MBA curriculum and courses
Leading for performance and well-being
Leading for performance and wellbeing is central to the MBA curriculum. It is driven by four themes: diversity, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. Our Ted Rogers MBA graduates will lead for performance and wellbeing guided by ethical corporate governance, socially responsible decision-making and stewardship of the environment.
Curriculum
The Ted Rogers MBA core curriculum consists of seven one-semester courses. A staple of the MBA experience, the core curriculum is designed to give students an in-depth mastery of the academic disciplines and applied functional areas necessary to every business leader’s success. Taught by full-time professors, the core leaves students with practical knowledge; case-based lessons and collaborative learning models train students to analyze, decide and lead while creating a common student experience that fosters a deep sense of community.
To graduate, you must successfully complete all the required core course credits, take six half credit electives and fulfil the capstone project requirements.
MBA students are required to complete all of the seven core courses outlined below:
| Course Code | Course Name | Term Offered |
|---|---|---|
| MB 8010 | Strategy in a Disruptive Marketplace MB 8010 is key to the MBA program, providing students with the strategic foundation to understand how firms in the dynamic business world and disruptive industries (i.e., disruptive in terms of value innovation, technology innovation, demand, supply chain, business model, digitalization, etc.) gain and sustain a competitive advantage that creates economic, social and environmental value. This dynamic course examines contemporary business topics and requires significant advance preparation, both individually and in groups, and extensive class interaction. Its central learning element is case studies and the Strategy Live Case Project. The latter serves as an integrative and experiential learning exercise and enables students to conduct a comprehensive strategic analysis of established companies and to address real-life strategic challenges/issues at the firm-, industry- and business environment levels. Students will address multi-divisional corporate strategy challenges/issues and specific strategic choices for individual business units; and will develop skills as general manager, consultant, or strategist, to analyze, craft, and implement strategies that gain a sustainable competitive advantage and ensure growth and performance. 1 Credit |
Fall 2024 |
| MB 8011 | Leading for Performance and Well-Being This course will expose students to key theories of leadership, central debates about the obligations of leadership, the role of leaders in modern organizations, and the importance of self-awareness for effective leadership and social well-being. The goal of this course is to encourage you to think critically about leadership as both a practice and a field of study. Through an examination of theoretical and popular conceptualizations of leadership, case analysis, applied readings, and self-reflection, the material is designed to help you develop your abilities to lead and follow with resilience. 1 Credit |
Fall 2024 |
| MB 8012 | Managing Customer Value This advanced marketing course examines the delivery of value from B2C and B2B perspectives. It focuses on how management of relationships and processes across the value chain contribute to the delivery of value to stakeholders, including shareholders, customers, and community members. The course provides insight into marketing strategies and actions that disrupt the marketplace, society, and sustainability. 1 Credit |
Fall 2024 |
| MB 8019 | Financial Management Building on the foundations in Accounting and Finance, this course further develops an understanding of the challenges for sound financial planning and management in a global environment. Students learn the risk return characteristics of various international financial markets and financial instruments. Topics include financial instrument valuation (stocks, bonds and derivative securities), going public decisions, initial and seasonal equity offerings, joint venture, venture capital firms, social and sustainable investing, and international entry decisions. 1 Credit Please note: Successful completion of the required MB8004 Accounting and/or MB8005 Finance Foundation course(s) for non-business undergraduate students is a prerequisite to being able to register for this course. |
Fall 2024 |
| MB 8013 | Managing Responsibly This course focuses on the relationship between law, ethics, and corporate social responsibility as they relate to management. Students learn the importance of law as a facilitator in developing successful business strategies and explore the mutually reinforcing relationship between law and corporate social responsibility in areas such as corporate governance, environmental protection, privacy, corruption, and free trade agreements. Through an examination of these themes, the course provides students with analytical tools for identifying ethical problems and a framework for managing ethical conduct in organizations. 1 Credit |
Winter 2025 |
