Given the current number of corporations, a qualification in small and medium enterprise management consulting is necessary mainly to acquire the required knowledge and skills necessary to support the management of small and medium enterprises, which represent 99% or more of the companies. In recent years, we can see that many people considered taking the examination for "small and medium enterprise management consultant" to obtain an MBA degree. In Japan, graduate schools that are exempt of secondary exams for small and medium enterprise management consultants are known as "Registered Training Course for Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultants", and several MBA programs are registered as such.

Certainly, many of the elements required for the training of small and medium enterprise management consultants are very similar to those of the MBA curriculum, although there are a few different points. For example, while the former focuses on consultation and advice, the latter also educates on subjective behaviors, such as leadership and corporate ethics.