Business Management Degrees

What is Business Management?
Business management is a broad field that trains people for managerial roles in technology, retail, education, government and other sectors. Business management degrees enable you to acquire a mix of technical and soft skills. Technical skills in business management include learning the principles of accounting and finance, business law, operations management and information systems. Soft skills are equally important in business management and could include learning about leadership, negotiations, teamwork and employee motivation.

Business management remains among the most popular fields pursued at institutions around the United States. By some estimates, one in five students in colleges pursues business management. This is because students find the material interesting and practical.

Top Schools Offering Business Management Degrees

Liberty University Online

University of Phoenix

Kaplan University Online

American InterContinental University Online

Strayer University

Top Business Management Programs

Common degrees in Business Management
Business management is often pursued at the undergraduate level. This degree is generally called a BBA or Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Many of the people who complete a BBA go on to complete an MBA or Master’s in Business Administration. But you are not required to have a BBA to pursue an MBA. The MBA is general enough that those with no background in the field are able to enter and complete the program. In fact many MBA programs are eager to recruit people with diverse backgrounds in engineering, the sciences, liberal arts, humanities and social sciences.

An important consideration in admissions in an MBA program is work experience. It is common for students enrolled in MBA programs to have between 2 and 4 years of work experience. Some of the less selective schools are willing to overlook work experience in the admissions process. MBA programs stress work experience that focuses on leadership and management.

MBA programs involve case studies and discussions and are thus ideal for those who have worked for a few years and have personal experience in managerial challenges and their potential solutions.

While BBA and MBA are the most common titles for degrees in business management, some institutions may offer similar or modified courses with titles like Business Management or Economics and Management or Management Studies.

Specializations
Some institutions prefer to offer a BBA or MBA in general management. Such degrees by nature try to give you a broad overview of the field without forcing you to specialize in a certain field. This is particularly common at the most prestigious business schools.

Other institutions see value in encouraging students to specialize particularly at the MBA level. Specializations in marketing, finance, human resource management, technology and operations are among the most popular choices. In general, the first year of courses in an MBA program will comprise of core courses that all students in the program complete. The second year is when students have the option of enrolling in electives in business management to complete a specialization.

Career opportunities and salaries
Starting salaries in business management tend to be above average for college graduates. But they tend to be a little lower than those of engineering and technical fields. The average salaries after the undergraduate degree tend to hover around the $40,000 a year mark.

Salaries after obtaining business management degrees go up very rapidly with work experience and additional training. It is common for starting salaries after an MBA to be approaching $100,000. The first ten years of work experience can prepare you for positions in higher management where salaries tend to be even higher.