Using Conjoint Analysis to Understand a Regional MBA Market

Abstract

As universities experience a declining number of applicants for their MBA programs, business schools are pressured to adjust their curriculum. This paper suggests using conjoint analysis to understand the needs of prospective students. The authors segmented the market preferences toward the university’s MBA program into three groups – high, medium and low utility. The high utility group preferred the current program, the low group would likely never consider it, but the medium group could be enticed with programmatic changes. The findings suggest that an increase in applications could occur by addressing the needs of the medium group.