$115k

— The projected annual base starting salary for new hires with an MBA (2020 GMAC Annual Corporate Recruiters Survey)

100% Online WPI MBA

Learn the language of business in our asynchronous, fully online master’s in business administration program that will prepare you to lead effectively in a world filled with digital and business transformation. Our technical focus prepares our graduates to empower their teams and scale the work they do with an innovative, data-driven decision-making mindset.

The WPI MBA program offers a project-based approach to learning that situates students to be confident in their ability to assess and assemble talent, manage fluctuating timelines, and balance competing priorities. Students can hone in on their career goals with the option to declare up to two specializations, selected from a total of 20 choices.

Our faculty are experienced leaders who have spearheaded innovative thinking for a range of global organizations. They bring their wealth of knowledge into the classroom and serve as mentors to online MBA students. In many cases, this mentorship continues long after graduation.

This is the culture at WPI — a cooperative and innovative place to learn.

Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes for our MBA program stem from Foisie’s mission to inspire leaders at the nexus of science, engineering, and business with project-based, purpose-driven learning and innovative research to achieve impactful results and to pursue excellence that drives progress.

  • Evidence-based problem solving: Able to frame a problem and use evidence and analytic reasoning to develop and implement practical solutions.
  • Team-based collaboration: Able to effectively work together to pursue the common goal of solving complex problems.
  • Interdisciplinary: Able to discuss key issues related to working across the boundaries between technical and business disciplines.
  • Strategic Thinking: Able to generate practical, unique, and usable business insights that create a long-term competitive advantage.

Curriculum

The WPI MBA curriculum infuses the principles of analytics and technology-empowered decision-making into each course offering. By the time they graduate, online MBA students won’t just have these principles memorized for a test; they will have experience applying them in simulated work environments.

Highly customizable, the WPI online MBA program provides students with the flexibility to tailor their degree specifically for the direction of their careers. We offer 20 specialization options and the chance to earn industry credentials, from right inside the virtual classroom. This 36-credit degree consists of:

  • Core business foundation courses
  • An integrative business foundation course
  • A three-course specialty series
  • Two elective courses with an option to declare a second specialization
  • A capstone project

The project-based approach to learning at WPI includes discussion boards, simulations, and other interactive elements. Students can take up to three courses at a time.

Online Master of Business Administration Course Listings

Business Foundation

Note: Those with sufficient coursework or expertise in these areas may petition to take a more advanced course.

This course develops expertise in financial decision-making by focusing on frequently used financial accounting information and the conceptual framework for managing financial problems. Students are introduced to the accounting and financial concepts, principles, and methods for preparing, analyzing, and evaluating financial information, for the purpose of managing financial resources of a business enterprise and investment decisions. The course adopts a decision-maker perspective by emphasizing the relations among financial data, their underlying economic events, and corporate finance issues. The course provides an overview of the financial reporting system, to enable data analysts in building queries for financial analyses and in forecasting possible future financial scenarios.
Today’s business computing infrastructures are producing the large volumes of data organizations need to make better plans and decisions. This course provides an introduction to the processes, technologies, and techniques for organizing, analyzing, visualizing, and interpreting data and information about business operations in a way that creates business value. During the course, students will study a variety of business decisions that can be improved by analyzing data about customers, sales, and operations, preparing students to be knowledgeable producers and consumers of business intelligence. Students will apply commercially available business intelligence software to develop performance dashboards to facilitate organizational decision-making. The course explores the technical challenges of organizing, analyzing, and presenting data and the managerial challenges of creating and deploying business intelligence expertise in organizations. The course includes business cases, in-class discussion, and hands-on analyses of business data. It is designed for any student interested in learning about data-driven business performance management and decision-making, including students whose primary focus is Data Science, IT, Marketing, Operations, or Business Management.
This course focuses on the development and marketing of products and services that meet customer needs. Topics covered include management and the development of distinctive competence, segmentation and target marketing, market research, competitor analysis and marketing information systems, product management, promotion, pricing strategy, and channel management. Students will learn how the elements of marketing strategy are combined in a marketing plan based on marketing analytics, and the challenges associated with managing products and services over the life cycle, including strategy modification and market exit.

