Creating mindsets, providing tools
The curriculum of the Bachelor of Business Administration & Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence for Business follows the natural cycle of an AI-based project within a company. You will start by exploring the societal, economic, and legal factors that influence the business landscape. In parallel, you'll acquire proficiency in mathematics, statistics, and programming. This knowledge will give you a solid conceptual framework and nurture a mindset for data-driven modeling. As you progress, you will delve into the essentials of management. You will be introduced to the different functional areas of a company such as finance, accounting, marketing or operations. This understanding will enable you to identify the needs that emerge and translate them into opportunities. You will do so by leveraging AI-based tools. You will be introduced to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and acquire the knowledge and skills to develop your own machine learning and deep learning models. You'll also learn how to deploy these models within a production infrastructure, ensuring the delivery of solutions to end-users. The next step will be to evaluate the impact of these solutions from the economic, social, and environmental perspectives. This will be crucial in preparing you to lead data-driven companies, a task that demands constant reevaluation and adaptation of the business strategy for enduring success.
This program is designed to guide you into cultivating a solid mindset, while providing you with the necessary tools to anticipate and adapt to the current and future trends of this dynamic sector.
Subjects year by year
First year
DISCOVER · Laying the foundations
In the first year, you will explore and discover. You will be introduced to the main societal and economic factors that shape the context where businesses grow and develop. At the same time, you will also build a solid background in mathematics and programming, the foundations for data science and artificial intelligence. This will be a year full of new challenges and experiences. You will meet your new classmates, be introduced to innovative methodologies and learn alongside inspiring teachers. Outside the classroom, you will have the chance to join student associations and immerse yourself in the intense university life of Esade.
COMPULSORY · 1st Term
Applied Mathematics for Management
Mathematics is an essential tool for quantitative information analysis, for the creation and interpretation of models to explain the economic and financial reality of the business environment and for the development of structured reasoning processes. We are living presently in a digital revolution where the management, transformation, and analysis of data have become not only an asset but an absolute necessity within any business field.
The topics and concepts that will be learned in this course will lay the foundation for students to reason logically through real-world problems requiring the application of mathematical methods, to assess critically the practical usefulness and interpretation of mathematical results, and to connect these with applications in economics and statistics.
Computing Foundations
Computers are powerful tools issued from basic principles. As we move toward the Artificial Intelligence Era, humanity is achieving disruptive advances through the use of computers. However, the principles of computation have not changed. To understand and apply the most advanced computing techniques, the knowledge of such basics makes the difference. In this course, we will learn what a computer is, what it is made of, and how to interact with it. We will cover the fundamental principles, concepts, and skills forming the basis of computer science and serving as the building blocks of technological education. Our programmign language of choice will be Python. Students will be introduced to the basics of this language and design their first programs.
Sociology
Companies operate in markets, and the markets, in turn, are part of increasingly interrelated societies. Understanding what a society is, how it stays united and how it changes is an essential part of the training future business management and administration professionals require.
This subject examines the relationship between individuals, social groups, and society as a whole and helps future executives to look critically at the social conditioning factors which influence their own lives. The aim is to instill awareness in students about how the actions they take as citizens and professionals can change society on the basis of the values they freely choose to live by.
The course thus examines ways of analyzing social reality, it encourages critical thought and tries to put events into a historical and global/local vision of society.
Microeconomics
The objective of this course is to provide the students with analytical tools from the Economic analysis that can be applied to understand the market mechanism, the challenge from the existence of market failures and the consequence of some government interventions in particular markets.
This course will provide students with a framework for economic analysis of particular markets. Students will be able to think critically about the consequences of changes in a particular market have on the firms that participate in the market. They will also gain an understanding of how government decisions over a particular market change the status quo of the different market participants. Finally, the course will promote the debate about sustainability and the challenges that arise from the existence of market failures.
Basics of Financial Accounting
This course is an introduction to corporate economic-financial reality. The course covers basic business financial statements through the study of accounting events or simple situations often based on personal experience, thereby making them easier to understand. Upon completing this subject, students will have attained a solid grounding in the subject, enabling them to study more complex situations affecting financial statements as well as undertake subsequent analyses and decision-making.
