Online MBA at Northeastern University

This article is a review of the Online MBA at Northeastern University. The Northeastern University has been offering certified MBA for decades and is accredited by the AACSB. Northeastern University prides itself as one of the university that produces graduates who are highly employable.

About Northeastern University

Northeastern University was founded in 1898, and is a private research university located in the heart of Boston. It is a leader in interdisciplinary research, urban engagement and the integration of classroom learning with real-world experience. They offer undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees all the way to doctorate in six undergraduate college, eight graduate schools and two part-time divisions.

The Northeastern University College of Business Administration was established in 1922 with the aim of offering undergraduate, graduate and executive programs that have accelerate successful business career for their graduates. Graduates of Northeastern University enjoy successful careers as leaders of multinational corporations, researchers, leaders of national politics, editors of major national newspapers and as faculty members at universities across United States.

Online MBA Program Overview at Northeastern University

The aim of the Online MBA at Northeastern University is to refine the essential talents to increase students’ competence and confidence. The followings are the area of expertise that students could develop by pursuing a certified MBA with Northeastern University:


In-depth understanding of business enterprise

Northeastern University’s unique 17-course program provides a solid foundation in all areas of business enterprise, from the fundamentals of operations, finance, and marketing to strategic planning. Throughout the Online MBA program, students will enhance their understanding of how the corporation functions in the contemporary global economy.

Comprehensive insight into the global marketplace

Northeastern University has globalization and enterprise growth as the two pillars of the Northeastern MBA. Students develop understanding of both areas through case studies and the insights of faculty with real-world experience.

Focused knowledge in your area of interest

MBA students at Northeastern University have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge by selecting a specialization that focuses on their area of interest. The MBA specialization of the Northeastern University includes area of Finance, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management, International Management, Innovation Entrepreneurship, High Technology Management or Healthcare. Each of these specialization consists of five elective courses.

The Online MBA Program Structure at Northeastern University

The Northeastern University’s Online MBA was specifically designed and structured for working professionals. They are eight commencement dates available in the year, which offers plenty of flexibility to suit working professionals.

MBA students are expected to spend 15 to 20 hours a week studying. They are 17 courses in the Online MBA program for a total of 50 credits. Each course lasts between three and seven weeks. These 17 courses are divided into two segments -- core courses and electives:

Core — 12 courses
The core courses provides MBA students with a comprehensive range of business concepts and knowledge that will empower students with a strong business and management foundation. The 12 core courses are structured to allow students to build on their knowledge as they progress through the Online MBA program.

Electives — 5 courses
The elective component enables students to customize their MBA by selecting a specialization in Finance, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management, International Management, Innovation Entrepreneurship, High Technology Management, or Healthcare.

The followings are detailed description of the 12 core courses of the Online MBA at Northeastern University:

Creating and Sustaining Customer Markets
MKT 200 - 3 Credits
This core course of the Online MBA focuses on marketing analysis and planning. The course emphasizes analysis of customer needs and company and competitor capabilities, which forms the basis of a sound marketing strategy that provides value to customers in a way superior to competitors. This core courses of the Online MBA discusses how to deliver this strategy through the development of an integrated marketing program covering product offerings, pricing, promotion, and distribution.

Global Competition and Market Dominance
MEC 200 - 3 Credits
This core course of the Online MBA trains managers to understand the competitive implications of global economic policies, the business effects of technological change, and the commercial imperatives of alternative political systems at a macro level. At a micro level, this core courses of the Online MBA creates a framework for industry analysis in a global setting that combines economic analysis, competitive analysis, and business decision-making skills.

Organizations in the New Economy
HRM 200 - 3 Credits
This core course of the Online MBA examines today's evolving environment, in which effective utilization of human resources is a source of competitive advantage. To maximize the contribution of organizational members, managers must be able to understand, diagnose, and influence workplace behavior in the context of change. Topics for this core course of the Online MBA include management of cross-functional teams and boundary-less organizations. The emphasis is on the role of corporate culture and distributed leadership.

