IE Business School
Certificate

Business Essentials University Certificate

Master business essentials across strategy, marketing, and finance, and prepare for career success in managerial roles by earning your Business Essentials University Certificate from one of the world’s top business schools.

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October 2023

Classes start on October, 16th 2023.

5 months

10-12 hours per week.

$3,600 USD

Total cost. Please review the payment options before enrolling.

100% online

+Live session classes.

Enrollments are open for our October intake!

World-class program.

IE Business School has consistently garnered global recognition and earned numerous prestigious awards for its master's programs. In 2023, Financial Times recognised IE Business School as the world's leading Online MBA provider. IE Business School ranks 1st in the QS Online MBA Rankings for five consecutive years.

Real-world relevance.

The program is designed to build your skills in the most essential and career-relevant business areas, including financial accounting and reporting, marketing, and strategy. In each module, you will benefit from real-time online sessions with faculty and peer-to-peer collaboration and interaction. You'll also develop hands-on skills through a variety of assignments, case-studies and projects to acquire skills directly relevant to the workplace.

100% transferable degree credits.

As a learner in this Univerity Certificate program, you are "admission eligible" for corresponding master's programs at IE Business School. If you are accepted into an IE program, your credits from the completed Certificate will be 100% transferable and the cost of the Univeristy Certificate will be deducted from the tuition of programs. This applies to programs such as the top-ranked Global Online MBA and Master in Management programs, the Master in Strategic Marketing and Communication, the Master in Market Research and Consumer Behavior, and more.

IE Business Essentials

Program description

Learn frameworks, processes, and methodologies to build future-ready business strategies and develop expertise in core areas such as financial accounting, market research, and strategic analysis.

Overview

In this programme, you will learn about the necessary tools across strategy, marketing, finance, and more, as you prepare for career success in managerial and business roles.

Watch the program trailer

Get inspired by this short program trailer: About IE Business Essentials University Certificate

Program structure

As a student in this program, you’ll benefit from IE’s learning methodology, which emphasizes peer-to-peer interaction and collaboration. At the beginning of each module, you’ll be assigned to a group, and through online materials and two live-online sessions per course, you’ll develop your skills alongside a diverse cohort of fellow future business leaders from all parts of the world. Groups will change with each new module, affording you ongoing opportunities to broaden your network.

Learning outcomes and benefits

The certificate will:

  • Prepare you for career success in managerial roles across a wide range of industries and fields.
  • In addition to building essential business skills, you'll also develop invaluable workplace skills ranging from teamwork and project management to design thinking and innovation.
  • Put you on an expedited path to study a master’s at IE University. You will receive credits which are 100% transferrable to one of IE Master’s and the cost of this Certificate will be deducted from the tuition for the Global Online MBA and seven other IE degrees.

Required background

There are no prerequisite requirements for the Business Essentials University Certificate and no application required!

Watch a past webinar

Learn more about the program curriculum from this past webinar: Visual IE Larger

Try a course

IE Business School offers a free course Foundations of Strategy, designed to introduce themes included in the University Certificate.

Foundations of Strategy Course

Foundations of Strategy covers the first week of material that is taught in module 3 of the Business Essentials University Certificate. You will learn the basic logic of how firms and markets function by using economic logic from a distinctly strategic perspective.

Contact the IE team

Do you want to know more? Why not reach out to the IE Business Essentials team directly at ie.mtc.support@ie.edu. They will be happy to answer any of your questions.

Skills you will gain

  • Strategic analysis
  • Decision-making
  • Marketing planning and development
  • Teamwork
  • Agile methodologies
  • Effective communication for leadership
  • Visual design and thinking
  • Career management
  • Financial Accounting
  • Marketing
  • Strategy
  • Leadership
  • Critical thinking
  • Marketing management
  • Business strategy

4 courses in this 5 month program

Course 1 of 4

Financial Accounting and Reporting

Overview

In this course, you’ll develop an understanding of how accounting is an information system that produces financial statements. You’ll cover fundamental concepts such as the basics of accounting for assets and liabilities, and learn how to use a statement of cash flows to evaluate a company.

