Harvard MBA - Curriculum Analysis

In the second part of the Harvard MBA Analysis, we cover Harvard's Term 1 and Term 2 courses, electives, FIELD projects, curriculum for Entrepreneurs, and Dual/Joint Degree programs.

To evaluate Harvard MBA's class profile and total cost, read the first part of the series – Harvard MBA Class Profile and Total Fees.

Year One and Year Two

The Harvard MBA Curriculum is divided into Year One Spring & Fall and Year Two Spring & Fall schedules. With the case study method, students must read, reflect on the case, and discuss the problem statement before the actual class begins. In the class, students lead 85% of the conversation while the professor steers the conversation by making occasional observations. By moving away from a traditional lecture-based learning system, the HBS Case Method leverages the diverse experience of the HBS class. With 50% of student grades depending on the quality of class participation, the incentive to contribute to the class is high.

Year One

During Year One Fall, HBS MBA students follow a common curriculum - Finance 1, Financial Reporting and Control, Marketing, Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD), Technology and Operations Management, and FIELD immersion. A noticeable change in the core curriculum is the addition of Inclusion and Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF) – two courses provided to build a holistic perspective on the impact Business has on communities and create an inclusive work environment for teams from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and genders.

Harvard MBA Curriculum Overview - Year One (Fall)

The Terms 1 courses are designed to build functional knowledge in Finance, Marketing, Technology, Operations Management, and Leadership with Inclusion, offering a unique perspective on prioritizing DEI in the organization.

Term 2 is heavily skewed towards Strategy, Policy, Entrepreneurship, and Social Good – balancing business orientation with strategic and holistic insights on creating a sustainable business.

Term 1 Courses

●  Finance 1 is the classic Finance course that teaches MBA students how organizations create value through informed Finance decisions

●  Financial Reporting and Control familiarizes students with accounting vocabulary and teaches them to communicate in the accounting language

●  The Marketing course enables students to think about marketing from the context of General Management and teaches them to control the marketing mix: pricing, distribution, and product.

● Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD): teaches students how to transform from a Manager to a Leader by understanding group dynamics, motivations, and professional relationships.

● Technology and Operations Management: With the course, students get an in-depth understanding of how operations and technology contribute to the timely release of products and satisfactory delivery of services.

● Inclusion: In order to increase overall performance, organizations are increasingly engaging in diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) programs. The course guides students and faculty on an inclusive change journey.

Term 2 Courses

● Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE): Instead of looking at Businesses as isolated entities, Harvard MBA students will learn how politics, exchange rate, international trade laws, the balance of payment, and FDI impact Businesses and their profit forecast.

● Strategy: Students will learn to formulate strategies that sustain competitive advantage for their companies by understanding risks from uncertain market conditions, predicting competitor behavior, and studying industries with the latest analytics tool

● The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM): HBS MBA students will get the first glimpse of Entrepreneurship through the TEM Course that teaches them to spot opportunities, turn them into viable organizations, and manage and grow them into sustainable enterprises

● Finance 2: develops on the Foundation created with the Finance 1 course by focusing on developing skills for operating financial analysis tools, understanding complexities of deals and financial transactions, and making financial policy decisions based on the health and competitive advantage of the company.

● Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA): demonstrates how personal values can play a major role in the leadership and culture of the company. The course familiarizes students with the complexities of leadership decisions from three contexts: legal, ethical, and economic.

●    Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF): SPF is a brief module meant to investigate how and under what conditions private enterprises might assist in addressing some of society's most pressing issues. Each of the five instances depicts a group of leaders who are attempting to "make a difference in the world.

FIELD Immersion 

An integral part of the HBS MBA experience is FIELD projects, starting with FIELD 1 in year one (fall), where first-year students assist SMBs in the US to gain a unique perspective to manage challenges in funding, scaling, operations, marketing, and branding. The latest class had field courses in Technology, Operations, and Management (TOM), Marketing, General Management, and Finance, with most field courses offered in Entrepreneurial Management. In addition to gaining an in-depth perspective about SMB clients, FIELD immersion also offers students self-awareness exercises to develop perspective about their leadership style.

An in-depth study of the leadership styles was cited as influential in the current class' effectiveness for the 8-day immersion program in 10-15 cities, covering Arts, Finance, Startup, Minority Business, Venture Capital, PE, Healthcare, and SMB.