COMPULSORY · 2nd Term
Advanced Mathematics
This course covers discrete mathematics, advanced linear algebra, approximation methods and advanced calculus. It is strongly motivated by applications in data analytics, cryptography, economics, and finance, and will develop both personal analytical skill and the use of mathematical software for practical problem solving. It will further enrich and solidify the connections between concepts that students have previously learned in their introductory Applied Mathematics for Management course. It will prepare students for future study in the fields of data science, machine learning, cryptography and quantitative finance.
Programming with Data
This course explores the fundamental principles of data manipulation and analysis using the Python programming language. With an increased emphasis on leveraging libraries such as pandas and numpy, students will acquire essential skills to handle and analyze large datasets efficiently, design and implement scalable programs, and address complex data-driven challenges. Throughout this course, participants will investigate both the principles of object-oriented programming (OOP) and the techniques of data manipulation. By gaining understanding of classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, and the utilization of pandas and numpy for vectorization and array operations, students will be well-prepared to create Python-based solutions for real-world problems.
Business Law
Upon completing this course, students will have acquired the competencies needed to make decisions regarding legal questions in the business realm. They will also develop the basic criteria to understand assess advice from and actions taken by legal professionals.
Macroeconomics
This course contributes to students’ economics training by developing their ability for analysis, their mental acumen and critical outlook in relation to problems and economic relationships between companies and their environments. The course also provides the highest level of professional training and the information necessary for those going on to a career in business or management. In particular, this subject will expand on the knowledge acquired in Microeconomics: You will learn how to critically assess microeconomic approaches, decisions, and policies. Among other topics, we will cover macroeconomic variables, fiscal policy, the financial industry, recessions, and crises.
Advanced Financial Accounting
This course consolidates and expand knowledge students have of corporate financial statements. It is based on the knowledge acquired in the Introduction to Financial Accounting class (Accounting and Financial Analysis I) as well as their knowledge of corporate economic-financial reality. It further explores the complexities that arise and affect corporate financial statements while also exploring companies' internal accounting and cost accounting processes.
Language I (Spanish)
Your curriculum will also include compulsory Spanish courses, ranging in level from beginner to advanced. Before beginning the BBA, students are required to take the Spanish Language Level Test set by Esade and/or with official accreditation recognized by Esade. You’ll start with the Language I course and learn to understand, speak, read and write basic Spanish that’s applicable both in business environments, and in daily life. On completion of this subject, your level of Spanish will reach level A2 (MCER system).
ELECTIVES
Liberal Arts track
BBA Electives
You will be able to choose electives from the Bachelor of Business Administration
BAIB Electives
This is just a small list of the BAIB electives offered
- Introduction to Network Analysis
- From Science to Business
- Data Science for (Social) Good
Second year
INTERPRET · Understanding management principles
In the second year, you will learn how to interpret the context by consolidating your analytical toolset and incorporating a managerial perspective. You will delve deeper into statistics and learn algorithmic and computational strategies for problem-solving. You will also understand the principles and frameworks that drive successful businesses and be introduced to the main functional areas of any company. You will combine this knowledge to identify needs and opportunities.
COMPULSORY · 1st Term
Descriptive Statistics and Probability
Statistics is an essential tool for decision-making in environments where the amount of data and the level of uncertainty do not allow directly extracting the information contained. This subject provides some of the theoretical and practical foundations needed for decision-making in the face of randomness.
Data Structures and Algorithm Design
Understanding how to apply algorithmic thinking to business is crucial in today’s competitive landscape. It involves the industrialized use of mathematical algorithms that are pivotal to driving improved business decisions or process automation. The correct understanding of algorithms in business provides managers with the necessary skills to accelerate business and impact business performance.
The learnings of this course will prepare the students for other subjects, such as computational problem-solving and introduction to Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. Understanding how to create, access, and manipulate data structures and how to use algorithms to solve computational problems will prepare the students to understand more advanced concepts related to optimization, data manipulation, and predictive models.
Managerial Economics
The topics covered in this subject include market power, imperfect competition, pricing policies, market segmentation and competitive strategies. You will also learn about exchange rates and short- and long-run theories.
Financial Analysis
The Financial Analysis course focuses on the use and interpretation of financial statements in order to diagnose the financial and economic situation of companies or groups of companies and, based on the latter, to be able to make decisions for the near future. To this end, participants will employ a set of tools and indicators that will allow them to form a judgement on the situation of the company analyzed. In addition, the course introduces financial statement forecasting and consolidation basics, adding to the previous analysis of financial statements and allowing participants to develop comprehensive diagnoses and provide recommendations. Sustainability reporting will be also considered in the analysis.
