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An estimated 80% of all businesses are considered to be family businesses to some degree. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of business schools have one or more courses focused on the unique challenges of running a business that means a whole lot more to you than making money.
If you are already working in a family business, the desire to go to business school can be multi-faceted. It could include considerations like learning new skills to take back to the business, like data analytics. Or learning the basics of business — like accounting, marketing, and operations — as you transition into the business from somewhere else. Other considerations may include building out a new network of contacts that could help drive the business forward. Or, maybe you just need to take something of a sabbatical from an organization that you will likely be working in for decades to come.
Two years in a traditional MBA program may give you the greatest opportunity to learn, build, and play. But perhaps two years away from the business is not a luxury you can afford. After all, how long can you really be away from a business that you are already playing a pivotal role in? For you, other options may include a one-year program, or even a part-time program to allow you to return to the business sooner, or never even leave.
To help you think through many of these issues, this blog will showcase the best full-time MBA programs with a focus on family businesses. Tomorrow we will take a look at other programs that may be right for you. So here are some of the best full-time MBA programs that have made preparing its graduates to run a family enterprise a priority.
1. The Kellogg School of Management.
The Kellogg Center for Family Enterprises has courses, conferences, and research that focus on family business strategy, governance, succession planning, family business culture, and more. This center aims to build a community for family business operators to share and learn from each other.
2. Columbia Business School.
With a formal Family Business Program, Columbia has created for its students and alumni an offering of courses, events, and other educational programs that explores the unique dynamics of an enterprise that is, frequently, more than a business.
3. Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Started in 2014, Johnson’s Smith Family Business Initiative is all about giving students the network, curriculum, and cutting edge knowledge to strengthen family businesses and help them to thrive for generations to come. Components of the program include the Family Business Club, courses, speakers’ series, and numerous family-business-focused study trips.
4. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Wharton has taken a different approach to the world of family businesses by creating the Wharton Global Family Alliance which brings together family businesses from across the world to share their own unique issues and struggles. It manifests in a robust community, research, and conferences and feeds the MBA curriculum with a wide range of courses that address the unique challenges of a family business.
5. The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.
UNC’s Family Enterprise Center provides support for students who have specifically chosen to focus their learning on running a family enterprise. Resources include specific courses, the Family Business Club, the Next Generation Leadership Roundtables, the annual Family Business Forum, workshops, mentoring, and advising.
Yes, while these are some great schools, they require a two-year full time commitment which may not be right for you. With that in mind, in the next post we discuss some other types of MBA programs to consider.