A Qualitative Analysis of Competencies and Skills Developed or Reinforced in an MBA Capstone Course and Comparison of Competencies Developed by Type of Undergraduate Major

Using qualitative open item analysis, MBA alumni were asked their perceptions of competencies, skills and concepts developed or reinforced in a client-focused team project MBA capstone course. The replies from 167 respondents were aggregated together over a nine-year period from 2013 to 2021. Conversion of coded responses to managerial competencies indicated eight competencies: client relationship management, communication, financial modeling, presentation, project management, research and analysis, strategic deliverable recommendation, and team leadership. This coding structure provided partial convergent validation for prior theoretical and empirical work linking MBA learned-to-needed managerial competencies. In addition, several differences were found between competencies/skills developed or reinforced in the MBA capstone by type of undergraduate major, i.e., business, liberal arts or STEM.