This is a fundamental course to understand the usefulness of financial reporting and the decision-making processes that take place in business.
Leadership & Organizational Behavior
This course is designed to empower students to cultivate self-awareness and embrace their roles as responsible individuals, collaborative team members, and future inspirational leaders. Through the exploration of theories and concepts on human behavior in organizations, students will gain invaluable insights that they will apply in researching and analyzing the behaviors of leaders and team members in organizations of their choosing.
Emphasizing the significance of teamwork, the course goes beyond mere group assignments. It challenges students to actively develop their teamwork skills and demonstrate unwavering commitment and integrity as team players. By immersing themselves in collaborative projects, students will foster essential qualities that are highly valued in professional settings, preparing them to thrive in dynamic team environments.
This course serves as a catalyst for personal growth, equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and mindset needed to navigate the complexities of organizational behavior. As students embark on their professional journeys, they will possess a deep understanding of themselves and the ability to positively influence others, making a lasting impact as effective leaders and contributors within their teams and organizations.
COMPULSORY · 2nd Term
Statistical Inference and Data Analysis
Statistics is a fundamental tool to make decisions in settings in which the quantity of data and/or the level of uncertainty does not allow us to extract information directly. In this class, we will explore some of the theoretical and practical principles that constitute the basis for predictions, estimates and testing hypotheses, all of which are used to transform the information we have into knowledge and valuable insights. In addition to the most common univariate and bivariate inferential techniques, in this course we will also examine some useful multivariate techniques to resolve important problems in other contexts such as Marketing and Human Resources.
Computational Problem Solving
This course aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of optimization and modeling approaches to effectively tackle complex economic, social, and environmental challenges. By integrating optimization methods and simulations, the course bridges the gap between theory and practice, empowering students with computational problem-solving skills. Optimization methods play a crucial role in enhancing decision- making processes and maximizing outcomes. By exploring various techniques such as hill-climbing search, simulated annealing, and tabu search. The hill-climbing search involves iteratively improving a solution by making small changes, while simulated annealing mimics the process of annealing to find global optima. Tabu search utilizes a memory mechanism to avoid revisiting previously explored solutions. Combined, these methods will equip students with tools to identify the most optimal solution, leading to increased efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantage.
The second part of the course will delve into simulations, starting with Monte Carlo simulations that utilize random sampling to estimate outcomes. We will then introduce evolutionary algorithms that involve iterative selection, recombination, and mutation to find optimal solutions. Finally, we describe ant algorithms, a kind of algorithm that is inspired by the behavior of ants and their pheromone trails to solve complex problems. The course will end by explaining the basis of Bayesian optimization, which allows students to explore emergent properties and simulate the behavior of the complex interactions within a system, providing insights into the dynamics of environmental, and economic phenomena.
Tax Law
The Tax Law course enables students to gain insights into the fiscal reality of the business world. During the course basic taxation concepts will be introduced so that students can appreciate the importance of companies adopting the appropriate tax policy. Once the course is completed, students will be in a position to study the Spanish taxation system in greater depth.
Financial Economics
Financial markets serve as the framework to balance the supply and demand of the economy's available financial resources. Given that any economic activity requires financing, knowing how those financial markets as well as the assets negotiated within them work is a cornerstone of the education of any Business Administration undergraduate degree program.
Organization Theory
Being successful within an organization, whether as a newly hired employee or a CEO, requires an understanding of the human side of management and an in-depth understanding of how organizations work.
To be effective in your work you not only need technical skills in operations, finance, accounting, marketing and developing winning strategies, but also knowledge of how to implement them with the help of other people. Your own personal traits, abilities, skills, and knowledge will be valuable tools throughout your career. However, as you move up through any organization it is increasingly critical that you develop your ability to work with a multicultural diverse group people and understand and leverage the organization's dynamics. The concepts and models studied in this course have applications to a variety of organizations, not only businesses, but also governments, non-profits, athletic teams, social clubs, and religious groups. We will encourage you to explore a diversity of organizational form and purposes beyond the corporate realm.
Language II (Spanish)
On completion of this subject, your level of Spanish will reach level B1 (MCER system).