FIELD Global Immersion (Year 1, Spring): The global angle to experiential learning is offered in year 1 Spring where 13-14 international locations are matched to teams of six based on an algorithm that prioritizes location preferences and ensures that the team is diverse in background and ethnicity. Similar to FIELD 1, the preparation happens on campus with prototyping and client interviews that culminate in an 8-day immersion experience at a client location.

The preparation ensures that students have no gaps in assessing the culture of the market and managing the client's expectations.

The 2023 session included
•    Italy; Capitalism - Past, Present, and Future
•    India; Development While Decarbonizing: India'sIndia's Path to Net Zero
•    Israel; Startups and Venture Capital    
•    London; Entrepreneurship in the UK and Europe    
•    Silicon Valley; Decoding "Growth" in Silicon Valley
•    Ghana; Doing Business Across Africa    
•    Japan; Rising Sun Ventures: Exploring Entrepreneurship in Japan (also listed under Strategy)
•    Denmark and Netherlands; Decarbonization and Sustainable Production

Harvard MBA Curriculum Overview – Summer Internship

The criteria for the summer internship are that students can join an established organization or start their entrepreneurial venture with the flexibility of joining the role in a paid or unpaid capacity.

Harvard MBA Entrepreneurship - Curriculum

Harvard MBA's Entrepreneurship curriculum has special emphasis on covering the foundational principles of entrepreneurship, including identifying opportunities, evaluating business ideas, developing business models, and crafting effective business plans. Along with the core subject in the first year- Entrepreneurial Manager, Students can choose electives depending on the function or industry where the gap in perspective exists.

Network: A big part of the $250,000+ price tag of Top MBA programs is the access to an accomplished network of alumni. Harvard's alumni network is prolific in investing. These protagonists often make regular appearances as guest speakers and collaborators for startups emerging from Rock Accelerator- Harvard's accelerator program. Most recently, students had high-value interactions with alumni through the Brazilian-Portuguese Club Conference, the VCPE Conference, the Women in Investing Conference, and Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Club Conference.

Harvard Business School's Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, in addition to serving as a hub for entrepreneurial activities on campus, is a valuable funding source for faculty research, fellowships($10,000 to $20,000), and exclusive founder network – the Rock 100, a trifecta of resources that often provide startups emerging from Harvard the orientation it needs to find product-market fit.

Healthcare is a specialty at Harvard with the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab, where students and postdoctoral scholars from Harvard collaborate to build early-stage life sciences and biotech startups. Among the noticeable Innovation challenges and entrepreneurship competition, PIC (President's Innovation Challenge (PIC)) stands out for its  $515,000 in non-dilutive funding from the Bertarelli Foundation in exchange for cutting-edge ideas in Social Impact, Health, and Life Sciences.

Harvard MBA Curriculum Overview - Year Two (Fall & Spring)

The second year of the Harvard program builds upon the knowledge from the first year with the addition of three themes- Negotiation, Organizations and markets, General Management, and Accounting and Management.

Each theme has its own selection of electives.

To develop expertise in a chosen field, HBS MBA students can take up to 5 courses per semester from 120 courses in 10 subject areas: Accounting and Management, Business, Government & the International Economy, Entrepreneurial Management, Finance, General Management, Marketing, Negotiation, Organizations & Markets, Organizational Behavior, Strategy, and Technology & Operations Management.

Cross-Registration: As a part of their second-year schedule, students have the option to cross-register for up to two courses in the graduate programs offered by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the Sloan School of Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Harvard MBA Management Science Track

Harvard MBA students who have opted for the Management Science Track have a distinct set of electives in the first and second years of the program. The electives focus on core subject areas of Accounting and Management, Business, Government & the International Economy, Entrepreneurial Management, Finance, General Management, Marketing, Negotiation, Organizations and markets, Organizational Behavior, Strategy, and Technology and Operations Management. Electives are also offered in private equity, venture capital, real estate, entrepreneurship (general and technology-specific), retail, and healthcare.

Harvard MBA: Joint Degree Program

Harvard Business School has launched seven joint degree programs in cooperation with six Harvard University graduate schools to equip students to gain functional expertise and a general management perspective. They cover Arts, Law, Policy, General Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Engineering.

Related Service: F1GMAT's Harvard MBA Application Essay Editing Service

Related Book: F1GMAT’s Harvard MBA Essay Guide

Reference

Harvard MBA

Harvard MBA Analysis

• Harvard MBA - Class Profile and Total Fees (Part 1)
• Harvard MBA - Scholarships, Loans and Financial Aid (Part 3)
• Harvard MBA - Salary Trends (Part 4)