Specializations
Are you studying in the MBA program and interested in specializing? The College of Management currently offers a total of 14 specializations. All MBA students are required to complete a total of 8 electives. Students have the opportunity to pursue either a general management program or complete a specialization as part of the MBA program. Specializations are an option, not a requirement, and all students receive the same MBA regardless of whether they complete a specialization. Students should consider their career goals and professional development in deciding whether to complete a specialization. As a reminder, students must complete a series of electives outside of their specializations and meet the following requirements:
1. Electives must also be “distributed”, with at least one class in at least 4 different functional areas, chosen from the areas below:
Accounting (ACC)
Communications (COM)
Finance (FIN)
Information Systems (MIS)
Management (MGT)
Marketing (MKT)
Operations (OPS)
Courses devoted to a specialization also count toward a functional area. For courses that apply to more than one MBA functional area, students can only use the course to satisfy one functional area requirement.
2. At least one elective must have an explicitly “international” focus; this course may also satisfy a distribution requirement and count toward a specialization.
Below you will find a list of specializations we offer and requirements to complete the specialization(s):
Accounting
Business Intelligence
Entrepreneurship
Environmental Management
Clean Energy & Sustainability Certificate
Finance
Nonprofit Management
Healthcare Management
Human Resource Management
Information Systems
International Management
Internet Marketing
Leadership and Organizational Change
Marketing
Supply Chain Services Management
ACCOUNTING
Overview:
Accounting, frequently described as “the language of business”, is a fundamental organizational function which should be executed well for an organization: (1) to support managers internally as they engage in the decision-making, planning and control activities required to develop a strategic vision and to develop and sustain a competitive advantage, and (2) to communicate clearly and effectively with external parties such as owners, creditors, tax authorities, and regulators.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Accounting specialization.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Overview:
The combination of an increasingly complex world, the vast proliferation of data, and the pressing need to stay one step ahead of the competition has sharpened focus on using analytics within organizations. The process of creating new insights from existing information is known as business analytics. Applying analytics enables business owners and managers to make decisions and predictions based on information in hand, while prioritizing their future investments, and transforming insights into action. Technologies that enable users to discover insights and support enterprise decision making are an integral part of Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. Business intelligence applications analyze business operations and produce information to help business users understand, improve and optimize business operations. Business Intelligence empowers organizations to transform insights into action. Capturing data—from customers, partners, employees and operations—has always been a part of running a business, but in the competitive world of commerce today using this information proactively has become more critical than ever. Business Intelligence (BI) can be the difference between reacting to problems and anticipating opportunities, the difference between educated guesses and proactive decisions based on firm facts. BI turns dynamic, detailed data into information, and makes it available in real-time, at the point of a decision. However, long before using dashboards, scorecards and multidimensional reports, there is a need to understand business needs, users’ needs, and define BI strategy and roadmap.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Business Intelligence specialization.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Overview:
Entrepreneurship - the creation of new ventures that produce value for customers, companies, and society – is one of the most important phenomena in the business world. Entrepreneurial firms generate most of the new innovations in society, and fast-growth entrepreneurial firms create up to 60% of all new jobs in the economy.
Entrepreneurship is all around us: Although management textbooks do not emphasize entrepreneurial companies, many of the companies we admire, including Google, Apple, and 3M, are highly entrepreneurial, and more than 90% of all businesses in America are small (less than 20 people). Furthermore, entrepreneurial action is the key to creativity, leadership, and managing the complexity of 21st Century companies. Thus, learning about entrepreneurship provides a flexible and skillful entry point into nearly every industry locally and internationally - Entrepreneurship can be central to almost any career.
The Entrepreneurship Specialization is designed to provide a range of skills for creating and leading new ventures, including creating a clear value proposition, developing an effective business model, identifying and pursuing a target market, and pulling together the resources to enact your business idea. These skills are taught in two core courses; MBA MGT 667 – New Venture Creation – leads students through the process of identifying a business opportunity and creating a professional business plan that analyzes its feasibility. In the Entrepreneurship Practicum course – MBA MGT 669 – students put these ideas to the test by actually launching a business during the semester. Students gain breadth through a series of electives including New Product Development, Internet Marketing, Social Media, Project Management, Clean Tech Entrepreneurship, and Social Enterprise.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Entrepreneurship specialization.
