Business and Commerce

Business and Commerce

The purpose of the present essay is to briefly overview key points of business from an academic perspective. Many an undergraduate student has completed their studies only to realize that they have acquired a non-marketable degree. For example, stories of graduate students, who have been studying for nearly a decade with nothing much else to show for it than student debts and loans are surprisingly common. Furthermore, some PhDs even run into the problem of being overqualified!

However, not all fields are equally unlikely to land a good job straight out of college. For instance, all other things being equal, a professional degree (such as one in law or medicine) is much more likely to be a lucrative return on investment than one in arts history. Although whether liberal arts degree holders and those majoring in the social sciences have a harder time landing a better job than their less educated counterparts remains highly debated.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Image: Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Conversely, students majoring in commerce, or business students, are usually looked at as those who gain most of the skills employers look for today. Indeed, with the ubiquitous sales and consumption phenomenon, it is only logical that most job postings on online job boards such as Monster or Workopolis refer to some element of academic background in business, or the equivalent. Obviously, experience is now more often than not a prerequisite in even the most entry-level jobs or unpaid internships.

But what majors can the potential bachelor of commerce (BComm) or bachelor of business administration (BBA) study? Finance, economics, accounting, marketing, international business and organizational behavior (similar in scope to industrial psychology) are popular choices. Certainly, one's mathematical abilities seem likely to determine whether one chooses to major in financial econometrics or business communication and international marketing... Thus, the aim of this paper was to briefly go over some of the main points in the business work from a the point of view of commerce students.