Management and Business

Department Overview

Mission Statement

We teach our students to master the core disciplines of the field and to prepare for tomorrow’s dynamic global environment with a business education rooted in a strong liberal arts perspective.

The Program

As a department within a liberal arts college, our program teaches students to think about business from multiple dimensions, giving insight into the ethical, historical, technological, cultural, creative, ecological, and political forces that have shaped business and are shaped by it. By rooting our curriculum in a spectrum of six contextual dimensions (below), we lead our students to master the core disciplines of the field and to prepare for tomorrow’s dynamic global environment. While bringing an interdisciplinary, liberal arts perspective to the study of business, our program does not sacrifice a firm education in the functional areas of management, marketing, accounting, and finance. Indeed, we offer business as a context to demonstrate the value of a liberal arts education.

Seven Dimensions for Studying Management and Business in Context

The Department of Management and Business offers a firm education in the functional areas of management, marketing, accounting, and finance. In addition, the department has adopted seven dimensions for studying management and business in context to help our students become well-rounded leaders in an increasingly complex world. These dimensions push students to explore the core disciplines of management and business within a spectrum of conceptual frameworks and perspectives drawn from various disciplines in the liberal arts and a contextual understanding of business operations and economic forces (e.g., historical, cultural, global, environmental, etc.). MB courses may fulfill one of these dimensions or several of them, depending on the course content.

1. History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Management and Business
   Media, technology, and innovation courses that fulfill this dimension provide an opportunity for students to engage with and use technology or to examine the role played by media, technology, and/or innovation in shaping organizations, the business world, product design and consumption, customer/employee communication, supply chains, relations at work, etc.

2. Media, Technology, and Innovation in Management and Business
   Courses that fulfill this dimension provide an opportunity for students to engage with and use technology or to examine the role played by media, technology, and/or innovation in shaping organizations, the business world, product design and consumption, customer/employee communication, supply chains, relations at work, etc.

3. Culture and Global Awareness in Management and Business
   Culture and global awareness courses that fulfill this dimension provide an opportunity for students to understand both the cultural dimensions of persons and organizations as well as the global-cultural context of business.

4. Creativity and the Arts in Management and Business
   Creativity and the arts courses that fulfill this dimension provide an opportunity for students to gain an appreciation for the centrality of creativity and artistic imagination to business, organizations, and entrepreneurship while simultaneously helping students grasp the commercial dimension of artistic production and dissemination.

5. Natural Environment and Sustainability in Management and Business
   Natural environment and sustainability courses that fulfill this dimension provide an opportunity for students to learn about close connections between business organizations and the natural environment, while highlighting issues of sustainability.

6. Government and Politics in Management and Business
   Government and politics courses that fulfill this dimension provide an opportunity for students to gain an in-depth understanding of the complex relationship between businesses, organizations, national governments, and global institutions (e.g., the impact of regulatory frameworks and public policy).

7. Diversity in Management and Business
   Courses that fulfill this dimension prepare students to value and manage diversity in organizations by building an awareness of past and current inequities relating to disadvantaged social identity groups, and developing skill sets that assist in sustaining inclusive workplaces.

Chair of the Management and Business Department: Jina Mao

Associate Chair: Ting Li

F. William Harder Chair in Business Administration: Matt Lucas

Professors: Caroline D’Abate, Timothy Harper, Elzbieta Lepkowska-White, Pushkala Prasad, The Zankel Chair in Management for Liberal Arts Students, Mark A. Youndt

Associate Professors:  David Cohen, Michael Dunn, Ting Li, Jina Mao, Christine Page, Minita Sanghvi, Aiwu Zhao

Assistant Professors: Yueqi Li, Jonathan Lohnes, Sharon Yang

Executive in Residence: Colleen Burke

Teaching Professor: Cathy Hill

Assistant Teaching Professor: Catherine Hamilton

Lecturers: Jennifer Benninger, Joseph Diamante, Susan Freeman, Douglas Gerhardt

Business B.S.

Effective for those who entered Skidmore in Fall 2021 and beyond: 

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The following courses may not be counted as satisfying one of the elective requirements of the major: MB 240 Coaching, Mentoring, and Teamwork Service-Learning Experience, MB 299 Professional Internship in Business, MB 360 Consulting: Practice, Process, and Problem Solving, MB 399 Professional Internship in Business.