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Overview:
Sustainability, climate change, and clean energy are increasingly critical issues for business managers and other professionals. This interdisciplinary specialization in environmental management will help position you at the leading edge of the sustainability transformation that will enhance the region’s competitiveness and create new investment, technologies, and jobs. “Green jobs” have been growing rapidly, particularly in the Boston region, due to growing consumer awareness, new regulations, and corporate pursuit of sustainability, from climate change to clean water.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Environmental Management specialization.
Clean Energy & Sustainability Certificate
Clean energy is one of the fastest growing sectors globally and Massachusetts is in the forefront of this trend. Markets and career opportunities are also growing rapidly in energy efficiency, smart grid, carbon trading, and related financial and professional services. In business, managers in every sector and every function, from operations and marketing to accounting and finance need to become knowledgeable about sustainability management and reporting. Similarly, this topic is increasingly important for people working in government, education, and non-profit organizations.
Read more about Clean Energy & Sustainability Certificate Options for our MBA students
FINANCE
Overview:
Finance is an important sector of the American economy and a vital component of the managerial and economic systems. Economic growth and prosperity are grounded on the healthy functioning of capital markets. At the firm level, corporate investment and financing policies are crucial functions for the success of a company.
Our courses reflect the international and changing dimensions of the finance world. The finance concentration has been designed to provide students the knowledge and skills necessary for success in a career in finance and show the importance of the ethical perspectives of the subject.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Finance specialization.
NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT
Overview:
The nonprofit specialization prepares future managers to apply their skills in social mission-driven workplaces. The nonprofit sector is large and diverse and includes organizations focused on the arts, education, environment, health care, human rights, social justice and more. The nonprofit sector is the fastest growing part of the U.S. economy and is growing worldwide. Nonprofits often provide managers an opportunity to take on substantial responsibilities, and make a significant difference, early in their careers.
The specialization gives students added knowledge about general management topics as they pertain to the nonprofit sector (such as personnel management, alliance/partnership formation, marketing) as well as issues specific to the nonprofit sector (governance, volunteer management, social enterprise etc.). The specialization is suitable for those who intend to work in the sector as well as those who envision serving nonprofit clients or customers, people who anticipate nonprofit involvement as board members, donors, or volunteers. This specialization may be of interest to those who anticipate working in the public sector given the similarities of mission-orientation and interaction between nonprofits and government.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Non-Profit Management specialization.
HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT
Overview:
The challenges facing Health Care Organizations and Health Care Professionals today are more complex than at any other time in our history particularly within the context of globalization and social, political and economic changes. The traditional challenges of managing cost, access and quality are still on the forefront of today’s health care leaders. Today’s Health Care Manager not only has to be competent in the traditional practices of management and leadership but also competent, knowledgeable and strategic in his/her approach to adapting their organization to the changing and often confusing challenges confronting today’s Health Care environment.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the HealthCare Management specialization.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Overview:
Human Resource Management plays a key strategic role in all types organizations, whether they are large or small; private or public; profit or non-profit; or have a formal Human Resource Department or not. Human Resource Management programs impact business, social and environmental outcomes and relationships of the organization and influence both the corporate culture and the long term viability of the organization.
Under conditions of globalization and facing increased calls for practicing business sustainability and responsibility, organizations today are realizing the true value of developing and implementing effective Human Resource Management programs. These programs focus on selecting, training, motivating and rewarding their employees who are, in fact, an organization’s most valuable resource.
The Human Resource Management specialization is designed to introduce graduate students who are interested in pursuing a career in Human Resources; Human Resource professionals who want to enhance their skills and advance their careers and for general managers who realize the value of integrating Human Resource practices into their business strategy.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Human Resource Management specialization.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Overview:
Management Information System (MIS) could be defined as a combination of people, machines and other procedures that deal with collecting, analyzing, storing, transmitting data and information for the purpose of making decisions by management that are relevant and close to the overall objectives of the venture. In an organization, usually there are huge amounts of information transferred among different management levels and considerable time is spent on information processing and decision making. Management Information Systems are computer-based since technology makes it much easier to handle larger amount of information. Today, with the advancement of internet technology, computer-based MIS tend to move over the web. Web-based MIS is accessible everywhere, easier in installation and maintenance, making it becomes a popular trend. The result is less paper work, reducing document travel time, faster decision making process, improving a company’s resources, co-operation and company operation as a whole.
