What Are some Good Concentrations in Business Administration?

When you graduate with a Business Administration degree, you don’t step across the stage and into a corner office of a Fortune 500 company. You’ll likely work for a company in one or more departments before you climb the ladder and become the CEO. But what department? Even as you first start out, you can think to the future and consider what aspect of business might suit your future. You can choose a general Business Administration degree or specialize from the start. Concentrations such as Accounting, Marketing, and Law all come under the Business Administration umbrella, but they’re each different from one another. Here are some good Business Administrations you might want to consider:

A Business Management Concentration

People often ask: what’s the difference between Business Administration and Business Management? Business Administration is involved with day-to-day operations that keep an organization running smoothly. Business Management, on the other hand, is more about the big picture. It focuses on vision, strategy, leadership, and communication. In this concentration, you’ll learn about managerial functions, techniques, and processes. You’ll find out what it takes to oversee employees, and how to communicate effectively in the workplace. You’ll also explore how organizations behave at the individual and industry levels, and how to make ethical decisions for your organization.

The Accounting Concentration

Accounting is good career path by itself, and as a concentration it can help you understand the language of business. Without accurate accounting, an organization couldn’t survive or make decisions to help it thrive. In this concentration, you’ll learn about accounting methods, cost analysis, finance, economics, statistics, and how to turn the language of numbers into something managers, leaders, and employees can all understand. You’ll come to appreciate the nickels and dimes in savings that can add up to millions of dollars. This is a good concentration if you want to become an accountant, and also if you want to work in financial and banking institutions, insurance companies, and government regulatory agencies.

A Business Finance Concentration

If you’re interested in money management but don’t necessarily want to be an accountant, you could specialize in finance. This concentration allows you to take a step back and focus on the bigger financial picture. You’ll learn about financial markets and how they operate, the different investment tools and techniques, and financial management strategies from across the globe. You’ll also explore how companies make financial decisions and how those decisions can affect various stakeholders.

A Business Concentration in Law

Businesses are governed by a set of corporate laws that determine how they should handle contracts, finances, and even personnel. If you’re interested in a career in law, particularly corporate law, this concentration can lay the foundation for law school. You will learn about the laws that govern business transactions, the policies that affect general management, and landmark Supreme Court cases that have affected the world of business.

Business Economics

If you want an even broader view of finance, you may be interested an economics concentration. Economics courses in college are different than what you might have learned in high school. You’ll go into much more depth about both micro and macroeconomics. An economics concentration will introduce you to wealth and resource allocation and how societies deliver goods and services to their citizens. You’ll learn about the similarities and differences across local, national, and international economies. You’ll also analyze important concepts such as supply and demand, opportunity costs, as well as fiscal and monetary policies.

A Marketing Concentration

Marketing is an important aspect of business because if it’s done right, it can increase clientele, improve customer satisfaction and, ultimately, bring more money into your organization. Through this concentration, you’ll learn how to conduct market research and how that research can inform your external communications and promotional efforts. You’ll also learn about consumer behavior, what tools you can use to promote your business, and how environmental factors can affect marketing decisions. Basically, it’s all about getting the word about how great your company and its products are.