Ethics and the Marketplace
MGT 213 - 2 Credits
This core course of the Online MBA focuses on the roles and responsibilities of businesses and business managers in society. The course examines both current and historical legal, social, ethical, cultural, technological, and economic forces that affect businesses and the various policies, strategies, and tactics that businesses utilize to respond to these forces. The emphasis of this Online MBA core course is on what managers and corporations do, or should do, as they face many complex issues including legal and ethical decisions in the workplace and the marketplace, dealing with and shaping government regulations and public opinion, effectively responding to particular environmental and technological challenges, and the pressures of special interest groups.


Financial Reporting and Managerial Decision Making
ACC 200 - 4.5 Credits
This Online MBA core course focuses on the acquisition, measurement, and management of firm resources. Business managers make strategic decisions about the acquisition and use of a variety of firm resources. The course enables students to understand and utilize critical information in corporate financial reports to improve business decision making. This Online MBA core course also offers students the opportunity to learn contemporary methods of financial reporting and analysis used by internal decision makers and external capital providers.


Value Creation through Financial Decision Making
FIN 200 - 3 Credits
This Online MBA core course develops tools for and techniques of financial analysis and valuation to support financial decision making. Future managers are presented with actual business problems to learn to apply the tools of financial analysis to strategic decisions faced by the firm, such as capital budgeting, capital structure, use of derivatives, and currency exposure management. This Online MBA core course also highlights the role of financial management as a source of value creation in a competitive environment characterized by rapid technological, personal, and market changes.

Management of Service and Manufacturing Operations
MSC 206 - 3 Credits
This Online MBA core course focuses on decision making by an operations manager. The operations manager's major job function is to provide quality products and services desired by customers, on time and at a competitive cost. This course helps the operations manager to perform this function in both the manufacturing and service sectors of the economy. The course also explores operations management concepts, techniques, and models. These include the optimum allocation and efficient utilization of manpower, materials, equipment, and technology at strategic and tactical levels in the organization. Topics of this Online MBA core course include process analysis, capacity planning, materials management, resource allocation, quality management, and scheduling.

Managing Information Resources
MSC 204 - 1.5 Credits
Information has become a key resource in doing business. Managers must understand that high-quality information adds value to existing products and services, enhances the creation of new products, changes the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes, and affects relationships with customers, suppliers, and competitors. This Online MBA core course focuses on issues of the strategic uses of information technology for competitive advantage, support of business processes, information and control, digital business, integration of business with technology, organizational communication, and data management.

Information Analysis
MSC 200 - 3 Credits
This Online MBA core course provides students with basic information analysis skills and tools needed to manage effectively in today's information-intensive business climate. The course exposes students to analytical problems from different areas of business and the quantitative concepts and techniques that can analyze them. Course objectives are to improve the information analysis skills of the students, to provide students with a working knowledge of important statistical tools, to help students become more critical evaluators of studies and reports involving statistical and quantitative methods, and to improve skills in communicating the results of analyses. This Online MBA core course offers students the opportunity to learn how to evaluate, analyze, and interpret data, and present findings and conclusions that will be most useful for managerial decision making through the use of business applications and analytical software.

Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise Growth
ENT 200 - 3 Credits
This Online MBA core course explores the challenges and processes for harnessing technological innovation for new-business development. The course integrates technology strategy, innovation in marketing, product development, and organization design for the purpose of enterprise growth. Through readings, cases, and exercises, studies how firms from different industries gain competitive advantage through distinctive products and services, and leverage their technologies and skills into emerging markets. The course also focuses on processes for conceiving, financing, and organizing new ventures.

Managing the Global Enterprise
INB 200 - 3 Credits
This Online MBA core course focuses on the international business environment, and examines the influence on global decision making of such areas as the international economy and trade issues, legal and political context differences, governmental actions, cultural and ethical system differences, exchange rates and international currency markets, international institutions like the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and regional agreements like the European Union, NAFTA, and Mercosur. The course also analyzes why firms internationalize their operations, how they can internationalize, and key areas such as international manufacturing, marketing, human resource management, and strategy.

