HEC IMAP MASTERS

Result of HEC Student Market Study

Overview

Developing a new product always entails risk.  Entrepreneurs and managers generally identify and study their potential clients to reduce this risk.  A close match between client need and product offer is likely to lead to a successful product.  With this in mind we surveyed the 850 HEC first and second year students asking them questions about their career aspirations and where they wanted to start their jobs.  Our goal was to identify where and in what career track HEC students are headed.

The study was announced by an email and available on line during 16-27 May, which included a traditional long weekend holiday in France.  Effectively the questionnaire was available for about five days.  One follow up email was sent during the second week.  Two participation prizes were offered to randomly selected respondents.  There were 122 total usable responses giving a 14% response rate.

Principal Results

We are encouraged that forty two percent of the respondents exhibited a strong interest in the IMAP major. (Figure 1)  Six percent indicated that it perfectly suited their talents and interests.  Thirty six percent indicated it was very attractive and forty eight percent indicated the major was one that they would actively consider.  Only seven percent exhibited no interest in the program.  This result suggests a high possibility of attracting sufficient applicants to the IMAP major to establish a viable program.  But it does not offer much information about which programs are the principle competitors to the IMAP major.

Figure 1 - Level of Interest in the IMAP Major

Therefore we also asked respondents to select their first three preferences for a major.  Figure 2 and Table 1 show the responses to this question.  Clearly the top five majors are Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and CEMS-MIM, Finance, and the PIM Program.

Figure 2 - Selection of First, Second, and Third Choices for a Major

The IMAP major however ranks sixth out of the seventeen proposed majors.  This is a very promising indication that IMAP is likely to successfully attract clients. But to better position the major it is important to note that it remains largely the third choice of most students.  Can we reposition the major by adjusting its principle characteristics to make it even more attractive?

Table 1 - Selection of First, Second, and Third Choices for a Major

To answer this question we also asked the respondents what career tracks they envisioned for themselves and for what type of company and where geographically they wanted to work.  In Figure 3 and Tables 2 and 3 we present the responses.  The top three choices for career sector are consulting, general management, and finance.  This probably reflects the history of HEC and its strong reputation among French firms.

Figure 3 - Selection of First, Second, and Third Choices for Career Sector

Table 2 - Selection of First, Second, and Third Choices for Career Sector

Something a bit surprising perhaps is the strong interest by the respondents for a career in international organisations such as the United Nations agencies.  This is the fourth most popular career direction.  Since the IMAP major will be training HEC students as consultants and general managers we are likely to be able to attract sufficient applicants to create a viable major.

Table 3 - Top choices for type of firm and geographic location of job

We also asked respondents to indicate what type of company (French or foreign) and their preferred geographic region to work.  Perhaps unfortunately for French firms, HEC students express a preference for foreign owned companies.  If this marks a trend, eventually the best students of France will be using their talents and training in France's competitor firms.  More seriously, only twenty two percent of the respondents indicate that they want to work in France.  Although France is the top single country to start their careers, twenty eight percent want to work in the Americas and another twenty eight percent want to work in the Europe outside of France.  France appears to have a serious handicap in retaining its best young managers.  This may reflect the reality of the French economy.  It is increasingly international with not only jobs being off-shored but French capital also.  Perhaps HEC students are simply “following the money”.

Recommendations for IMAP Positioning and Characteristics

The IMAP major seems well positioned vis-à-vis the other majors offered by HEC.  It does not significantly overlap most of the majors offered at HEC.  However, as seen in Table 4, students expressing a strong interest in the Entrepreneurship also find the IMAP major perfect or very attractive.  The next most preferred major for respondents interested in IMAP is Strategy.  Other majors with a strong interest to IMAP enthusiasts are the CEMS-MIM and PIM Program. Conversely the respondents not interested in IMAP typically (22%) selected the Finance major as their first choice.  There appears to be little overlap of interest between IMAP enthusiasts and other, less preferred majors such as marketing, accounting, law, etc.  This suggests therefore that the principle way to strengthen the attractivity of IMAP is by reinforcing its entrepreneurial, strategic, and international characteristics.

Table 4 - First choice of major differentiated by interest in the IMAP major

One way this could be accomplished is by highlighting the entrepreneurial aspects of an IMAP career, which is likely to be mainly in the area of consulting.  This includes both external and internal consulting activities since most large firms have internal consulting units to help optimize their international operations.  Outsourcing, especially of business processes, is one of the fastest growing sectors in consulting.  The HR outsourcing area alone is valued in excess of fifty billion dollars in the US alone.  As Europe’s businesses continue their drive toward global competitivity they will certainly turn to consultancies.  IMAP graduates will certainly be working in a rapidly growing market into the foreseeable future.  Strengthening the message about the strategic importance of better management of People, Processes, and Products is also likely to make the IMAP major more attractive.

Additionally, the IMAP major could create a joint diploma program with a partner school, such as ESADE in Barcelona or St. Gallen in Switzerland.  In addition to accessing their excellent faculty and student populations this collaboration would add a significant international orientation to the IMAP major.  It is unlikely to lure PIM or CEMS students however since those programs are relatively specialized and revolve around the notion of an exchange program or a high value, linguistic program.  It appears therefore, that the IMAP major has the opportunity to better satisfy the career aspirations and talents of a significant portion of HEC students and can probably achieve viability by offering more choice without significantly robbing market share from neither the top five programs nor the least attractive majors.

Summary and Key Propositions

The IMAP HEC Student Market Study provides evidence that IMAP offers clearly delineated characteristics found desirable by a significant population of HEC first and second year students.  It does not impact substantially on any one of the existing majors although many Entrepreneurship and Strategy clients also find the IMAP major interesting.  The IMAP is unlikely to lure students determined to enter the finance major although it may be an interesting alternative to students who are attracted by finance but do not want to enter the field as a career.

The three key propositions then that may further enhance the attractivity of the IMAP major are:

·         Reinforcement of the Entrepreneurial nature of the IMAP business space

·         Strengthening the strategic orientation of People, Process, and Product improvements

·         Developing a stronger international component of the IMAP through international partnerships with HEC partner schools

Want to add you opinion?  Click on the checkmark below to respond to the IMAP HEC Student Market Study or to give your opinion about the three key propositions.

We thank all the respondents who took the time to answer our questions.