Working Professional MBA
Electives / Specializations
Personalized to your goals
Students in the Working Professional MBA program personalize the degree through elective coursework. You'll work with your academic advisor to select from a wide range of offerings or target a specialized area of study by selecting at least nine credit hours in one particular niche. It's up to you.
Exciting Fisher Electives
Download Fisher's sample electives sheet to see how you can personalize your MBA journey. Email us at mba@fisher.osu.edu to discuss some popular options our students choose to complete their MBA degree. Here are a few areas our students like to focus:
Interactive WPMBA electives sheet
Pursue Topics of Interest
- Marketing
- Data Analytics
- Leadership
- Supply Chain Management
- Operations
- Strategy
- Finance
- Organizational Behavior
- Global Business
- Nonprofit
- Human Resources
- or make it your own!
One Credit Hour, One-Day Elective Workshops
All students in the Working Professional MBA program, regardless of learning modality, have the option of taking one-day workshops that offer one credit hour towards their elective coursework requirement. These one-day, on-campus workshops are offered at a minimum of once per semester and offer insights from business leaders around the country on a variety of topics. They provide students learning primarily online with the chance to network with peers, faculty and top executives in person. Examples of past topics include:
- Angel Investing: The Devil is in the Details
- Deploying Artificial Intelligence
- The Day in the Life of a CEO
- Managing Multigenerational Diverse Teams
Choose some electives from across campus
Supplement business insights at Fisher with electives in other areas of interest. Working Professional MBA students can take up to eight of their graduate-level elective credits* across The Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in the nation with more than 100 graduate programs. This added flexibility is an opportunity to gain/enhance skills that fit individual goals outside of business.
- Choose courses that fit your goals and skill development needs
- Electives available fall, spring and summer (21 of 48 required credit hours are electives)
- Access classes inside and outside the business school including, but not limited to:
- Moritz College of Law
- College of Public Health
- John Glenn College of Public Affairs
View the University graduate course catalog
*The eight credits must be taken while enrolled in the WPMBA program. Coursework taken prior to enrollment in the WPMBA program will not be accepted.
How do specializations/tracks work:
Specializations/tracks are not required for graduation in the Working Professional MBA program; however, students work with their academic advisor to take elective coursework that meets their goals. For example, a student looking to work in marketing may concentrate their elective credit primarily on marketing courses. A student looking to start their own business may seek a variety of courses in leadership, strategy, operations, marketing, finance, etc. The “a la carte” nature of the electives allows students, with the guidance of their academic advisor, to create an individualized experience for themselves. While specializations do not appear on your transcript or MBA diploma, they can be used to illustrate a broader knowledge of a specialized topic for those looking to change careers and show experience.
Here are just a Few Examples
At the core of any financial officer's career is creating value for the firm. This involves several activities, including design and implementation of financial policies and regulations; execution of financial plans; management of financial resources; and finally, communication and interaction with investors and the financial community overall.
In the Finance specialization, you will gain a broad understanding of the principles of finance; the use of quantitative techniques; and the application of these techniques to financial decision making. You will have ample opportunities to meet with senior executives who work in the financial services industry.
Sample Course Offerings
Base courses
- Corporate Financing
- Investment Theory and Practice
- Derivatives Markets
Corporate Finance track courses
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Corporate Financial Management. III
- Corporate Financial Management IV
- Financial Institutions
Investments track courses
- Fixed Income Analysis
- Student Investment Management (3.0 credit hours)
Risk Management track courses
- Fixed Income Analysis
- Financial Institutions
- Enterprise Risk Management II
Electives
- Corporate Financial Reporting I
- Financial Statement Analysis I
- Financial Modeling
- Principles of Real Estate
- Real Estate Finance
- International Finance
The Leadership and Organizational behavior specialization is for those students who want to develop expertise in leadership, learning to manage oneself, manage others, manage teams and relationships with others, and lead organizational change. These courses provide a range of individual and group study, so that you have both a theoretical understanding of leadership and hands-on experience as a leader.
