Master of Science

Curriculum

Curriculum

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Curriculum

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SolBridge's student-centric MS Programs offer various options to fit each student's interests. Students follow a curriculum designed to develop core business skills and knowledge in the first stage, while the second stage is for electives balancing advanced management courses. Students can advance in their second year to one of two specializations: Marketing and Analytics (MSMA) and Technology and Entrepreneurship (MSTE). As a third option, students may choose to take elective courses without declaring a specialization to earn a master’s degree in Management (MSM). This document describes the structure of the SolBridge MS program and curricular requirements for graduation and provides a list of the core and elective courses offered in the program.

In the following tables, students can identify the list of core courses (required to take), Specialization courses, and a list of the electives offered. Students are strongly advised to read course descriptions, identify pre-requisites and plan the sequence of their progress through the program. They may consult their mentors and faculty members in such planning. Students must also note that not all core courses and electives will be offered every semester. This point must be taken into account during program planning.

Program Structure

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  • Curricular
    Component    		 Required
    Credits    		 Remarks
    1. Core 15 Credits A. During their first year, first semester students must take:
    • Business Economics
    • Managerial Skills
    • Statistical Analysis
    B. During their first year, second semester students must take the following courses:
    • Accounting and Decision-making
    • Strategic Management
    2. Specialization 15 Credits

    Marketing and Analytics

    During their third semester, students who are specializing in Marketing and Analytics must complete the following specialization courses:

    • Data Analytics
    • Exploratory Data Analysis and Visualization
    • Marketing Management

    During their fourth semester, students who are specializing in Marketing and Analytics must complete the following specialization courses:

    • Introduction to Machine Learning
    • Marketing Research

    Technology and Entrepreneurship

    During their third semester, students who are specializing in Technology and Entrepreneurship must complete the following specialization courses:

    • Management Information Systems
    • New Venture Creation
    • Operations Management

    During their fourth semester, students who are specializing in Technology and Entrepreneurship must complete the following specialization courses:

    • Tech Entrepreneurship and Product Development
    • Small Business Management
    3. Electives 15 Credits To graduate, students are required to complete at least 15 credits in total from elective courses.
    Total 45 Credits

MS Program at a Glance

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Year 1 Year 2
S2 I1 S2 I2 S3 I3 S4 N/A
Curricular Core
Course		 9 credits 6 credits
Specialization
Courses		 9 credits 6 credits
Electives 3 credits 3 credits 3 credits 3 credits 3 credits
Curriculum Map
Required Credits: 45
First Year
Category Course Title Credit Category Course Title Credit
Core Business Economics 3 Core Accounting and Decision-making 3
Core Managerial Skills 3 Core Strategic Management 3
Core Statistical Analysis 3 Core Elective (3 credits) 3
Summer/ Winter semesters
Category Course Title Credit Category Course Title Credit
Elective Elective (3 credits) 3 Elective Elective (3 credits) 3
Second Year
Category Course Title Credit Category Course Title Credit
Core
  • MSMA & MSTE:
    Specialization Courses (9 credits)
  • MSM:
    Elective Courses (9 credits)
 3 Core
  • MSMA & MSTE:
    Specialization Courses (6 credits) and Elective Course (3 credits)
  • MSM:
    Elective Courses (9 credits)
 3
Core 3 Core 3
Core 3 Core 3
Summer/ Winter semesters
Category Course Title Credit Category Course Title Credit
Elective Elective (3 credits) 3 N/A