Strategic Decision Making in a Changing Environment
MGT 200 - 3 Credits
This Online MBA core course focuses on strategy development and implementation for a line of business and for the corporation as a whole by adopting a top management perspective. Beginning with developing a mission statement and goals for the firm, focuses on environmental scanning, incorporating economic, technological, sociopolitical,and legal trends in conducting industry analysis, thus assessing opportunities and threats and the firm's capabilities before formulating strategy that represents a fit between the environment and the firm. This Online MBA core course also discusses how to develop competitive advantage and assess competitive positioning, and studies how organizational structure and systems contribute to implementing strategy. It stresses the role of leadership and motivation before moving on to feedback mechanisms to assess success in strategy implementation, leading to revision of strategic plans as needed.


Elective Specializations

Students who wish to pursue specialization on their area of interest may do so by pursuing electives. The selection of the electives for an Online MBA course at Northeastern University was carried out based on careful consideration of the most important issues facing businesses today. The Northeastern University requires that students complete at least five electives to qualify for a general MBA degree. To complete a specialized MBA, three of the five electives must be from a single area of specialization.

Students may specialize in the following areas: Finance, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management, International Management, Innovation Entrepreneurship, High Technology Management, or Healthcare.

The followings describe the electives offered under each of the specialization.

Online MBA (Finance)

Financial Strategy; International Financial Management; Business Turnarounds; Mergers and Acquisitions; Advanced Topics in Finance: Venture Capital, Risk Management, and Insurance; Analyzing Financial Statements; Investment Analysis; Real Estate Financ and Investment; Portfolio Management; Financial Risk Management.

Online MBA (Marketing)
Marketing Metrics; International Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Electronic Marketing; Marketing in the Service Sector; Market-Focused Strategy; New Product Development; Brand and Advertising Management; Business-to-Business and Strategic Sales.

Online MBA (Operations and Supply Chain Management)
Supply Chain Management; The Transportation Industries; Global Supply Chain Management; Executive Roundtable in Supply Chain Management.

Online MBA (International Management)
Managing the Multinational Enterprise; Cultural Aspects of International Business; Advanced Topics in Global Management and Strategy; International Financial Management; International Marketing; Leading Global Organizations; Information Systems for the Global Enterprise; Global Supply Chain Management.

Online MBA (Innovation Entrepreneurship)
Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise Growth; Management of Small Business Enterprises; New Venture Creation; Advanced Topics in Entrepreneurship.

Online MBA (High Technology Management)
New Product Development; Knowledge Management; Strategy in a Digital Business Economy; Electronic Marketing.

Online MBA (Healthcare)
Healthcare Management; Healthcare Leadership; Healthcare Informatics; Biotechnology.


Accreditation

Northeastern University is accredited by AACSB International. This is the highest standard of accreditation for any business school worldwide.


Career Prospects of the Northeastern MBA Graduate

According to The Princeton Review’s annual college guide, “The Best 368 Colleges”, Northeastern University is the nation’s no. 1 institution in career and job placement. This may also translate to high salary for the Northeastern MBA graduate.

Northeastern University has relationship with more than 2,500 national and international companies, with many of these offering co-operation as a way to identify and attract the kinds of employees they need to succeed in the future.

The Business Week also placed the Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration at the top of the list in the category of internship. The followings are what one of the students had to say about her experience with Northeastern University:


Devon Gardner, a middler in the Bachelor of Science and International Business (BSIB) program, recently completed her first co-op with TJX Companies, Inc. as an allocation analyst in the planning and allocation’s department for Home Goods. Gardner created and executed shipping strategies, decided how much product to send out to various vendors and analyzed sales trends to maximize business opportunities.

Though graduation is nearly two years away, Gardner has already been offered a full-time job by TJX. She said Northeastern’s experiential learning model has helped her succeed in both the classroom and in the workplace.

“My job at TJX revolved around time management,” she said. “It taught me how to maximize my time to get everything accomplished, work more effectively in groups and helped me to become more organized.”

Gardner, who plans to travel to Spain for her second co-op, also commented on Northeastern’s reputation with employers for providing real-world experience while still in school and said her co-op advisors thoroughly prepared her for the job interview process as well as provided techniques on how to keep in touch with previous employers.
“Everybody knows Northeastern for getting their students positions in their fields of study,” she said. “Having work experience is the way to get me ahead of other students in the future.”

With an AACSB’s accreditation and excellent record of high employability, the Online MBA at Northeastern University is an excellent choice.