Business involves taking existing data and projecting expectations into the future. Many management degree programs also require students to take statistics and business calculus at a minimum to learn probability judgment skills. These two courses together provide a student the foundational skills to develop math formulas using known and unknown data to estimate future results, a basic requirement for sales, marketing, management decision-making and budgeting.
Since business management also involves determining the best allocation of existing financial resources and generating new income, finance classes are bread and butter components of a management degree. Financial courses include studies in accounting, finance, budgeting, investing, economics, and marketing. Advanced courses can include specialized or applied principles in each of these subjects.
To understand general management leadership, many colleges include courses on personnel management, organizational behavior, and labor structure. These courses teach students the basics lessons on why labor activities are separated, how hiring criteria is developed and defended by a business, and the principles of hierarchy within a business entity. All of these concepts involve essential building blocks if a student wants to move up in management.
Beginning business strategy classes will generally include marketing, business psychology and advertising courses. International business is also covered in this group as well. The capstone of management degree programs includes a strategic management course that takes the basics from previous courses of finance, organization and business math principles, and requires the student to plan strategically on problem-solving. Additionally, the student must then prove competency to an academic review panel by either verbally defending a comprehensive business proposal or a writing thesis paper utilizing all previous course lessons.