Course Descriptions

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A. Core Courses

Core Courses Credits
Managerial Skills ▼
This course introduces students to the basic skills for managing people and organizations as well as how to understand different backgrounds of different people so that they can communicate with each other. The course deals with motivation, individual and group decision-making, conflict, power and politics, leadership, job design, organizational environment, and emerging trends and challenges.
3
Statistical Analysis ▼
This is an introductory course in statistics designed to provide students with the basic concepts of data analysis and statistical computing. Topics covered include basic descriptive measures, measures of association, probability theory, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. The main objective is to provide students with pragmatic tools for assessing statistical claims and conducting their own statistical analyses.
3
Business Economic ▼
The course introduces the principles of economics, including both microeconomics and macroeconomics, with a special focus on the applications of these principles in business activities. Topics to be covered include: consumer theory, producer theory, partial equilibrium theory, general equilibrium theory, game theory, information economics, business cycle analysis, economic growth theory, fiscal policy and monetary policy analysis.
3
Strategic Management ▼
Firms gain competitive advantage through superior strategies. This course provides the foundation for the creation of business and corporate strategies for competitive advantage. Students will learn industry and environmental analysis, and the frameworks and tools needed to devise the firm’s strategy. The course integrates the core knowledge from functional disciplines for the formulation of firm strategy
3
Accounting & Decision Making ▼
This course is the accumulation, analysis and presentation of a business enterprise’s relevant financial data for creditors, investors, and other external decision makers.
3

B. Marketing and Analytics Specialization

Core Courses Credits
Marketing Management ▼
The course introduces marketing management theories and concepts involving in the analysis of marketing environment, planning and implementation of marketing programs (product, price, place and promotion) and marketing strategies to attract, satisfy, and retain customers. The course enables students to develop marketing strategies and framework with moral, socially responsible and ethical consideration.
3
Exploratory Data Analysis and Visualiz ▼
This course provides students with a thorough study of exploratory data analysis and visualization techniques. Exploratory Data Analysis employs a variety of techniques, mostly graphical, that enable the data to reveal its structural secrets and provide new insight into the data. This approach allows the data scientist to discover patterns, to spot anomalies, to test hypothesis and to check assumptions with the help of summary statistics and graphical representations. This course provides hands-on experience in data visualization and summary statistics using real-world data examples.
3
Data Analytics for Business ▼
This course aims to introduce participants to data science and applications of big data analytics technologies for business decision support. It provides a helicopter view of the full data analytical cycle to the participants involving problem definition, data mining, modeling, data analysis and its application to business decision-making. Along the way, it will also equip the participants with most relevant tools and skills in each of the phases of the data analytic cycle. Although the course does not involve or require programming knowledge neither does it goes deep into technologies like in-memory databases, artificial intelligence and machine learning, owing to the technical nature of the subject, participants are expected to be willing to invest time in learning several supporting concepts and tools to make full sense of the discussed topics.
3
Introduction to Machine Learning ▼
This course introduces several fundamental concepts and methods for machine learning. The objective is to familiarize students with some basic machine learning algorithms/techniques and their applications. The course also covers general principles and approaches related to analyzing and handling big data sets.
3
Marketing Research ▼
This unit provides a rigorous experience in market research methods and frameworks to guide when which technique is most useful. The course is aimed at individuals whose decision-making is enhanced through marketing research, which transforms “data” into “information.” The unit will introduce types of research, techniques of data collection, evaluation of alternative sources of information, methods for analyzing data and presenting the results.
3

* these specialization courses can serve as electives for the students who do not declare a major