| MB 8014 | Innovation and Technology Management This course prepares students to manage in turbulent, high technology ecosystems environments characterized by high integration, digital transformation of industries, globalization, sustainable business development, efficiency, and good governance. In their course assignments, students will critically evaluate, through case studies, questions about innovation, such as: What is innovation? How does it unfold? How do organizational structures enable and constrain innovation? What would a manager need to know in order to effectively manage innovation? What types of competitive dynamics emerge in industries experiencing significant innovations? How do management fads affect innovation? This course will cover the impact of disruption in an organization on the broader industry itself, and on society. How does the larger context of society affect innovation? Students will learn how ways of structuring and managing organizations can foster or stifle innovation and its governance. 1 Credit |
Winter 2025 |
| MB 8015 | Business Analytics for Managers This course examines the usage and development of contemporary data science techniques used in Business Analytics. The objective of the course is to help students develop competence for formulating and analyzing business problems, and interpreting the results of data analysis using various business analytics software tools. The course follows an outcome based action learning approach that entails intensive hands-on problem solving using software tools. The primary focus is developing competence for applying business analytics techniques for sustainable strategic decision making, and improving organizational performance and innovation capabilities. With growth in the availability of data, this course presents opportunities for leveraging evidence-based management while highlighting the potential ethical issues in the management, collection and usage of Big Data. Effective communication is a significant dimension of business analytics work. Students will be expected to construct evidence based arguments for short business cases in order to present the analytics results in a manner appropriate for management consumption. 1 Credit Please note: Successful completion of the required MB8002 Quantitative Methods (Statistics) Foundation course for non-business undergraduate students is a prerequisite to being able to register for this course. |
Winter 2025 |
Foundation courses are graduate-level courses that help prepare students with non-business degrees for success in the MBA program. These courses include: Accounting, Finance, Quantitative Methods for Business, Economics and Principles of Management.
Students without an undergraduate degree in business but who have completed equivalent courses to the foundation courses may be exempted on a case-by-case basis.
Students with four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) or equivalent, from a recognized academic institution, are exempt from the MBA foundation courses.
| Course Code | Course Name | Term Offered |
| MB 8002 | Quantitative Methods for Business This course equips students with basic analytical tools that support business decision making. Students learn the principles of statistics and other techniques and apply them to data analysis using computer-based tools. In addition, students develop a broader understanding of the information systems that supply these data, and how quantitative analyses support management and strategy in business organizations. 1 Credit |
Spring/Summer 2024 & Spring/Summer 2025 |
| MB 8004 | Accounting Topics include the role of GAAP, balance sheet, income statements and cash flow statements, the concepts of retained earnings, depreciation, receivables, inventory, amortization, deferred taxes and goodwill. It examines accounting models to improve managerial decision making including the Cost-Volume Profit model, Activity Based Costing, Economic Value Added, transfer pricing, overhead allocation and Balanced Scorecard. Strategic issues such as organizational learning, control systems and openbook management are examined with a global perspective. 1 Credit |
Spring/Summer 2024 & Spring/Summer 2025 |
| MB 8005 | Finance This course provides the necessary principles of finance for the manager of an enterprise in the global environment. This course examines from a global perspective, shareholder wealth maximization, the analysis and interpretation of financial statements, ratio analysis, the time value of money, discounted cash flow analysis, valuation of different financial assets, value of equity, interest rate analysis, the value of debt, and bond valuation. 1 Credit |
Spring/Summer 2024 & Spring/Summer 2025 |
| MB 8006 | Economics This course develops the fundamental tools of economic analysis that are essential for understanding global markets and making managerial decisions. The economic relationships between growth and inflation are examined as well as credit, interest rates, and government fiscal and monetary policy. International input and product markets, foreign direct investment, multinationals, mergers and acquisitions, as well as the market determination of exchange rates and interest rates are considered. 1 Credit |
Spring/Summer 2024 & Spring/Summer 2025 |
| MB 8007 | Principles of Management The course comprises a tour through the non-financial management functions. It begins with an outline of the history of management thought, an approach that frames the successive topics. It is followed by a unit on business law and corporate governance, which explains the roles and responsibilities of managers and executives. The organizational behaviour/human resource section highlights principles of social psychology as they relate to how people interact in organizations, and small groups. The section on operations and management information systems shows how organizations use technologies. The quality unit shows how it is fostered in manufacturing and services. The marketing module introduces the first principles of this function. There is also a lecture introducing the unique aspects of entrepreneurship and small business. 1 Credit |
(not offered) |
Students must complete 1 of 3 Capstone Project options.
