Editorial
careers
The MBA and international experience: pre-requisites for CEOs?
By Ross Geraghty
it has become a business prerequisite to have that close to the hearts and minds of their managers becoming less physical capital intensive. As a
skillset. Paradoxically, it also slows down your path earlier in their careers. Says Professor Hamori: result, these firms look more like partnerships
to the top. Some overseas experience is seen, these “Those who embark on fewer (overseas) (flatter organizations),” says Professor Hamori.
days, very positively but it’s also a career gamble.” assignments that last for a shorter time, one or two “If you look at a title-by-title breakdown, the
This was not always the case. In 1993 only 7% years, or who gain international experience by sharpest drop from 1980 to 2001 is in EVP titles
of American CEOs had international experience. staying in the company HQ and visiting foreign and stand-alone President titles, along with big
The latest figure stands at 44%, a clear indication divisions may reach top divisions faster.” increases in the use of the Group President titles
that such experience is valued highly in a and the emergence of the Chief Operating
globalizing market. Professor Hamori explains Structures flattening Officer. We interpret the title breakdown in 1980
why. “It’s a business requirement to have the The IE Business School research is one of the and 2001 as evidence that corporate hierarchies
skillsets associated with international experience. most comprehensive insights into trends within have become flatter, some titles are being
It’s associated with problem-solving and the very top levels of the corporate world and eliminated and there are fewer people in the top
management skills, managing overseas staff suggests clearly that corporate hierarchies are and middle tier.”
requires more sophisticated management skills flattening. This is perhaps an indication that the In the QS 2008 World MBA Tour Applicant
and dealing with additional levels of complexity.” world’s leading companies are interested in Survey, one in six applicants responding to the
This advice comes with a caveat, however - decreasing the distinctions between the top and survey said that they see themselves as CEOs of
get some essential overseas experience but don’t bottom levels of their organizations. a large corporation in ten years time after
stay away for too long. CEOs who spend seven “There is an academic paper by Julie Wulf graduating from their MBA. While the time
years or more abroad do significantly worse than and Raghuram Rajan, which tries to explain the frame may be a little ambitious, there has never
their colleagues who do not, perhaps choosing to phenomenon of the flattening firm. They say that been a stronger argument for getting that overseas
return earlier to the eye of the storm and being it is a result of firms facing more competition and experience and MBA at the same time.
TopMBA CAreer Guide
www.topmba.com 29
MBA_FALL_08_pp_002-065.indd 29 11/8/08 18:14:45
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