12 Popular Business Management Degrees for 2023

Are you looking for a degree that will open the door to multiple career paths and provide useful life skills? A business management degree can help you reach your professional goals by providing you with advanced skills and knowledge in areas such as finance, staff development, and marketing. With a degree in this field, not only will you be qualified to master any challenge that comes your way, but you’ll also gain a major advantage when competing for job roles in established businesses or forward-thinking start-ups. Earning a business management degree is more than just gaining technical expertise; it's about equipping yourself with the necessary tools for success and ease to new career options. 

A business management degree is an excellent choice if you're looking to develop an in-depth understanding of everything that goes into making a business successful. With this degree, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of business processes and methods, from planning and policy to leadership development, communication, and more. A business management degree covers finance, auditing, marketing, economics, operational analysis, and organizational development. You'll also learn how to implement talents and skills through hands-on problem solving. Ultimately, a business management degree can put any graduate in an excellent position in the job market.

A business management degree offers not only an education on business principles and theories but also teaches you realistic leadership, communication, and practical skills that will help you excel in any career. You’ll be equipped with the knowledge to successfully discern data and trends that guide decisions for businesses, which can give you an advantage over the competition for jobs upon graduation.

Furthermore, having a degree in business management prepares you with the essential skills needed in senior-level managerial positions, including:

• Strategic planning
• Leadership
• Problem-solving
• Customer service excellence
• Dynamic communication
• Interpersonal skills
• Analytical and critical thinking

With a wide range of business management degrees, choosing the right one can be challenging. Each type of degree has its advantages regarding career prospects and further study. Courses are usually tailored to the student's particular interests and areas of expertise, helping them focus on the topics most relevant to their future career. Whether you’re looking for something traditional or something more specialized and cutting-edge, there’s likely a degree program that meets your needs. Learn more about the leading business management degrees in 2023 below. 

Project management (PM) is the practice of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet success criteria. PM combines processes, people, tools, technology, and communication to manage and complete various tasks within a project. Effective project management involves significant coordination, organization skills, and an understanding of the project's objective and expectations. It requires careful planning throughout each stage to complete all activities efficiently to ensure deadlines are met and stay within budget. Furthermore, managing changes through adaptive planning is vital for project managers to ensure the successful delivery of the project. 

Healthcare management is the area of business that involves overseeing, planning, and directing medical services to maximize overall health outcomes. This comprehensive job happens at the organizational and operational levels, focusing on matters such as regulation of health systems, insurance plans, biomedical research and clinical studies, health policy development, and financial/economic analysis of the healthcare system. Using their organizational skills to coordinate personnel and facilities, healthcare managers can effectively facilitate access to quality care while minimizing costs. They also help maintain ethical standards within medical settings so that sound decisions are taken in the best interest of patients' well-being. With an understanding of laws and regulations governing public health issues, healthcare managers have the tools to ensure success for all patients within a healthcare facility.

Finance management is about more than just having enough money to cover the bills in your household. It's about navigating complex financial decisions and regulations, planning realistically for the future, and developing a comprehensive strategy to help individuals and businesses reach their financial goals. From budgeting responsibly, managing retirement accounts, investing wisely, and understanding taxes, good finance managers are necessary to make sound economic decisions. 

Retail and sales management is the process of overseeing and coordinating activities related to selling goods or services. It encompasses all business aspects, from marketing strategies to customer relationships and inventory management. This requires an individual to know areas such as forecasting trends, developing budgets, managing staff, understanding customer needs, and analyzing sales data. Effective retail and sales management requires excellent attention to detail, communication with stakeholders, creating revenue growth goals, strong negotiation skills, and an understanding of industry regulations that can impact operations. 

