Professor Ivan Brick with his students

Full-Time MBA Curriculum & Concentrations

As a Rutgers Full-Time MBA student, you are immersed in the ebbs and flows of business and industry as innovation is happening. You learn about what's happening today and develop the intuition to know what's coming tomorrow.

Whether you are pursuing career advancement in your current industry, or are seeking to change your career path altogether, our 60-credit, full-time curriculum is designed to give you the skills, knowledge and experience you need to be a decision-maker and leader in your field.

Critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, teamwork and technical knowledge are woven into your Full-Time MBA experience, making theoretical knowledge relatable and practical from the start.

Rutgers STEM MBA

You can now choose to earn a STEM degree with any of our MBA concentrations. To be eligible, you must complete 50% of your total required course credits in STEM-designated courses. Although this applies to all of our MBA concentrations, it is advised that you speak with your advisor and plan your curriculum to ensure it meets the requirements for eligibility. The Core Curriculum provides nine STEM credits, and the Foundations Courses offer two.

Course Descriptions

MBA Core

(All courses required)

(*) Indicates a STEM-Designated Course

Accounting for Managers

An introduction to financial statement analysis which builds on the fundamentals of accounting, including understanding the accounting equation and its application in building the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows. Basic accounting concepts, accounting principles, and the audit report are presented. Students work in teams to analyze corporate financial statements. The relationship of economic value to accounting measurement is explored together with factors influencing management choices among competing valuation principles. Theory is applied to the valuation of the asset, liability, and owners' equity accounts. Emphasizes the heavy reliance on estimates in constructing financial statements and how management can use such estimates to strategically manage its reporting responsibilities.

Managerial Economic Analysis*

Introduces the aspects of economics that are most relevant to the operation of the individual firm or nonprofit organization. Covers theory of individual economic behavior, demand theory and demand estimation, cost and supply, price determination, production decisions, and industry structure.

Financial Management*

Provides a general survey of the field, including the basic principles of corporate finance, financial markets and institutions, and investment theory. Corporate finance topics covered include the objective of financial management, valuation of assets and associated problems in the valuation of the firm, acquisition of long trimester assets (capital budgeting), management of short-trimester assets, capital structure, and financial statement analysis. Financial markets and institutions studied include money markets, stock and bond markets, derivatives, and the banking system. Investment analysis topics include portfolio theory and asset pricing models.

Organizational Behavior

Explores human dynamics by examining the role of management and learning styles in the effective functioning of organizations.Topics include personality types, motivation, cognition and learning, communication, team development, and leadership. Through class discussions, case analyses, simulations, and group projects, students learn critical managerial skills such as communication, decision making, conflict resolution, and team building.

Marketing Management

The purpose of the course is to offer an understanding of the nature and role of marketing in the firm and in the society. Students will gain knowledge regarding the marketing decisions of price, place, promotion, product, develop an understanding of consumer behavior, market research, social and cultural factors affecting marketing. The course will expose students to a series of marketing principals, frameworks, and analyses. These techniques will be applied to a series of case studies to reinforce the concepts. At the end of the course the students should be able to develop effective marketing plans for products and services.

Operations Analysis*

Covers fundamentals of performance analysis for various operational issues encountered in real life supply chain processes. The major topics include demand forecasting techniques, sales and operations planning (SOP), mathematical programming applications and spreadsheet solutions, supply chain inventory planning, uncertainty, and safety stock management, project resource allocation and risk analysis, network design and facility location selections, and computer simulation and quality management. Harvard Business Cases on developing cost-effective solutions for continuous improvement of a company's operational efficiency and strategic position in today's highly dynamic and competitive marketplace are used. The objective of the course is to help our students to develop analytical thinking skills and to build the knowledge of business performance optimization toward operational excellence of supply chains.

Business, Ethics, and Society

A major priority of the course is to equip students to make thoughtful and effective arguments as to how to deal with business issues as to which there is no obvious, clear answer, and in which ethical, social, or political concerns are present.  Learning in the classroom will take place primarily through discussing readings, which should be read before class; lecturing will be secondary to discussion.

This course is worth 1 credit.

Foundation Courses

(3 courses required)

(*) Indicates a STEM-Designated Course

Information Technology for Managers*

The objective of this course is to study management's role in the development and use of information systems that help businesses achieve their goals and objectives. Information Technology (IT) has been the driving force behind the new way of doing business. IT has enabled modern organizations to make tremendous strides in productivity, has opened new markets, and has created new product and service opportunities. Managers should understand how IT could help to organize the complexity of modern organizations, manage relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees, and improve work efficiency.

Business Communications

Sharpens the writing and speaking skills of MBA students so that they will be more effective communicators. Assignments progress from simple to increasingly complex reports and include abstracts, case analyses, statistical analyses, and library research. Class time is taken up with instruction on organizing written reports, analysis of samples of students' writing, and oral presentations by students.

Business Law for Managers and Entrepreneurs

Introduces the legal environment in which management functions. Studies the law of corporations as a system for affecting relationships among the corporation, its shareholders, employees, managers, and society. Exposes student to managerial aspects of antitrust and securities law as well as to current questions regarding business's role in society.

International Business

Exposes students to numerous challenges a firm faces as it attempts to internationalize its operations. At course end, student is expected to have a better understanding of the microfactors that make management of international businesses distinct from domestic businesses. The topics include entry strategies, site selection, world trade organization, and ethics in international business.

