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Master of Business Administration with track in General Business

Develop a broad knowledge in all core business functions and gain hands-on experience integrating concepts across disciplines, thinking critically about business problems and developing innovative solutions.

Apply by: 12/9/24
Start classes: 1/13/25
Apply Now

Program Overview

What our MBA - General Business online program offers

$13,361* In-State Tuition
As few as 10 months Program Duration
31 Credit Hours

Prepare for management roles amid the rapidly changing nature of today's business world with the broad range of strategic and analytical skills you will gain in the Master of Business Administration – General Business track from Longwood University.

This 100% online MBA from the AACSB-accredited College of Business and Economics at Longwood University enables you to advance your career while continuing to work. You will deepen your foundational knowledge of managerial accounting and economics, data management, information technology, entrepreneurship, team building, negotiation and conflict resolution, strategic marketing and more.

The core curriculum includes a study of strategic thinking and decision making, along with technological insights and advancements that factor into leadership. You will learn about the dynamics of interpersonal and intergroup conflict and resolution. Our capstone course invites you to integrate your learnings from these functional areas to create a holistic management perspective applicable across the business spectrum.

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The College of Business and Economics at Longwood University is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).

Graduates of the MBA - General Business track will:

  • Develop a foundational understanding of accounting, ethics, economics, finance, IT, management and marketing in order to make decisions that impact and influence business
  • Benefit from hands-on experience running a business through the use of a business simulator
  • Develop a foundational understanding of accounting, ethics, economics, finance, IT, management and marketing in order to make decisions that impact and influence business
  • Benefit from hands-on experience running a business through the use of a business simulator

Possible careers in business administration

  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Chief Operations Officer
  • Marketing Director
  • Director of Operations
  • Financial Analyst
  • Project Manager
  • Human Resources Director
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Chief Operations Officer
  • Marketing Director
  • Director of Operations
  • Financial Analyst
  • Project Manager
  • Human Resources Director

Have questions or need more information about online MBA?

Also available:

Looking for a different specialized track? Check out these other MBA programs.

Tuition

Choosing our online MBA program is cost-effective

The MBA – General Business track offers affordable, pay-by-the-course tuition. The application fee is $40. All other fees are included in the total cost.

Tuition breakdown:

$431 Per Credit Hour (Virginia students)
$13,361* Total Tuition (Virginia students)

Virginia students

Program Per Credit Hour Per 3-Credit-Hour Course Per Program
MBA - General Business track $431 $1,293 $13,361*

Out-of-state students

Program Per Credit Hour Per 3-Credit-Hour Course Per Program
MBA - General Business track $441 $1,323 $13,671*
Sarine Thomas - Longwood Testimonial

I definitely wanted to go to Longwood because I got to know the professors. It made it easier to connect with them and their teaching styles. Also, because it’s a small school, the courses are much more interactive. If you are emailing a professor, they will get back to you in two to three hours.

-Sarine Thomas, Longwood University MBA graduate

See more testimonials »

Calendar

Know the important dates and deadlines for our students

The Longwood University online MBA is delivered in an accelerated format ideal for working professionals, conveniently featuring multiple start dates each year.

Now enrolling:

12/9/24 Next Application Deadline
1/13/25 Start Classes
7 Week CoursesApplication DeadlineDocument DeadlineRegistration DeadlineFirst Class DayFinal Tuition Deadline†Last Class Day
Fall B10/7/2410/11/2410/18/2410/21/2410/24/2412/13/24
Spring A12/9/2412/13/241/10/251/13/251/16/253/2/25
Spring B2/24/252/28/253/7/253/10/253/13/254/25/25
Summer A4/18/254/25/255/2/255/5/255/8/256/20/25
Summer B6/9/256/16/256/23/256/25/256/30/258/12/25
Fall A8/8/258/15/258/22/258/25/258/28/2510/13/25
Fall B10/3/2510/10/2510/17/2510/20/2510/23/2512/8/25

Final tuition payment must be received by 5:00 p.m. EST on the final tuition due date.

Ready to take the next step toward earning your online MBA from Longwood University?

Admissions

Check the requirements for the MBA - General Business online program

We've streamlined the admission process for Longwood University online MBA to help you get started quickly and easily. Please read the requirements for this master's program, including what additional materials you need and where you should send them.

