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No doubt, MBA is a course which opens tremendous opportunities for someone wishing to make a successful professional career. Ever wondered what exactly they teach for two full years.

Be it Harvard or Stanford in USA, INSEAD in France or IIMs in India, they all offer MBA to transform their students into industry ready business managers and in order to achieve it they teach them similar kind of subjects, though names of Subject and methodology may differ slightly. Moreover, it depend a lot on which type of MBA you are pursuing (Regular/Executive/Part-time) and specialization for which all subjects you would be taught.

As we are aware different Indian colleges have structured their MBA differently, namely:-

• General Management, for full two years
• Specialization only, for full two years
• One year General Management followed

On one hand IIMs in India offer General Management MBA only, while on other hand colleges like XLRI, Jamshedpur & XIM, Bhubaneswar offer two year specialized courses. But, majority of Indian B schools structure their program such that first year course will cover general management papers, also called core subjects and it will be followed by specialization papers in second year.

In this article, we shall discuss what all subjects an MBA students are taught and how to get maximum out of it.

General Management Courses:

• Business Communication– The subject deals with basics of English Writing, Communications and Grammar. It aims to develop inter-personal skills and excellent communication skills what is needed from corporate professionals.
• Micro Economics– The subject deals with behaviour of individuals, firms and businesses in making decisions with limited resource. It includes theory of demand-supply and pricing decisions.
• Macro Economics– The subject deals with economy as a broader concept and includes topics like GDP, Employment, International Trade, Government policies like Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, Public Expenditure etc.
• Statistics for Business– The subject is very important and deals with statistical tools like mean, medium, mode, standard deviation, graphs and other interpretation from large data of numbers.
• Marketing Management– The subject deals with basics of marketing including need for marketing, conventional marketing tools and strategies. It gives an overview of how management should use marketing to develop and promote itself as a brand and ensure business is expanded and sustained by greater customer demand.
• Financial Accounting– The subject deals with basics of accounting principles and application. It contains preparation and interpretation of financial statements like Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statement and Cash Flow Statement and preparation of accounting sheets like ledgers and good understanding of accounting standards like IFRS and GAAP.
• Market Research– The subject deals with need, process and documentation of research methodology. It is an important paper which deals with managing with lot of data and responses to derive at important results.
• Organisational Behaviour– The fundamental paper of Human Resource Management, which explains details of need for understanding people’s psychology and behavior. How teams and groups are formed and achieve common goals.
• Cost and Management Accounting– A subject of Finance, which deals with cost cutting measures, profit maximizing measures, working capital management and operational efficiency.
• Operations Management– The subjects deals with basics of operations as a process, achieving optimum efficiency by change in processes, technological up gradation and managing demand and supply under given set of constraints.
• Information System– The subject deals with basics of computer skills including MS Word, MS Excel, Database management and upcoming trends in technology like Big Data, Internet of Things, Business Intelligence etc.
• Entrepreneurship-The subject deals with entrepreneurship as a process and how to become a successful entrepreneur. It covers topics like preparation and evaluation of business plan, evaluation of start ups, sourcing funds, regulatory frame works, overcoming challenges in process etc.
• Business Strategy-The subject deals with various strategies involved business decision making and ensuring sustainability of firm including managing competition.
• Business Ethics-The subject deals with regulatory and legal frame work under which business run and aims to bring transparency and accountability in functioning of business.
• Human Resource Management– Another paper from HR domain, where students are exposed to need of HR policy and its various aspects including recruitment, training, promotion etc.
• Business Analytics– The paper deals with analytical tools used in Business including MS Excel, MS Access, basic regression, business intelligence, SAS, SPSS, MAT Lab etc. It develops skills, practice for iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insights and take right business decisions.
• Business Law-The subject deals with laws governing Indian Corporate world like Indian Corporate Act 2013, Indian Contract Act 1872, Negotiable Instruments Act and other aspects like taxation and annual filing with Registrar of Companies.
• International Business-The subject deals with aspects of international business like export, imports, documentations involved, international regulations surrounding international business and related economies.
• Leadership-This subject is more like a personality development and skill development course, which aims to bring leadership like quality in the students such that they become better managers. 

Marketing:

• Advertisement & Sales Promotion– The subject deals with various aspects involved in advertisement and promotions schemes used by company to ensure business success for new products or services as well as existing products or services.
• B2B Marketing-The subject deals with aspects related to business to business sales and business including negotiations, documentations and details of business transaction.
• Brand Management– The subject covers aspects of managing a brand and how to increase the brand value for the firm.
• Consumer Behaviour– The subject covers various theories of understanding consumer needs and demands and application of interpretation to make business profitable.
• Customer Relationship Management-The subject deals with CRM aspects of how to win customers confidence and satisfaction. It also covers how to engage him for long term business relationship.
• Integrated Marketing Communication– The subject deals with various communication strategies related to business communication while marketing including business pitch and negotiations of getting business.
• International Marketing– The subject deals with marketing in a global frame work and how MNCs market their products across geographies and countries.
• Industrial Marketing– The subject deals specifically with marketing of industrial and engineering products like Aircrafts, Defence equipments, Infrastructure development and government businesses.
• Marketing Metrics– The subject covers various quantitative methodologies which is important to understand how is business growing and interpreting it to get useful insights.
• New Product Development– The subject deals with various aspects of planning, development and introducing of a new product in market and ensuring its success.
• Marketing Strategy-The subject deals with various marketing strategies used in market place to sustain business and beat competition to ensure business sustainability.
• Retailing Management– The marketing of FMCG products and managing retail stores such that small ticket size products coupled with huge volume leads to business profits.
• Sales & Distribution Management– The subject deals with aspects of various levels of marketing and sales across the chain of product/service transfer from producer to the end consumer.
• Services Marketing– The marketing of services like IT/ITes, Banking, Consultancy etc. are covered under this course.
• Social Media Marketing– These days social media and digital marketing is becoming very important and this subject aims to leverage company’s presence on digital platforms to ensure brand visibility and awareness among customers and society in large.