The MIS specialization is designed to offer a wide range of topics such as System Analysis and Design, Database, and Networking. These core courses are complemented with other offerings that equip students with skills required to moving the modern enterprise forward and enable them to compete in the changing environment of 21st century. These cutting edge courses include Knowledge Management Systems, Customer Relation Management systems, Innovation in Information Technology Management, and Project and Change Management.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Information Systems specialization.
INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Overview:
International business fueled by the prospect of open markets and new technologies have created a business context that is very much global. The international management specialization seeks to broaden students' horizons and prepare them for the increasingly global world of business. This specialization will help students understand the technological, economic, and political forces shaping the international economy, and the implications for management practices. Students will develop the skills for analyzing industries, and managing and organizing global companies. The strategic and transformational drivers, regulatory and legal issues, enabling processes and technologies, and knowledge creation and integration are aspects of international business that will be highlighted. Further, students will gain an appreciation of the diverse cultures of different countries. And, they will examine the impact of global activities on local societies and economies.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the International Management specialization.
INTERNET MARKETING
Overview:
The Internet allows completely new ways of marketing. It provides marketers with several important capabilities not present in most other media including interactivity and measurability. Social media platforms like Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter have a fundamental impact on the way business and consumers behave, communicate and interact with each other. It is critical for business to understand new media in order to benefit from it significantly. Course content will include assessing new market opportunities through the Internet, understanding web business models, generating traffic, online-branding and advertising, networking on online social communities, designing Internet-based marketing programs, and building and nurturing customer relationships.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Internet Marketing specialization.
LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Overview:
In today's global dynamic workplace, people need a broad range of skills in order to successfully manage complex organizational challenges, which involve a variety of social, economic, cultural, legal, political, and technological factors. The Leadership and Organizational Change specialization prepares students for a wide range of contemporary managerial roles by providing core skills in leadership and management for organizations that operate in international or multicultural environments. Students taking this specialization will be well prepared for positions in human resources and other general management positions in a variety of businesses and organizations, including government agencies, entrepreneurial companies, non-profits, and non-governmental organizations. With these skills, individuals have the capacity to inform decisions and actions necessary to ensure that organizations address the needs of their diverse stakeholders including employees, communities, governments, customers, and shareholders. Students will be prepared to engage in positive change at work and in their communities, and to offer solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing societies and businesses today including poverty alleviation, climate change and sustainability, and economic and social development. This specialization is ideal for providing leadership and management skills in combination with a specialization in a functional area, such as marketing or finance.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Leadership and Organizational Change specialization.
MARKETING
Overview:
Marketing is omnipresent in our daily life and plays a critical role in business success. In one form or the other, it reaches every person. Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. It contributes directly to achieve profit and growth for the company.
Employers in today’s economic environment are keenly aware of the critical role of customers and actively seek committed individuals for a variety of high growth careers in the field of marketing. The marketing concentration is designed to help students meet these criteria by providing them with an in-depth understanding of the most current thinking and practices in strategic marketing and marketing techniques along with the analytical, communication and computer skills their employers expect.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Marketing specialization.
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SUPPLY CHAIN SERVICES MANAGEMENT
Overview:
Supply Chain Services Management (SCSM) deals with the planning, execution, and management of products, processes, services and supply chains. It considers managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage, logistics and evaluations of processes. A great deal of focus is on efficiency and effectiveness of processes. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resources as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements.
SCSM is concerned with managing the end-to-end process that converts inputs such as materials, labor, and energy into goods and services. It is the core function of any business and contributes directly to realization of profit and growth. The Supply Chain Services Management specialization prepares our graduates for today’s economic environment where integrated value chains a critical necessity for daily operation. It is designed to help students meet the expectation of prospective employers by providing them with an in-depth understanding of the most current thinking and practices in supply-chains, risk management, and project management techniques along with the analytical, communication and IT skills.
View Career Paths and Courses Required for
the Supply Chain Services Management specialization.
