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MBA Microcredentials

Strategic Thinking. Financial Acumen.
Problem-Solving. Leadership.

These are the skills today’s top employers value most, and we’ve been helping MBA students develop them for decades at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business. 

But you don’t have to commit to a full MBA to advance your career. Choose your laser-focused path — Strategic Thinking, Financial Acumen, Problem Solving in Business Contexts, or Leadership — and earn your MBA Microcredential in as little as one year. And the best part? If you decide to continue your business education, the coursework can be applied to a full MBA.

How does it work?

Offered fully online, in person (evenings at Miami’s West Chester location), or as an online/in-person hybrid, each of Miami’s four MBA Microcredentials is a flexible three-course program you can complete part-time in as few as 12 months. If you decide to continue your business education, your coursework can count toward your MBA.

Applying is easy. You must have a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of professional work experience, but that’s it. No other previous academic information or testing is required.

Make an investment in your career with an MBA Microcredential from Miami University.

Apply Now

Microcredential Breakdown

Flexible

Complete Online or In-Person

9 Hours

Credit Hours

12 Months

Complete in as little as 12 Months

Leaders Start Here

Change is a constant in the business world, driven by things as wide-ranging as technology and innovation, customer demands, regulations, and global disruptions. Our MBA Microcredentials give you the latest in-demand skills so you're positioned to adapt and thrive in any business environment.

Our MBA graduates work at world-class companies such as Kroger, P&G, Ethicon (Johnson & Johnson), General Electric, L3, and Liberty Mutual.

Miami’s MBA Microcredentials are custom-built, designed to sharpen the skills identified as most important to today’s leading global employers.

Skill-Based Microcredentials Designed for Your Future

Start your journey with us! Select three courses listed under your chosen Microcredential. Students who complete a Microcredential receive a digital badge, fortifying their resumes and professional networking presences with proof of tangible, in-demand business skills.

Leadership

  • BUS 680 - Leadership Coaching
  • MGT 644 - Leadership and Change Management
  • MGT 654 - Strategic Human Resource Management
  • Sustainability Coming 2024

Strategic Thinking

  • BUS 637 - Managing Competition
  • BUS 635 - Branding
  • BUS 645 - Business Analytics
  • BUS 647 - Business Risk Management

Financial Acumen

  • ACC 611 - Accounting for Managers
  • BUS 645 - Business Analytics
  • BUS 647 - Business Risk Management
  • FIN 665 - Mergers and Acquisitions*
  • FIN 625 - Managerial Finance

*Prerequisite FIN 625

Problem Solving in Business Contexts

  • ACC 611 - Accounting for Managers
  • BUS 645 - Business Analytics
  • FIN 625 - Managerial Finance
  • MGT 627 - Supply Chain and Operations Management

Course Descriptions

ACC 611 Accounting for Managers

This course explores how accounting information is used by managers to make internal business decisions, to create financial plans, and to evaluate actual performance relative to those plans. It also explores how managers analyze financial statements for internal management purposes.

BUS 635 Branding

The objective of this course is to help students understand what a brand is, the elements of brand building in both a consumer and business-to-business environment, what brand equity is, and how brand equity is ‘engineered’ through integrated marketing and communications programs. Typical topics to be covered in the course include branding fundamentals, models of brand equity, branding metrics and research methods, brand positioning, brand equity leveraging, brand portfolio management, and integrated brand communications.

BUS 637 Strategic Management

The examination of competitive forces in the marketplace and how they can be managed to deliver winning business outcomes. This course will leverage previous MBA course work to take a wholistic view of the various strategic drivers, both internal and external to a firm.

BUS 645 Business Analytics

The examination of competitive forces in the marketplace and how they can be managed to deliver winning business outcomes.  A holistic view of the various strategic drivers, both internal and external to a firm, will be taken in an examination of strategy development, deployment, and execution.

BUS 647 Risk Management

Marketing decisions have always been rooted in data. However, over the past decade more and more data has become available to marketers. This course details the analysis measures and methods used by leading marketers to make more precise marketing decisions in the 21st century.

BUS 680 Leadership Coaching

Coaching is an integral part of leadership development, and this course will focus on developing human capital within organizations to drive individual and organizational performance. Miami MBA students will be introduced to the theories and practices of facilitating change, learning, motivation, and growth in critical coaching relationships.

FIN 625 Managerial Finance

The field of finance is very broad, covering investment concepts, corporate financial policy, security markets, banking (and other intermediaries), the role of government and the international sector, real estate and personal finance.  Together these components make up the “financial system” and in this course, we examine a few parts of the financial system.  This will be taught as a “skills” course most of which is likely to be used by a non-finance corporate manager or a reasonably sophisticated individual investor.  Specifically, we will look at financial statements, time value of money, financial risk, cost of capital, project financial evaluation, and capital budgeting.

FIN/BUS 665 Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions are typically large and risky investment decisions that confront many financial managers. This course provides an in-depth examination of the complexities encountered in corporate restructuring, with a primary focus on corporate change of control. Topics covered include the M&A process, participants, due diligence, deal structuring, financing, and integration. Additional restructuring events covered include spinoffs, carveouts, business alliances, and bankruptcy.

*Prerequisite FIN 625

MGT 627 Supply Chain and Operations Management

Broad study of production system that is part of all manufacturing and service organizations. Examines, in a variety of organizational settings, the process design, facilities deployment, materials management, quality control problems, and supply chain management.

MGT 644 Leadership, Change Management and Cross Cultural Management

Leadership, change, and cross-cultural management are pervasive factors for success in a complex global environment. This course addresses the interface among these three bodies of knowledge and practice because they play critical and related roles in managing a firm's strategic advantages.

Prerequisite: MBA standing.

MGT 654 Strategic Human Resource Management

Organizational leaders have the responsibility for setting and implementing human resource strategy, which needs to be aligned with organizational strategy. Proper alignment is key to establishing a sustainable competitive advantage.

Prerequisite: MBA standing.

Farmer School of Business MBA Program

7847 VOA Park Drive
West Chester, OH 45069