Established in Leipzig, the Small Enterprise Promotion and Training Master of Business Administration (MBA) combines questions of the professional management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with problems and perspectives of business and economic development. It provides a thorough understanding of management as the basis for positions of leadership not just in the private sector, but especially in institutions and organisations involved in business development and foreign assistance. The spectrum ranges from the very smallest activities on the threshold of subsistence all the way through to dynamic medium-sized enterprises with good growth prospects. In addition to aspects of income and employment security, students examine questions as to the growth and innovation potential of small and medium-sized enterprises, the prerequisites for their international competitiveness, and their integration into global economic cycles.
Graduates are equipped with the following knowledge:
- expertise and specialised knowledge of the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in the specific context of developing countries and transition economies
- expertise and specialised knowledge of the particular aspects of founding and successfully managing small and medium-sized enterprises
- awareness and knowledge of the specific institutional, legal and social environment of small and medium-sized enterprises
- an ability to evaluate small and medium-sized enterprises, projects, programmes and private sector development policies
- communication, presentation and leadership skills
- an ability to work in interdisciplinary teams and different cultural contexts.
