Two-Year MBA Areas of Focus

After completing an immersion during your first year in the Two-Year MBA program, you can choose to structure your second-year electives around one or more areas of focus. Choosing a focus area is optional and it is not requirement for the Two-Year MBA curriculum; however, narrowing your electives around a specialized focus area or two can help deepen your expertise and position you for career success in a specific field or industry.

To complete an area of focus, you must finish nine credits of corresponding elective courses in that area. Johnson offers 12 areas of focus that support a wide range of career paths:

Asset Management/Investment Research
Brand Management
Consulting & Strategy
Corporate Finance
Data Modeling & Analytics
Emerging Markets

Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Investment Banking
Leadership & Ethics
Private Equity & Venture Capital
Sustainable Global Enterprise
Technology Product Management

Corresponding Elective Courses

Explore each focus area to determine which electives could best prepare you for your chosen career path. Consider how you might supplement your immersion, fill any knowledge gaps, or apply an area of focus to a variety of industries.

The asset management/investment research area of focus is best for students pursuing careers in asset management, corporate finance, investment banking, and investment research.

Sample coursework in asset management/investment research:

Advanced Financial Statement Analysis
Applied Portfolio Management (The Cayuga Fund)
Behavioral Finance
Financial Modeling
Fixed Income Securities & Interest Rate Options
Intermediate Accounting
Investment & Portfolio Management
Managerial Accounting & Reporting
Taxation & Business Strategy

The consulting & strategy area of focus is ideal for students pursuing management consulting, internal consulting, and general management; however, this area of focus can fit with nearly any career ambition. Courses are taught by both academic faculty and senior consulting industry professionals.

Sample coursework in consulting & strategy:

This area of focus is best for students pursuing corporate finance, general management, or management consulting.

Sample coursework in corporate finance:

The data modeling & analytics area of focus is best for students interested in business and/or marketing analytics and modeling; however, this area of focus can fit with nearly any career ambition.

Sample coursework in data modeling & analytics:

Advanced Data Analytics
Advanced Spreadsheet Modeling
Data-Driven Marketing
Designing Data Products
Financial Modeling
Introduction to SQL and Tableau
Managerial Spreadsheet Modeling
Marketing Research
Supply Chain Analytics
Technology Management: Cloud Computing & Big Data
Fintech Intensive in New York City
Programming and data mining courses offered by Cornell’s School of Computing and Information Science and the College of Engineering

This area of focus is best for students wishing to understand the role of emerging markets in the global economy and those who want to work on issues related to emerging multinationals, innovation, and corporate social responsibility in emerging markets. The emerging markets focus area is associated with the Emerging Markets Fellows program.

Sample coursework in emerging markets:

Competition from Emerging Markets
Current Global Issues for Business: The US, Europe, China, and Emerging Markets
Doing Business in China
Experience in International Management (various global locations)
International Finance
Global Macroeconomics News & Events
Leaders in Emerging Markets

This area of focus is ideal for students with entrepreneurial ambitions and/or those who view intrapreneurship skills as critical to their chosen career paths. Many of Johnson’s entrepreneurship and innovation courses are popular elective options for students from across Cornell, including PhD students in engineering or agricultural science. The connections made across disciplines in these courses have led to some of Cornell’s most successful startup ventures.

Sample coursework in entrepreneurship & innovation:

Actualizing Your Startup I
Actualizing Your Startup II
Big Red Tech Strategy
Business Idea Factory
Design & Innovation
Designing New Ventures
Entrepreneurial Finance
Global Innovation & Technology Commercialization
Leading Agile Innovation
Social Entrepreneurship
Startup Learning Series
Strategic Management of Technology & Innovation
Tech Commercialization and Entrepreneurship

This area of focus if best for students who have completed the investment banking immersion and who will be pursing a career in investment banking.

Sample coursework in investment banking:

Advanced Financial Statement Analysis
Behavioral Finance
Derivative Securities Part I and Part II
Finance & Ethics
Financial Distress, Bankruptcy & Restructuring
Financial Markets & Institutions
Introduction to Macroeconomics
Investment & Portfolio Management
Mergers & Acquisitions – Accounting, Modeling & Evaluation of Deals
Valuation Principles
Fintech Intensive in New York City

This area of focus is can provide value for all MBA students regardless of their chosen career path or industry.

Sample coursework in leadership & ethics:

Core Leadership Skills for a VUCA World
Crisis Communication for Business Leaders
Ethical Decision Making in Management
Finance & Ethics
Johnson Leadership Fellows
Leading Across Differences: Understanding Identity, Dialogue, and Influence
Power and Politics in Organizations
Topics in Leadership: Women in the Workplace

This area of focus is best for students pursuing careers in venture capital and private equity. The capstone in this area of focus is completed though Big Red Ventures, a student organization in which students manage a venture capital fund under the guidance of faculty advisors throughout the year.

Sample coursework in private equity & venture capital:

The sustainable global enterprise area of focus is ideal for students who aspire to address social and environmental issues though innovation, market development, and entrepreneurship.

Sample coursework in sustainable global enterprise:

Advanced Topics in Sustainability
Big Red Microenterprise
Finance & Sustainable Global Enterprise Colloquium
Leaders in Sustainable Global Enterprise
Social Entrepreneurship
Strategies for Sustainability
Topics in ESG Investing

This area of focus is best for students pursuing careers in product management, technical product management, product marketing, and other functions within the tech industry.

Sample coursework in technology product management:

Building a Consumer Internet Business
Design and Innovation
Designing Data Products
Designing New Ventures
Disruptive Technologies
Electronic Commerce
Leading Agile Innovation
Platform Strategy
Product Marketing Insights
Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation
Fintech Intensive in New York City

Two-Year MBA Areas of Focus

Asset Management/Investment Research

Brand Management

Consulting & Strategy

Corporate Finance

Data Modeling & Analytics

Emerging Markets

Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Investment Banking

Leadership & Ethics

Private Equity & Venture Capital

Sustainable Global Enterprise

Technology Product Management