| Course Code | Course Title |
Term Offered |
|---|---|---|
| MB 8016 | Management Consulting Students interested in consulting will have the opportunity to develop skills in managing a real consulting project with a real client from proposal to completion, drawing on the knowledge and skills developed in their MBA journey. The student team will be responsible for all aspects of the client relationship, with a faculty member acting as adviser and observer. |
Spring/Summer 2025 |
| MB 8017 | Entrepreneurial Experience Based on a selection process, students will have the opportunity to develop a plan to start up a business or further develop an existing start-up. |
Spring/Summer 2025 |
| MB 8018 | International or Canadian Experience This capstone option allows students to gain an understanding of a specific cultural, business, political and economic environment impacting businesses. They will meet with business executives and with community stakeholders. Under the guidance of a faculty member, students will work with a community group or business to transfer knowledge or solve a problem. Students will attend pre-travel training and bootcamp sessions prior to departing to select destinations. In the host countries/communities, students will gain first-hand experience and an understanding of a unique business culture directly from industry experts. Students will visit local companies and participate in cultural activities. |
Spring/Summer 2025 |
Students need to take six (6) half credit electives which provide them with essential content on topics that the industry values most. Each elective is 18 hours, compared to a traditional 36-hour course.
Please note: Not all elective courses are available in a given academic year. Students choose from a list of offered elective courses on a semester-by-semester basis. Available elective courses for upcoming semesters open for registration are listed below by the semester they're being delivered.
Consulting
Term offered: Winter 2025
This course will examine consulting process models and their application, and help students develop specific skills to assist in their consulting careers. Students will study real life consulting projects with practitioners in order to explore consulting skills, roles, skills and services.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Winter 2025
Consulting is a major service industry. This course will examine the nature of consulting work, firm structure and the services that are provided, as well as the ways in which consultants and clients work together successfully. Both the theory and the practice of consulting will be addressed. This course will be relevant to students who anticipate being external or internal consultants and includes elements of self-assessment and career planning.
0.5 Credits
Data Analytics
Not currently offered
The goal of business analytics (BA) is to identify cause-and-effect relationships, in order to design the appropriate policies, strategies and business plans. This course introduces the body of knowledge on causality and causal inference that has emerged during the last 3 to 4 decades. The course provides students with in-depth understanding of the challenges around the identification of cause-and-effect relationships and the technical aspects, algorithms and tools to carry out causal analyses.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Fall 2024
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of data science to leverage extensive proprietary data resources held by firms and businesses of all sizes. The past two decades have witnessed a massive growth in data sets. However, businesses lack the expertise needed to leverage their vast data resources. Thus, businesses are data-rich, but insights poor. This course equips students with the fundamental knowledge of data science needed to manage, manipulate, and organize datasets.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
This course introduces data science techniques for evidence-based management. The course will help students develop competence for formulating and analyzing business problems, and interpreting the results of data analysis using business analytics software tools. The course follows an outcomes-based learning approach that entails hands-on problem solving with software tools. The primary focus is on developing competence for applying basic data science models for strategic decision making, and improving organizational performance and innovation capabilities.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of predictive analytics to leverage extensive proprietary data resources held by firms and businesses of all sizes. The past two decades have witnessed a massive growth in data sets. However, businesses lack the expertise needed to leverage their vast data resources. Thus, businesses are data-rich, but insights poor. This course equips the MBA students with the fundamentals of predictive analytics with time series and cross-section data.
