NEU Online MBA Specializations
The Northeastern University online MBA program prepares you for your particular area of interest by allowing you to select a specialization within your degree. Each Master of Business Administration specialization is made up of five elective courses that provide you with comprehensive knowledge in a specific field.
This specialization focuses on a wide variety of topics within the domain of finance including entrepreneurship for high tech companies, investment analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and value creation. Enhance your ability to perform risk analysis, capital budgeting, foreign direct investment, multinational capital budgeting, and manage foreign currency risk while also exploring quantitative methods of valuation. Take an in-depth look at mergers and acquisitions, licensing, joint ventures, and IPOs from a management perspective and develop an understanding of how investment theory and investment practice relate to one another. This specialization also provides a unique perspective on crisis management, specifically examining how to diagnose and solve the common ailments that lead to workouts, bankruptcies, and liquidations. Selected case studies will offer a new point of view on the financial, ethical, legal, general business, and strategic aspects of business turnarounds.
Choosing general management signifies that you will not specialize your MBA degree. You will develop the same valuable leadership and management skills, however, you will not have a concentration in any specific type of business administration. The MBA will help you gain a clear understanding of the elements involved in a variety of executive roles ranging from managing information resources to managing global enterprises. The focus is on topics such as ethics, sustainable customer markets, service and manufacturing operations management, value creation through financial decision making, and strategic decision making in changing business environments. You may elect to complete five courses from any of the following MBA specializations: finance, healthcare management, high technology management, innovation entrepreneurship, international management, marketing, or operations and supply chain management.
This specialization allows students like you to explore the evolution of the U.S. healthcare industry. From the original, primitive forms of organized institutional care through to the current, increasingly integrated and managed care systems, the dynamics of the healthcare industry are examined in detail. Students are asked to compare current policies and proposals for health reform and look at how the actions taken in a given area correspond to the structure and function of other areas. While analyzing the impact of change in the field of healthcare, students are introduced to the interactions of the regulatory, economic, political, and social aspects of the healthcare system. The courses within this specialization analyze the managerial aspects of the industry including strategic decision making, environmental analysis, strategic formulation, and strategy implementation. Students discover how healthcare organizations meet their stakeholders' numerous goals and manage their resources in this competitive environment.
Examine the various approaches available to develop and protect intellectual property while building your knowledge of corporate governance and structures as well as business law and intellectual property management within technology companies. Faculty use experiential exercises and hands-on activities to help you answer questions surrounding the increasingly important topic of teamwork, for example how to build and lead successful co-located, virtual, global, and top management teams by creating an environment that fosters effective communication, collaboration, and commitment. This specialization is not limited to teamwork or IP and with the help of text books and case studies, students also focus on matters of entrepreneurial finance including the financial analysis of high technology ventures, working capital management, risk analysis, capital budgeting, sources of financing, valuation, and exit strategies such as licensing, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs.
This exciting specialization covers a wide range of topics from debt financing and management of small businesses to entrepreneurial finance for high tech companies, new product development, and new venture creation. Develop the tools you need to be an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. Learn to appreciate the significance of market research, improve your marketing skills, explore the stages of new product development, and appreciate the impact of new products on interrelated business functions. Study working capital management, risk analysis, capital budgeting, sources of financing, valuation, and exit strategies including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and licensing. Gain an advantage over your competition with the insight provided by guest speakers from start-up companies, law firms, and venture capital firms. Graduate prepared for the challenges of entrepreneurship with a sound foundation of knowledge developed through reading, self-assessment exercises, and group projects.
Courses in this specialization address the management of international marketing and finances as well as the cultural aspects of international business. Develop the skills to create a sustainable, competitive, global advantage by becoming a successful innovator and fostering an environment of continuous growth. Learn to compete successfully in international markets, defend your home market against overseas competitors, and understand the needs of global customers. Examine the specific concepts and techniques necessary for the financial management of a multinational firm including the operation of foreign exchange markets, multinational capital budgeting, managing foreign direct investment and political risk, and financing control systems for the multinational firm. Different resources are needed to match your organizational capabilities to the higher levels of market, resource, and product complexity that are involved in introducing products to new markets the world over. Students study material from a wide range of cultures to develop a well-balanced perspective on this subject matter.
Marketing can be broken up into a number of categories. It involves research, focused strategies, new product development, brand advertising, and knowledge of diverse markets. This specialization has been designed to cover all of these topics in depth. Learn how to build brand power by studying the concepts, theories, principles, and terminology of brand management and brand equity. Explore target market identification, message strategy, media choice, and advertising evaluation in addition to the qualitative and quantitative marketing research methodologies available to managers. Do you feel confident in your understanding of the international market? Our faculty reviews the decision making process involved in marketing goods abroad; the opportunities and challenges facing the international marketing executive; and the economic, cultural, and political forces affecting the marketing process in the international marketplace. Students develop an in-depth understanding of the unique challenges placed on the service sector's marketing landscape and learn how to build and maintain strong customer relationships.
Operations and Supply Chain Management
This specialization provides students like you with the tools necessary to function effectively within various types of environments including global supply chains and the transportation industry. Enhance your ability to work closely with management teams while examining contemporary issues that affect the design of supply chain systems and processes and analyzing the current status and future prospects of modes of international transportation. Courses in this specialization emphasize the importance of transportation planning, inventory control, warehouse management, development of customer service standards, and procurement in the design and operation of supply and distribution systems. Students graduate with a comprehensive understanding of the structure of various transportation industries; the principal problems facing these industries and their potential solutions; and the importance of the relationship between transportation, logistics, supply chain management, and other functional areas of the business.