C. Technology and Entrepreneurship Specialization

Core Courses Credits
Management Information Systems ▼
Information Technology (IT) has become a vital part of the operations and management of organizations of every kind and size. Increasingly, the successful manager is the one who knows how to take advantage of this situation by deploying IT in the most effective manner. This course covers the general structure of Information Technology applications and their use. It also delves into the different kinds of information systems that managers are likely to encounter and investigates how to make best use of these systems.
3
New Venture Creation ▼
This course is designed around two important sections. The first section covers six themes: defining your target industry; defining your target customers; defining the needs and wants of those customers; defining winning product and service solutions; carefully designing a strong business model; determining competitive positioning, and then testing the entire concept against a small population of target customers—all before writing the plan. Think, design, test, and learn are the guiding principles. The second section then focuses on different types of investors and the process for raising capital, creating realistic financial projections, writing a concise but powerful business plan, organizing the venture team, and creating a compelling pitch that speaks to the needs and concerns of investors. This course is also known as ‘business model generation and testing’.
3
Operations Management ▼
This course has two aims. Firstly, it familiarizes the students with the operations management discipline, i.e. major topics, terminology, methodologies and tools. Secondly, students will apply quantitative and statistical techniques for the solution of the challenges faced by the operations manager.
3
Small Business Management ▼
This course is designed around three important themes. First, small business owners must understand the need to incorporate the use of technology and e-business as a way to gain a competitive advantage over larger rivals. Technology is omnipresent in today's business world. Small businesses must use it to their advantage. Hence, the course provides practical discussions and examples of how a small business can use these technologies without having extensive expertise or expenditures. Second, small business owners need to understand how their decisions affect cash flow. As the lifeblood of all organizations, cash flow implications must be a factor in all business decision-making. Third, small business owners need to clearly identify sources of customer value and bring that understanding to every decision. Decisions that do not add to customer value should be seriously reconsidered.
3
Tech Entrepreneurship & Product Development ▼
This course blends traditional development and entrepreneurship processes encouraging students to consider how technology-based solutions can solve economic and socially oriented problems. The course also prepares students for a more technological approach of product development together with an experience-based introduction into the process of starting a technology company.
3

* these specialization courses can serve as electives for the students who do not declare a major