The requirements include:

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university
Official transcripts
Professional resume verifying work experience

Admission Requirements

Prior to starting their graduate program, students must hold a conferred bachelor's degree or international equivalent from a college or university accredited by the appropriate institutional (formerly regional) accreditation agency. Applicants must meet one of the following for consideration for admission:

  • Completed bachelor's degree from a university accredited by the appropriate institutional (formerly regional) accreditation agency with minimum 2.75 GPA.
  • Completed bachelor's degree from a university accredited by the appropriate institutional (formerly regional) accreditation agency with 2.50 - 2.74 GPA and 5 years of professional level work experience. * Professional experience is defined as paid work experience that includes some combination of complex decision-making or analysis, management of people or projects, and at least moderate impact on the work unit or firm.
  • All other prospective students are strongly encouraged to apply. These applicants must submit a 1-page maximum letter of interest briefly indicating their reason(s) for obtaining a Longwood MBA along with their transcripts, resume, and optional GMAT score.

Transcripts from all institutions where you obtained a degree, bachelor or higher, and any post baccalaureate coursework to be submitted at the time of application and subject to verification and approval by the MBA Director.

Resume including years of professional level work experience to be submitted at the time of application and subject to verification and approval by the MBA Director.

*International applicants may be required to submit additional test scores and documentation.

** Application fee waived for military (active and former). Verification must be submitted with application (ID or other form).

Official transcripts, test scores and other documents should be sent from the granting institution(s) to:

Email address: [email protected] (preferred and quickest)

Mail address:

Longwood Graduate Studies
201 High Street
Farmville, VA 23909
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Longwood University has been named one of the top universities in the Southeastern U.S. by The Princeton Review, 2020

Courses

Read about the courses in your MBA - General Business online program

For the MBA – General Business track, you must complete 10 courses totaling 31 credit hours, including 25 credit hours of core courses and 6 credit hours of electives.

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 4
This course helps students integrate the functional expertise from areas such as accounting, finance, management, marketing, and production. Concepts and tools acquired from these functional areas provide the basis for approaching strategic problems from a holistic managerial perspective. Prerequisite(s): Students must complete any six of the following courses: ACCT 540, ECON 509, FINA 550, ISCS 570, MANG 564, MANG 575, and MARK 588

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand and explain the relationships between strategy with firm mission, vision, and objectives
  • Analyze the general, competitive/industry, and internal environment through conducting systematic research with various analytical tools
  • Assess the multiple facets of business issues to derive data-driven solutions
  • Understand strategic decision-making and develop strategic plans at the business, corporate, and entrepreneurial level
  • Create action plans with recommendations to implement and control strategic decisions
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces the multifaceted role of an effective leader/manager. Human behavior at the individual, group and organization levels is examined as well as techniques for leading people in the organizational environment. Topics include: various developmental areas of leadership, including communications, social responsibility, and personal development, the role of an effective leader, small group and team leadership, work motivation, conflict resolution, managing workplace relationships, and personality influences on work attitudes and behaviors.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Identify and explain theories, concepts, and research in leadership
  • Analyze various leadership-related principles and topics including Leadership traits, Leadership Behaviors, Communication, Teamwork, Ethics, Power and Influence, Leadership Skills, Managing Conflict
  • Apply leadership concepts and theories to their everyday life, organizations, and current topics
  • Develop their personal leadership philosophy
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces the techniques of quantitative and statistical analysis for management decision making. Major topics include decision analysis, statistical inference, regression, and linear programming./This course will increase data literacy of students by introducing them to descriptive and inferential statistics, with a focus on data analysis and real world application to business and economics. Topics include collection of and use of data, measures of central tendency and dispersion, data visualization, probability, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, regression analysis, including work with categorical variables and nonlinearities, and basic technical writing for presentation of data and statistical analysis. Projects require students to apply knowledge to consulting scenarios, with a specific client in mind. Students are expected to have a basic understanding of Excel, but instruction on use of the Data Analysis Toolpak will be provided as part of the course.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Define statistics and identify examples of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (in relation to the definition) and examples where data is used in the real world for decision-making (including in students’ profession or industries), explain how/why data is useful, and motivate the case for data literacy.
  • Generate and interpret descriptive statistics—measures of central tendency, dispersion, and correlation—to better “visualize” data; identify what they do and do not tell us about data.
  • Create/construct and interpret a wide variety of pictorial representations of data; make use of/employ good techniques/approaches when developing representations of data.
  • Compute probability calculations, generate/interpret probability density functions and cumulative density functions, and identify how probability theory relates to business decision-making.
  • Develop regression models and interpret results for decision-making.
  • Generate statistics using Excel and use them to analyze data in culminating, data-oriented assignments related to real-world business decisions.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
The course will equip the student with the ability to properly frame any decisions faced (business or personal), and then arrive at the best solution given the information available. To do so requires two additional skills: 1) To accurately work with data to assess the economic environment, 2) The ability to think strategically. Topics include: profit maximization, demand analysis, elasticity, market power, regression analysis, game theory, and pricing strategies.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Use marginal analysis and thinking in optimization problems and distinguish different types of cost and their applicability in optimization problems
  • Analyze the impact of changes in demand and supply conditions on the profit maximizing output and pricing decisions and calculate the price elasticity of demand and relate it with the profit maximizing price
  • Demonstrate the value of framing managerial decision-making using a demand function
  • Present univariate and multivariate patterns in data and perform regression analysis to estimate causal relationships; interpret regression output, including R-square, coefficients, p-values, and confidence intervals
  • Conduct basic forecasting using regression output and be able to describe the strengths and weaknesses of ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis
  • Differentiate strategic from non-strategic decisions and analyze a strategic game and solve for equilibrium strategies and apply game theory to oligopolistic market structures
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course presents an overview of marketing and the activities involved in the delivery of goods and services to the consumer. Topics include the identification of target markets, the development of a marketing mix, the special challenges of service delivery, the importance of retailing, and relationship marketing.