Strategic Management

Discusses skills and concepts needed to manage an organization to compete effectively in its environment. Provides tools for identifying environmental opportunities and threats and organizational strengths and weaknesses. Serves as a basis for the interfunctional management team consulting project.

Data Analysis & Decision Making*

Introduces statistics as applied to managerial problems. Emphasis is on conceptual understanding as well as conducting statistical analyses. Students learn the limitations and potential of statistics, gain hands-on experience using Excel, as well as comprehensive packages, such as SPSS®. Topics include descriptive statistics, continuous distributions, confidence intervals for means and proportions, and regression. Application areas include finance, operations, and marketing. Introduces the basic concepts of model building and its role in rational decision making. Knowledge of specific modeling techniques, such as linear and nonlinear programming, decision analysis, and simulation, along with some insight into their practical application is acquired. Students are encouraged to take an analytic view of decision making by formalizing trade-offs, specifying constraints, providing for uncertainty, and performing sensitivity analyses. Students form groups to collect and analyze data, and to write and present a final report.

Integrative Course Requirement

(1 course required)

Integrated Business Applications

Students consult with a private or public corporation or government agency on a business problem under a contract with the client institution. Requires students working with a faculty member to undertake, analyze, and report on the assignment and present recommendations to executive managers from the client organization. Consulting assignments are completed in teams.

Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development

This course is designed for students who exhibit high degrees of self-direction and significant interest in urban issues, entrepreneurship, and/or economic development. Students will be challenged to work individually and in teams on projects, reports, and research at the intersection of business, community development, new venture creation, urban policy, and economic development.

The course will explore the many dimensions of urban entrepreneurship and economic development through an exploration of the business and policy issues, the use of action research methods and the development and completion of consulting projects. The location of the course in Newark provides a unique opportunity to have the city become a laboratory for student education in the areas of urban entrepreneurship and economic development.  Students in this course will be directly involved in the economic development initiatives of Rutgers-Newark and The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development.

Supply Chain Management Industry Project

This course builds upon academic SCM learnings by working on "real life" supply chain management projects requested by our Rutgers Center for Supply Chain Management Advisory Board companies and corporate partners.  Students in this course must identify and understand the key issues, formulate models, complete analyses, and apply SCM course learnings to solve real-world problems. Faculty members whose expertise lies in a particular area are available to assist students with complexities of the projects.  The projects change each semester depending on the current requirements of the clients, but always focus on specific issues within the supply chain.   Client visits may be included to better understand the project scope and work with the company executives.   The culmination of the project will be a formal presentation to the client's SCM executives and management team along with delivery of a final report. The presentation and report will include the team's approach, data analysis, findings and recommendations.

Technology Commercialization & Entrepreneurship

Technology Commercialization & Entrepreneurship, course 22:620:685, is worth 3 credits

To support our students’ career objectives, seven carefully curated career paths have been designed to help students unlock their full potential in their chosen fields. We strongly recommend students to consider the following combinations of 9 concentrations as students embark on their academic journey, benefitting from a seamless integration of their passions and professional aspirations.

Career Tracks

What are you recruiting for?

  1. Consumer Marketing
  2. Pharmaceutical Marketing
  3. Corporate Finance
  4. Supply Chain Management
  5. Market Research
  6. Analytics
  7. Information Technology

Concentrations

Our MBAs study:

  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Technology Commercialization, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
  • Analytics & Information Management

Coupled with:

  • Pharmaceutical Management
  • Strategy
  • Global Business
  • Leadership

Want to Customize your MBA Concentration?

The Customized MBA is available to MBA candidates on a case-by-case basis and is subject to course availability. The process for selecting a customized concentration:

  1. Look through the course offerings/curriculum and come up with a written proposal of courses (must be a minimum of 15 credits). In the written proposal explain how the proposed customized concentration will help you achieve your career objectives.
  2. Submit the written proposal to the department chair(s) responsible for the area most closely related to the customized concentration. The faculty will review it (make adjustments if necessary) and must sign the proposal giving their approval.
  3. If the faculty approve the proposal, you will then need to submit the proposal to the Office of MBA Student Services for degree credit approval and advisement purposes.

Customized Concentration Examples

Healthcare

For students who want to customize an MBA concentration in healthcare, the following courses are recommended by Professor Mahmud Hassan.

Please note: customized concentrations are available on a case-by-case basis and are subject to course availability.

Healthcare Curriculum

This customized concentration is comprised of 5 required courses (15 credits).

Required Courses

Course #TitleCr
22:390:659Health Care Finance

(Rutgers Business School)
3
34:833:580Health Care Policy*

(School of Planning and Public Policy)
3
HSAP 0615Health Economics

(School of Public Health)
3
22:373:622U.S. Healthcare System & Pharmaceutical Managed Markets

(Rutgers Business School)
3
-Independent Study**

(Rutgers Business School)
3

*Note: Students may take Health Care Policy (34:833:580) or another health care focused elective.

**Note: The Independent Study can be information technology or health care focused.

Proficiency Requirements

All incoming students entering the Full-Time MBA program are expected to be competent in calculus and statistics. During orientation, all students are required to attend the calculus and statistics workshops to prepare them for the program. A test will be given at the conclusion of the workshops.

Additional Notes

Dual Concentrations require a minimum of 15 credits in each concentration, except in the case of Finance, Pharmaceutical Management, and Accounting which require 18 credits each.