Doing professionally oriented post graduate degree courses with a view to becoming stronger as a business owner is always a good idea for people who want to make it as entrepreneurs, as it can give a well rounded knowledge of business that can make you far better equipped to strategise and manage effectively. There is a long tradition of people supplementing their existing professional knowledge with something like an MBA to become better business people when they decide to start up on their own. However, in the modern business world, it seems there is a strong trend towards people choosing study paths with a more international focus, like an MSc in International Business, instead.
While these courses have always had benefits, it seems that in the internet age commerce has become less restricted by borders, and people starting up in all kinds of fields think it is important to prepare themselves for doing business with people from all over the world. Here we look at some of the key advantages of the MSc in International Business for entrepreneurs in the 2010s:
Leveraging The ‘Small World’ The Internet Has Created
We all know that theoretically at least, the internet allows us to sell and promote to people from all over the world, and to make connections with things like the best suppliers no matter where they are based. However, in practice it is not as easy as that. While people in different countries may be able to see your website, that doesn’t mean you are logistically equipped to handle transactions with them, and of course, if you don’t know anything about marketing to people in a given country it is very unlikely they will find you anyway. Understanding about running a business that can function in multiple countries or even globally is essential in order to be able to actually do it, because many of the perceptions that stem from the fact that a website is technically viewable in other countries are wrong.
Launching your business in a new country or region requires a lot of understanding of the market in that location and the legal, logistical and financial technicalities of being able to trade there. Many business owners want to be able to operate across the EU or the world as a whole, and realise that an International Business course is the best way to be able to go into this with their eyes open.
Networking Potential
When you take an International Business course, you usually find that the other people on the course with you come from pretty diverse backgrounds, and are all interested in different aspects of internationally focussed business. This means you are already in a cohort of people who could become valuable contacts for your business activities, who may well be based all over the world – especially if you do your MSc via distance learning. Taking your MSc in International Business with a high credibility UK university like the University of Birmingham, who offer online courses to people from inside and outside of the EU, will mean you get all of the benefits of being able to study with a personal tutor and work through the course, but will have opportunities to network with students with similar goals from diverse backgrounds. This networking potential is another very big draw for entrepreneurs interested in doing business globally.
Understanding Growing Markets
Seizing opportunities is very important in business, and having a handle on world trade means you will be able to identify opportunities even when they exist very far from home. As some countries emerge as markets for certain types of products and services, it can pay to be well prepared to enter into business there, whether it is capitalising on a trend in a given market, or working with global economic developments that create new markets in mind. If you want to be able to enter markets where there is a lot of growth or introduce products to markets where there isn’t currently as much competition as in the UK, you will have far more of the insight you need to do this if you have studied international business and used what you have learned in your research and strategies.
There are lots of reasons why a Masters degree can help you as an entrepreneur, but if you are wondering whether to take an MBA or something different, the MSc in International Business is worth looking into.
