2 Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina – UFSC

The Education market is subject to the same challenges of the Consumer Products market – the homogeneity of products resulting from the ever-increasing supply of similar satisfying options. University brands can likewise be the differential in the consumer’s mind, the stress reduction tool in the decision making process, through the perceptions and images they acquire on their perennial and historical promise of fulfillment of needs and desires. The great motivator for most MBA candidates is the expected boost in career advancements, as well as the compensation packages that follows- usually a direct correlation with the chosen school’s brand name as perceived by the job market. The aim of this study is to show how these big brands in the Business Schools segment enjoy a self-feeding Virtuous Cycle that ensures their financial survival, through a branding effort aimed at keeping their top tier image in the job market, the single most important criteria used by MBA candidates when deciding a school of their preference. The efficiency of these Schools ’ Branding efforts will be evaluated by analyzing the results supplied periodically from the three foremost US surveys published in this field. A special focus shall be made on four distinct Universities and their Business Schools, eac