Minors

Earning a minor in business = major life advantage

Program Details

Location:

Online, Corvallis, Bend

College of Business pennant

why NOT business minor?

No matter your true passion, there is a business side to every occupation — that is how the world works. As you are investing in your education and your future, we want you to think about the advantages that skills such as entrepreneurial thinking and business innovation can bring to your sphere of expertise — and how business fundamentals are an important part of any career, whether with a global corporation, expanding startup or local family business.

It's such a practical, flexible and attainable feather for your cap and a boost to your skill set — we're here wondering if anyone can supply a single reason why they should NOT pursue a business minor. Come on, we're waiting...

Requirements and How to Apply

Before applying for a minor, please read the requirement information below.

For any questions regarding College of Business minors, please contact COB Advising.

  • Complete all required courses and credits for the declared minor with a C- or better (cannot S/U)
  • Have a 2.5 College of Business Minor GPA
  • Complete over 50% of the minor credits from OSU.
  • 50% or more of the minor credits cannot also be part of another business program being pursued

NOTE: Students wanting to pursue an OSU MBA later should ideally declare the business minor.

The following terminology will be used regarding all College of Business minors:

  • All-Inclusive Minor (AIM) GPA = average of all grades (OSU and transfer) earned for minor courses
  • College of Business Minor GPA = average of all the OSU grades earned for minor courses
  • Review the course and credit requirements for each minor
  • Submit a completed Minor Declaration Application Form electronically.
  • Watch OSU email for results of the eligibility evaluation of minor application. You will be notified whether or not they are eligible to declare. Schedule for notifications is typically every two weeks, except summer.

Apply for the Minor

Explore Minors

The business minor give you an understanding of the fundamentals of business essential to any career and any industry.  You'll learn the language of business as well as understand and communicate financial information, organizational behavior, marketing and operations.

If earning your MBA is a part of your future career plan, then ideally you should declare the business minor. You'll have all the foundational business coursework to smoothly enter the OSU MBA program.

The minor requires 31 credits of coursework, covering topics such as entrepreneurship, accounting for decision-makers, financial management, sustainable operations and legalities of business. Explore these business disciplines in more detail in our undergraduate academic programs section.

31 Total Credits Required (minimum)

If you are exploring this minor, then you already have a feel for how important it is to today’s businesses to leverage information systems to their advantage.

In 32 credits, students in Corvallis can earn the business information systems minor while studying topics including business information system design and development, data management, application development and analytics. The minor adds a career skill set in information and data that is highly complementary to any of our business majors as the usage of Information systems — such as databases, web services and business applications — expand and transform business competitive advantage.

Explore the business information systems discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

The cybersecurity management minor allows you to gain skills needed to protect the information assets of organizations; you'll plan and participate in cybersecurity decision-making with this knowledge.

In 32 credits, you'll learn foundational information systems (IS) management skills with an emphasis on Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and aligning IT processes with organizational goals.

Explore the complete list of required course offerings for the cybersecurity management minor.

The design and innovation management minor builds your strengths as a design thinker and creative contributor to any organization, by adding analytic and creative problem-solving skills through a human-centered design lens.

In 27 credits and available on Corvallis campus and online through Ecampus, students can pursue the design and innovation management minor. The coursework covers the principles of marketing, computer-aided design, design thinking and process innovation, idea visualization and design management.

Explore the design and innovation management discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

If you are exploring the family business minor, then you probably already know that family businesses are a common and successful business model in Oregon. Our minor prepares you for leadership positions within a family firm.  It offers students the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial talents while providing a solid foundation on the risks and challenges facing a family firm, including finances, legal issues, marketing and success planning.

You'll be a prepared family business leader, able to balance the well-being of the business, the family and individuals. You'll also learn to address the challenges and opportunities of business change and innovation as well as leadership succession.

Explore the family business discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

The finance minor allows you to acquire specialized skills within a quantitative and applied business discipline, and many of our students pursue this because of their strong interest in working with numbers.

In 27 credits, the minor covers core finance and accounting subject areas while expanding to include coursework on topics such as portfolio management, international finance or risk management. You'll pursue either a general finance, corporate finance or investment specialization, giving yourself stand-out career skills within many business settings, including the corporation, the nonprofit or the startup.