0.5 Credits
Digital Enterprise
Not currently offered
This course provides a business view of disruptive digital transformation, with the perspectives of strategy, technology, and transformative change for individuals, the organization and society. Disruptive strategies dominate the business landscape. Powered by digital technologies, new start-ups and established organizations are rapidly creating innovative business opportunities and are challenging traditional business models. Canadian businesses compete with each other locally but the true threat comes from competitors that create global impact using disruptive technologies.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
This course aims to equip students with fundamental knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and concepts and techniques in business process analysis and design through hands-on exercise and guest lectures. Students will learn commonly used notation business process management notation (BPMN) to capture business processes and easy-to-use tools for diagramming and analyzing business processes. Students are expected to develop an understanding of how AI could be applied to facilitate human beings for better process performance.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
In 1990s and 2000s, industry coined the term IT Outsourcing, often with services delivered from offshore locations. With the advent of cloud services and related digital technologies, the global outsourcing market has evolved from outsourcing assets to a model where organizations acquire digital services. This course prepares students who will be buyers of these services. A well-educated buyer can begin to understand and manage the sourcing process with the knowledge from this course.
0.5 Credits
Entrepreneurship
Term offered: Winter 2025
This foundation module is designed to stimulate the student's interest in entrepreneurship. By means of case studies, articles, videos and presentations, students will begin by learning from prominent entrepreneurs who have demonstrated commitment, passion, risk-taking, strategic thinking and implementation, with the ability to develop core competencies as they create and grow their successful enterprises.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Winter 2025
This experientially based course will empower students to use 21st century entrepreneurship
techniques to work on their own business idea. This course focuses on the practical aspects of the startup and management of a new venture. Students will undertake a major field exercise with early adopters to investigate product fit and likely business models. The fieldwork is finalized in the classroom through facilitated peer discussion.
0.5 Credits
Finance
Not currently offered
This course is designed to provide students with a real life, integrated, experience in Advance Corporate Finance topics such as corporate valuation and governance, M&A, and corporate restructuring. Real life cases are used, along with a variety of others in order to give students the chance to develop their skills with respect to real life cases.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
Financial theory will be applied to international finance issues including interest rates, exchange rates, corporate valuation, securities valuation, risk management, and foreign currency derivatives. Students will learn to evaluate the financial position of a corporation or a trader through examination of portfolio composition, analyze financing and investment problems using discounted cash flow, evaluate the impact of financing and investment decisions on shareholders’ wealth, and how interest and foreign exchange rates are formed.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Fall 2024
The objective of the course is to understand the fundamental theory and the characteristics of stock, bond and derivative securities. The course will cover analysis of equity, fixed income, derivative and alternative investments. In the second half of the course, portfolio management will be covered. After completing the course, students will be able to answer investments, equity, fixed income, derivatives and portfolio management part questions of CFA first level questions successfully.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Spring / Summer 2025
The course introduces the subject of personal financial decision making. We explore the role of the individual decision maker and financial advisor. Areas covered include budgeting, tax planning, financing, protecting your assets and income, investments, retirement, and estate planning. Students will learn how logic and emotions affect personal financial decisions. After taking this course, students will have learned the tools and activities to help manage their own money, and for other individuals.