Suggested Course Sequence

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Students planning to study abroad during fall of their junior year must have completed MB 234 Foundations of Financial Accounting, one WLL course, and EC 237 Statistical Methods or MS 104 Introduction to Statistics or SO 228 Statistics for the Social Sciences or SO 226 Statistics for the Social Sciences (one required statistics course) before going abroad.

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Students planning to study abroad during spring of their junior year must have completed MB 234 Foundations of Financial Accounting, MB 235 Foundations of Managerial Accounting, one WLL course, and EC 237 Statistical Methods or MS 104 Introduction to Statistics or SO 228 Statistics for the Social Sciences or PS 202 Statistics and Research Methods I (psychology-business double majors only)(one required statistics course) before going abroad.

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Students are strongly encouraged to take MB 240 Coaching, Mentoring, and Teamwork Service-Learning Experience prior to going abroad.

Note: The Management and Business Department strongly recommends students planning to major in management and business not study abroad until their junior year.

Statistics Requirement in the Major

Business majors and prospective business majors should enroll in EC 237 Statistical Methods or MS 204 Statistical Methods rather than MS 104 Introduction to Statistics under the following conditions:

• Student will or may major (or double major in bus-econ) or minor in Economics. These students should complete EC 237 Statistical Methods.
• Student will or may minor in Statistics. Students who decide to minor in statistics are strongly encouraged to take MS 204 Statistical Methods. R programming is introduced in MS 204 Statistical Methods and employed in most statistics courses in the minor.
• Student has strong quantitative skills at the point of course selection.
• Student will likely enroll in quantitative-oriented courses throughout their college career.

Service Learning in the Major

The Department of Management and Business views service learning as an important component of undergraduate business education. Students majoring in management and business are required to complete a service-learning requirement (e.g., MB 240 Coaching, Mentoring, and Teamwork Service-Learning Experience) to learn the value of civic engagement in the college and the larger community.

S/U Options in MB

It is MB Department policy that required MB courses for the major/minor are taken for a grade (no S/U). This includes:

Elective MB courses may be taken S/U at the faculty member’s discretion. Courses counting toward the business major, but offered in other departments, follow the S/U policies of the respective department. EC 103 Introduction to Macroeconomics, EC 104 Introduction to Microeconomics, and EC 237 Statistical Methods, courses from the Economics Department required for the business major, may be taken S/U. However, business majors with a double major in economics or a minor in economics must take EC 237 Statistical Methods for a grade (no S/U).

Interdepartmental Majors

In conjunction with other departments, the Management and Business Department offers interdepartmental majors in business-French, business-German, business-Spanish, and business-Political Science. See Interdepartmental Majors.

Writing Requirement in the Major

Written communication skills are an essential part of education in management and business. The Management and Business Department is committed to helping students enhance their writing skills in order to advance their ability to communicate in written form and to prepare them for their professional careers. While business students are expected to write at a high level of proficiency throughout the department’s curriculum (in 100-, 200-, and 300-level courses), students will learn the conventions of writing in the discipline through an array of assignments in the curriculum including case study analyses, strategic business proposals, literature reviews, critical essays, research papers, and financial forecasting and projections. The department provides each student with an Assessment Criteria Rubric that outlines standards and expectations for writing assignments in the discipline. While the successful completion of MB 214 Foundations of Marketing, MB 224 Foundations of Organizational Behavior, MB 306 Foundations of Business in the International Environment, and MB 349 Business Strategy explicitly fulfills the writing requirement in management and business, the department expects students to demonstrate writing competence in all departmental courses.

Business Minor

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The following courses may not be used to satisfy any of these requirements: ID 190 Presenting the Brand Called Me, MB 240 Coaching, Mentoring, and Teamwork Service-Learning Experience, MB 299 Professional Internship in Business, MB 360 Consulting: Practice, Process, and Problem Solving, and MB 399 Professional Internship in Business.

Note: It is Management and Business Department policy that required management and business courses for the major/minor are taken for a grade (no S/U). This includes:

Elective MB courses may be taken S/U at the faculty member’s discretion. Courses counting toward the business minor, but offered in other departments, follow the S/U policies of the respective department.

entrepreneurship minor

The Minor in Entrepreneurship is administered by the Management and Business Department and the Arts Administration Program for students interested in business entrepreneurship and/or arts entrepreneurship. Please visit the Entrepreneurship Minor to learn more.

Honors

To be eligible for departmental honors, students must:

1. attain a major GPA of 3.8 or higher;
2. attain a cumulative GPA of 3.0; and
3. complete MB 349 Business Strategy with a grade of A- or higher.

Course Listing