Business v. Business

Because the field of business is so popular among undergraduates, there are various areas you can go into. When you’re competing for jobs against 15 or 30 other business majors, it is important that you stand out.  One way to do that is to pick an area of concentration.  The narrower the focus of study, the easier it is for employers to recognize immediately what your skills are.   But how do you determine which is which and what’s the difference.  Business Administration vs. Business Management vs. Business sounds all the same, but is it really?

Business Administration

Business administration is the concentration of the performance or management of business itself.  A business administrator is responsible for problem solving and solution finding as it pertains to the whole of the organization.

A bachelor’s degree in Business Administration provides a core of knowledge including accounting, finance, economics, business law, ethics, marketing, organizational behavior, strategic management, and management information systems.  Within the field of business administration, students can narrow their focus even further to concentrate on an area such as entrepreneurship, marketing or finance. A business administrator is generally seen as one who is a decision maker with good communication skills.

Administrators can find jobs in a variety of fields such as an education administrator, public administrator, etc.  In terms of salary, the average falls around $73,520. 

Business Management

Where business administration is focused on the company, business management is focused on the people.  Business administrators are problem-solvers, business managers are leaders.  Managers have the ability to implement change in a company, establish a consensus and maintain a team strategy.  Managers are typically in charge of staffing, directing and planning strategies for success. 

Managers are used in literally every company, every industry in every realm of the job market, and the salary is a bit higher with an average of just over $90K.  Managers are often specialized such as a marketing manager, sales manager, advertising manager, etc.  But in a small companies a general manager can wear all of those hats. 

A degree in business management will focus more on running a business than law, ethics and strategy.  Students learn leadership skills, how to organize departments and manage an organization of people.

The job outlook for both fields are predicted to see an increase in job postings because of retiring baby boomers and sometimes students can overlap into each field throughout their undergraduate career to increase their job potential.  The most important thing to remember when hoping to graduate into a career in business is to emphasize your individual skills on your resume.  A lot of people might have a business administration degree, but perhaps you’re one of the few who has already started your own business, or who has directed a school club or campaign.  Pick an emphasis that brings out your strengths and increase your leadership skills and job experience as much as you can while in school so you have a background of knowledge to bring to a future employer.