ELECTIVES
BBA Electives
You will be able to choose electives from the Bachelor of Business Administration
BAIB Electives
This is just a small list of the BAIB electives offered
- Introduction to Network Analysis
- From Science to Business
- Data Science for (Social) Good
- Introduction to Quantum Information
- Advanced Computing for Business
- Tech Dialogue
- AI, Science and the Cutting Edge
- Marketing Analytics
Third year
UNFOLD · Harnessing artificial intelligence
In the third year, you will unfold your skills to address the needs and harness opportunities. The third year marks a significant shift towards artificial intelligence and its applications in business. You will learn the fundamentals of machine learning to solve real-world problems. In addition, you will also gain deeper insights into how AI tools can be leveraged in various business contexts, including those related to finance, marketing and operations.
COMPULSORY · 1st Term
Corporate Finance
It is essential for the students of this program to be able to identify threats to and opportunities for value creation in companies; know the different value measurement models and understand their advantages and limitations; and be able to apply them when selecting investments and resources for a company, while also identifying the contribution made by Financial Management to value creation for the shareholder.
Marketing Foundations
This course provides an intro to AI and dives deep quickly into the most fundamental AI algorithms: supervised machine learning models. The course will cover, with a high level of mathematical detail, the main models for supervised learning, their optimization and their evaluation. It will also delve into the end-to-end methodology for working in a machine learning project. The course will include practical sessions to implement these models in the python programming language, using datasets and challenges akin to realistic business problems.
Introduction to AI
Software Development for Business
This course equips students with essential knowledge in software applicability, deployment, and design. The skills acquired here will pave the way for upcoming courses in Database Management and Design, Cloud Solutions and DevOps management. Following this course, students will delve into bridging scientific and specialized subjects like programming and mathematics with business studies. While emphasizing tools like Docker and Git, the problem-solving skills developed will be adaptable across various software environments and technologies.
Designing Operations Systems
The course aims to ensure that students master the basic language related to the business world, introducing the fundamental concepts and tools for Operations management. Through this course students will develop the necessary skills that enable them to form both a comprehensive and general vision of organizations and the environment in which they operate beyond their functional aspects. Finally, they will also develop an analytical capacity and systemic vision of complex organizations in order to undertake business modelling and search for the best solution for an organization when understood as a whole.
COMPULSORY · 2nd Term
Machine Learning
This course is designed to deepen students' understanding of machine learning techniques, building on foundational knowledge acquired in previous courses. It focuses on two major areas: ensemble learning and unsupervised learning. Students will explore bagging, boosting, clustering, and dimensionality reduction, among others. These techniques are crucial for developing robust predictive models that can improve decision-making and strategic planning in business environments. Practical exercises will enable students to implement and optimize these algorithms, reinforcing their coding skills, understanding of model performance, and ability to interpret results in real-world applications. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of advanced machine learning concepts, preparing them for deep learning topics and equipping them to tackle complex problems in industrial and financial settings using state-of-the-art techniques.
Database Management and Design
The pervasive digitalization of life has become a new reality for organizations, sectors, and society in general, and has turned data into the most valuable resource of organizations. The capacity of digital technologies to gather, process, store and analyze large amounts of data is not only reshaping the way organizations structure their processes in order produce and deliver products and services, but is also transforming industries giving room for new business models that displace incumbent ones.
The primary purpose of this course is to provide students with a level of knowledge and skills that allow them to have a better understanding of how to manage and exploit data. Basic technical skills for the class covers database design and implementation: including entity-relationship modeling, normalization, structured query language and how to cretate and manipulate the information in a NoSQL Databases.
Financial Strategy
This course aims to frame corporate financial decisions and dividend policies within companies' global strategies, market conditions and types of stakeholders. Examining business reality is easier when using publicly-listed companies. Based on the Modigliani and Miller paradigm, this course introduces the concepts and situations which can harm market efficiency: asymmetric information, conflicts of interest and irrational economic agents. With these distortions, prices are not the result of objective valuations.
In previous finance courses, students studied basic financial instruments: accounting, analysis, investment selection, financial planning, financial and corporate and financial instrument appraisal models, etc. We will use these instruments to analyze decision-making within firms.
We begin with the assumption that corporate financial decisions are closely linked to the type of business. On the other hand, the varying interests of the different agents involved in the companies and the general economic conditions are also important. Within this framework, the subject will focus on long-term financial decisions: capital structure, dividend policy, going public, M&As and start-ups. As part of these long-term decisions, we will study the dynamics between companies and financial markets and how asymmetric information and conflicts of interest condition the possibilities of surviving and creating value.
