Online MBA Program Concentrations
The fully online Business Analytics concentration within the Online MBA program equips students with the skills to collect, analyze, and apply data to drive strategic business decisions—capabilities that are in high demand across industries.
Students begin with Introduction to Business Analytics, which serves as a prerequisite for advanced analytics courses. To complete the concentration, students must successfully complete three analytic courses, including electives with applications in accounting, marketing, and operations. Introduction to Business Analytics is offered each fall, while the other courses are rotated based on faculty availability and student demand.
This is the only MBA concentration taught by faculty from all departments within the College of Business, providing students with a broad, interdisciplinary perspective on analytics. The curriculum emphasizes practical tools for managing big data, integrating analytics software, and interpreting results, skills highly sought after in today's job market. For course offerings, refer to the Online MBA course schedule.
NOTE: Currently, the analytic courses are scheduled, but the concentration is not yet available for the Online MBA program. We are in the process of formalizing this concentration for the Online MBA program with an anticipated date of Fall 2025.
Business Analytics Concentration Courses
| Course Name | Description |
|---|---|
| BUS 5040: Introduction to Business Analytics (3 units) Required |
The course provides an introduction to data analytics for business professionals. The fundamental principles and techniques of data analytics learned in this course will help students understand the role of data in areas such as management, information systems, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and human resources. Students will build a fundamental data literacy and develop analytic skills to make data-driven strategic decisions. Prerequisite: MATH 1610: Statistics for Decision Making |
| ACC 5040: Accounting Analytics (3 units) | An introduction to data analysis using an analytic approach with accounting-specific platforms. Focuses include extracting, transforming, and loading data; querying databases, visualizing data, and applying statistical concepts in accounting settings. Prerequisites: BUS 5040: Introduction to Business Analytics and ACC 5110: Management Accounting (may also be taken concurrently) |
| MKT 5040: Marketing Analytics (3 units) | The course teaches graduate business students how to specify marketing strategies based on rigorous analysis of firm/consumer data. Students learn the techniques used by marketers in practice. The course combines lectures, cases, and "hands-on" exercises with instructor guidance. The course covers marketing data management, pricing analysis, conjoint analysis, choice models, and market segmentation tools. Students also analyze and make a presentation of an assigned quantitative case study as a group. Prerequisites: BUS 5040: Introduction to Business Analytics |
|
OM 5040: Operations Analytics (3 Units) |
The course introduces statistical and probabilistic methods and theory. Topics include fundamental probability theory, statistical inference, and regression analysis. Prerequisites: BUS 5040: Introduction to Business Analytics |
To learn more, attend one of our weekly MBA Information Sessions!
Now more than ever, the integration of digital marketing strategies is impacting the way we do business and how we increase bottom-line success. Gain a valuable digital marketing edge and learn how to improve your company’s marketing performance through the use of digital technologies with a concentration in Digital and Social Media Marketing.
This concentration allows you to complement our AACSB-accredited OMBA with cutting-edge learning and freshly honed skills to make a real-world impact. Use your program electives to take a deep dive into e-commerce, corporate websites, SEO, social media platforms, digital advertising, PPC, mobile marketing, landing page optimization, AI, content marketing, analytics, marketing automation, and more. Using the most recent best practices, this concentration is designed to master the strategic framework needed for the successful planning, integration, and measurement of each digital platform and technique.
Digital marketers can tap into an unprecedented ability to discover and reach motivated customers at scale. Keep up with this fast-paced industry and capitalize on this opportunity to boost your knowledge, skills, and value in your organization. Earn a Digital and Social Media Marketing concentration through the satisfactory completion of three elective courses (nine units) within our digital marketing curriculum. See the Online MBA Course Schedule for the digital marketing electives currently being offered.
Digital and Social Media Concentration Courses
| Course Name | Description |
|---|---|
| MKT 5610: Digital Marketing (3 units) |
Digital marketing has transformed how businesses and other organizations communicate with their consumers. Digital marketing offers powerful tools to reach, interact with, convert, and engage online audiences by raising awareness, encouraging conversion to sale, and improving customer retention. This class will give students a theoretical understanding of the internet marketplace necessary to adapt to its many changes while equipping them with digital marketing techniques needed for successful marketing campaigns in a digital economy. Topics will include website marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, social media and community marketing, and mobile marketing. Prerequisite: MKT 5410: Marketing Management |
| MKT 5620: Social Media Marketing (3 units) |
As social media has moved to the forefront, many companies are looking to capitalize on the use of this tool to increase consumer engagement and strengthen their marketing strategy. Consumers often pay attention to news and information about the company, products, and promotions, and are willing to offer feedback and suggestions. Since consumers now have louder voices than before and are more socially connected than they have ever been, their expectations and opinions toward brands, products, and services shared widely on social media become key drivers to affect companies’ performances in the marketplace. In light of these shifts in the marketplace and with consumer behavior, this course is designed to focus on how social media can be constructed and implemented for effective branding and promotional campaigns. With a balance of essential theory and practical application, the main goal of this course is to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of various social media tools and user characteristics to enable the creation of practical social marketing strategies to help marketers effectively achieve their business goals. Students will take a deep dive into advanced features of diverse social media strategies, the constraints they present, and gain practical application on how to effectively manage and assess the effectiveness of such strategies in real business situations. Prerequisite: MKT 5410: Marketing Management |
| MKT 5630: Advertising in the Digital Age (3 units) |
This course focuses on developing strategies for implementing effective advertising campaigns as part of integrated marketing communications (IMC). IMC provides balanced coverage of many communication tools - advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, sponsorship, direct marketing, point-of-purchase, public relations, and internet communications. The goal of marketing communications is to convey meanings to the relevant consumer audience in order to build a strong brand. Both a theoretical and managerial approach to advertising components will be examined. Students in this class are expected to shift their perceptual focus. You can no longer think as if you are part of the audience (as you do when you watch television commercials or surf the internet), but instead, as if you are the creators of communication strategies. This is realistic: in business, people preparing advertising, public relations, and sales promotion strategies are seldom members of the target audience; and strategy desirability must be judged in terms of what a target audience might like, dislike or understand. The aim of this course is to: (1) increase your understanding of the important issues in strategically planning and evaluating marketing communication campaigns; (2) introduce you to appropriate theories, models, and other tools for understanding marketing communications (including exposing you to current relevant academic research); (3) provide you with a managerial perspective on making marketing communications decisions; and, (4) highlight the interplay between traditional and non-traditional components of integrated marketing communications campaigns. Prerequisite: MKT 5410: Marketing Management |
To learn more, attend one of our weekly MBA Information Sessions!
