Best Business Schools Hiring:
Manufacturing Industry
It’s been a tough couple of years for manufacturers. Labor shortages and economic uncertainty have been exacerbated so far in 2025 by geopolitical tensions and the tariff wars set off by the administration of US President Donald Trump. As with almost all industries, the push for greater efficiencies through adoption of AI and other digital tools has introduced a good deal of uncertainty. There persists an ever-present focus on improving supply chain management and implementing smart tech on factory floors. For MBAs looking to take their skills and education into operations or strategy, a shrinking job force might start to turn around in the coming year as employers put greater value on management training and experience.
Manufacturing ranks 14th for pay among 26 industries reported in survey data used for our Business School ROI calculator, with median compensation (salary plus bonus) of $140,211, or 18% less than the median for all fields.
| School | Number of Hires | Percentage of Hires | Median salary (US dollars) | Median salary (local currency) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 9 | 1.6% | $165,000 | Not applicable | |
| Chicago (Booth) | 7 | 1.6% | $155,000 | Not applicable | |
| Harvard | 14 | 2.6% | $153,500 | Not applicable | |
| Stanford | 5 | 2.5% | $145,000 | Not applicable | |
| Columbia | 12 | 2.1% | $144,000 | Not applicable | |
| Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | 7 | 5.1% | $140,000 | Not applicable | |
| IMD | 8 | 18.2% | $138,101 | CHF 119,761 | |
| Northwestern (Kellogg) | 9 | 2.4% | $136,186 | Not applicable | |
| Dartmouth (Tuck) | 3 | 1.4% | $135,000 | Not applicable | |
| Michigan (Ross) | 12 | 4.4% | $133,000 | Not applicable | |
| Cornell (Johnson) | 6 | 2.9% | $132,500 | Not applicable | |
| Notre Dame (Mendoza) | 4 | 6.8% | $130,000 | Not applicable | |
| Washington (Foster) | 4 | 4.9% | $129,576 | Not applicable | |
| Georgetown (McDonough) | 9 | 5.4% | $129,150 | Not applicable | |
| London Business School | 6 | 1.8% | $126,849 | £98,080 | |
| Minnesota (Carlson) | 3 | 6.5% | $125,000 | Not applicable | |
| Virginia (Darden) | 7 | 2.4% | $125,000 | Not applicable | |
| Indiana (Kelley) | 14 | 15.7% | $125,000 | Not applicable | |
| Washington in St. Louis (Olin) | 3 | 5.8% | $125,000 | Not applicable | |
| Vanderbilt (Owen) | 7 | 6.3% | $125,000 | Not applicable | |
| Texas at Austin (McCombs) | 7 | 4.5% | $120,000 | Not applicable | |
| IESE Business School | 13 | 6.3% | $115,773 | Not applicable | |
| Arizona State (Carey) | 12 | 28.6% | $114,000 | Not applicable | |
| Ohio State (Fisher) | 4 | 11.4% | $113,667 | Not applicable | |
| Georgia Tech (Scheller) | 4 | 6.6% | $112,500 | Not applicable | |
| Rochester (Simon) | 7 | 8.2% | $110,000 | Not applicable | |
| Mannheim | 7 | 21.2% | $108,901 | €100,200 | |
| SDA Bocconi | 4 | 6.8% | $108,045 | €99,412 | |
| Morgan State (Graves) | 6 | 37.5% | $100,000 | Not applicable | |
| IE | 9 | 6.3% | $99,838 | €91,861 | |
| Utah (Eccles) | 4 | 14.3% | $98,000 | Not applicable | |
| INSEAD | 32 | 8.0% | $95,098 | €87,500 | |
| Charleston | 3 | 8.8% | $95,000 | Not applicable | |
| Tennessee (Haslam) | 8 | 28.6% | $93,500 | Not applicable | |
| Hult | 16 | 11.0% | $92,500 | Not applicable | |
| ESADE | 3 | 3.2% | $92,381 | €85,000 | |
| Northeastern (D'Amore-McKim) | 3 | 9.4% | $90,000 | Not applicable | |
| Baylor (Hankamer) | 3 | 6.4% | $90,000 | Not applicable | |
| Concordia (Molson) | 4 | 8.7% | $89,228 | CA$124,500 | |
| POLIMI Graduate School of Management | 9 | 23.7% | $84,502 | €77,750 | |
| Brigham Young (Marriott) | 6 | 9.2% | $84,000 | Not applicable | |
| Cincinnati (Lindner) | 3 | 16.7% | $80,000 | Not applicable | |
| SUNY at Buffalo | 8 | 20.0% | $77,500 | Not applicable | |
| Kentucky (Gatton) | 7 | 19.4% | $74,000 | Not applicable | |
| EAE | 9 | 10.0% | $73,905 | €68,000 | |
| Oklahoma (Price) | 4 | 20.0% | $70,402 | Not applicable | |
| Shanghai University of Finance and Economics | 9 | 9.6% | $52,795 | CN¥381,080 | |
| Indian School of Business | 26 | 3.3% | $32,765 | ₹2,787,590 | |
| IMT Ghaziabad | 19 | 10.4% | $19,982 | ₹1,700,000 | |
| MIT (Sloan) | 15 | 6.7% | $16,000 | Not applicable | |
| Woxsen University | 17 | 7.4% | $8,816 | ₹750,000 | |
| HKUST | 5 | 11.4% | Not available | Not available | |
| Miami | 4 | 14.3% | Not available | Not applicable | |
| Oxford (Saïd) | 7 | 4.4% | Not available | Not available | |
| Boston University (Questrom) | 4 | 4.0% | Not available | Not applicable | |
| Yale | 3 | 1.3% | Not available | Not applicable | |
Schools with fewer than 3 hires are excluded from the list.