Learning Outcomes

  • Explain marketing concepts in the context of marketing problems
  • Design and debate proposals for solutions to marketing problems
  • Construct a formal marketing plan
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course provides a comprehensive, graduate level discussion of managerial accounting. Broadly, this course focuses on the use of accounting data in the decision-making process for managers. As such, learning which data is important in different managerial settings, appropriately deriving and interpreting such relevant data, and then formulate best case strategies forms the core of study. More specifically, students learn to use the concepts of opportunity cost and organizational architecture as the framework for studying managerial accounting.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Articulate how cost management helps organizations meet their strategic goals by managing costs
  • Assign costs to production jobs or projects using different costing systems
  • Assign activity costs to goods and services
  • Build a basic cost-volume-profit (CVP) financial model and use a cost-benefit approach to common business decisions
  • Demonstrate ethical reasoning in accounting and describe the importance of ethical behavior for managers and managerial accountants
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course describes the basic principles of corporate finance and provides practical tools for financial decision and valuation. The course starts with optimal project acceptance criteria consistent with the objective of maximizing the market value of the firm. It then moves on to techniques for estimating the cost of capital, which are subsequently applied to a range of valuation problems. The valuation principles include WACC, APV, multiples and real options. In the second half of the course we discuss capital structure and dividend decision, and how they affect firm value. We also study corporate governance, and end the course analyzing financial issues in mergers and acquisitions.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Apply the principles of financial reasoning to business situations and assess business problems using time value of money techniques
  • Perform quantitative and qualitative analysis of risk and return component
  • Demonstrate general understanding of financial markets and instruments
  • Apply the basic principles of security analysis and perform capital budgeting analysis
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course focuses on the function of Information Systems (IS) and the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and the role they play in the organization. The strategic, economic and managerial aspects of technology adoption decisions and IT governance policies are examined from the organizational leader’s perspective. Both existing and emerging technologies will be studies to provide awareness of current trends, organizational impact, risks and benefits. The objective of this course is to prepare managers to provide leadership in the use of information systems and information technology across the enterprise, regardless of functional area.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn how to get usable insights from good information that could make your business thrive

• Learn how to navigate global issues while protecting your business

• Learn about problems real businesses face and how they address them with enterprise-class information systems

• Study real-world examples where companies couldn’t react to changing business conditions, and how enterprise information systems enable a nimble enterprise that could make swift adjustments to market-changing events

