MBA with a Concentration in Business Essentials

16 Courses

36 Credits

Program Length:

Full-time in as few as 11 months
Part-time in as few as 16 months

Career and Professional Development

Effective fall 2025, all full-time MBA students are required to complete the Career Strategy and Design Accomplishment prior to graduation. This non-credit requirement consists of six structured modules focused on the development of essential professional competencies. The content is informed by feedback from employers and industry experts and is designed to equip students with the skills necessary to translate their academic experience into career success.

Contextualize: From Boston to the World (8 credits)

Must be taken as early in the program as possible.

MBA-700	Leadership Lab	1
MBA-701	Values Based Decision Making	1
MBA-710	Understanding World Class Clusters	3
MBA-721	Collaborate	3

Business Fundamentals Courses (9 credits)

Must be taken as early in the program as possible.

MBA-641	Financial Information for Business Management	1.5
MBA-651	Financial Management for Business Decisions	1.5
MBA-661	Marketing in a Changing World	1.5
MBA-671	Operations Management in a Competitive Global Environment	1.5
MBA-715	Integrate Business Fundamentals	3

Understand Business Fundamentals (3 credits)

MBA-730

Innovative Thinking

Travel Seminar Requirement (3 credits)

* MBA 741 is restricted to fully online students.

MBA-740	Immerse- Travel Seminar	3
MBA-741	Experiential Intensive	3

Required Analytics Course (3 credits)

Choose one course from the following.

ACCT-824	Big Data and Financial Statement Analytics	3
FIN-830	Introduction to FinTech	3
FIN-841	Financial Forecasting	3
FIN-882	Applied Risk Management	3
FIN-890	Data Analytics and Credit Risk	3
HLTH-805	Big Data and Analytics for Health and Healthcare	3
ISOM-631	Data Analytics with Python	3
ISOM-801	Solving Business Problems Using Advanced Excel	3
ISOM-821	Data Management and Modeling	3
ISOM-835	Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning	3
ISOM-845	Business Intelligence, Data Visualization, and Storytelling	3
MKT-870	Advanced Marketing Analytics With R	3
MBA-920	Master of Business Administration Student Business Clinic	0-3

Construct the Big Picture (7 credits)

MBA-745	Contextualizing Values Based Decision Making	1
MBA-750	Building Global Connections	3
MBA-760	World Class Strategies	3

Lead and Implement Change (3 credits)

Must be taken as late in the program as possible.

MBA-770

Leading and Implementing Change

Transfer Policy

Six (6) credits taken at the graduate level from an AACSB accredited graduate program in business, may be transferred if the credits do not apply to a previously completed degree and have relevancy to the current curriculum which is determined on a case-by-case basis. Transfer credits must have an earned grade of "B" or better and be taken within seven (7) years prior to entering the Suffolk MBA Programs.

Students Who Leave Boston Before Their Degree is Complete

Occasionally, Suffolk MBA students must leave the Boston area having not yet completed their degree. You may be able to transfer in six credits from an AACSB-accredited MBA close to your new place of residence. Courses must be pre-approved by Suffolk’s assistant dean of graduate programs and have a grade of "B" or better.

Students who leave the area may also be able to complete all or a portion of their Suffolk MBA on a part-time basis online.

Transfer/Waiver Credits from the Moakley Center for Public Management's Certificate Program

Students who have completed a certificate program through the Suffolk University Moakley Center for Public Management may have an opportunity to reduce course requirements to an SBS graduate degree program (MPA, MBA, MHA, MSBA, or MSM). All course waivers and/or transfers varies by program and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the respective SBS Graduate Programs Office.

In order for a course to be considered, it must have an SBS graduate program course equivalent, the student must have earned a grade of B or better, and the student must have successfully completed the certificate prior to enrolling in the SBS graduate degree program.

Applicants must also meet the admission standards for the SBS graduate degree program to which they are applying.

Learning Goals and Objectives

Identifies the problem and related issues.
Identify key assumptions.
Generates salient alternatives.
Examine the evidence and source of evidence.
Identify conclusions, implications, and consequences.

Learning Goals	Learning Objectives
Be able to effectively apply analytical and critical reasoning skills to solve organizational challenges. (Analytical Reasoning)
Effectively articulate the role of ethics in management. (Ethics)	1. Identify conflicts of interests and pressures that could lead to unethical conduct. 2. Understand what kinds of questions are helpful to ask oneself when confronting an ethical dilemma. 3. Demonstrate the ability to identify and take into account the interests of different stakeholders. 4. Understand how business strategies that facilitate “doing good” can be made consistent with profitability. 5. Understand that what is legal may not always be ethical and that what is ethical may sometimes not be legal. 6. Appreciate that ethical norms varies across different countries and cultures.
Indicate an understanding of how culture, economic and political issues differ across countries. (Global Awareness)	1. Articulate fundamental challenges of global business. 2. Analyze financial impacts of operating a global business. 3. Apply the analysis to global management situation. 4. Identify challenges of an international workforce. 5. Demonstrate cultural awareness of external constituents.
Be able to effectively communicate in oral form. (Oral Communication)	1. Organize the presentation effectively. 2. Deliver the presentation with attention to volume, clarity, grammatical correctness and precision. 3. Develop the topic. 4. Communicate with the audience. 5. Use communication aids effectively. 6. Summarize the presentation.
Be able to effectively communicate in written form. (Written Communication)	1. Develop a topic with supporting details. 2. Organize written communication effectively and logically. 3. Use correct word choice and effective sentence structure. 4. Employ normal conventions of spelling and grammar. 5. Provide examples and supporting evidence. 6. Communicate accurate quantitative information.