Retail Management Major (B.Com.) (72 credits)
Offered by: Management (Desautels Faculty of Management)
Degree: Bachelor of Commerce
Program credit weight: 72
Program Description
The retail industry is experiencing a period of unparalleled changes where emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are transforming every stage of the retail journey. The Retail Management major will arm the students with valuable analytical, reasoning, management and communication skills and place them at the forefront of a fast evolving and innovated retail industry while promoting for sustainability, and long-term social and environmental benefits. Admission requirements: as per other B.Com. programs offered by the Desautels Faculty of Management.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (60 credits)
Management Core
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MGCR 211 | Introduction to Financial Accounting. | 3 |
Introduction to Financial Accounting. Terms offered: Summer 2025 The role of financial accounting in the reporting of the financial performance of a business. The principles, components and uses of financial accounting and reporting from a user's perspective, including the recording of accounting transactions and events, the examination of the elements of financial statements, the preparation of financial statements and the analysis of financial results. | ||
| MGCR 222 | Introduction to Organizational Behaviour. | 3 |
Introduction to Organizational Behaviour. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Individual motivation and communication style; group dynamics as related to problem solving and decision making, leadership style, work structuring and the larger environment. Interdependence of individual, group and organization task and structure. | ||
| MGCR 233 | Data Programming for Business. | 3 |
Data Programming for Business. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Introduction to data programming for management students. | ||
| MGCR 250 | Expressive Analysis for Management. | 3 |
Expressive Analysis for Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Focusing on skills with respect to analysis, writing and presentation in management. | ||
| MGCR 271 | Business Statistics. | 3 |
Business Statistics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Statistical concepts and methodology, their application to managerial decision-making, real-life data, problem-solving and spreadsheet modeling. Topics include: descriptive statistics; normal distributions, sampling distributions and estimation, hypothesis testing for one and two populations, goodness of fit, analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression. | ||
| MGCR 293 | Managerial Economics. | 3 |
Managerial Economics. Terms offered: Summer 2025 The course focuses on the application of economic theory to management problems and the economic foundations of marketing, finance, and production. Attention is given to the following topics: price and cost analysis; demand and supply analysis, conditions of competition. | ||
| MGCR 294 | The Firm in the Macroeconomy. | 3 |
The Firm in the Macroeconomy. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Topics and tools of macroeconomics such as national accounting, the IS-LM model, the drivers of output and business cycles, and the basics of monetary policy and inflation. Emphasis on financial markets, the role of expectations, and the reasons for possible deviations from full information market efficiency. | ||
| MGCR 331 | Information Technology Management . | 3 |
Information Technology Management . Terms offered: Summer 2025 Introduction to principles and concepts of information systems in organizations. Topics include information technology, transaction processing systems, decision support systems, database and systems development. Students are required to have background preparation on basic micro computer skills including spreadsheet and word-processing. | ||
| MGCR 341 | Introduction to Finance. | 3 |
Introduction to Finance. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An introduction to the principles, issues, and institutions of Finance. Topics include valuation, risk, capital investment, financial structure, cost of capital, working capital management, financial markets, and securities. | ||
| MGCR 352 | Principles of Marketing. | 3 |
Principles of Marketing. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Introduction to marketing principles, focusing on problem solving and decision making. Topics include: the marketing concept; marketing strategies; buyer behaviour; Canadian demographics; internal and external constraints; product; promotion; distribution; price. Lectures, text material and case studies. | ||
| MGCR 372 | Operations Management. | 3 |
Operations Management. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Design, planning, establishment, control, and improvement of the activities/processes that create a firm's final products and/or services. The interaction of operations with other business areas will also be discussed. Topics include forecasting, product and process design, waiting lines, capacity planning, inventory management and total quality management. | ||
| MGCR 382 | International Business. | 3 |
International Business. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to the world of international business. Economic foundations of international trade and investment. The international trade, finance, and regulatory frameworks. Relations between international companies and nation-states, including costs and benefits of foreign investment and alternative controls and responses. Effects of local environmental characteristics on the operations of multi-national enterprises. | ||
| MGCR 423 | Strategic Management. | 3 |