The economic-financial setting also conditions companies' possibilities and determines the relative importance of the different economic agents and institutions. In this course we will study to what extent various investor groups (private equity firms, venture capital firms, hedge funds, etc.) can influence the economic setting and the financial decisions of the companies in which they participate.
Foundations of Operations Excellence
The term "operations” is widely used around the world to describe the corporate function that produces goods and services. Operations encompasses all those activities needed to create and deliver a given product or service - from sourcing to distribution. How companies group these different activities defines their different processes. The fundamental object of operations is the study of processes. The definition of these processes is the basis of its future digitization.
Among the various areas within companies, operations requires the largest number of personnel and assets. Operations is also the area mainly responsible for the quality of what a company sells. Operational innovation offers a meaningful and sustainable way to get ahead - and stay ahead - of the pack.
Consequently, many increasingly see operations as a mean to gain competitive advantage. Correctly managing operations is key to making company strategy a reality. Without considering the contribution of operations, any attempt to define corporate strategy runs the risk of becoming a mere theoretical exercise.
An excellent company is one that stands out in its sector by performing better than competitors. Operational Excellence is the implementation of corporate strategy in a way that is more reliable and consistent than the competition. This is achieved through the design and implementation of excellent processes and their continuous improvement. Operational excellence is evidenced by company results.
The course will develop the foundations of Operational Excellence that coincide with infrastructural elements - also called Software - of Operations Strategy. These are Innovation, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Industry 4.0 & Digitalization, Quality Management, and Environmental Quality. Additionally, we will work on Processes improvement through the Lean and Six Sigma approaches.
The Covid -19 Pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have increased the importance of Operations for companies and for society in general while introducing important changes in their management. Thus, it has forced the redesign of Supply Chain processes seeking to minimize risk, a review of "Make or Buy" decisions, an enhancement of digitization in service and industrial operations, etc. As stated by the CEO of the biotechnology company Moderna, manufacturer of a vaccine against Covid-19, Stéphane Bancel "Manufacturing was also a key enabler. If you have great science but cannot make a product, there's no business."
Decisions in Marketing
Decisions in Marketing further develops the educational content learned in Marketing Foundations. Having mastered the basic marketing tools and concepts in the first course, students will now go on to learn marketing strategies. To illustrate this in terms of chess, Marketing Foundations teaches how each piece can move, while Decisions in Marketing teaches students the most typical moves (checkmate, openings, etc.).
Data Visualization and Decision-Making
This course is designed for students with a basic foundation in Python programming and data visualization who want to take their skills to the next level. The course focuses on developing standalone data visualizations, interactive applications using reactive programming, and designing effective visualizations for decision-making in real-world business contexts.
Through a series of hands-on assignments and case studies, students will learn advanced techniques in data visualization design, narrative storytelling, and cognitive bias mitigation. They will gain experience with industry-standard tools like Streamlit for building interactive dashboards and will explore the organizational and human factors that influence data-driven decision making.
By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to create compelling, purposeful data visualizations that drive insights and actions in real-world settings. They will be able to think critically about the role of data visualization in organizations and design visualizations that effectively support decision-making processes while being aware of potential pitfalls and biases.
This course is ideal for data scientists, analysts, and other professionals who want to enhance their data visualization and communication skills to make a greater impact in their organizations.
Language III (Spanish)
On completion of this subject, your level of Spanish will reach level B2 (MCER system). Over the course of the program, you’ll progress to Español 5, which focuses on becoming fluent and understanding the cultural context of the language.
ELECTIVES
BBA Electives
You will be able to choose electives from the Bachelor of Business Administration
BAIB Electives
This is just a small list of the BAIB electives offered
- Introduction to Quantum Information
- Advanced Computing for Business
- Tech Dialogue
- AI, Science and the Cutting Edge
- Marketing Analytics
- Recommender Systems
- Computational Social Science
- Quantum Algorithms
Fourth year
TRANSFORM · Integrating AI into business strategy
In the fourth year, you will learn to integrate artificial intelligence into business strategy. You will develop a comprehensive understanding of the impact of artificial intelligence in the socio-political and economic environment of business. You will learn to adapt accordingly, by transforming and aligning talent, infrastructure and strategy. By the end of this year, you will have gained the skills necessary to drive AI adoption and ensure its ethical, sustainable deployment to maximize business outcomes.
