Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Program Overview

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Program Description

The successful organization has a deliberate strategy for maximizing the value it creates. This strategy is effectively communicated to all participants in the business. The internal stakeholders understand their role in implementing the organization's vision and all processes are developed to achieve it. The Walker School of Business & Technology's MBA is developed with this organizational purpose in mind. Its aim is to teach students the business competencies needed to develop and implement value creating ideas and solutions while building the personal skills necessary to achieve their professional aspirations.

Learning Outcomes

This purpose is made clear in the following program learning outcomes:

• Students can analyze a business and identify and evaluate opportunities for value creation.
• Students can apply the core business competencies necessary to increase organizational value.
• Students demonstrate the personal effectiveness competencies necessary to achieve their professional goals and to contribute to the accomplishment of the organization's objectives.

Business Competencies

• Identify and value opportunities for value creation
  • Value creation
  • Strategy
  • Strategy
  • Market analysis
  • Pro forma analysis
  • Capital budgeting
  • Quantitative analysis
• Develop an implementation plan
  • Project management
  • Distribution and pricing
  • Product and promotion
  • Customer relations
• Manage business processes
  • Supply chain and logistics
  • Process analysis
  • Leadership
  • Developing and managing teams
  • Developing and managing workers
• Provide decision support
  • Information infrastructure
  • Database management
  • Data analytics
  • Managerial accounting

Personal Effectiveness Competencies

• Effective communication
• Collaborative work
• Efficient organization of work
• Independent learning
• Creative problem solving
• Systematic thinking
• Analytical decision making
• Probabilistic thinking
• Spreadsheet analysis

General Requirements

The MBA degree-seeking student should consult the Admission, Enrollment and Academic Policies sections of this catalog for policies regarding application, admission, registration and the academic policies of Webster University. Academic policies or exceptions to policies applicable to MBA students are noted under their respective general academic policies.

Curriculum

The MBA curriculum is organized into three parts: Value Creation Foundation, Value Creation Components and Value Creation in Practice. The Value Creation Foundation must be completed before progression to the Value Creation Components which, in turn, must be completed before taking the two Value Creation in Practice classes.

Value Creation Foundation (9-12 hours)

• BUSN 5000 Business (3 hours)
• MBA 5010 Value Creation (3 hours)
• MBA 5020 Quantitative Methods for the MBA (3 hours)
• MBA 5030 Market Analysis and Business Planning (3 hours)

Value Creation Components (15 hours)

• MBA 5100 Adding Value through Human Capital (3 hours)
• MBA 5200 The Financial Value of Capital Projects (3 hours)
• MBA 5300 Providing Value to Customers (3 hours)
• MBA 5400 The Supply Chain and Business Processes (3 hours)
• MBA 5500 Information Support for Decision Making (3 hours)

Value Creation in Practice (6 hours)

• MBA 5910 Cases in Value Creation (3 hours)
• MBA 5920 Walker Consulting Project: Adding Value to Organizations (3 hours)

Electives (3-6 hours)

*Students with a previous ACBSP (or equivalent) accredited degree or students who pass a waiver exam may substitute an elective for BUSN 5000.

Walker Joint MBA Program

Students who have completed an ACBSP accredited undergraduate program at Webster within the past 10 years may waive 6 credit hours of electives, reducing the number of required courses to 30 credit hours. The degree can then be completed in as little as one calendar year.

Areas of Emphasis

Requirements for an area of emphasis in the MBA program include the MBA required coursework (33 credit hours) and additional course requirements as identified below for each individual area of emphasis. If BUSN 5000 has been waived, the required hours are reduced by 3 credits and the BUSN 5000 course does not require a substitution.

Areas of emphasis for the MBA degree are:

• Analytics*
• Corporate Communications
• Corporate Finance
• Cybersecurity Operations
• Digital Marketing Management
• Enterprise Resource Planning
• Health Administration
• Information Technology Management
• International Business
• Marketing
• Project Management

Dual Degree Options

Requirements for a dual degree with the MBA program generally include the required MBA courses (33 hours) and the required coursework in the additional degree program, except where noted below. If BUSN 5000 has been waived, the required hours are reduced by 3 credits and the BUSN 5000 course does not require a substitution.

Upon completion of all required credit hours, two separate diplomas are issued at the same time. The two degrees cannot be awarded separately or sequentially under this arrangement.

Dual Degree Options with the MBA are:

• MBA/MHA
• MBA/MA in Business and Organizational Security Management
• MBA/MS in Environmental Management
• MBA/MS in Finance
• MBA/MA in Human Resources Development
• MBA/MA in Human Resources Management
• MBA/MS in Information Technology Management
• MBA/MA in International Relations
• MBA/MA in Management and Leadership
• MBA/MS in Marketing
• MBA/MA in Procurement and Acquisitions Management

Admission

See the Admission section of this catalog for general admission requirements. Students interested in applying must submit their application online.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are admitted to their graduate program upon completion of all admission requirements. Students are advanced to candidacy status after successfully completing 12 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. In specialized programs, courses required as prerequisites to the program do not count toward the 12 credit hours required for advancement.