MBA in Food and Agribusiness

Grow your career from Canada's "Food University"

The Food and Agribusiness Management specialization draws on the University of Guelph's strength in food and agriculture to provide an experience that will elevate your career potential in an industry that affects every human being. Few academic institutions in the world can match the University of Guelph’s depth of research, teaching and training across the food spectrum of production, safety, security and the impact of food on cultures, economics and the environment. 

Learn to:

• Enhance your leadership and management abilities by learning from faculty who have developed game-changing research within food and agribusiness
• Network with fellow business leaders within your industry and related industries
• Elevate your career potential with an MBA degree that is catered to your industry 

Alumni Profile: Jason Stoter, MBA '03

Alumnus and entrepreneur Jason Stoter has a clear mission for his company. Quite simply, his company, Vivere, aims to “relax the world” with their high-quality outdoor living products sold around the world. Stoter believes, however, that in order for his company to make a real difference in people’s lives, it needs to give back at both a global and local level.

 

“I want the people who work here to love what they do and have a balanced lifestyle. My goal is to inspire my staff to give back to their community."

 

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“The online offering gave me the flexibility with my work schedule, with my travel schedule. I wouldn’t miss classes if I was on the road. I could learn at my own pace within the schedule.”  

Meagan Shields, MBA, Marketing Specialist, Syngenta Canada Inc.

Food and Agribusiness Management MBA Courses

Food and Agribusiness Management Marketing Strategy: A study of marketing decision-making in food and agribusiness firms, with emphasis on the formulation of strategic marketing plans.

Food and Agribusiness Management Economics and Policy: An analysis of economic and policy issues relevant for food and agribusiness managers in affluent economies, with emphasis on the economic and policy environment that exits within North America.

Managing Price Risk: The course deals with the use of futures, options and other instruments for marketing, risk management and investment purposes. Emphasis is placed on the development and implementation of trading strategies and on the policy and corporate governance framework necessary to support effective management.

Core MBA Courses

Foundation of Leadership: This course will enhance students' interpersonal skills, expand their knowledge and understanding of the theory and research behind leadership, and explore the impact of effective team management and collaboration in the organization. Experiential approaches are used to enhance managerial skills.

Sustainable Value Creation: This course is designed to provide an introduction to the relevance of sustainability as a strategic framework for driving value creation and to enhance critical thinking skills that will enable students to more effectively identify and formulate strategic sustainability initiatives for organizations.

Financial and Managerial Accounting: This course emphasizes the gathering and use of financial information to facilitate effective financial and management decisions. Cases are used to approach the subject from the perspective of the user of accounting information rather than that of the supplier.

Foundations of Human Resource Management: This course examines the essential human resource management functions of planning, staffing, employee development, compensation, health and safety, labour relations, and legal compliance, in a variety of organizational settings.

Management Communications: Examination of the theory, function and practice of managerial communications with particular emphasis on developing communication strategies and skills.

Research Methods for Managers: Students learn to formulate a research problem, undertake a literature review, and to select and use appropriate quantitative and qualitative techniques for the collection and analysis of relevant data.

Financial Management: The course takes the viewpoint of the senior financial officer of a commercial enterprise. The focus is on the management of cash, accounts receivable, inventories and capital assets, as well as on the sourcing of funds through short-term liabilities, long-term and owners' equity.

Strategic Management: An integrative course which draws together the conceptual theories and models of the graduate program core. Utilizes conceptual, analytical, problem identification, and problem-solving skills.

Operations Management: This course applies operations research theory and practices to management problem solving and decision-making. The focus is on modeling service and product delivery systems and major emphasis is placed on managerial problems in food and agribusiness organizations.