D. Elective Courses

Core Courses Credits
Financial Management ▼
This course is an introduction to business finance, corporate financial management and investments. Students gain an understanding of tools and frameworks necessary to analyze financial decisions based on principles of modern financial theory.
3
Marketing Analytics ▼
The primary objective of this course is to provide students with foundational knowledge and a basic skill set required for a market analyst. This course objective is aligned mainly with “Creative Management Foundation”, one of the Solbridge’s five mission-based goals. It is also supplemented by a variety of real-world examples used in class lectures.
3
Marketing for Tech ▼
One key for the success of an entrepreneur is to obtain sales (revenue) and profits as quickly as possible upon launching the venture. Marketing for Tech course focuses on the essential elements of success to achieve these needed sales and revenues and to grow the company. The course builds on a comprehensive, state-of-the-art picture of entrepreneurial marketing issues, providing major theoretical and empirical evidence that offers a clear, concise view of entrepreneurial marketing. Through an international approach that combines both theoretical and empirical knowledge of entrepreneurship and marketing, this course informs and enhances the entrepreneurs' creativity, their ability to bring innovations to the market, and their willingness to face the risk that changes the world. Key components addressed include: identifying and selecting the market; determining the consumer needs cost-effectively; executing the basic elements of the marketing mix (product, price, distribution, and promotion); and competing successfully in the domestic and global markets through implementing a sound marketing plan. This course is also known as ‘marketing for small businesses’, ‘entrepreneurial marketing’, and ‘marketing guerilla’.
3
Computer Programming with Python ▼
This course deals with applications of Python programming language to business problems. Topics include how to get started with Python, numbers and strings, loops, functions, lists, data files, summarizing and visualizing data, and big data applications.
3
Database Marketing ▼
The dramatic increase of computing power in conjunction with the availability of accurate customer data opens up a new avenue of applying sophisticated database marketing technologies to customer analysis in various industries. Accordingly, over the last few decades the marketing paradigm has shifted from a product-driven to a customer-driven marketing in which the unit of analysis is an individual customer. Given this new trend in marketing practice, this course forwards an up-to-date overview of customer-centric database marketing in practice in tandem with the fundamental concepts of database marketing. Students then will learn about how and why companies in the real world use database marketing to better manage the relationship with their customers.
3
Cybersecurity ▼
This course will provide a basic introduction to all aspects of cyber-security including business, policy and procedures, communications security, network security, security management, legal issues, political issues, and technical issues.
3
Digital Business & Innovation ▼
This course provides insight into the emergence of digital business, key concepts, technologies, and strategy. Students will develop an action plan for a ‘traditional’ business which could adopt digital technologies and strategies. This course is designed for students planning on working in digital businesses, or working in management consultancies.
3
Strategy for Tech ▼
The focus of the course is on the key concepts, models, and methods that enable managers to effectively manage the development and utilization of technologies. The goal is to develop an awareness of the range, scope, and complexity of the elements, issues, and problems related to economics and management of technology and technological innovations. Students will develop a better understanding of the complex issues surrounding the managerial tasks with respect to technology.
3
Master’s Thesis ▼
The primary goal of this course is to help students develop research skills through its focus on writing and critiquing research proposals. This course is open to students enrolled in Master’s programs who wish to develop a dissertation or independent research proposal in a structured setting. SolBridge will support these students by connecting them with professors specialized on the topics they choose so that the faculty’s role will be to orient and mentor the students towards their objectives. Professors will follow up the development of the thesis along with the students, instruct them with the best practices & support materials, and gradually evaluate the outcomes and conclusions.
3
Project Management ▼
This course has been intended to equip students with the basic concepts and foundation of project management which include the planning, scheduling, controlling, resource allocation, and performance measurement activities required for successful completion of a project. Accordingly, students would be able to understand the project management lifecycle and be knowledgeable on the various phases from project initiation through closure. Overall, this course helps students in defining a project’s scope and tasks, estimating task resource needs, assessing project risk and response strategies, and more understand the critical role that a project manager plays in project success.
3
Internship ▼
This course intends to provide students with an opportunity to gain work experience in their field of study. Students will get exposure to the working environment of the industry in which they hope to build their career. By working closely with business managers and other staff, students will develop an understanding of the opportunities as well as real life challenges and issues surrounding workplaces. During the internship, students will be able to practically apply the theories they learned in their classrooms.
3
International Immersion ▼
Study as exchange students at one of SolBridge’s partner universities around the world. The grading is based on a pass-or-fail.
3
International Business in Asia ▼
The course provides an overview of the means of conducting international business. The course will explore the effects of social, political and economic systems across the globe on the conduct of international business. The course also deals with theoretical frameworks explaining international business, the emergence of institutions and trading blocs, and their impact on international business with a focus on Asia. Further, this course will help managers understand core differences and similarities in management practices across China, India, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the ASEAN block of nations. Students will also learn the appropriate management practices and behaviors in these major economic blocks of Asia so that they can adapt to the context.
3
Special Topics in International Business ▼
This course provides an understanding of various aspects of International Business. Students will learn about management, business, marketing, and strategies in the international markets. Students will acquire in-depth knowledge about the management of the MNC, and the various concepts and analytical frameworks needed to manage the MNC for sustainable competitive advantage.
3
Brand Management ▼
The course explains how brands are managed and employed as strategic assets. It covers the management of brand loyalty, brand extensions, extended product lines and assessment of brand strength and equity. Brand development and brand life cycle strategies are also discussed. The course uses real life cases to familiarize students with the issues and challenges faced by Asian and global brands.
3
Consumer Behavior and Decision Making ▼
This course examines the concepts and principles of customer behavior with the goal of understanding how the consumer behavior influences decision making process. The core topics included are customer psychological processes (e.g., motivation, perception, attitudes, and decision-making) and their impact on marketing (e.g., segmentation, branding, and customer satisfaction) and decision making processes. The goal is to provide a set of approaches to consider while developing marketing strategies and marketing programs.
3
Marketing Strategy ▼
The marketing strategy forms the core of all marketing decisions in the organizations. The course explains how the decision variables (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) interact with one another to achieve customer value. The course provides emphasis on consumer driven marketing concepts and discusses the marketing strategies focusing towards the achievement of consume driven marketing. The course is application oriented and the students will learn to apply marketing concepts for problem solving and case study situations.
3

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