Strategic Management. Terms offered: Summer 2025 An integrative and interdisciplinary introduction to strategy formation and execution. Concepts, tools, and practical application to understand how firms leverage resources and capabilities to gain competitive advantage in dynamic, contemporary industries. Strategic positioning, organizational design, and managerial action for the long-term success of businesses and positive social and ecological outcomes. | ||
| MGCR 460 | Social Context of Business. | 3 |
Social Context of Business. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Examination of how business interacts with the larger society. Exploration of the development of modern capitalist society, and the dilemmas that organizations face in acting in a socially responsible manner. Examination of these issues with reference to sustainable development, business ethics, globalization and developing countries, and political activity. | ||
Major
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MRKT 459 | Retail Management. | 3 |
Retail Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Principles and methods of marketing management as applied to retailing, including strategy and tactics: market structure; consumer behaviour; competition; financial management; human resources planning; promotion; presentation; merchandising; operations; pricing; planning and attaining retail profits. Lectures, text material, outside reading, planned retail visiting, cases. | ||
| RETL 402 | Innovations in Retailing. | 3 |
Innovations in Retailing. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Exploration of emerging trends, consumer behaviour and technologies and how they can lead to retail innovations that can significantly improve operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and provide a foundation for a sustainable and improved society. | ||
| RETL 407 | Retail Management Project. | 3 |
Retail Management Project. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A team-based, experiential project that involves defining actual problems and recommending solutions in the realm of an organization, or at the interface of different organizations (e.g. supply chains), including strategic and operational issues in retail management. Each project is multidisciplinary or multi-functional in nature and will have significant impact on one or more operational/competitive capabilities of the organization. | ||
| RETL 408 | Omni-Channel Retailing. | 3 |
Omni-Channel Retailing. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to the fundamentals and different problems in the operations process of omni-channel retailing. The focus will be on multi-channel supply chain management and integration. Combination of theoretical models with study cases and data to review the challenges and solutions in omni-channel retailing. | ||
| RETL 409 | Digitization of Retailing. | 3 |
Digitization of Retailing. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Exploration of digital retailing models such as e-commerce marketplace, freemium, and peer-to-peer two-sided marketplace. Examination of how digital technology is driving innovation in these models, and how the models can improve competitiveness, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. | ||
| RETL 410 | Sustainable Retail and Entrepreneurship. | 3 |
Sustainable Retail and Entrepreneurship. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Stages of developing a business concept in sustainability and retail. The experiential learning component culminates in a competition where student teams will pitch their business ideas to a panel of external business experts. | ||
Complementary Courses (12 credits)
12 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BUSA 465 | Technological Entrepreneurship. | 3 |
Technological Entrepreneurship. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Concentrating on entrepreneurship and enterprise development, particular attention is given to the start-up, purchasing and management of small to medium-sized industrial firms. The focal point is in understanding the dilemmas faced by entrepreneurs, resolving them, developing a business plan and the maximum utilization of the financial, marketing and human resources that make for a successful operation. | ||
| FINE 447 | Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance. | 3 |
Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course is designed to provide an introduction to the startup production process with an emphasis on the institutions, processes, and problem solving approaches used in the financing of startup activity. The primary focus of the course is the venture capital industry though classroom discussions will also touch upon alternative funding channels like angel investors, accelerators and incubators, crowdfunding platforms, etc. | ||
| FINE 477 | Fintech for Business and Finance. | 3 |
Fintech for Business and Finance. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Digital technologies and their strategic impact on businesses. FinTech as source of financing, means to learn/engage the market, wider financial inclusion, vehicles for individual investment in innovation. Securities/reward-based crowdfunding, digital payments/transfers, blockchain, crypto-tokens and smart contracts. Theoretical tools from game theory, strategy, corporate finance and economics. Connections to technology firms, platform businesses, traditional banking and venture capital. | ||
| INDR 294 | Introduction to Labour-Management Relations. | 3 |
Introduction to Labour-Management Relations. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An introduction to labour-management relations, the structure, function and government of labour unions, labour legislation, the collective bargaining process, and the public interest in industrial relations. | ||