• Learn how computer-aided design, knowledge-work systems, and virtual reality can improve the safety and efficiency of engineers and other knowledge workers to unlock business value and protect the corporate knowledge base when key workers depart the organization

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces and applies the fundamental principles of real estate and procedures of real estate appraisal. Topics include real estate appraisal math and statistics, principles of valuation, building and site analysis, legal concepts, and the application of the three real estate appraisal approaches: Sales Comparison Approach, Cost Approach and Income Approach.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
The development and application of statistical and econometric techniques to create a data informed decision-making business environment.  The course will focus on regression analysis designed to identify and understand the potential drivers of important business and economic patterns and trends.  Forecasting techniques will be developed and used as a foundation to compare causal data analyses and big data, machine learning approaches​.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Data driven decision-making is essential and commonplace across all industries and occupations. Data visualization bridges the gap between analytics and action. Empirical results and economic principles matter only if they are well understood by all those involved in the decision-making process. Data visualization techniques help tell the story emerging from the data in a format that resonates with a wide group of stakeholders. Blending microeconomic data, economic principles, and statistical analysis, this course will serve as an introduction and reference to becoming visual with data.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is an analytical survey of the leading issues associated with the analysis of real estate markets. Topics include sources of funds, types and contents of financing instruments, roles of private and governmental institutions, the determination of economics feasibility of real estate investments and the effects of financing and taxes on investment profitability.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course examines functions of opportunity development and business planning for success in entrepreneurial ventures. Students will explore the planning, marketing, organizing, financing, and management of a new business venture that they might personally initiate, or that they may be involved with in the context of a new business being developed within the structure of an existing organization. Students will write business plans during the course to test the feasibility of their business concept and to act as the blueprint for a potential start-up venture.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course explores the nature of the consumer purchase decision process for goods and services. It emphasizes both descriptive and conceptual analysis of consumer behavior with a focus on theory and research essential to an understanding of individual choice behavior. It incorporates a critical analysis of buyer behavior theory. It makes intensive use of contributions from the social and behavioral science literatures. It examines individual and group behavior of consumers, as well as both marketing management and public policy decision making. Focus on managerial decision making utilizing marketing research techniques.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course equips students with a working knowledge of the macroeconomy and how economic conditions affect the everyday business environment. Students will learn to use economic reasoning to determine the proper course of action a person or business should take under economic constraints. Areas of focus include a study of economics principles as well as an introduction into business cycles, economic indicators (GDP, unemployment, inflation), fiscal policy and monetary policy. At the end of this course, students will have gained the ability to incorporate their knowledge of macroeconomic policy into better business strategy.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course provides a comprehensive, graduate level, discussion of accounting-based data analytics performed in Excel. This course is intended to provide students with an understanding of data analytic thinking and terminology as well as hands-on experience with data analytics tools and techniques. Students should leave this course with the skills necessary to translate accounting and business problems into actionable proposals.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course investigates financial reporting from a user perspective in interpreting and analyzing financial reports for investments and other decision making. The course begins with a review of accounting systems and then emphasizes analysis of financial statements and the implications for various user groups. Emphasis will be on use of the reports to judge company performance, to assess creditworthiness, to predict future financial performance, and to analyze possible acquisitions and take-overs. Users of financial statements must be able to meaningfully interpret financial reports, construct measures of financial performance and analyze the reporting choices made by companies. Also, since company managers choose accounting techniques when making their reports, users must learn to undo the effects of these accounting choices. The purpose of this course is to give the foundation for such analysis
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to provide the students with an understanding of trading and valuation of financial securities. It also provides institutional details of the U.S. financial markets. The main topics include: asset allocation and security analysis; how financial securities are issued and traded; modern portfolio theory; theory of asset pricing models; the efficient market hypothesis; stock and bond valuation; introduction to derivative assets. This course also provides a good foundation for students who are interested in CFA/CFP exams.​
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
The Internet has significantly changed the business landscape and created a radically different business environment. This course examines how such changes impact the way companies formulate their marketing strategies. Specifically, we will look at issues such as network effects, online branding and traffic building, personalized marketing, building brand loyalty online, and online marketing research.​

*Price includes in-state tuition and fees. For students from outside Virginia, tuition and fees total $13,671.

**A resume verifying professional-level work experience must be submitted at the time of application and is subject to verification and approval by the MBA director.

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