What would be my career path with a marketing major?

What is the career path for an international student doing an MBA with a focus in retail marketing in the US?

• While there is a general belief that an international candidate will find it difficult to be a marketer in the US, what is the case for retail marketing? My understanding is that retail marketing, in contrast to marketing, involves mainly merchandising strategy and consumer behavior (correct me if I'm wrong here). I have experience as a Data Warehouse/Database Analyst in shipping, order management and incentive management areas.

• Answer:

  Full time MBA with top B Schools are general management in nature permitting you concentrations in more than one area. I am sure you are meaning this only. I am not in favor of one year program with only specific concentration. For example Wharton, a top class B school , known for marketing, MBA program is a general one with major concentrations in retail and many others. Simply you have to take electives, more courses to get enough credits to consider that as your major. So the options for you are many. Besides retail marketing, where you seem to have strengths, can transition comfortably in the related fields also. Retail marketing by and large revolves around what you said, but also covers retailing, retail merchandising, operations, pricing, customer behavior and relationships. You have also the option to take additional courses in operations and information management and so on. This is only for retail marketing. Additionally, you can have specialisations in marketing, finance and entrepreneurship and so on. If your heart is is retail marketing,  be with It. But if you say, your strenghts are in that, MBA is an ideal medium to transition to other areas. Now coming to opportunities. There are plenty out there in retail marketing itself, even if you stick to that. There are plenty in retail, fashion, beauty, Luxury and so on. Further you can choose career paths in Brand management or digital marketing or CRM ( customer relationship management) to name a few. Lot of indian candidates are out there, including female candidates taking retail marketing as one of the specialisations. If you subscribe to the belief that retail management in US is not for international students , it is a myth. And you can very well transition into other areas as well. I forgot to tell you one another interesting area, consulting. You can join top consulting companies with your areas of specialisation in marketing and retail marketing,