Not many MBA programmes start with all the participants being invited to draw their own sample bottle of 25-year-old single-malt whisky from a large wooden cask in a warehouse in the Scottish Highlands.

But then not many MBAs are launched in surroundings so distinctive as the Glenfiddich Distillery at Dufftown, a small town in the Speyside district that is marketed as the malt whisky capital of the world.

Glenfiddich, one of the best known single-malt whiskies, is produced by William Grant & Sons, Scotland’s biggest family-owned distillers. The company has created the MBA programme in partnership with Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow for 25 people – senior leaders from Grants and a handpicked selection from Scottish entrepreneurial businesses.