Specializations

MBA students can choose an area of specialization, similar to an undergraduate major. These specializations allow students to focus their studies on a particular business field. Students can combine two specializations if desired.

The specialization in accounting provides a broad understanding of the use and importance of accounting information to decision-makers within the firm and to external users of financial statements. The core financial and management accounting courses provide a basic understanding of accounting principles. Completion of the specialization in accounting will serve to reinforce the fundamental concepts from the core, provide additional insight into accounting processes and principles and enhance the ability to analyze and interpret accounting reports.

The specialization in energy provides commercial acumen and leadership perspective to students who have a technical background and develops their capability for taking additional responsibilities and higher-level management roles at companies in the energy and oil and gas sector. Courses in finance, operations and product/customer focus are widely regarded as conduits to leadership positions in energy industry midstream and upstream organizations. Learn more about how the specialization in energy provides students with a profound examination of crucial topics that define the scope of this dynamic sector.

The specialization in entrepreneurship gives students a framework for establishing, growing and modeling a business. The required courses equip students with the tools and processes for starting a business. The remaining courses allow students to select specific entrepreneurial topics suited to their objectives. Learn more about our exciting Entrepreneurship@Rice initiative.

The finance specialization provides students with a broad foundation in financial management principles. Students are required to complete the primary finance electives in the MBA program and financial statement analysis. Students supplement these foundational courses with at least two more specialized offerings from a list of approved courses.

The focus of the healthcare specialization is to provide students with an understanding of how management principles are interpreted and applied in the different inter-locked sectors (providers, hospitals/small practices, payers, pharmaceutical, biotechnology) of the health care industry, and how the different dynamics in these sectors make it uniquely health care. Learn more about our Health Care @ Rice University initiatives. 

This area of specialization provides students with a broad understanding of leadership essential for all functional areas in companies, companies of all sizes, different industries and different developmental stages. It reinforces the fundamental concepts from the core and provides students with the opportunity to not only gain new insights, but also engage in thoughtful practices of leadership principles and processes in a wide variety of complex and dynamic contexts.

The specialization in marketing prepares students for careers in strategic marketing across a wide range of organizations, markets and industries. It provides critical knowledge for understanding and analyzing customers, and emphasizes the development of requisite quantitative and conceptual skills for contributing to the firm’s overall success. Among the career trajectories for which students will be prepared are product management, customer analytics and insights, and management consulting.
 
Apart from the marketing specialization, selected marketing courses are particularly valuable preparation for careers in consulting, strategy, operations, financial services and investment banking. These include Customer Analytics, Marketing Analytics and Customer Relationship Management.

The specialization in operations management gives students a framework for design, planning, control, coordination and improvement of business processes, systems and resources essential to meet consumers' needs. Instead of the technical engineering view of operations, the focus is on managing the business well. The required courses provide students with a deeper understanding of the match between the firm’s operational competencies, processes and supply chain and desired business strategies. The elective courses aim at sharpening the skills in more specific industry and firm domains. 

The specialization in real estate prepares students for a career in the real estate industry. The required course, MGMT 659, introduces a series of basic business concepts commonly used in the real estate industry and it covers in detail the application of the discounted cash flow model to real estate decisions. The elective courses provide for both a depth and breadth of understanding of the industry.

The specialization in strategic management prepares students for careers in strategic planning, management consulting and global business management across a variety of industries such as health care, energy, high tech, consumer products and professional services. It provides analytic tools for students to understand why some companies are financially much more successful than others and to analyze how executives (at different levels) can devise a set of strategies and design processes that allow their companies to achieve competitive advantage.
 
Beyond the essential analytical frameworks and skills in strategic management, the specialization offers students the opportunity to develop expertise in a number of areas including strategic alliances, merger and acquisition, global market entry and management, strategy and business model innovations, organizational change, and corporate entrepreneurship.