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Executive Education

Mini-MBA: Essential Business Skills

Step up to the next level of success

No matter who you are in the world of business, getting a big-picture view of how business really works can be a pivotal strategy for advancing your career and growing your organization. 

Spread over a concise five weeks, this robust program provides a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of business and current organizational practices. It covers all the key components of a formal business school curriculum, enabling you to increase your business acumen and bring fresh insights to your work without having to commit full time to study. 

Led by award-winning UBC Sauder faculty, the program will expand your knowledge and applied skills in strategy, financial management, operations, strategic HR and marketing. You’ll also explore how decisions in one area may impact the others, and how strategic integration between functions can drive organizational success. 
 

Mini-MBA

Mini-MBA: Essential Business Skills

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The learning journey

Designed to fit your busy schedule, the fast-paced program format features a unique integration of self-paced learning and online class interaction. 

The self-paced components include short videos and readings introducing the various topic areas. There will be no out-of-class assignments, but reviewing these materials will help you prepare for your next live session. 

The live sessions bring learning to life through online contact with the faculty and your colleagues. Sessions include class discussion, Q&As, peer-group collaboration, networking, etc.—all intended to vitalize the content with that most valuable learning tool of all: human interaction. 

This program is ideal for those at any stage of their career, including: 

  • Early or mid-career managers aspiring to expand their executive potential 
  • Small-business owners/managers who want to grow an enterprise
  • Senior business leaders looking to refresh their perspectives with new ideas 
  • Anyone who has wanted to pursue a formal program of business study but never found the opportunity

Benefits for you

  • Get a solid grounding in the key components of business
  • Recognize the connections between different functional areas 
  • Look at the business from multiple angles, to reach more informed decisions 
  • Deepen your experience through peer networking and collaboration
  • Keep pace in today’s increasingly complex business environment
  • Drive your career forward while delivering value to your organization on many levels

Benefits for your organization

  • Ensure your company has the critical knowledge and skills it needs to succeed
  • Build organizational power to spot opportunities and manage challenges
  • Become more adept at cascading strategy through every business function
  • Promote cooperation and action between various areas of the business
  • Develop your company’s talent and succession pipeline 

Strategy

  • Environmental scanning and market assessment
  • Sources of competitive advantage and barriers to entry
  • Building effective value propositions
  • Contemporary models of strategic planning

Finance and Accounting

  • Key financial/accounting principles and tools 
  • The effect of transactions on the company’s financial position 
  • The budgetary cycle and financial controls
  • Time value of money: creating support for business decisions

Operations

  • Core principles of high-performing processes 
  • The role of operational building blocks (capacity, inventory etc.) 
  • Integrating operations with other functional areas 
  • Creating an effective operational strategy 

Strategic HR 

  • Fundamental principles
  • Utilizing HR to integrate business strategy
  • Driving results by managing performance and building high-level partnership skills
  • Leading people through change 

Marketing

  • Understanding customers (businesses and end consumers)
  • Market segmentation, targeting and positioning
  • Making product, place, price and promotion decisions
  • Digital and social marketing strategy 

Special features

This program blends interactive, instructor-led live sessions with engaging self-paced learning opportunities—enabling you to bring fresh insights to your work, while you work. 

Mahesh-Nagarajan

Dr. Mahesh Nagarajan

Faculty

Mahesh is the Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor in the Operations Division at the UBC Sauder School of Business, where he holds the Alumni Chair professorship in Stochastic optimization. He is an applied mathematician whose research looks at mathematical modelling, analysis and optimization. He has also consulted widely for manufacturing, service and health care organizations around the world.
Scott Sinclair

Scott Sinclair

Faculty

Scott is a faculty member at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Actively involved in professional accounting education for more than 30 years, he has won multiple awards for teaching excellence and for 10 years was the principal author for the CA School of Business in Western Canada. He has also worked for Coopers & Lybrand Chartered Accounts, serving small business and mining clients.
Amy Stanley

Amy Stanley

Faculty

Amy is an Adjunct faculty member at the UBC Sauder School of Business. She has worked in various HR roles, including 8 years as an HR Manager in UBC’s Department of Medicine. She has also been awarded Associate Certified Coach status from the International Coach Foundation. She currently manages her own leadership development business specializing in helping leaders handle conflict and challenging professional relationships.
Dr Tim Silk

Dr. Timothy Silk

Faculty

Tim teaches brand management, new product development and consumer behaviour at the UBC Sauder School of Business. A leading expert in pricing and promotion-related consumer behaviour, he helps major international organizations to identify strategic market opportunities for new products. He has also helped shape consumer-friendly public policies for government agencies. Formerly he was a marketing manager for a soft-drink company and an advertising account executive.
Perry Atwal Profile

Perry Atwal

Faculty

Perry is a faculty member at the UBC Sauder School of Business. He teaches courses on service management, employment relationships, organizational behaviour, strategy and marketing. He has led successful projects involving extremely diverse participants, and has forged effective relationships between business and government professionals at many levels. Previously he worked in Investment Banking in London, New York and Hong Kong.

Upcoming sessions

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Nov 6 - Dec 8, 2023
$5195.00 + tax (5%)

Online

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Please register before Oct 23 in order to attend the introductory session and give yourself time to complete the pre-program activities.  Introductory session: Nov 6 (5:00pm - 6:00pm PT) Live sessions take place from 8:30am - 12:30pm PT on: Week One: Nov 10 Week Two: Nov 17  Week Three: Nov 20, 22, 24 Week Four: Nov 27, 29, Dec 1 Week Five: Dec 5, 7 Capstone: Dec 8* (*9:00am - 12:00pm)  *Times subject to change

Please register before Oct 23 in order to attend the introductory session and give yourself time to complete the pre-program activities.  Introductory session: Nov 6 (5:00pm - 6:00pm PT) Live sessions take place from 8:30am - 12:30pm PT on: Week One: Nov 10 Week Two: Nov 17  Week Three: Nov 20, 22, 24 Week Four: Nov 27, 29, Dec 1 Week Five: Dec 5, 7 Capstone: Dec 8* (*9:00am - 12:00pm)  *Times subject to change

Online

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