COMPULSORY · 1st Term
People Management
The aim of this course is to provide students with a solid understanding of the criteria and processes involved in people management. The course's contribution to the programme is establishing the foundations for people management which future executives will have to be familiar with. In this respect, the course is aimed at future managers, regardless of the functional area in which they work.
Competitive Strategy
This subject is divided into an intensive theoretical part, which will provide an overview of a company and key concepts in strategic decision-making, and a practical part comprising a simulation in which you will apply tools and concepts covered in class.
Economic Environmental Analysis
This subject combines elements from Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Managerial Economics. You will study applied economics, which projects the fundamentals of economic analysis onto the economic situation from a geographical and sector-oriented perspective.
Competing from Operations
This course aims to train student into being capable of contributing to a company's global strategy from Operations. This requires facilitating the company's implementation and execution of its business strategy in a global environment. Students will learn to design and manage the value chain from Operations.
Data and Business Ethics
This course offers a multidisciplinary exploration of the ethical considerations surrounding artificial intelligence. It covers social, legal, and technical dimensions, emphasizing responsible AI development and deployment. Students will critically examine key issues such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the societal impact of AI, while also engaging with relevant regulatory frameworks and ethical principles. By integrating perspectives from both business and technology, the course aims to equip students with the knowledge to navigate the ethical challenges posed by AI in professional practice.
Deep Learning
This course offers students a comprehensive introduction to the principles of deep learning. Students will be introduced to the basics of neural networks, including perceptrons, activation functions, feedforward networks, and backpropagation. They will the explore more advanced topics such as convolutional networks for image analysis and recurrent networks for sequential data processing. Throughout the course, students will gain practical experience in designing, training, and fine-tuning deep neural networks using industry-standard frameworks. They will learn how to preprocess data, implement various layers and activation functions, and optimize models for improved performance. This course will allow students to progress to more specific courses where they will explore the applications of deep learning in computer vision and natural language processing, among others.
COMPULSORY · 2nd Term
Cloud Solutions
In this course students will gain a deep understanding of cloud technologies and how they can revolutionize businesses across industries. Throughout the course, we will explore the foundational concepts of cloud computing, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). We will learn how to leverage cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform to build scalable, reliable, and secure solutions. The course will cover various cloud deployment models, including public, private, and hybrid clouds, allowing you to determine the best approach for your organization's unique needs. You will dive into cloud architecture design, understanding how to optimize resources, ensure high availability, and implement robust security measures.
Socio-Political Environment Analysis
The aim of this course is to provide students with a global perspective on the social and political context in which organizations operate, so that, when they analyze any issue, whether professional, economic, social or human, they can automatically situate these problems within a local and global interaction framework.
To achieve this, the course applies a multidisciplinary methodology to analyze globalization, seeing the latter not as a simple economic process but, rather, as a major social transformation involving social, political and cultural elements. This transformation is not predetermined, and its results stem from multiple decisions which imply specific ways of understanding the world around us, seeing reality and putting human values into play.
This course's perspective is fundamentally cultural. First, this focus has to help students to understand the social impact of individual and collective decision-making and, second, it has to allow them to develop the criteria to assess the political and social consequences of their own decisions.
This course thus raises questions that underpin Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and allow future executives to address the major social issues that coexist alongside their professional endeavors.
Corporate Strategy
The course focuses mainly on the topics related to growth in the corporate strategy area. It expands and deepens students' knowledge of growth options such as international expansion, business diversification (horizontal or vertical) and different growth strategies, comparing M&As, strategic alliances and organic growth. Students in this class will further examine different strategizing contexts, including listed firms, family-owned businesses and not-for-profits. The course also provides a more in-depth examination of governance, exploring international differences, how new technologies affect strategic management and the challenges associated to strategy execution.
AI for Sustainable Leadership
This course equips students with skills to delve into the intersection of AI, data science, and sustainable business practices, exploring how these technologies can drive environmentally and socially responsible decision-making. This course explores the cultural changes, people management strategies, and organizational adaptations necessary to create a data-driven mindset. You will learn to implement agile and lean methodologies, create new roles, and foster innovation to support sustainable practices within your organization.
