MBA Curriculum
Wide-ranging courses in the essentials of economics, finance, accounting, marketing, strategy, organizational behavior and operations management form the program’s backbone. Electives in areas such as people analytics, negotiations, data management and entrepreneurship support the exploration of specific interests.
The MBA degree requires 48 units, which can be completed in two years. Courses are offered face-to-face during daytime hours typically on Monday through Thursday. Fridays are reserved for team projects, guest speakers, career services and other extracurricular pursuits.
Due to the structured nature of the program, courses are offered only once per year. Core courses remain constant. However, electives may change from year to year.
Core Courses
| Course Number & Description | Course Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| GSB 5511 Emphasis on interpretation and use as opposed to the construction of accounting information. Development of essential ability to use accounting information as a platform for decision making. |
Accounting for Managers | 3 |
| GSB 5512 Focus on a variety of analytics concepts and tools to prepare data, apply appropriate statistical methods, and communicate findings and their business relevance.. |
Introduction to Business Analytics | 3 |
| GSB 5513 Application of behavioral, social, and organizational science concepts to management. Decision making, motivation, communications, leadership, diversity, cultural and ethical behavior, group dynamics, organization change, and development. |
Organizational Behavior | 3 |
| GSB 5523 Microeconomics of firm management and firm profitability. Demand, supply, efficiency, competitive markets, monopoly, oligopoly, game theory, pricing strategy, and principal-agent problems. Development of an analytical framework for analyzing how these topics are important for managers. |
Managerial Economics | 3 |
| GSB 5524 Introduction to marketing management. Concepts and principles necessary to plan, direct and control the product, promotion, distribution and pricing strategies of the firm. |
Marketing Management | 3 |
| GSB 5531 Theories and applications of corporate finance. Time value of money. Valuation of investment projects and financial assets. Financial markets and institutions. Capital budgeting and cost of capital estimation. |
Managerial Finance | 3 |
| GSB 5534 Introduction to the supply chain and its interaction with other areas in an organization. Emphasis on applying operational excellence paradigms and approaches to achieve competitive advantage in cost, quality, time, and flexibility in manufacturing and service operations. |
Supply Chain and Operations Management | 3 |
| GSB 5562 Application of interdisciplinary skills to strategic management. Focus on the perspective of general managers, including social and environmental responsibilities and governance. Uses case studies, group problem-solving, experiential activities. Serves as the integrating course of MBA core curriculum. |
Strategy in the Global Environment | 3 |
Electives
| Course Number & Description | Course Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| GSB 5510 Principles of data visualization and storytelling. Data visualization tools for different types of data in the context of business analytics. Communication of results for business actionable insights. Software use includes Excel, Tableau and R. |
Data Visualization and Communication in Business | 3 |
| GSB 5514 Legal and regulatory environment in which business operates. Statutory, regulatory, societal, and global influences impacting business operations. Reduce business risk and improve compliance. Analytic tools and experiential application. Interaction between law, ethics and management decisions. |
Legal and Regulatory Environment of Business | 3 |
| GSB 5520 Exploration of data management including relational databases, data warehouses, and NOSQL databases. Foundation for analyzing, designing, implementing and using information repositories in a business environment. Database development life cycle, data modeling, SQL programming, data quality and integration.. |
Data Management for Business Analytics | 3 |
| GSB 5525 Project management tools and processes to establish priorities, scope, and constraints; money and time. Planning, organizational, and resource challenges common to a variety of project types in service and production environments |
Project Management | 3 |
| GSB 5529 Development and demonstration of business writing and oral presentation skills. Prepare written business documents and reports, and professional oral presentations, and persuasive slide decks. |
Management Communication | 3 |
| GSB 5530 Exploration of the concepts, tools and techniques of data mining in the business context, using case study and problem-solving approaches. Multidimensional data modeling, predictive analytics, pattern discovery, forecasting, text mining, and data visualization. |
Data Analytics & Mining for Business | 3 |
| GSB 5533 Theoretical and empirical framework of the macroeconomy in which businesses must operate. GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates and monetary and fiscal policies. Dynamics of the macroeconomic environment over time. |
Aggregate Economics Analysis and Policy | 3 |
| GSB 5555 Theory and practice of negotiation in a variety of contexts (e.g., business acquisitions, compensation, business disputes, inter- and intra-organizational) and from a managerial perspective. Culture, ethics, dispute resolution, coalitions |
Negotiation for Managers | 3 |
| GSB 5556 Entrepreneurship and new venture management techniques. Entrepreneurial mindset, skills, opportunity, and identification. Founding teams, customer and value proposition development, problem validation and solution ideation, feasibility and viability, business model testing and iteration, legal issues, social impact potential, and pitching. |
Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management | 3 |
| GSB 5583 An overview of human resource (HR) management, including strategic HR, job analysis, recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, training, compensation, employee rights, and employee health and safety. |
Management of Human Resources | 3 |
| GSB 5594 Essential knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to intervene in an organization to improve its effectiveness. Exploration of alternative planned change strategies. Design and implementation of a variety of change mechanisms to enhance continuous development and change. . |
Managing Change | 3 |
For more details about the courses, see the Cal Poly catalog.