Leader,
changemaker,
big picture thinker
Bachelor of Business Administration
Concentrations
Selecting your area(s) of concentration is an exhilarating milestone in your SFU Beedie experience. It is a time when your interests and passions start to align with your aspirations, and you begin to deepen your knowledge in your chosen field.
Accounting
Accounting is more than crunching numbers, it identifies, measures, and communicates economic information to external groups such as investors, and to internal groups, such as managers. Take accounting courses in the core degree program as well as courses in tax, auditing, and advanced accounting. Some accounting courses may count toward the professional designations of the Chartered Professional Accountants program (CPA).
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Accounting concentration are prepared to work in entry level positions in small, mid-, and large firms. Some accounting courses may count towards the professional designations of the Chartered Professional Accountants program (CPA).
Common Career Paths
Staff Audit Accountant - Review a company's financial health to ensure it meets all regulations and the information provided to stakeholders is credible.
Tax Analyst/Accountant - Focus primarily on the preparations of corporate or individual tax returns and make recommendations on how companies or individuals can reduce their taxes.
Staff/Junior Accountant - Record and analyze internal financial information for an organization.
Internal Auditor - Monitor a company's internal controls and watch for fraud, waste, or mismanagement.
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
National Accounting Firms: BDO Canada, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG, PwC, MNP
Midsize Firms: Smythe CPA, Crowe Mackay, Manning Elliott, Wolrige Mahon, D&H Group, DMCL, Davidson & Co.
Industry and government employers: WorkSafe BC, Canada Revenue Agency, TELUS.
Eligibility to apply for the Accounting concentration:
- Successful completion of all Lower Division Business requirements.
- A minimum grade of a 'C+' obtained in both BUS 320-3 and BUS 360W-4
- A minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of at least 2.70
Students are encouraged to apply in the term in which they:
- Are in progress of completing BUS 320-3 and/or BUS 360W-4
- Have or are in progress of completing the Lower Division Business requirements.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
For students who have completed accounting admission requirements in Spring 2020, please click here for additional information.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Learn to translate your vision into a business plan and make it grow. Studying entrepreneurship will show you how to identify market opportunities, get the funding you need, find and keep employees, deliver quality goods and services at a cost effective price, and much more. Courses include Project Management, New Venture Planning, New Product Development and Design, Leadership, New Venture Finance and more.
In the long term, a firm must change if it is to survive. Driven by new and often disruptive technologies, this requirement for change has evolved into a more immediate imperative. Learn to manage projects, steer the innovation process, understand and leverage the behavioural dynamics of change, and provide leadership in a rapidly changing environment.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Entrepreneurship and Innovation in concentration have a strong desire to take on a greater degree of uncertainty and risk and are able to work with a blank canvas and look for opportunities.
Common Career Paths
Business Ownership – Either starting your own company or managing an existing small business or franchise.
Consulting - Working with business owners and helping them with:
» Creating business plans
» Conducting market research
» Developing a marketing or pricing strategy
» Securing financing, IT/systems, staffing and/or training
Careers in Existing Companies - Students in entrepreneurship likely share some leadership traits and may start in roles where they can manage projects and eventually gain the necessary experience to rise into an organization's C-level roles (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, etc.)
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Arc'teryx Equipment, Broadband TV, Ernst & Young, GradusOne, ModelHub, New Avenue Capital, RADIUS, RewardStream, Traction on Demand, Vancouver Coastal Health.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Finance
The financial services sector is a significant component of the BC and Canadian economy and is a future growth industry. Learn about securities and their markets, investment portfolios, and long-term investment in real assets and more, in the context of both personal and corporate financial decision-making.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Finance concentration are prepared to work in entry level positions in banks, investment firms, financial departments of public or private organizations, and insurance industry.
Common Career Paths
Retail Banking – Positions typically fall into three categories – transactional, advisory, and management or supervisory.
Corporate and Investment Banking - These roles are primarily concentrated at or near the head offices of large banks or in specialized sectors of the economy.
Roles range from heavily client focused (investment banking) to research-oriented (equity research) and may also be transactional in nature (trading, operations).
Insurance - Jobs in insurance involve helping individuals and businesses manage risk to protect themselves.
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Financial Firms and Credit Unions - RBC, BMO, TD, CIBC, Scotiabank, Vancity, Coast Capital Savings
Investment Firms – RBC PH&N Investment Counsel, Connor, Clark & Lunn
Government owned/affiliated - Export Development Canada, Canada Revenue Agency.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Human Resource Management
The Human Resource Management (HRM) introductory courses help students in all business fields to understand, predict, and manage behavior in organizations. Choose to take courses focused on two professional career streams: the Personnel Specialist option covers recruitment, training, negotiation skills and performance management while the Managing People option includes design of employment systems, change and organizational leadership. You’ll be prepared for entry-level positions in human resource management and consulting firms.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Human Resources Management concentration are prepared to take on strategic and comprehensive approaches to managing people, the culture and environment within an organization. This function deals with recruitment and selection, compensation, performance management, organization development and training, and organizational health and safety.
Common Career Paths
Recruitment – Work with Hiring Managers to define employment needs.
Compensation & Benefits - Study and classify positions to determine salaries, wages, incentives, and benefits.
Manage the system of pay grades to ensure compensation is calculated fairly across departments.
Labour Relations - Work for union or management and deal with managing these relations.
Generalist - Act as the interface between departments or groups of employees and the HR team or manage administration of HR policies, procedures, and programs.