All of us hope to have positive, collaborative, and effective interactions with others in our professional and personal lives. Yet, often our interactions do not go as planned and it gets ugly: people behave irrationally and get emotional, communication stops, conflicts fester, and opportunities are left unrealized and obscured. This course develops skills for understanding and acting more powerfully, ethically, and mindfully in our interactions. These include analytic techniques for understanding emotional, biographical, and social-psychological reasons for our own and others’ behavior, and skills for paying attention to and managing the complex dynamics unfolding in interpersonal interactions. Students will learn to identify and reflect upon their own contributions to problematic interactions; design and execute better ways of interacting with others; and develop their own interpersonal strengths and collaborative capacities.

Prerequisite: OBC 505 or instructor consent. Students cannot get credit for OBC 506 and OBC 501.

The operations function in an organization is focused on the transformation processes used to produce goods or provide services. Operations design is driven by strategic values, and innovative improvements can support sustained competitive advantage. In this course, a variety of analytical and statistical techniques are introduced to develop a deep understanding of process behavior, and to use this analysis to inform process and operational designs. Topics such as process analysis and value stream mapping, postponement and global and local supply chain strategies, queuing models, and managing system constraints are covered using case studies and hands-on activities such as online simulations. Non-traditional operations systems are also explored. The skills required to model an operational system, to reduce variation and mitigate bottlenecks, to effectively present resource needs, and to adjust capacity and inventory service levels are practiced during the course.

Students cannot get credit for OIE 501 and OIE 500.

Integrative Business Foundation

This course provides a summary overview of strategic management, with a focus on integrating the core curriculum to develop competitive advantage at the corporate and business unit level. Topics include the role of the CEO in the organization, industry analysis, the use of core competence to drive business development and exit decisions, causes of organizational inertia that cause the loss of competitive advantage, the impact of technology on strategy, the links between strategy and organizational design, and the social responsibility of the firm. The course also serves as the initial phase of BUS 599 (Capstone) and is designed to be taken immediately preceding that class.

Prerequisites: ACC 500, ACC 502, ACC 505, BUS 500, FIN 503, FIN 504, MIS 500, MKT 500, OBC 505, OBC 506 and OIE 501 or equivalent content, or instructor consent. Students cannot get credit for BUS 590 and BUS 501.

Specialty Series

Complete three courses from the Foisie Business School to solidify a specialty. Students may also petition for a custom specialty. If an MBA foundation course is listed as a required course within the specialty, students can choose another course from the list. The specialization options and the courses required to fulfill them include:

Advanced Business Analytics Methods

  • MIS 587 Business Applications in Machine Learning
  • OIE 559 Optimization for Business Analytics
  • MKT 562 Marketing Research

Advanced Operations Analytics

  • MIS 587 Business Applications in Machine Learning
    or
  • MKT 562 Marketing Research
    or
  • MKT 568 Data Mining Business Applications
  • OIE 542 Risk Management and Decision Analysis
  • OIE 548 Performance Analytics
  • OIE 559 Advanced Prescriptive Analytics: From Data to Impact

Applied Analytics

  • MIS 502 Data Management for Analytics
  • MIS 584 Business Intelligence
  • MIS 587 Business Applications in Machine Learning
  • OIE 559 Optimization for Business Analytics
  • DS 501 Introduction to Data Science
  • DS 502 Statistical Methods for Data Science
    or
  • DS 511 Applied Statistics for Engineers

Brands, Products, and Consumers

  • MKT 500 Marketing Strategy
  • MKT 561 Consumer Behavior and Analytics
  • MKT 562 Marketing Research
  • MKT 565 Digital Marketing
  • MKT 568 Data Mining Business Applications
  • MKT 569 Brand and Product Management

Business Analytics

  • MIS 502 Data Management for Analytics
  • MIS 584 Business Intelligence
  • OIE 552 Modeling and Optimizing Processes

Data Analytics

  • MIS 587 Business Applications in Machine Learning
  • MKT 568 Data Mining Business Applications
  • Choose one of the following:
    • MKT 565 Digital Marketing
    • MKT 562 Marketing Research

Digital Transformation

  • MIS 500 Innovating with Information Systems
  • Choose one of the following:
    • OIE 501 Designing Operations for Competitive Advantage
    • OIE 544 Supply Chain Analysis and Design
    • OIE 558 Designing and Managing Lean Six Sigma Processes
  • Choose one of the following:
    • MIS 576 Project Management
    • OBC 503 Negotiations
    • OBC 537 Change Management

Entrepreneurship

  • ETR 500 Entrepreneurship and Innovation
  • Any two from the following courses:
    • ETR 593 Technology Commercialization: Theory, Strategy, and Practice
    • ETR 596 Selling and Sales
    • BUS 500 Business Law, Ethics, and Social Responsibility

