Business

What does the business major need as she moves from the university to the job market? Increasingly, presidents of corporations say you need comprehensive skills often found in a liberal arts program: the ability to think critically, solve problems, communicate well, and be an effective member of a team.

Business Majors Develop the Skills They Need

Hollins business majors develop these competencies both on campus and off. Class assignments, team projects, simulations, and class presentations help students feel at ease in future business settings. Because of their experiences in the classroom and interactions with faculty and local professionals, students are more confident and feel better prepared during their job interviews.
    Our faculty add real-world components to the classroom through their own work with businesses. Among the business instructors are a certified public accountant and a business lawyer. In addition, guest speakers from the professional world are often invited into classes.

Getting Down to Business

The Hollins business major requires students to take six core courses, a capstone course, and at least one internship. In addition, students complete four courses from a business track depending on their area of interest (such as finance, international business, or business communication and technology). The student who wants to have a broader scope can take the general business track and choose electives that augment her interests and skills.
    In the capstone course (i.e., the senior seminar), students play a computer-based business game.  They manage an ongoing business, which requires making decisions in areas such as operation, marketing, and finance. Students are divided into small teams (two to four individuals) and each team assumes control of a company that operates on an international scale (North America, Europe, and Asia). All teams take over a company with identical features (value and type of assets, financial resources, etc.), but as they make decisions regarding marketing, logistics, distribution, production, quality control, and finance, they attain different levels of profitability and growth. Their firms’ overall performance over a period of more than two years is assessed on the basis of several parameters (return on assets, return on equity, and earnings per share). The team that scores the best receives the highest grade on this project.
    Students participating in the Hollins Abroad program in London have the option of enrolling in business courses at the University of North London.

Test the Career Waters with Hands-on Internships