Learning
with purpose

You’ll take pre-MBA online “refresher” courses, such as Excel, designed to set you up for success in the program. They’re offered online during November and December (before classes start in January), enabling you to learn at your own pace and ease your entry into the program.

They’ll take approximately 25 hours to complete, depending on your background and prior knowledge. Pre-program courses are mandatory unless our admissions staff determine that you qualify for a waiver.

Start your PT MBA at a welcome reception in December. You’ll be introduced to the program and meet your classmates and faculty. At the start of the second semester in May, there will be a two-day kick-off for students who transferred into the MBA from our Graduate Diploma in Business Administration.

Business Ethics (3 days)

Learn how we make good ethical decisions, how we act on those decisions and ultimately, the impact of our ethical decisions on the reputational capital of individuals and firms. You’ll also learn about:

• The current context of business and the paradigms, theories and frameworks that shape how we think about business ethics
• The important branches of ethical thought that find application in resolving business issues
• Critical and reflective thinking about ethics

Managing People & Organizations (12 evenings)

Develop effective managerial competencies and skills at individual, interpersonal, group and organizational levels. You’ll learn about:

• Theories and tactics for management
• Human resource management in business

Financial & Managerial Accounting (12 evenings)

Understand how financial accounting and managerial accounting can be used to make strategic decisions. You’ll learn about:

• The concepts and principles in financial accounting
• Theory and methods of cost compilation and the use of budgets and analysis

Business and Indigenous Peoples (6 evenings)

Understand the issues involved when businesses are operating, or intend to operate, in the traditional territories of First Nations and other Indigenous peoples. You’ll learn about:

• Indigenous people and their culture
• Building strong respectful relationships with regards to Indigenous engagement

Business Analytics (12 evenings)

Make better business decisions through business analytics. Massive amounts of data, combined with fast-improving analytics software, delivers more insights and creates new ways to address business problems. You’ll learn about:

• The role of analytics in business
• How general managers use analytics to inform decisions
• Emerging analytics tools and techniques

Special Topics in Business (6 evenings)

Course content to be determined.

Sustainability (12 evenings)

Sustainability in business is a huge and vital topic. And you couldn’t be in a better place to study it; Vancouver has a strategic plan in place to become the world’s greenest city by 2020. You’ll learn about:

• The tools and resources available to help businesses deliver on current environmental and social commitments
• How businesses can improve their sustainability performance

Managerial Finance (12 evenings)

Get an understanding of how financial management works, so that you can apply it to your business decision-making. You’ll learn about:

• Financial structure and uses of financial analysis
• How to diagnose short-term funding needs
• Cost of capital and valuation

Business Innovation and Creativity (3 days)

We’ll introduce you to the roles of creativity and innovation in organizations, and to the management of innovation for business success. You’ll learn about:

• What innovation means and how it links to organizational strategy
• The Design Thinking cycle and undertake a project to explore using the cycle to come up with an innovative solution
• The different types of innovation and innovation as a process

Marketing Management (12 evenings)

Explore the fundamentals of marketing by working through simulations that help you develop an understanding of what creates successful products and campaigns. You’ll learn about:

• Product planning
• Choosing the right marketing channels
• Pricing and promotion

Entrepreneurship (12 evenings)

As well as being a leader in sustainability, Vancouver is a centre of entrepreneurship. Learn how new ventures emerge and grow, from conception to shareholder value realization.You’ll learn about:

• How to structure, launch, and develop a new venture
• The financing, growth, and sustainability of new ventures

Business and Indigenous Communities (3 days)

Following Business & Indigenous Peoples, this course provides a local experiential learning project designed to help students understand of how businesses across Canadian industry sectors can incorporate the legal and ethical requirements of its Indigenous population. You’ll have opportunities to visit Indigenous and non-Indigenous industries and communities with diverse business foci. We’ll provide an overview of general Indigenous issues and how they interact with business, culture, language, history, geography and law.

Managing Information (12 evenings)

The principles and practices of developing and managing information systems to add value to products and services. You’ll learn about:

• The role of information systems in organization performance, and management issues that surround adoption and use
• How organizations select and use information technology to create competitive advantages

Operations Management (12 evenings)

Operations management performs a key strategic role in business. You'll explore this role and gain an understanding of its impact on business performance and society. You’ll learn about:

• Service and manufacturing operations
• Different competitive drivers

Leading Self and Others (3 days)

Gain an accurate assessment of your strengths and challenges as an employee of an organization in a fast moving business environment: bring your skills and knowledge of working with people in a simulated organization where your actions will be reflected on by yourself and others.

Managerial Economics (12 evenings)

Gain a working knowledge of economic techniques used in managerial decision-making and strategy design. You’ll learn about:

• Forces that shape decisions made by individuals, firms, and industries
• Economic principles which constitutes an important part of the successful manager’s toolbox

Business Strategy (12 evenings)

Develop strategies to create and sustain competitive advantage through both seminars and case studies. You’ll learn about:

• What strategy is and how it’s constrained, formulated, developed and implemented
• How industry structure both constrains and enables the development of strategy

Negotiations (3 days)

Become a better negotiator. You’ll learn about interest-based negotiation and conflict resolution. How to theory, strategize and plan for various negotiations and conflict situations. Learn a practical, efficient and productive process for negotiating agreements and resolving conflict.