WHERE DOES AN MBA FIT IN THE STORY OF A CHINESE PROFESSIONAL?

MA HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PART FULFILMENT FOR THE MA HUMNA RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Table of contents
List of Tables iv
List of Figures v
Acknowledgements vii
Abstract viii
Abbreviations ix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Purpose of Research 2
2 Literature Review 3
2.1 Introduction 3
2.2 What is MBA? 3
2.2.1 The Academic Characteristic 3
2.2.2 The relationship between MBA and economy 5
2.2.3 The history of MBA - Developing as a professional degree 8
2.3 MBA in China 14
2.3.1 The social background 14
2.3.2 A short history of MBA programmes in China 16
2.3.3 Curriculum and Admission 17
2.4 Where does an MBA fit in your story? - MBA and Career 19
2.4.1 Career Theories 19
2.4.2 The benefit of MBA 20
2.4.3 MBAs' Career choice - Western approach 21
2.4.4 MBAs' Career choice - Chinese approach 23
2.5 Where does an MBA fit in the story of a Chinese Professional? 28
3 Methodology 30
3.1 Data Collection 30
3.1.1 Data Required 30
3.1.2 Collecting Method 31
3.1.3 The Questionnaire 31
3.2 Data Analysing 33
3.3 Limitations 33
3.3.1 Time and Geographical limitation 33
3.3.2 Responding rate concern 34
4 Findings 35
4.1 MBA Students' response 35
4.1.1 Personal Background of MBA students 41
4.2 MBA Graduates' response 43
4.2.1 Personal Information of MBA graduates 46
5 Discussion 48
5.1 Understanding of MBA 48
5.2 MBA and career 52
5.2.1 Career goals of MBA students 52
5.2.2 Life and career after MBA 56
6 Conclusion 59
6.1 Overview of research 59
6.2 Recommendations 60
6.3 Opportunities for further research 61
6.3.1 Getting new content 61
6.3.2 Using different research method 62
6.3.3 Comparing internationally 62
Bibliography 63
Appendices 68
Appendix A: Sample of the Questionnaire 68
Appendix B: Samples of responses 69