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Aritzia, BC Hydro, Chevron, Deloitte, Ledcor, Mercer, Teck Resources, Trulioo.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
International Business
Focus on business activities that cross national and international borders, looking at the structures, systems, and processes to ensure success in the international arena. There are three main areas you can focus your international business expertise in:
- Working for an organization that is international in scope (e.g. United Nations)
- Working for an organization that deals with clients all around the world (e.g. Procter & Gamble)
- Working abroad in another country.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the International Business concentration can focus their expertise in three main areas: (1) working for an organization that is international in scope (e.g. United Nations), (2) working for an organization that deals with clients all around the world (e.g. Procter & Gamble), and/or (3) working abroad in another country.
Common Career Paths
Export/Import Manager – Make arrangements for and oversee import and export of goods across international borders.
Immigration Specialist – Work in sectors such as law, social work, public service or business to help immigrants integrate into the local customs and culture.
Purchasing Managers – Buy a vast array of durable and nondurable goods or services for companies and institutions.
International Relations – In general, one will work for the government or in universities specializing in:
- Researching and advising on international policy
- Promoting national industries to foreign partners
- Immigration
- Consular affairs
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Best Buy, ICBC, CIBT Education Group Inc., Gloria English School, International Care Ministries, Opera Mediaworks, Seaspan, TD Bank, Toyota Inc.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems (MIS) applies our understanding of business processes and business strategy to creating value from digital technologies. MIS focuses on understanding how digital technologies can make organizations more agile, effective, and efficient, can disrupt traditional industries, and create positive societal change. You’ll learn to manage project teams, to design and build systems to support business processes and use digitized information for decision-making. This is an excellent concentration if you are interested in business analysis, managing change through projects, and software system implementation. MIS is also a good complement and catalyst to other concentrations.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Management Information Systems concentration are prepared to help people interact, use and capitalize on technology and information in a way that makes them more productive.
Common Career Paths
Systems Support – Support either employees or clients to use technology within any business.
Product Quality Assurance - Support the process of new product development by:
- Testing the product to ensure ease of use
- Identifying system bugs
- Writing technical product manuals
- Assessing the technical needs of potential products
Business Systems Analyst - Analyze business needs and recommend information systems or software to meet those needs by serving as a bridge between technical and business people in organizations.
Project Management - Manage the process and implementation of:
- Systems development
- Maintenance
- Implementation of major applications
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Deloitte, Fraser Health, HootSuite Media Inc., iQMetrix, Microsoft, SAP, Paysavvy, TELUS, Vancity Credit, Vision Critical, WorkSafe BC.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Marketing
The study of marketing encourages you to become an agile problem solver. Marketers are in the middle – they present the face of the company to its customers and, in turn, bring the voice of the customer into the organization.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Marketing concentration are prepared to communicating the value of a product or service through analysis of the market, building relationships with customers, establishing strong brands, and developing marketing strategies and plans.
Common Career Paths
Advertising - Work with clients on all aspects of marketing - strategy from concept to execution.
Brand Management – Involves many facets such as:
- Assuming responsibility for a brand or brand family
- Focusing on drawing out the essence of a brand
- Mapping out the competitive landscape
- Identifying market opportunities
- Communicating product benefits
Market Research – Requires information gathering in order to make recommendations about the market for the product and the effectiveness of a campaign.
Promotion and Sales – Create Programs that unite advertising to purchase incentives such as special discounts, samples, and gifts with purchase and rebates.
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Best Buy, Cossette, Creating Value Inc., Deloitte, G&F Financial, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, lululemon athletica, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Promosapien, Rethink, SAP, Strutta, TELUS, iData Research
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Operations Management
Operations Management focuses on the use of quantitative methods in solving management problems. Students encounter a wide variety of quantitative models, study how these methods are formulated and solved, and learn how they are used to help managers attack real problems.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Operations Management concentration are prepared to help streamline efficiencies in areas such as logistics, planning, and scheduling in a variety of industries.
Common Career Paths
Operations – Ensure a company operates as efficiently and economically as possible by streamlining operational procedures and policies.
Supply Chain Management - Plans, schedules, and monitors the movement of goods or delivery of services to customers and clients.
Purchasing/Procurement/Inventory Management - Secure the right material, at the right time in the right quantities to ensure the company can do its work. Involves negotiation with suppliers and monitoring inventory of supplies and raw materials.
Project Management – Manage the process and implementation of systems development, maintenance, and implementation of major applications
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
BC Hydro, BuildDirect, Costco, FortisBC, Golder Associates Ltd., Honeywell, Powerex, TELUS, Trialto Wine Group Ltd., Univar Canada, Walmart Canada.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Strategic Analysis
Build strong analytical, critical thinking, and decision-making skills necessary in complex organizational contexts to pursue a career in Strategic Management.
Career Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the Strategic Analysis concentration are prepared to help develop a shared vision of an organization's future along with evaluating, planning, and recommending major steps to be taken by an organization to achieve its vision.
Common Career Paths
Strategic Analysis – Identify the needs of the organization and develop plans to determine and guide the overall direction. Can involve software development and acquisitions, systems development, and process management.
Consulting -Provide expert knowledge to a person or an organization on a particular subject.
Change Management - Ensure that change initiatives meet objectives on time and on budget, and achieve the desired business outcomes. Examples on include change to: Business processes, Systems and technology, Roles within the organization, Organizational structure, and Cultural changes.
Internal Audit – Provide an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. Can aid the organization in processes and operations in: Risk Management, Governance, and Internal control processes.
Recent graduates work for companies such as:
Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), Deloitte, Ernest & Young (EY), Mercer, Traction on Demand, Best Buy, TELUS, BCNet.
For detailed information on the required courses in this concentration, consult the SFU Calendar.
Learn how to enhance this concentration.
Student Life
Connect with our Admissions Team
Our admissions team is more than happy to answer your questions. Please email bsb_admit@sfu.ca or call 778.782.5567.