Sports management is an exciting and growing field with many possible career options, ranging from marketing professionals to team managers and more. It involves using business skills to manage, control, and organize sports-related activities, services, and organizations. The responsibilities of sports managers include implementing strategic business plans, budgeting, organizing events, communicating goals with players and other staff, preparing daily reports, and acting as a leader. Becoming a successful sports manager necessitates excellent interpersonal skills as well as a deep knowledge of the sport and the laws governing it.

Marketing management is essential for any business that wants to reach its goals. It is the process of analyzing market trends, forecasting customer needs, and developing strategies for delivering products or services that can fulfill those needs. To do this effectively, marketers must identify target markets, create marketing plans and campaigns, track sales forecasts and customer feedback data, measure results, and adjust according to the insights gained. It is an involved process that requires understanding the marketplace dynamics, strategic thinking, and analytical skills. With effective marketing management in place, businesses will have the tools they need to maximize reach and grow their bottom line. 

Economics management is the science of studying how resources are used, allocated, and exchanged to satisfy human needs. It is a field of study that researches the behavior of markets and businesses and their effect on public well-being. Economics examines the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, focusing on how people, businesses, governments, and nations make decisions about spending money to produce or deliver services. By looking at such decisions, economists can analyze their effects on individual consumers as well as entire economies. Economic theories can then be applied to business models for maximum efficiency. This makes economic management an invaluable tool for understanding market conditions to inform strategic decision-making so that business goals can be met with optimized results.

Supply chain management (SCM) is the careful coordination of a complex network of activities involved in producing and delivering products from raw materials to the final customer. In other words, this type of management integrates all plans, operations, and resources necessary to supply a product or service from day one until it reaches its end user. Every company has its own individualized supply chain strategy depending on the type and volume of goods produced and its supply chain requirements. SCM considers competitive factors such as cost reduction, process optimization, innovation, customer service level enhancement, market opportunity maximization, and collaboration with suppliers. A successful implementation of supply chain management promotes efficiency and effectiveness and ensures that any changes in the system do not affect the overall process.

Human resources (HR) management is how employers identify, locate, acquire, and deploy employees to serve their organization best. It is the responsibility of HR personnel to understand employee needs and match them with the appropriate job roles. This requires developing strategies that accurately evaluate resources, set goals, and measure performance in a timely manner. Furthermore, HR management ensures compliance with labor laws and cultivates relationships across teams and departments as needed. With a focus on continual growth and support of people in the workplace, HR management is essential for any successful organization.

Operations management is the art of balancing resources to ensure the best possible outputs with minimal waste. It can range from decisions at the strategic level, such as figuring out how to staff a product line, to individual choices for each order, such as how much raw material should be used for each product iteration. Regardless of the scope, successful operations management requires knowledge of cost-benefit analysis and how to use available data to manage processes in a cost-effective way. The goal is to achieve maximum efficiency and consistent customer satisfaction through careful resource management.

Hospitality management is a field of study that deals with managing personnel and resources in the hospitality industry, which includes hotels, resorts, restaurants, spas, and other related organizations. It involves overseeing all aspects of day-to-day operations, such as personnel management, customer service, fiscal responsibility, and the strategic planning necessary to ensure the success of all types of hospitality organizations. The primary goal is to create a positive and enjoyable experience for guests. Hospitality managers are expected to have excellent leadership and organizational skills as well as a thorough understanding of how the hospitality industry works. With the continuing growth in global tourism, this field is becoming more important than ever as people look for reliable experiences when traveling abroad or domestically.

A business management degree can open a whole world of opportunities for anyone pursuing a career in the field. Whether you're looking to specialize in accounting, operations management, or human resource management, there are many options available to you. 

When choosing the best business management degree for your needs, consider the accreditation level and availability of online learning. WGU offers several accredited business programs with flexible options catering to busy individuals. Furthermore, our tuition rates are competitive, and our credit transfer policy is generous, so students don't pay for classes they’ve already passed. If you're looking to gain the necessary skills and knowledge needed to take your career in business management to the next level, then obtaining a degree in business management at WGU is an excellent choice.