DevOps Management
This course provides students with the essential skills and knowledge needed to effectively manage DevOps practices within the context of AI applications in business environments. Students will learn the principles of DevOps, including continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), infrastructure as code (IaC), and containerization technologies, tailored specifically to the requirements of AI projects. Through hands-on exercises and real-world case studies, students will gain proficiency in deploying, monitoring, and maintaining AI-driven applications using modern DevOps tools and practices. This course equips students with the expertise needed to successfully develop, deploy, and manage AI solutions in dynamic business environments, thereby bridging the gap between AI technology and practical implementation strategies.
Marketing Trends
Marketing Foundations introduced the conceptual and analytical foundations of marketing, whilst Decisions in Marketing facilitated a deeper understanding of marketing strategies. In Marketing Trends, we will focus on the main trends directly influencing the marketing decision-making process.
The democratization of technology and new digital media is radically changing the behavior of customers and users, who have begun to react, understand and accept companies, their products or services, and even their advertising in a completely different way than the one they did themselves a few years ago.
This fact, together with the appearance of new disruptive business models in the digital field (some of them, even, counter-intuitive) causes all market players to transform, thus, for example, companies, in general, must start and/or consolidate their Digital Transformation programs, cities must become Smart cities, the health sector converts to eHealth, or the insurance sector to Insurance Tech, among others. That is why all these actors must question the traditional methods of marketing and advertising, to adapt to this new environment, which some experts do not hesitate, even, to classify as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA).
From the point of view of the customer "empowered” by technology, the competition is just one click away. The new increasingly complex products require storytelling or influencer marketing to be correctly understood and not receive rejection from the clients. The excess of competition requires a very fine adjustment to the customer and the capture of their attention through the correct generation or purchase, from different sources, of quality traffic. Advertising requires the redesign and monitoring of the number of customer impacts (or touchpoints) through "attribution models" and personalized advertising through programmatic advertising techniques or marketing automation.
In this course, the student is introduced to disruptive marketing and the need to change the established rules of classic marketing; It delves into the techniques of generation, purchase, and capture of quality traffic; The need for maximum personalization in terms of products, services, and campaigns is detailed; It delves into the urgency of designing the "Customer Journey" (or Customer Journey), and finally, one of the key points of this new marketing is exploited: the exhaustive digital measurement of all events and decision-making based on data using Data Science and Artificial Intelligence techniques
Fifth year
CREATE · Gaining a global perspective, crafting your path
In the final year, you will create your own path at the intersection of business and artificial intelligence. You will broaden your understanding and gain a global perspective through the international exchange program with leading universities. You will also undertake an internships with top technology companies to act on your learnings. The year will culminate with the completion of your final degree projects in both business administration and artificial intelligence for business, allowing you to showcase your specialization and readiness for your future professional career.
COMPULSORY · 1st Term
International Exchange Programme
During the fifth year, you will spend a semester abroad at one of the 80+ universities worldwide with which Esade has exchange agreements. In turn, students from those universities will spend their semester abroad at Esade, bringing an even more international vision to our classrooms.
COMPULSORY · 2nd Term
Internship
In the fifth year, you will complete a compulsory semester-long professional internship. During the internship, you will hold a real job at a top-tier Spanish or international company. You will have the chance to apply everything you have learned during the program and acquire skills and competencies that can only be developed on the job.
Capstone Module: Imagine the Future of Business in 2030
During the Capstone Module, you will do a consulting job for a real company. You will work with your colleagues as a team to define the market trends and possible future scenarios for its industry. You will then propose the best strategy for the company to continue to thrive in those new scenarios.
Final Degree Project: Bachelor in Business Administration
As a fifth-year student, you will work on an individual project due at the end of the year. The project will allow you to put the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the program into practice. For the project, you may choose to develop a business plan, carry out an in-company business project related to your internship, or complete a Final Thesis.
- Business Plan
- In-Company Business Project
- Tesina Final de Grado
Final Degree Project: Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence for Business
Electives
As a student at the Bachelor in Business Administration and the Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence for Business, you will have the opportunity to enroll in elective courses from both programs. This will give you the flexibility to design your unique learning path, according to your own interests.
As part of the graduation requirements for the BBA you will need to complete the Liberal Arts track. This will require that you complete one of the Liberal Arts electives during the January elective period in your first year of studies.
BBA Electives
You will be able to choose electives from the Bachelor of Business Administration
BAIB Electives
This is just a small list of the BAIB electives offered
- Marketing Analytics
- Recommender Systems
- Computational Social Science
- Quantum Algorithms
- Computer Vision
- Natural Language Processing
- Deep Dive into Research
- Reinforcement Learning