Sample Course Offerings
Electives
- Personal Leadership Effectiveness
- Leadership Values and Decision Making
- Advanced Topics in Leadership Effectiveness: Implementation
- Foundations of Transformative Leadership
- Building Professional Services
- Managerial Negotiations
- Advanced Managerial Negotiations
- Talent Management
- Understanding Teams and Leadership
- International Human Resource Management
- Resolving Social Conflict (3 credit hours)
- Business Ethics
- Washington Campus
Washington Campus
Strategic Leadership: Business and the Public Policy Process
Fisher College of Business is a member of The Washington Campus, a consortium of business schools that host seminars designed to equip students with the understanding necessary to anticipate, influence, and respond intelligently to government initiatives.
This seminar is an intensive, one-week course repeated in seven different sessions in Washington, D.C., providing participants with first-hand exposure to the political process and its impact on management.
Companies invest heavily in developing innovative products and services. For strategic decision makers in the private and public sectors, marketing describes a fundamental approach to general management decision making, as well as a necessary set of business functions. Marketing provides important input to top management's choices of markets served, competitors, and portfolios of operating technologies.
Students in the Marketing specialization choose courses to prepare themselves for careers ranging from market research, product management, advertising, public relations, sales and account management, to retailing, e-business, distribution management, strategic marketing planning, and entrepreneurial marketing.
Sample Course Offerings
Base courses
- Marketing Research and Analytics
- Consumer Behavior
Brand Management track courses
- Advertising Strategy and Management
- Digital Marketing
- Promotions Management
- Innovation Practice and New Product Development
- New Product Development
Marketing Communications track courses
- Advertising Strategy and Management
- Digital Marketing
- Promotions Management
- Business Development: Customer Acquisition and Retention
Electives
- Marketing Strategy (Capstone)
- Global Marketing/Sustainability
- Marketing Projects (Capstone, 3.0 credit hours)
- Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Analysis
By combining operations and logistics, students learn how the total flow of goods, services and information within and between firms can be managed effectively and efficiently. Our faculty in this area teach students how to develop processes that facilitate efficient and cost-effective flow through a variety of supply chains.
This specialization teaches students general management and technical skills in areas such as quality, operations planning and control systems, and operations strategy; while also addressing current issues and topics in the management of the flow of a product through the supply chain. In addition to the foundational curriculum in logistics and operations, Fisher offers innovative coursework in lean management, six-sigma principles, and supply chain management.
Sample Course Offerings
Base course
- Strategic Logistics Management
Operations track courses
- Supply Chain Analytics: Matching Supply with Demand
- Global Sourcing I: Organizing for Effective Global Sourcing
- Lean Enterprise Leadership
- Six Sigma Principles I
- Six Sigma Principles II
- Six Sigma Projects
- Sustainable Operations
- Introduction to the Global Energy Industry
Supply Chain track courses
- Supply Chain Analytics: Matching Supply with Demand
Electives
- The Business of Healthcare
- Service and Healthcare Operations
- Introduction to Decision Making
- Simulation, Risk Analysis, and Decision Making
- Project Management I: Senior Manager Issues
- Project Management II: Project Manager Issues
The Strategy specialization curriculum develops the student's ability to think constructively about the pursuit of sustainable competitive advantage through the systematic identification, evaluation, and creation of attractive business and corporate opportunities. The strategy field emphasizes that it is the essential responsibility of management to discover and implement sources of sustainable performance.
Four broad issues are central to the Strategy curriculum
- How can a firm develop and sustain competitive advantage in a given market by exploiting specific market positions and / or its unique history and resources.
- What are the optimal boundaries of the firm, and what are the advantages and disadvantages associated with the integration of a chain of activities.
- How can firms create and capture value in competitive environments that change rapidly. How should managers assemble and organize resources to optimize their innovative output.
- How do business strategies interact when a firm competes in several markets. How can a firm create competitive advantage through the configuration and coordination of activities across multiple markets.
Sample Course Offerings
Electives
- Innovation Practice
- Competitive Analysis (Applied Strategic Management and Value Creation)
- Advanced Competitive Analysis (Dynamics, Uncertainty and Value Capture)
- Vertical Integration and Diversification
- Corporate Diversification
- Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Development
- INTOPIA Simulation: International Competitive Strategy Simulation
- Technology and Innovation Strategy
- Innovation Projects
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