Students pursuing the Online MBA with a concentration in finance receive an AACSB-accredited business education with a specialized focus on financial management. This concentration equips students with in-demand knowledge and skills in budgeting, investment strategies, and financial systems, preparing them for success in one of the most financially rewarding fields for MBA graduates.
The finance concentration is ideal for students with a strong interest in financial decision-making who want to enhance their career prospects and stand out in a competitive job market.
To earn the concentration, students must successfully complete three elective courses (nine units) within the finance curriculum. Finance electives are offered on a rotating basis, based on faculty expertise, student demand, and changes in the financial landscape. For current offerings, refer to the Online MBA course schedule page.
Finance Concentration Courses
| Course Name | Description |
|---|---|
| FIN 5220: Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (3 units) | Advanced treatment of the analysis of securities and the theoretical and applied issues of portfolio management. Prerequisite: FIN 3220: Business Finance or equivalent |
| FIN 5250: Options, Futures, and Swap Contracts (3 units) | Upon successful completion of this course, the student will possess a working knowledge of applications and the pricing of options, futures, and swap contracts. Prerequisite: FIN 3220: Business Finance or equivalent |
| FIN 5330: International Financial Management (3 units) | Analysis of the international monetary and financial system and the financial management issues of corporations operating internationally. Prerequisite: FIN 3220: Business Finance or equivalent |
| FIN 5340: Financial Markets (3 units) | Analysis of the functioning and role of the financial markets. Topics include wholesale financial markets and retail financial markets, the role of the institutions, the supply-demand model of interest rates, and flow of funds analysis. Prerequisite: FIN 3220: Business Finance or equivalent |
To learn more, attend one of our weekly MBA Information Sessions!
Take your HR career to the next level with the Human Resource Management concentration in Stanislaus State’s AACSB-accredited Online MBA program. Whether you're aiming for senior leadership or C-suite roles, this concentration equips you with the strategic, operational, and administrative expertise today's organizations demand.
Through focused coursework, you’ll gain the knowledge and confidence to lead in dynamic, diverse workplace environments—and strengthen your qualifications for professional certifications like SHRM or HRCI.
To earn the concentration, students complete three HR-focused elective courses (9 units). Course offerings rotate based on faculty availability and student demand. For the latest schedule, visit the Online MBA Course Schedule.
Human Resource Management Concentration Courses
| Course Name | Description |
|---|---|
| MGT 5610: Strategic Human Resource Management (3 units) |
The focus is on how to make strategic HR management decisions. Covers a history of HR management; identification and analysis of strategic trends; HR systems design; financial acumen for HR professionals; mergers and acquisitions strategy from an HR perspective; HR metrics, outcomes and ROI of HR; strategic impact of HR on organizational culture, diversity, ethical issues, leadership & succession planning; and managing workplace safety issues. |
| MGT 5620: Compensation and Benefits (3 units) |
Overview of the design and administration of effective compensation and benefits systems. The course presents strategies relating to compensation design, choosing employee benefits, positioning total compensation within competitive labor markets, compliance, and compensation design within both unionized and non-unionized and profit, nonprofit, and government organizations. |
| MGT 5630: Human Resources Information Systems and People Analytics (3 units) |
This course is designed to address two critical aspects of HR systems: 1) HRIS and 2) people analytics. HRIS provides an understanding of how human resource information systems are used in organizations to support organizational strategy. People analytics are the state-of-the-art techniques used in HR predictive analysis. Students will learn how to conduct analysis and explain data with the aim in understanding how hard data can influence strategic human resources management. The focus will be on merging computer technology with a strategic human resource management perspective. This course provides students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to identify, assess, develop, and implement an effective system for managing human resources information. |
| MGT 5650: Selection, Recruitment, Training and Development of Human Resources (3 units) |
This course will focus on staffing models, strategy, and methods including: planning, job analysis, recruitment, measurement, selection, retention management, training and development of human resources to achieve organizational effectiveness. Major EEO laws as they pertain to recruitment, selection, and promotion and workplace behavior will be included. |
| MGT 5660: Labor Relations and Negotiation (3 units) |
This course will focus on collective bargaining issues and process; grievances and unfair labor practices; managing union organizing; strikes, boycotts and work stoppages; union-related and labor relations law; union/management relations; union decertification and deauthorization; and negotiation skills. |
To learn more, attend one of our weekly MBA Information Sessions!
Updated: June 06, 2025