lawyer

#MBA Concentrations - Darden School of Business UVA

Darden has long been recognized as a leading MBA program in general management (ranked No. 1 by Financial Times ). The case study method and integrated core curriculum provide a thorough understanding of how all areas of a business impact one another.

But Darden students are not just strong managers and leaders — they are also expert specialists. To reflect this important point, the Darden faculty added optional concentrations to the curriculum structure in 2010. While students have always tailored the elective curriculum to focus on areas of interest, the concentrations provide additional guidance and structure to this specialization, as well as providing a stronger signal to recruiters of students’ focus. All students still receive the same MBA degree, but now concentrations can be added to résumés as well.

The MBA concentrations are divided into career tracks and theme tracks. MBA students may choose two from among the following:

Career Track Concentrations

Asset Management/Sales Trading

This MBA concentration area is designed to extend the valuation principles learned in the First Year curriculum to solve complex problems faced by asset managers and sales and trading professionals. The courses expose students to a variety of different financial markets and give students a deeper understanding for how companies are valued, which are critical components for either managing a client’s funds or executing security trades.

Faculty contact: Ken Eades

Corporate Finance/Investment Banking

Entrepreneurship

Students fulfilling this MBA concentration will graduate with an understanding of their affinity for being entrepreneurial and an understanding of the fundamentals of effectual and causal thinking and when each is appropriate. They also graduate with a set of skills based on academic study and experiential work that allows them to be confident in starting a new venture.

Consumer Marketing

This concentration builds on brand management and will prepare students for careers in organizations where brand leadership is critical:

• Traditional consumer packaged goods
• Consumer durables
• Consumer services
• Consulting firms
• NFPs

This track focuses on the end-user as “customer,” offering the opportunity to gain insight into how customers

• Search for information
• Processes that information
• Make purchase decisions
• Become loyal, engaged consumers

Business to Business Marketing

This concentration is designed for those students who wish to pursue a career in organizations that market goods and services to other businesses. It is also appropriate for those seeking careers in consulting, operations or non-marketing jobs in a B2B firm. The objective of this concentration is to provide students with an understanding for how businesses relate to one another, how to manage these relationships, and how to develop and implement a viable strategy.

Strategy Consulting

Supply Chain Management

This concentration gives students additional grounding in operations management concepts, develops in-depth knowledge of general management-associated supply chain management concepts and principles, and builds strength in related cross-functional skills.

Theme Track Concentrations

Corporate Innovation

Students fulfilling this concentration graduate with the mindset and skill set to succeed at identifying and implementing innovation in a corporate setting.

Business Development and Growth

Sustainable success requires organizations to innovate and grow to maintain or increase profitability. Students focusing on this concentration will learn the fundamentals of managing innovation, organic growth, and acquisition and integration of mergers and acquisitions.

Market Analytics

The market analytics concentration will equip students with strong analytical skills. This concentration will expose them to large data sets where they can engage in mining as it relates to:

• Customer relationship management
• Brand marketing
• Other processes for building closer relationships with one’s customer base

This concentration is positioned for those students who wish to follow a B2C career with more of a focus on the research, who are looking at careers in consulting, business development or other areas where analytic skills are highly valued.

Business Analytics

This business analytics concentration will prepare students to participate in organizations that make abundant use of data, quantitative or mathematical techniques as part of their business processes. It is a more general version of the “Market Analytics” concentration. Completion of this concentration can be a useful signal to potential employers of the analytic and quantitative abilities of the student.

Innovation for Sustainability