many ex-students value most.

“Taxila Business School is the platform where I was converted from a writer to the speaker”,
Chetan Bhagat

quoted the famous writer and motivational speaker, Chetan Bhagat.

“I really love my job, so personal development wasn’t an issue for me,” says Urvashi Parmar, the youngest General Manager at Orix Japan, who studied PGDM at Taxila Business School. “It helped me set bigger goals, such as drafting strategy, direction, and organizational culture, and also with the realities of dealing with staff, managing change, and refining productivity.”

MBA/PGDM is also the best degree for students who want to change from specialized roles into administrative or managerial positions. “Say you’ve been working in the manufacturing unit and were in charge of engineering quality control, but you want to move to a more managerial role,” says Prof Rajat Bohra, dean at Taxila Business School. “A management degree like a PGDM/MBA will indeed offer that hint of how an organization functions and how different roles come together.”

Candidates who are interested in more specialized business domains, like data analytics or finance, will benefit more from a focused advanced degree than a generalized MBA. We at TBS have customized options for that approach. Such as an MBA in business analytics, as well as dual specialization programs.

Students are handpicked to create a mix of backgrounds, cultures – often from 25 or more different states – and professional pedigree. 

While the MBA syllabus can be challenging – finance and accounting modules are pesky, which tend not to be for everyone – the focus is on group tasks and frequently live projects. Students are known to have a change of heart during PGDM and head in a different direction entirely. Many students pronounce the experience as life-changing.

“Aspirants must establish fast-track professional growth,” says Director Anuradha Mehta at Taxila Business School. “But they also need to prove how they would succeed in the classroom, how they will be involved with the clubs on offer, and what will they bring to the class.”

Conclusion:

Furthermore, the PGDM attracts aspiring entrepreneurs, with many schools hosting business incubators for start-ups and providing continuing support for those with a desire to head off on the start-up journey. 

In some fields, like consulting, or in some big companies, an MBA is a need for progression. “Without my PGDM at Taxila Business School I could never have made it to Hindustan Unilever Ltd,” says Mallika student of class 2023.