Finance:

• Banking- The subject deals with operations and working of commercial banks and various businesses they undertake.
• Behavioral Finance- The subject deals with the relation of human psychology and human investment practices. It is widely used in investing into shares and fixed income avenues.
• Corporate Finance- The subject deals with financial of requirements by corporate including term loans, working capital management, financing for expansion or acquisition etc.
• Corporate Taxation- The subject deals with different kind of taxes applicable to companies under Income Tax rules and regulations surrounding for taxation in countries they operate.
• International Finance- The subject deals with finance aspects of international business like foreign exchange, interest rate, international trade, off shore investments etc.
• Insurance- The subject deals with aspects of insurance business including actuary, different kinds of insurance offered etc.
• Financial Modelling- The subject deals with different of kind of financial modeling used in finance for investments, finance etc. 
• Financial Services- The subject deals with business of different financial services like mutual fund, financial advisory, financial planning etc.
• Fixed Income Securities- The subject deals with bonds and its valuation.
• Investment Banking- The subject deals with various aspects of investment banking like raising capital, IPO process, QIPs, regulations surrounding etc.
• Mergers & Acquisitions- The subject deals with aspects of mergers and acquisitions like valuation of firms, source of funds, cost of capital, synergy of merger etc.
• Options, Future & Derivatives- The subject deals with business of derivatives, hedging and risk management by using concepts of Forwards, Futures and Options.
• Project & Infrastructure Finance- The subject deals with financing aspects of long term projects like infrastructure and government projects like sourcing of funds, utilization, reducing risks, and feasibility study.
• Security Analysis & Portfolio Management- The subject deals with different investment avenues- shares, bonds, mutual funds and others , their valuation, strategies to invest and generate profits.
• Strategic Cost & Profitability Management- The subject deals with business planning, strategizing, execution and others in a manner to generate maximum return at lowest cost.

Operations:

• Supply Chain Management– The subject deals with various aspects of logistics and supply chain within a manufacturing system and from factory to shops.
• Big Data Management and Business Informatics-This subject covers the skills of using data to derive useful information out of it and planning manufacture and business decisions accordingly.
• Demand Planning and Forecasting- The subject covers demand forecasting based on previous consumption rate and other factors and manufacturing and resource planning accordingly.
• Enterprise Resource Planning– This is business process application software which allows organizations to use a system of integrated applications and manage businesses with automation including technology, human resource and services.
• Lean Manufacturing & Process Management– The concept of lean management where resources are optimally used with least wastage of time, energy and other inputs and how to optimize various process in manufacturing.
• Project Management– A very popular operations subject which deals with ideation, documentation, preparation of projects, its evaluation and feasibility report followed by execution.
• Services Operations Management– The subject deals with operations and process of service industry and how to optimize the efficiency and performance.
• Strategic Operations Planning– It is a specialized Operations course dealing with new technologies and operations strategies to ensure efficiency and quality.
• System Analysis & Design– The subject deals with design of production process, layout of factory and system used for manufacturing to ensure smooth production of goods.
• Technology Operations and Marketing– The subject deals with use of technology in operations and marketing aspects to meet requirement of employees, especially at production sites and market place, such that production goes on real feedback.
• Total Quality Management– The subject aims to ensure minimum defect in manufacturing process through process improvement at each stage and continuous quality checks.

Human Resource Management:

• Human Resource Planning– The subject deals with current need for employees and forecasting, in an organization and how HR department can ensure timely recruitment, selection and on boarding process.
• Industrial Relations & Labour Laws– The subject deals with labour laws relating to Indian companies, how companies comply with them and manage fruitful relationship with employees and trade unions to have a good working environment at the organization.
• Organisational Change & Development– The subject deals with HR issues surrounding companies growth and expansion. It includes formulation and implementation of HR policies, which are in line with company’s core values and principles.
• Compensation & Rewards– The subject deals with framing and ensuring fair compensation and reward system at the firm. It includes competitive wages and bonus also.
• Performance Management System– Also known as performance appraisal system, the subject deals with policy of evaluating performance for employees and promotions of excellent performing employees.
• Strategic Human Resource Management– Advanced course of HR, which deals with various strategies employed by HR team at a firm to ensure maximum productivity and good performance by each employee.
• Training & Development– The subject deals with training and development of company’s existing employees and new recruits in a flawless manner such that it adds to their performance and company’s profitability.

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