Information Systems Design

  • MIS 571 Database Applications Design and Development
  • MIS 582 Information Security Management
  • MIS 585 User Experience Design

Information Technology

  • MIS 502 Data Management for Analytics
  • MIS 581 Policy & Strategy for IT and Analytics
  • MIS 584 Business Intelligence

Innovation With User Experience (IUX Core)

  • MIS 583 UX Applications
  • MIS 585 UX Design
  • MIS 586 UX Methods

IT User Experience

  • MKT 561 Consumer Behavior and Analytics
  • MIS 583 User Experience Applications
  • MIS 586 User Experience Research Methods

Marketing Analytics

  • MKT 561 Consumer Behavior and Analytics
  • MKT 565 Digital Marketing
  • MKT 568 Data Mining Business Applications

Operations Excellence

  • Choose one of the following:
    • OIE 554 Global Operations Strategy
    • OIE 558 Designing and Managing Lean Six Sigma Processes
    • Choose two of the following:
      • FIN 500 Financial Management
      • MIS 576 Project Management
      • OBC 527 Leading Change
      • OIE 554 Global Operations Strategy
      • OIE 557 Designing and Managing Lean Six Sigma Processes

      • Operations Analytics

      • Choose one of the following five courses:
        • OIE 501 Operations Management
        • OIE 542 Risk Management and Decision Analysis
        • OIE 544 Supply Chain Analysis and Design
        • OIE 548 Performance Analytics
        • OIE 558 Designing and Managing Lean Six Sigma Processes

      Organizing and Managing Innovation

      • ETR 500 Entrepreneurship and Innovation
      • ETR 593 Technology Commercialization: Theory, Strategy, and Practice
      • FIN 500 Financial Management
      • MIS 576 Project Management
      • OBC 503 Negotiations
      • OBC 505 Teaming and Organizing for Innovation
      • OBC 537 Leading Change

      Product Management

      • MKT 569 Product and Brand Management
      • Any two of the following:
        • ETR 593 Technology Commercialization: Theory, Strategy, and Practice
        • MIS 576 Project Management
        • MIS 583 User Experience Applications
        • MIS 585 User Experience Design
        • MKT 565 Digital Marketing
        • OBC 505 Teaming and Organizing for Innovation
        • OBC 533 Negotiations
        • OBC 535 Managing Creativity in Knowledge Intensive Organizations

      Project Management

      • MIS 576 Project Management
      • Any two of the following:
        • OBC 505 Teaming and Organizing for Innovation
        • OBC 533 Negotiations
        • OBC 535 Managing Creativity in Knowledge Intensive Organizations
        • OBC 537 Leading Change

        • Research (requires permission from the program director)

        • BUS 5900 Internship (3 credit maximum)
        • BUS 598 Independent Study
        • BUS 698 Directed Research

        Supply Chain Management

        • Select one of the following:
          • OIE 549 Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management
          • OIE 553 Global Purchasing and Logistics
        • Select two of the following:
          • MKT 561 Consumer Behavior and Analytics
          • OBC 533 Negotiations
          • OIE 548 Performance Analytics
          • OIE 549 Sustainable Supply Chain and Operations Management
          • OIE 533 Global Purchasing and Logistics

          • System Design for IUX

          • MIS 500 Innovating with Information Systems
          • MIS 571 Database Applications Design and Development
          • MIS 582 Information Security Design and Management
          • IMGD 5000 Game Design Studio
          • IMGD 5300 Design of Interactive Experiences
          • RBE/CS 526 Human-Robot Interaction
          • RBE 595 Synergy of Human and Robot Systems
          • WR 593 Robot Futures: Design, Ethics, Communication

          Customize your own!

          • 9 credits; requires approval from the program director

          Electives

          Students must complete two elective courses offered by the Foisie Business School. If the two courses are part of an existing three-course specialty or core for which the third course was taken as part of the MBA core, students will receive the specialty or core designation as part of their degree.

