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Executive Education

Mini-MBA: Essential Business Skills

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Step up to the next level of success

 

 

No matter who you are in the world of work, getting a big-picture view of how business operates can be a pivotal strategy for advancing your career and growing your organization. 

Spread over a concise five weeks, this robust program provides a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of business and current organizational practices. It covers all the key components of a formal business school curriculum, enabling you to increase your business acumen and bring fresh insights to your work without having to commit full time to study. 

Led by award-winning UBC Sauder faculty, the program will expand your knowledge and applied skills in strategy, financial management, operations, strategic HR and marketing. You’ll also explore how decisions in one area may impact the others, and how strategic integration between functions can drive organizational success. 

 

 

The learning journey

The multi-layered activities interweave throughout the program, enabling you to integrate your learning as you progress step-by-step through the material:

  • Session pre-work includes short videos and readings introducing the various topic areas. There will be no out-of-class assignments, but reviewing these materials beforehand will help you prepare for your next live online session. 
  • Live online sessions bring learning to life through online contact with the faculty and your colleagues. Sessions include class discussion, Q&As, peer-group collaboration, networking, etc.—all intended to vitalize the content with that most valuable learning tool of all: human interaction. 

Upcoming sessions

calendar May 5 - Jun 6, 2025

Online

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Online format is delivered virtually in real time and are not recorded. 

Online format is delivered virtually in real time and are not recorded. 

price_tag $5650.00 + tax (5%)

Please register before May 5 in order to attend the Meet and Greet session and give yourself time to complete the pre-program activities. 

 

Meet and Greet: May 5 (5:00pm - 6:00pm Pacific Time)

 

Live online sessions take place from
8:30am - 12:30pm Pacific Time on:

 

May 5, 6, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23, 28, 29 & 30
June 4, 6


Times subject to change

Register Now Register Now
Learn more about the Mini-MBA Program

 

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“The Mini-MBA definitely played a role in my promotion, it enabled me to speak to organizational strategy at a macro level that I don’t think I could have expressed previously.”

Nadine Plett
AVP Organizational Development, G&F Financial Group
Mini-MBA Participant
 

Read testimonial Read testimonial

This program is ideal for those at any stage of their career, including: 

  • Early or mid-career managers aspiring to expand their executive potential 
  • Small-business owners/managers who want to grow an enterprise
  • Senior leaders looking to refresh their perspectives with new ideas 
  • Anyone who has wanted to pursue a formal program of business study but never found the opportunity

Contact us for registration support

Valerie Keenahan Headshot

Benefits for you

  • Get a solid grounding in the key components of business
  • Recognize the connections between different functional areas 
  • Look at the business from multiple angles, to reach more informed decisions 
  • Deepen your experience through peer networking and collaboration
  • Keep pace in today’s increasingly complex business environment
  • Drive your career forward while delivering value to your organization on many levels

Benefits for your organization

  • Ensure your company has the critical knowledge and skills it needs to succeed
  • Build organizational power to spot opportunities and manage challenges
  • Become more adept at cascading strategy through every business function
  • Promote cooperation and action between various areas of the business
  • Develop your company’s talent and succession pipeline 

Strategy

  • Environmental scanning and market assessment
  • Sources of competitive advantage and barriers to entry
  • Building effective value propositions
  • Contemporary models of strategic planning

Finance and Accounting

  • Key financial/accounting principles and tools 
  • The effect of transactions on the company’s financial position 
  • The budgetary cycle and financial controls
  • Time value of money: creating support for business decisions

Operations

  • Core principles of high-performing processes 
  • The role of operational building blocks (capacity, inventory etc.) 
  • Integrating operations with other functional areas 
  • Creating an effective operational strategy 

Strategic HR 

  • Fundamental principles
  • Utilizing HR to integrate business strategy
  • Driving results by managing performance and building high-level partnership skills
  • Leading people through change 

Marketing

  • Understanding customers (businesses and end consumers)
  • Market segmentation, targeting and positioning
  • Making product, place, price and promotion decisions
  • Digital and social marketing strategy 

Special features

This program blends interactive, instructor-led live sessions with engaging self-paced learning opportunities—enabling you to bring fresh insights to your work, while you work. 

Mahesh-Nagarajan

Dr. Mahesh Nagarajan

Professor of Operations

Mahesh is the Senior Associate Dean for Research and Professor in the Operations Division at the UBC Sauder School of Business, where he holds the Alumni Chair professorship in Stochastic optimization. He is an applied mathematician whose research looks at mathematical modelling, analysis and optimization. He has also consulted widely for manufacturing, service and health care organizations around the world.
Scott Sinclair

Scott Sinclair

Lecturer

Scott is a faculty member at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Actively involved in professional accounting education for more than 30 years, he has won multiple awards for teaching excellence and for 10 years was the principal author for the CA School of Business in Western Canada. He has also worked for Coopers & Lybrand Chartered Accounts, serving small business and mining clients.
Stanley, Amy

Amy Stanley

Lecturer

Amy is a Lecturer in the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division at the UBC Sauder School of Business. She also manages her own leadership development business specializing in supporting leaders through conflict and helping them optimize relationships with peers and teams. Her global client list includes a range of industries from the business, finance, government and education sectors.
Darren Dahl

Dr. Darren Dahl

Dean, UBC Sauder School of Business

Darren is the Dean of the UBC Sauder School of Business and an Innovate BC Professor. He’s globally recognized for his work in strategic marketing, entrepreneurship, creativity and social influence. Dahl is an award-winning academic who is a past recipient of the Killam Research Prize and the 3M Teaching Fellowship, and in 2015 he was ranked as the #1 professor worldwide for marketing research by the American Marketing Association. He also consults widely for multinational corporations.
Perry Atwal Profile

Perry Atwal

Lecturer

Perry is a full-time lecturer at the UBC Sauder School of Business. He teaches courses on business strategy, leadership, organizational behaviour and employment relationships . His professional journey includes a tenure with Morgan Stanley, where he contributed to the Investment Banking and Equity Research Divisions in London, Hong Kong and New York. He has also consulted with Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital.

Upcoming sessions

calendar Program dates
price_tag Fees and Taxes
notebook Format
filled_point Location
May 5 - Jun 6, 2025
$5650.00 + tax (5%)

Online

info_mark

Online format is delivered virtually in real time and are not recorded. 

Online format is delivered virtually in real time and are not recorded. 

Online
Register Now Register Now

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