Is MBA losing its spark?

It’s obvious to anyone that MBA over the past few years have been the course of choice for many university graduates regardless of profession but mainly business and management professionals. MBA gained popularity worldwide as a brand name for a business qualification that takes people to higher places at corporate level. Many people do MBA with the sole purpose of climbing up the managerial ladder regardless of the knowledge and skills they may or may not acquire from the course. Many business schools around the globe developed MBA programs that are similar in terms of content, structure, duration etc with variation in cost and value.
Does MBA really have the magic key to corporate managers’ success? The answer to this till recently would be an affirmative YES. Many people who seek an MBA have no experience in business so on completion of MBA they usually have some background in business administration topics such as accounting and marketing. I am not sure if a two year program or less would be sufficient to make a successful business manager or leader.
I recently read an article in the Economist magazine about the decline of MBA. There is change in the approach to gaining status in corporations. Many now are seeking the knowledge and skills that will equip them to be successful in their area of interest in business be it finance, human resource management, IT management, etc. MBA mostly was a brand name that gave you status but nor necessarily the right skills to be successful. MBA would probably earn you a promotion or pay raise. It is the trend now that professionals are seeking postgraduate programs that are specialized such as a M.Sc. in Marketing Management or a Master of Applied Finance and Banking or a Master of Human Resource Management. These types of masters programs provide students with a solid academic knowledge and practical researched approaches in specific disciplines of business management hence creates specialized business professionals. Many business schools today focus on promoting their specialized business master programs rather than a general MBA degree.
So do you want to do an MBA just because everyone else is doing it? Or do you want to study a program that will prepare you better to be successful in your area of interest and still give you the credentials to go up the corporate management levels? Did the MBA product enter its decline phase of the product life cycle?