All businesses depend on the quality of their strategies. Family businesses are no exception. However, strategies address the appropriate use of the tools provided by other functions. Taking only strategy courses, especially in a small or family business where there are unlikely to be several functional experts on staff, would be counterproductive. That doesn't mean you shouldn't focus on strategy, simply that you should be sure to gain basic competence in all the managerial skills taught in B-school.

Many people with strategy backgrounds go into consulting, but large corporations also have strategic planning departments. There are many resources on strategy including even a "Dummies" series book. Keep in mind that planning in a family or small business may, of necessity, be more involved with the details of specific functions, making a broad background more important. Try checking out some of the better journals such as the Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/search/Strategy

Good luck,

thanx for your prompt reply Tani

I have 6 years of experience in operations in my family business in India.( our group employs 500 people and has a turnover of USD 30 million)

My Gmat is 650 .

Post MBA I want to start my own company in box packaging and therefore looking at schools with strong marketing and strategy programs.
through MBA I want to develop marketing skills and learn how to put things together in a new business.

I was dinged at Wharton after interview last year.

Can you please suggest which schools and programs should I target ?
I am open to both US and EU schools.

thnx

Wharton is exceptionally tough to get into, particularly with a GMAT below 700. Since you are looking to manage a manufacturing company, you should think about targeting schools with strong operations/production programs. Marketing will be important, but you can't sell a product that isn't well and efficiently made. USNews gives top ten lists by specialty. Look first at those schools that have GMAT scores below 700 - Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, and Ohio State in production. Indiana and Ohio State both have excellent marketing programs and somewhat higher acceptance rates.

Any well-respected school will have a strong strategy program - every function is strategy-based in the end. I am not as familiar with European schools by function and the FT doesn't break out rankings that way.

As you know, the pool of applicants from India is huge and acceptance is very competitive. Your strength is in your operations background as opposed to the strictly technical applicants. You will want to stress your operations efforts. If you work directly with hourly workers that will give you very different insights than those of the people who work only with other technically-trained individuals. Those are differences that you can use to make your application more compelling.

Good luck,