          There are over 50 elective options that cover a wide array of in-demand business skills and applications for MBA students to specifically tailor their degree to fit their career goals. Here is a preview of some of the available courses:

          This course builds on students’ knowledge of financial statements and takes a managerial accounting approach to present how firms plan and implement strategy. Accounting, economics, and psychology theories provide the framework for cost analysis, strategic decision-making, and planning under uncertainty. Management control systems will guide students to work with uncertainty. Fundamental quantitative techniques will enable students to perform descriptive and predictive analytical approaches and empower them to make data-driven decisions. The course will emphasize cost behaviors, setting and meeting cost targets, assessing strategic initiatives, forecasting and budgeting, and the use of assumptions in the calculations of significant revenue and expense projections. Students will apply theories and best practices through simulations and case analyses.

          Prerequisite: ACC 500. Students cannot get credit for ACC 502 and ACC 503.

          This course combines analysis of the structure, function, and development of the law most important to the conduct of business with an examination of the ethical and social context in which managers make decisions. Emphasizing the social responsibility considerations of all business stakeholders, the course focuses on practical applications via extensive use of case studies. Students will gain a sound understanding of the basic areas of U.S. and international law including: intellectual property law; business formation and organization; international business law; securities regulation; cyber law and e-commerce; antitrust law; employment law, and environmental law.
          This course studies successful innovations and how firms must enhance their ability to develop and introduce new products and processes. The course will discuss a practical model of the dynamics of industrial innovation. Cases and examples will be discussed for products in which cost and product performance are commanding factors. The important interface among R&D/manufacturing/marketing is discussed. International technology transfer and joint venture issues are also considered.
          Entrepreneurship involves many activities, including identifying and exploiting opportunities, creating and launching new ventures, and introducing new products and new services to new markets. It is based on implementing innovations within existing organizations and creating new opportunities. This course is intended to introduce students to entrepreneurial thinking and methods of executing their ideas. Topics include recognizing and evaluating opportunities, forming new venture teams, preparing business and technology commercialization plans, obtaining resources, identifying execution action scenarios, and developing exit strategies.
          This course covers fundamental microeconomic and macroeconomic theories to help managers formulate effective business decisions. Current events are used in addition to economic theories to explain the concepts of the market system, gains from trade, supply and demand, consumer behavior, firm behavior, market structure, long-run economic growth, economic cycle, financial system, monetary policy, and fiscal policy. Students will complete a “Market Watch” project to learn to explain and predict changes in macroeconomic indicators, including gross domestic product, interest rates, global stock indices, commodity prices and foreign exchange rates.

          This course develops and enhances the student’s ability to implement and clearly communicate a firm’s financial decisions related to value creation. The course covers capital structure optimization, cost of capital; capital allocation and investment strategies, enterprise risk, project and firm valuation, and international financial management. The course adopts a decision-maker’s perspective by emphasizing the relationships among a firm’s strategic objectives, financial accounting and financial statement data, economic events, responses by market participants and other impacted constituencies, and corporate finance theory. The course also builds on these practical finance skills by incorporating team-based assignments, real-world simulations, and a variety of financial modeling tools.

          Students cannot get credit for FIN 503 and FIN 500.

          This course focuses on information technology and innovation. Topics covered are information technology and organizations, information technology and individuals (privacy, ethics, job security, job changes), information technology and information security, information technology within the organization (technology introduction, and implementation, and data analytics for competitive analysis), business process engineering, and information technology between organizations (electronic data interchange and electronic commerce). This course provides the knowledge and skills to utilize existing and emerging information technology innovatively to create business opportunities.
          This course develops the skills business students need for handling data. It focuses on student skills in (1) cleaning and preparing data for analysis, (2) writing SQL queries to access and manipulate data, and (3) ethical uses of data and data privacy issues. It also covers the types of data typically found in organizations, e.g., employee, customer, product, marketing, operations, and financial data.
          This course focuses on the core IS capabilities that IS managers must consider when managing technology within an organization, such as IT strategy, policy development, management, and IT’s role in data analytics. Fast-paced changes in technology require IT managers to quickly understand, adapt, and apply technology. Successful companies are those that can react quickly by introducing innovative technologies and respond to market demands using data-driven solutions. Students will learn how IT managers engage data to develop and enhance their departments’ strategies.

Capstone

Students must complete a capstone project experience as follows:

This capstone course integrates management theory and practice and incorporates a number of skills and tools acquired in the MBA curriculum. The medium is a major team-based project in the form of a corporate venture or green field venture. In addition to a written report, the project is formally presented to a panel of outside experts including serial entrepreneurs and investors.
(Prerequisites: FIN 500, MIS 584, MKT 500, OBC 506, OIE 501 and BUS590 or equivalent content, or instructor consent)