Master of Business Administration

School: California School of Management and Leadership

Modality(ies): On-ground, online, hybrid

Calendar(s): 8-week term

Program Description/Overview

This program curriculum is designed to train students for professional practice by enhancing their skills in the current employment situation or educating them for new professional challenges. The MBA program provides advanced business, management and analytical skills, and extensive practical experience in applying and integrating these skills through projects, case studies, and presentations. The program delivery format was developed to serve working adult students who want to complete their degrees in a format that would make it possible to continue working while achieving the outcomes of the program.

The program follows a cohort model, with all students taking the core curriculum courses as a cohort at the beginning of the program, followed by concentration tracks during their remaining program of study.

Emphasis/Concentration/Tracks

Corporate Finance

This concentration targets the expertise required in current financial environments and provides a clear understanding of practical financial decision-making. Students will gain an understanding in the way money and accounting affect businesses. The corporate finance concentration instills essential set skills sets in financial modeling, debt and equity issues, valuation, mergers and acquisitions, financial planning, risk management, financial reporting and analysis, and taxation necessary in corporate finance positions and in other related careers. Potential career opportunities for students with a corporate finance concentration includes work in investment and merchant banks, insurance and pension funds, and for governments and multinational companies, a CFO, corporate treasurer, controller, director of finance, financial analyst, credit manager or cash manager.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation (on-ground only)

The purpose of this concentration is to prepare students to meet the challenging demands of leading new businesses and maintaining their growth through the process of innovation. One way to ensure that learning and transfer of knowledge occurs is to enable students to become curious, creative, and able to apply their skills in designing and presenting well-planned ventures.

Students will thrive in a verity of careers such as Product Innovation Director, Director of Innovation, or Innovation and Strategy Director. Other career opportunities are in the area of Innovation Architecture, Research & Development, Business Development, Financial Analysis, Marketing & Sales, and Innovation Management Consulting.

Hospitality Management

This concentration is designed to provide an opportunity for students to meet the needs of the growing and fast-paced hospitality industry. It will prepare students for careers in the large hospitality segment focusing on the hotels industry but also including the travel and tourism segments. The courses provide an understanding of emerging aspects in these segments which include a number of highly profitable markets which are also poised to grow with innovation and technology. Employers and market trends confirm that careers in these fields are coveted, well-paid with a well-defined progress path. Students should also note that demand for professionals in the hospitality industry is internationally growing.

Information and Technology Management (on-ground only)

This concentration gives students specialized knowledge in enterprise business process integration, enterprise system analysis, enterprise data management and utilization of business intelligence, as well as information systems for small and medium enterprises. SAP software is utilized for a large part of the hands-in instruction, making this concentration very practical for the real0work IT areas. The concentration provides expert training on the full range of SAP products from SAP Netweaver and SAP ERP through SAP Business Suite or SAP Business Objects Solutions. For further details, refer to the detailed SAP instruction sheet.

Marketing and Digital Trends

In this concentration, students learn important principles and applications of branding and brand management, how to develop and articulate marketing plan and sales strategy, how to conduct market research, collect and analyze data, and gain in-depth understanding of consumer behaviors in the global context and the impacts of national and geographic cultures.

This concentration also provides the technical skillsets necessary to function in the rapidly advancing digital marketing era. As marketing continues to develop alongside a range of new technological advancements, the need for professionals who understand the changing digital environment is greater than ever. Digital marketing skills are in serious demand and the digital skills gap is set to widen, the job market is growing and companies are putting more efforts into digital marketing than ever before.

Management and Leadership

This concentration is designed to provide students with theoretical and practical management knowledge and to prepare them to become skilled and effective in managing and leading any type of organization. Among the many benefits of this concentration is that students will become aware about their own leadership style and gained skills for developing leadership skills in others.

Students may choose their career paths from a variety of areas, including Retail, General Management, Sustainable Management and Development, Human Resources, Marketing and Public Relations, Organizational management, International Business Relations, or Entrepreneurship.

No Concentration Option

Students sometimes have career goals which align with more than one functional concentration or more than one industry segment. Employers support this graduate preparation in roles such as individual contributors or business overview positions involving a broad expertise in operations, execution or strategy. In such cases, students can discuss with their academic advisor and/or the program director to complete the program with a diverse set of concentration courses. If approved, they may complete 12 units from amongst the courses offered for the other MBA concentrations with approval from their Academic Advisor. Students who choose this option will not have a specific concentration noted on their record upon graduation.

Program Learning Outcomes/Goals

Demonstrate professional business skills and apply critical thinking skills in the context of an ethical business workplace
Demonstrate competence in interpersonal, oral, written, and technological skills in an individual and multicultural team environment
Demonstrate the ability to collect, analyze, and critically evaluate data as information to arrive at rationale conclusions
Demonstrate the ability to make ethical and socially responsible decisions in business scenarios

Program-Specific Admission Requirements

GPA: Applicants need to meet one of the following GPA requirements:
1. Overall Bachelor’s GPA is 2.75 or above or
2. Overall Bachelor’s GPA is between 2.60 and 2.75, plus Minimum five (5) years professional work experience, or
3. Minimum GPA of 2.75 in the last 60 units of coursework (include graduate work) completed, or
4. An accredited master’s degree with overall GPA 3.0 or above
Resume
Recommendations: Encouraged but not required
Personal essay: A 1 to 2 page personal essay describing the following is required:
1. A brief autobiographical statement including future professional plans the professional organizations to which you belong and honors, activities and other creative accomplishments.
English Proficiency (international applicants):
1. CSML will admit students with IELTS score of 6.0 with no individual band score below 5.5 (TOEFL IBT 75, PTE 50). Students can start their academic program immediately on entry into their program.
2. CSML will conditionally admit students with IELTS score 5.5-5.9 with no individual band score below 5.5 (TOEFL IBT 60, PTE 42). Students will start in an English program and upon successful completion will start their academic program
3. Students with IELTS scores 5.0-5.4 (TOEFL 45, PTE 36) will be admitted to a full ESL program. Upon successful completion of the ESL program, they will start their academic programs.

Final admissions decision will be made by the Program Faculty.

Note that students may apply for admission in the final year of their undergraduate program if they are confident they will meet the admission requirements above upon completion of their Bachelor’s degree. A completed Bachelor’s degree, with appropriate GPA, is required to remain enrolled after admission.

Programmatic Accreditation

The program is currently in candidacy status for global business accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

Internship, Practicum, and/or Dissertation Information

Students will have the option to take a capstone course or participate in the internship series as part of their culminating learning experience within the program. The Internship option is designed to develop professional practice related skills in student’s area of concentration through a variety of work experiences which could involve independently conducted projects in professional settings or an internship. This is designed to provide students with in depth supervised practical learning experiences. The Internship option should be chosen by international students after in one (1) academic year in the MBA program. Contact the International Students Office for details in case you want to do the internship prior to completion of one (1) academic year.