Reengineering the MBA for Small and Mid‐Size Firms: A Business‐Driven Approach

Most universities have MBA programs designed to train functionally specialized managers for large Fortune 1000 type firms. The graduate management education needs of small and mid‐size firms have been largely ignored. Many innovative MBA programs have themes that emphasize entrepreneurship, management of technology, or international business, but none have integrated all three themes in a redesigned MBA program that meets the needs of small and mid‐size firms.This paper describes a successful business‐driven approach to re‐engineering the form and content of an MBA program to create a higher value‐added program for smaller and rapidly growing enterprises. This curriculum development process was funded by a grant from the Cleveland Foundation’s Statewide Program for Businessand Management Education.Guided by a business‐driven process, The University of Toledo successfully initiated a new Executive MBA for Small and Mid‐size firms in the fall of 1995.