A specialized master's degree only focuses on one business industry. Some common forms of these degrees are Master in Finance or Master in Accounting. Students take these degrees in contrast to MBAs because they are highly skill intensive in comparison. The business overview of the MBA is replaced with expert quantitative and qualitative technical skills in these degrees. The industries these degrees cover also typically have a high demand for skilled students; they highly prefer applicants who can do a task more efficiently than anyone else.
One-year business management degrees are typically taken right after an undergraduate degree. This type of degree focuses on developing business skills in the workplace such as teamwork, communication and general management. Nonbusiness undergraduates may also take this degree to develop management skills in their own fields. For example, a health care graduate would benefit from a short one-year management degree by learning basic human resources skills to manage employees in a hospital.
The globalization of business has sparked the need for professionals who are highly sensitive to international markets. International master's business degrees have students study how business is conducted in a specific country. Students learn technical knowledge such as foreign trade policies and prevalent country markets. Additionally, students also learn about the country's professional culture and expectations to work in business with that country. These programs typically last for one to two years and have additional options to learn a foreign language concurrently with their study.
An MBA typically requires students to have previously completed five to 10 years of professional work experience. In contrast, a master's degree in business requires little or no work experience at all. This is because a master's degree in business is made for students with a solid, determined career path outside of traditional business management. Additionally, a master's degree in business is typically shorter at one to two years compared to an MBA's three to four years of average study. On the other hand, MBA programs contain comprehensive business training that is usually required for executive management positions in most companies.