As you advance through the course, you will also:

  • Learn to interpret the impact of economic events on balance sheets, income statements, and statements of cash flows.
  • Familiarize yourself with the measurement theories underlying financial statements.
  • Understand how to write and analyze financial reports.
  • Analyze the differences between financial reporting environments and comprehend their influence on the functioning of capital markets.
  • Develop an awareness of the ethical dilemmas that emerge in financial accounting.
  • Recognize how financial statements communicate economic events to shareholders, investors, and creditors, and assess the impact that this information has on these different groups.

Course 2 of 4

Marketing Management

Overview

In this course, you’ll master the basic principles of marketing, including segmentation, targeting, and positioning, and learn the key elements of the marketing mix—product, price, promotion, and place—that enable a brand to implement a consistent and successful marketing plan. You’ll also explore issues surrounding social and environmental sustainability that relate to specific marketing decisions.

As you advance through the course, you will also:

  • Discuss models and tools that allow marketers to decide upon and monitor marketing activities.
  • Develop critical thinking skills to solve problems in marketing.
  • Make decisions and develop strategies based on careful analysis in order to present and defend these strategic decisions to key stakeholders.

Course 3 of 4

Foundations of Strategy

Overview

In this course, you’ll learn about how a business structures its mission, the realities of general management, and the issues underlying value generation in business. You’ll also discuss the models, theories, and tools that will allow you to effectively analyze complex competitive situations and make decisions that increase a firm’s competitive standing vis-à-vis its competitors. These include Porter's 5 forces, entry barriers, resource-based view, value chains, scale and learning curves, price wars, and the prisoner's dilemma. Finally, you’ll explore social responsibility and sustainability issues in the context of competitive and corporate strategy.

Course 4 of 4

Skills Portfolio and Capstone Project

Overview

During the Skills Portfolio module you’ll begin by mastering agile methodologies that you will later apply in your Capstone project. From there you’ll move to the visual design lesson, where you’ll explore new ways to brainstorm, ideate, and apply design thinking to solve business challenges. Next, you’ll focus on sharpening your communication skills to become an effective leader. Finally, you’ll explore strategies and approaches for pursuing your career goals through the career management lesson.

In the Capstone Project, you'll have the opportunity to put into practice what you have learned throughout this program. Your project will include a submodule for each of the four subject areas you'll have focused on, and there will be four week-long online workshops to complement what you have learned in the first three modules of the program.

You will be presented with a real case study or company dilemma, conduct an extensive analysis of the current situation, and recommend specific action plans to solve existing dilemmas of the companies being discussed.

Earn credit towards the IE Business School's top-ranked Global Online MBA and Master in Management programs

As a learner in this University Certificate program, you are "admission eligible" for corresponding master's program. If you are accepted into the full program, your credits will be 100% transferable. Corresponding programs include the top-ranked Global Online MBA and Master in Management programs, the Master in Strategic Marketing and Communication, the Master in Market Research and Consumer Behavior, and more.

IE Business School

Certificate

Business Essentials University Certificate

Business Essentials University Certificate Certificate can earn credits towards:

IE Business School
Global Online MBA (100% online)

Instructors

Frequently asked questions

More questions?

Why not reach out to the IE Business Essentials team directly at ie.mtc.support@ie.edu for any program specific questions.

Visit the Learner Help Center for any other questions.

Coursera does not grant academic credit; the decision to grant, accept, or recognize academic credit, and the process for awarding such credit, is at the sole discretion of the academic institutions offering the University Certificate program and/or other institutions that have determined that completion of the program may be worthy of academic credit. Completion of a University Certificate program does not guarantee admission into the full Master’s program referenced herein, or any other degree program.