0.5 Credits
Human Resources
Not currently offered
Effective decision-makers are those who consistently identify and choose the best option among multiple alternatives. Their decisions are strategic, creative, reasoned, and defensible. This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals and principals of decision-making and integrative thinking in a dynamic and competitive business environment. It will expose students to theories of thinking, judgment and decision-making, creativity, learning from feedback, and causal reasoning.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Winter 2025
The focus of this (half credit) course is on how to flourish in the workplace. It is based on Positive Psychology, which is a field of study that encompasses six broad areas of research: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, and vitality (PERMA-V). Resilience, as a foundation to flourishing, will be explored and resilience skills and strategies will be taught.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Winter 2025
The primary objective of this course is to help students develop the sophistication to analyze bargaining and conflict relationships and to learn (through class discussion, bargaining simulations and self-assessment) about their own individual bargaining style. The course explores the process of collective bargaining as it is currently practiced by organizations and their unions, as well as the major concepts and theories of the psychology of bargaining and negotiation that this process embraces.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Fall 2024
Organizational decision-making involves vision, passion, the ability to make decisions under pressure and uncertainty, and the ability to motivate others toward one's vision. Students will gain insight into the perspective of a senior manager or leader and to understand the larger context of management. Through experiential exercises and detailed feedback from your peers and the professor, you’ll enhance your decision-making. Students will focus on developing managerial skills, including managing in a global context.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
This course develops competencies in managing a global workforce. Specific topics include behavioural impact of cultural differences, alternative approaches to organizational structure, cross cultural communication challenges, management of diverse groups, leadership and employee motivation techniques for global managers, and conflict resolution across cultures. Students will assess their own managerial and leadership competencies and develop a personal plan for skill development. A key component of this course is the online Human Resources Management simulation.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
The best companies view talent as a competitive differentiator and a key area where the acquisition, engagement, development, and retention of talent is a strategic priority. Talent management involves individual and organizational development in response to a changing operating environment. It is not limited to attracting the best people from the industry but also a continuous process that involves sourcing, hiring, developing, retaining and promoting them while meeting the organization’s requirements simultaneously.
0.5 Credits
Sport Business
Term offered: Spring / Summer 2025
This course will focus on fundamentals of both sport business-level and corporate-level strategy. The course is designed to introduce a wide variety of modern sport strategy frameworks and methodologies, including methods for assessing the strength of competition, for understanding relative bargaining power, for anticipating competitors’ actions, for analyzing cost and value structures and their relevance to competition, and for assessing potential changes in the scope of the firm.
0.5 Credits
Not currently offered
This course is designed to discuss the fundamental management and marketing problems for the sport business industry. The main objective of this course is to a) develop an understanding of the tools and scope that are used to drive leading sport business marketing strategy and relationships within the broader sport marketing industry. In addition, this course will address the variety of contemporary problems and opportunities that confront sport business marketers.
0.5 Credits
Other Specialized Electives
Not currently offered
This course examines product and service innovation in media industries and investigates trends in consumption of media products and services. It introduces students to ways of understanding consumer behaviour with respect to media products and services. The course examines methods and models that treat consumers as customers, users, and audience members.
0.5 Credits
Antirequisite MB8402
Term offered: Fall 2024
This course focuses on the advanced study of the sales process including relationship and account management, negotiation, team selling, sales leadership, and sales technology. It will use active learning methods to gain professional sales experience through practice and applied learning. This will be accomplished through a combination of business case class discussion, sales training from experts in the field, and role-play opportunities.
0.5 Credits
Term offered: Spring/Summer 2025
This course focuses on both the science of project management and the art of managing projects. While exploring common theoretical methods and reviewing the content of the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), the major course objective is to provide a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the effective project management process with particular emphasis on its application to real-world business and technology projects.
0.5 Credits
Anti-requisite MT8220
Term and topics offered:
- Fall 2024: e-Sports
- Winter 2025: Big Data
- Spring / Summer 2025: Diversity and Inclusion
This course provides students with the opportunity to pursue advanced studies on interdisciplinary issues and themes of emerging and current significance in Management. It allows students to access leading-edge research and to explore new and emerging theories and models of practice. The particular theme, topic, and structure of the course may vary in response to changes and trends in the field, availability of specialists, and student interest.
0.5 Credits
Course offerings may be subject to change.
Experiential Learning Opportunities
The Ted Rogers MBA program provides practical education, encouraging students to take initiative, make decisions and be accountable for results.
The Ted Rogers MBA program uses a blend of learning methods to effectively teach course material:
- Individual and group projects/presentations
- Real-world business consulting projects
- Live actor simulations
- Computer-based stock trading simulation
- Case studies
- Lecture-based teaching
- One-on-one with faculty examinations
- International and Canadian field trips with consulting projects
During their final semester, all Ted Rogers MBA students have the opportunity to integrate knowledge gained from prior courses and experiential activities, based on their career interests.