After seven years working in Silicon Valley, Amy Bonsall decided to move to Europe to study for an MBA degree. Now a participant on the one-year programme at IMD in Switzerland, she believes her investment in both time and money will help her break out of the US market and get a more internationally focused job.

But while a growing number of young American managers are looking outside the US to study, at home many are thinking twice about the investment of 20 months and $100,000 required to get an MBA from a good US business school. Over the past two years, the number of applicants for places on MBA courses has fallen sharply.