Mondays With Beyoncé In My New USC Marshall MBA Course

Graduate students outside USC Marshall School of Business. Courtesy photo

This column originally was originally published by Inside Higher Ed, a division of Times Higher Education, on October 26.

Every Monday next semester will be B’Day at the University of Southern California. I am indescribably excited to teach The Business of Beyoncé, a course I created for M.B.A. students in the USC Marshall School of Business. Starting in January, a fun yet rigorous 15-week experience will highlight Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as our focal case study of entertainment and entrepreneurial excellence.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Beyoncé. I am a proud, longtime member of the BeyHive, her global fandom. But that is not why I am teaching the course. Preparing students for careers in the music, film and television industries is a longtime strength of our M.B.A. program. USC’s proximity to Hollywood and the prominence of our alumni in entertainment leadership roles are unique strengths that differentiate ours from other top 25 business schools. I developed this course because my students have much to learn from a billionaire music mogul who has won more Grammy awards than anyone else and earned a place on the Forbes America’s Richest Self-Made Women list.

I am also on a quest to outdo myself. Twenty-two years ago, a trio of USC graduate students dubbed me “the Beyoncé of higher education,” an honor I have worked hard to uphold. For many years, my M.B.A. course evaluations have been nearly perfect. In 2023, I received the coveted Marshall Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching. Beyoncé inspires me to never settle or become complacent. “Greatest course so far” is what I am after with this one. I have spent the past several months in my version of “the booth” preparing what I am certain will be an electrifying, academically rigorous and practically useful experience.

There will be lots of music. Some days, we will also spend a portion of our time watching clips from live performances, visual albums and music videos. But more than anything else, we will analyze trend data, financial reports, news stories and an expansive range of other data sources that help explain how Destiny’s Child’s lead singer transitioned from teen artist to one of the world’s wealthiest entertainers.

We will also engage in deep studies of Parkwood Entertainment, the record label, management and production company Beyoncé created in 2010; Ivy Park, the apparel company she founded in 2016; SirDavis, the liquor company she launched in partnership with Moët Hennessy on her 43rd birthday; and Cécred, the hair-care brand she founded in 2024.

Some critics argue that celebrity-focused university courses are a waste of money because they do not teach students valuable work skills. Paradoxically, they do not make this same argument about courses focused on historical figures from their political parties. Notwithstanding, I designed my Beyoncé course with this critique in mind. Mine is not an educationally useless fan-appreciation experience. A fun time will be had each Monday, but I am also promising students that our course will prepare them to do the following:

1. Analyze the strategic business decisions that contribute to Beyoncé’s sustained success across music, film, fashion and other industries.

2. Evaluate how celebrity branding strategies influence audience engagement, revenue generation and long-term brand equity in the entertainment industry.

3. Compare different career trajectories of youth performers who successfully transitioned from child stardom to adult megastars.

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