When it comes to business degrees, there’s a wide variety of specialization options available, ranging from finance to marketing to management. So many that you might start to wonder why they aren’t all treated as separate degrees. After all, what benefit could there be in learning the basics of fields in which you never plan to work?
As it turns out, the benefits can actually be quite substantial. Whether you intend to have a career in business or plan to start a company of your own, possessing a broad education in the varied fields of business provides valuable information that can help you to get ahead. For entrepreneurial types, the advantages should be fairly clear. While it’s tempting to simply say, “I don’t need to know how to do it; I can simply hire someone that can,” this isn’t always an option. In the early days of a start-up, a business’s founder is going to be expected to wear a lot of hats.
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Creating a business plan, for example, is the very first step you’ll be expected to take, and that’s going to require a solid basis in finance knowledge to ensure that your plan makes sense when it comes to budgeting and allocation of funds. Marketing is critical in these early stages as well since you’ll be building your brand from scratch. Logo design, early advertising campaigns, and developing word of mouth are key to a new business’s success, and much of that is going to rest on the founder’s shoulders, even if it’s only in the form of making a final call.
Perhaps just as importantly, having a baseline level of education in each of the areas of business can help to ensure you aren’t the one being taken advantage of. An understanding of the fundamentals of accounting, for instance, might help you to find competent bookkeepers who can manage your money right from the start, and potentially save you from becoming the target of scammers or embezzlement. You should, of course, be able to trust your employees, but in the immortal words of Ronald Reagan: “Trust, but verify.”
For those who are simply looking for a career in business, it might be a little less obvious why an education outside of your department is necessary. However, it’s exactly these types of additional skills that can help you to stand out from the pack and receive promotions. As one climbs higher up the corporate ladder, having a variety of skills becomes just as important as it would be for an entrepreneur.
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While an entry-level position in the finance department might not make the most use of what you learned in your management classes, an employee who already possesses leadership skills and is capable of handling a group is well-equipped for more responsibilities. Leading a marketing team not only requires knowledge of marketing and management techniques but may also involve creating budgets and managing money for the project. Executives need to be able to understand what exactly their employees are doing for them, what work belongs to what department, and how to set reasonable goals and deadlines.
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Earning a business degree is about so much more than just the piece of paper you’re handed as you walk across the stage at graduation. A good education in business provides a breadth of knowledge that not only allows an individual to work competently in his or her chosen field, it allows them to excel, and provides the skills needed to make it to the top. It offers a business owner the confidence to know their employees are doing what they need to do, and the skills to take over wherever they’re needed. If you’re interested in obtaining a business degree of your own, visit Study.com for more information on specialties, programs, and more.
