At the Forefront of Innovation
Columbia is where theory meets practice. Through a constantly evolving curriculum and a deep connection to business, we’ve stayed at the forefront of business education by evolving alongside it. Our dynamic faculty understand how and when the business world is shifting — and we respond by regularly introducing new programs and courses to challenge and prepare our students for success in a rapidly changing landscape.
Driving the Digital Transformation of Business
Nearly every industry — from insurance to finance, healthcare to energy, real estate to retail — is being upended in the digital era. Columbia Business School’s cutting-edge curriculum includes courses in big data, analytics, digital marketing, web programming, AI, and machine learning, as well as coding applications like SQL and visualization programs like Tableau. Innovative courses include Analytics in Action, Python for MBAs, and People Analytics to ensure that our students are ready to lead in today’s rapidly changing business environment.
Leading Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The School’s fully immersive and curated roadmap allows students to turn ideas into action through the Eugene M. Lang Entrepreneurship Center. Designed to drive startup business, venture capital, and innovation on campus and around the world, our programs have helped launch more than 400 successful ventures with well-known names like Betterment, Beyond Meat, Untuckit, and IT Cosmetics. Our students have access to a variety of notable courses, including Launch Your Startup and Entrepreneurial Strategy, as well as early-stage financial support from The Tamer Fund for Social Ventures, Columbia Build Lab, Columbia Alumni Virtual Accelerator (CAVA), The Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund, and the Entrepreneurial Greenhouse Program.
Elevating the Role of Business in Society
Creating a successful interactive social system requires collaboration, collegiality, and commitment. That’s why we work hard to embed Columbia Business School into the fabric of our New York City home and its vibrant, diverse, and interconnected community. In addition to our socially responsible leadership across our 28 centers and programs — and through the curriculum offered through the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics — our students dive deep into timely topics. Courses exploring the interface between business and society include: Bridging the American Divides, Business Strategies and Solving Social Problems, and Business in Society: Doing Well by Doing Good.
Inventing the Future of Finance
Over the last 100 years, Columbia Business School has been a pioneer in the field of finance starting with the very inception of Value Investing. Today our Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing is blazing new trails in financial education and research by capitalizing on the newest financial technology and its applications; uncovering the nascent value of blockchain and cryptocurrencies; launching advanced algorithmic equity trading systems; and evolving Value Investing theory for the next generation of financial services professionals.
Powering Climate, Sustainability, and Energy Transformation
For more than three decades, Columbia Business School has advanced the practice and understanding of global environmental challenges and their resulting social impact. Our new Climate Change and Business Program includes courses on portfolio management, finance, and energy markets; our annual Climate Science & Investment Conference connects climate scientists and business leaders to discover how new advances in research and practice can inform investments in specific sectors of the global economy. Today, we are conducting research in a variety of critical areas, including declining renewable energy costs, understanding employee response to climate pledges, developing communication strategies to promote greener consumption, evaluating the credibility of the emissions reduction pledges of US oil and gas companies, and using climate change prediction markets to shift climate beliefs.
Beyond the Case Study
All our programs are STEM-designated. Cross-disciplinary student Clusters and Learning Teams work collaboratively throughout their experience here, giving them a holistic understanding of real-world business challenges, which, in turn, trains them to develop more effective and creative solutions. Courses in our core curriculum reach far beyond the case study, examining one company from a variety of perspectives: accounting, management, marketing, operations, and more.
Leaders Who Launch
Columbia faculty, students, and business executives collaborate on numerous innovation projects. For instance, every semester students apply concepts from the course Strategic Intuition to solve real-world business challenges of Fortune 500 companies under the supervision of top consulting executives in our numerous master classes. Our Innovation and Entrepreneurship @ Columbia is open to students, faculty, and staff from across the University. Selected participants learn the venture process and develop fundable business proposals for their disruptive entrepreneurial ideas over a semester.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
A diversity of perspectives and participation is essential to driving the future of business education, scholarship, and leadership in a complex, multicultural world. Each candidate completes the two-year co-curricular Phillips Pathway to Inclusive Leadership to fully equip them for this future. This program was developed by students in partnership with then-Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Gita Johar. Our Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) interweaves our commitment to perspectives and participation through the three foci of Community Diversity, Curriculum and Classroom Inclusion, and Culture and Climate.