Over 600 employers from 42 countries around the world voted for the business schools from which they prefer to recruit MBAs. The research shows that MBA employers around the world are increasingly targeting a broader selection of regionally strong business schools from which to hire MBA graduates. This trend may be accelerated by the recessionary environment, even as overall MBA hiring numbers fall.

QS Quacquarelli Symonds published the results of their 18th annual MBA employer survey on January 22, 2009. Forty percent of employer respondents were based in North America, 30% in Western Europe, 17% in Asia-Pacific, 5% in Latin America, 8% in Eastern Europe and 1% in Africa and the Middle East.

Employers and HR decision-makers worldwide have the most objective and informed opinions on the 'best' business schools. HR decision-makers look beyond rankings and examine the facilities, the course content and the quality of students. The better the performance of MBA hires from particular schools, the more likely those schools will be voted for by employers. Allegiance to particular schools is not gained or lost by one good or bad MBA hire, but by a sustained experience over several years.

The schools securing the most employer votes by region are: Harvard and Wharton in North America; INSEAD and London Business School in Europe; INSEAD Singapore and Melbourne Business School in the Asia-Pacific region; EGADE and IPADE in Latin America and America University in Cairo and Bar-Ilan University in Africa and Middle East.

This global research identifies the most popular schools in each region of the world, because there are a growing number of employers seeking talented MBAs at a regional level. Traditional MBA employers remain committed to hiring from between 30 to 70 top-tier business schools, located in North America, Western Europe and Asia. However, 'The pressures of globalisation mean that, beyond the traditional MBA employers, there are a growing number of regional MBA employers who may not have the budget to pay the salaries demanded by MBAs from elite schools. For MBAs who are proactive in their search and flexible in terms of salary expectations, this is expanding their range of opportunities, even in a time of recession,' says Ben Sowter, Research Director at QS.

The 'QS Global 200 Business Schools 2009' consists of 72 schools in North America, 70 schools in Europe, 40 schools in Asia-Pacific, 12 schools in Latin America and 6 schools in Africa and the Middle East. No other piece of MBA research covers such a geographically diverse set of schools. In 1999, only 15 schools outside of North America and Europe featured in the research, compared to 13 schools from India and China alone, this year.

In the report, business schools are presented alphabetically in clusters, based on achieving similar numbers of employer votes. The top cluster of 33 business schools from the 'QS Global 200 Business Schools Report' in North America, Asia and Europe, each achieved an index of employer votes* of over 20%, whereas in Latin America and Middle East the 4 best performing schools ranged between 9%-11%.