| INSY 440 | E-Business. | 3 |
E-Business. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Build the knowledge base and skills needed to face today's electronic business challenges, opportunities, and issues. Explore important concepts, models, tools and applications related to e-business. | ||
| INSY 442 | Data Analysis and Visualization. | 3 |
Data Analysis and Visualization. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Overview of methods and tools for analyzing business data to improve business decision-making, focusing on data visualization using hands-on learning. | ||
| MGPO 440 | Strategies for Sustainability. | 3 |
Strategies for Sustainability. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course explores the relationship between economic activity, management, and the natural environment. Using readings, discussions and cases, the course will explore the challenges that the goal of sustainable development poses for our existing notions of economic goals, production and consumption practices and the management of organizations. | ||
| MGSC 403 | Introduction to Logistics Management. | 3 |
Introduction to Logistics Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Managing logistics systems, including transportation management, facility location, procurement, distribution management, and supply chain management. | ||
| MGSC 431 | Operations and Supply Chain Analysis. | 3 |
Operations and Supply Chain Analysis. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course introduces students to operations concepts and techniques with application to supply chain management. A supply chain consists of all activities involved in fulfilling customer demand and the management decisions have a direct impact on a firm's performance, such as operating cost, market penetration and customer service. The course covers both classical tactics and evolving new strategies to reduce cost, increase responsiveness and maintain sustainable growth in a firm's supply chain. | ||
| MRKT 355 | Services Marketing. | 3 |
Services Marketing. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Services are fleeting and involve direct contact between the supplier and the buyer. Inventories disappear every time an aircraft takes off or the night passes for an hotel. Yet services have become the largest sector in modern Western economy and their importance shows every sign of continuing to grow. This course focuses on the key differences between product and services marketing and the skills that are necessary for the services sector. | ||
| MRKT 440 | Marketing Analytics. | 3 |
Marketing Analytics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Analytic techniques available to marketing managers including practice with actual data sets to use the techniques. Topics covered will include customer and product analytic models, digital marketing, and marketing resource allocation. | ||
| MRKT 451 | Marketing Research. | 3 |
Marketing Research. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Theoretical techniques and procedures common in marketing research. Topics include: research design, sampling, questionnaire design, coding, tabulating, data analysis (including statistical techniques). Specialized topics may encompass advertising, motivation and product research; forecasting and location theory. | ||
| MRKT 452 | Consumer Behaviour. | 3 |
Consumer Behaviour. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A study of basic factors influencing consumer behaviour. Attention is focused on psychological, sociological and economic variables including motivation, learning, attitude, personality, small groups, social class, demographic factors and culture, to analyze their effects on purchasing behaviour. | ||
| MRKT 453 | Advertising and Media. | 3 |
Advertising and Media. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Elements of an integrated marketing communications plan that engages consumers across different touch points, and achieves the communication objectives of the brand. | ||
| MRKT 455 | Sales Management. | 3 |
Sales Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Responsibilities of the sales manager as they relate to the sales force. These include the selection of process, training alternatives, compensation and incentive plans, supervision and evaluation and budgeting and forecasting. Case studies and discussions of sales force models are used. | ||
| ORGB 330 | People Analytics. | 3 |
People Analytics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This is the era of big data. Companies and organizations are collecting an enormous amount of information and we are only just beginning to grasp the ways in which this information might be used. This course covers the emerging field of people analytics, which involves applying data collection and analysis techniques to improve the management of people within organizations. We will cover current people analytics techniques, common pitfalls, and possible shortcomings of people analytics, as well as the ethical questions involved in undertaking such analyses. | ||
| ORGB 423 | Human Resources Management. | 3 |
Human Resources Management. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Issues involved in personnel administration. Topics include: human resource planning, job analysis, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal, organization development and change, issues in compensation and benefits, and labour-management relations. | ||
| RETL 434 | Topics in Retail Management 1 | 3 |
Topics in Retail Management 1 Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Topics will be selected from current and emerging issues in retail management. | ||