Explore the finance discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

The innovation & entrepreneurship minor teaches you to recognize business opportunities, equips you with skills to secure funding, and provides insight on how to manage the commercialization of the business opportunity. Fundamental business classes are combined with those designed to specifically address the challenges of launching a new venture or an idea within an existing organization. With an innovative curriculum taught by dedicated professors, the entrepreneurship minor provides a fundamental stepping-stone on the road to identifying and commercializing business opportunities in any type of organization.

With 27 credits of coursework, covering topics such as new venture financing, iterate and go-to-market skills, and technology and innovation management, the innovation & entrepreneurship minor also includes an array of electives in business, engineering or science. You'll learn to recognize — and develop — opportunities in business and then act on them in an entrepreneurial way.

Explore the innovation & entrepreneurship discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page, and review the complete list of the required minor course offerings.

The marketing minor provides you with marketing knowledge and leadership training. These flexible and creative skills open up a range of opportunities to you in so many career options, and you'll be ready for involvement in projects including advertising and communications, brand management, market research, sales, retail management, purchasing management and more.

The 28-credit marketing minor covers topics such as consumer behavior, integrated marketing communications, digital media, research methods and retail management. You'll learn the sequence: identifying customer needs, developing goods and services to satisfy those needs, communicating information about products, services or ideas to potential customers, and distributing to products customers. You open yourself to exciting and creative career opportunities.

Explore the marketing discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page, and review the complete list of the minor required course offerings.

The merchandising management minor supports the understanding of industry standards to support a career in buying, visual merchandising, retail design, and apparel design.

In 28 credits, students in Corvallis learn the basics of marketing, retail and merchandising analytics, retail environment strategies, merchandising planning and control and other management topics. This gives strong multidisciplinary skills to those pursuing career in the fashion and retail industries.

Explore the merchandising management discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

Students across many fields aspire to leadership positions within an organization. The undergraduate minor in organizational leadership provides an evidence-based exploration of organizational behavior, negotiations, team management, job design, evaluation and motivation of employees, human resource management, conflict management, employee stress and work-life balance.

Successful completion of the organizational leadership minor requires requires a C or better in the gateway course, BA 352. Remaining courses must be completed with a C- or better. In addition, the overall College of Business Minor GPA (OSU taken classes) must be 2.5 or higher, and at least 50% of the overall minor credits must be from OSU.

27 Total Credits Required (minimum)

The professional sales minor is your clear path to professionally honed and practiced sales skills for success in a sales career, and more broadly, skills useful for building mutually beneficial professional relationships. The ability to sell — that is, the ability to effectively communicate the value of an idea, product, service, or person and to create win-win situations — is vital to success in a wide variety of positions and career options.

The 32-credit minor, which we developed with the OSU Sales Academy, teaches individual and team performance, influence and negotiation and other topics, while the academy is a live forum for practice and competitive events. Fun fact: many high level executives and organization leaders start their careers as salespeople and rise to the top of their professions by effectively using sales skills.

Find additional background information about the OSU Sales Academy.

The sports business option provides students with an understanding of the fundamentals of the business of sport, including sports finance, marketing, analytics and sponsorship. The program builds on core business knowledge acquired in business and design programs, and prepares students for careers in sports-related organizations.

The 22-credit minor, which is available to business and design majors pursuing business administration, business analytics, design and innovation management, apparel design, interior design or merchandising management.

Explore the sports business discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

Supply chain and logistics management is a growing professional field, and the minor opens you to specialized knowledge and career opportunities in a host of industries and organizations, and also complements the skills developed in numerous business and engineering majors.

Available to students on the Corvallis campus for 31-32 credits, the coursework covers business process management, operations management, quantitative methods, supply chain analytics and strategy and technology applications and modeling in supply chain management.

Explore the supply chain and logistics management discipline in more detail on its undergraduate program page and review the complete list of required course offerings for the minor.

 

 

Are you interested?

Next Steps

Our advice is to talk with a College of Business academic advisor. They'll help evaluate your transcript and GPA to be sure that your grades and balance of credits at OSU align with general performance standards of a student in good standing.

Complete the minor declaration application form prior to this meeting — keeping in mind that approval process takes about two weeks. You may have also reviewed the prerequisites or perhaps consulted with your major advisor about how a business minor is attainable. Please explore the offerings, and get ready with your questions for that advising appointment.

Make an advising appointment