Graduate MBA Core (MBA)

MBA 401 Introduction to the Organization and its Environment 2 Credits

An MBA core course designed to provide a thorough understanding of business organizations by examining strategies middle and senior managers use to create and sustain organizational competitive advantage. The course examines the organization from an overall perspective within the context of the firm's internal and external environment. The second aspect of this course deals with the ability to communicate effectively in today's business and professional environment. Students will examine and practice the written and verbal communications strategies and skills that are essential to their success in business.

MBA 402 Managing Financial and Physical Resources 4 Credits

An MBA core course designed to integrate financial and managerial concepts into operations decisions. Disciplines of accounting, finance and economics are combined to provide substantive foundations for discussing and analyzing data. Implications of analysis are applied to facilitate decision-making in other areas such as marketing, operations (manufacturing, logistics and engineering), human resources, information technology and general management. The major learning objectives will be applied through a series of "living" cases that are centered on analyzing historical financial performance, preparing a business plan, and valuing a business.
Prerequisites: (MBA 401 and GBUS 401 or BUAC )
Can be taken Concurrently: MBA 401

MBA 403 Managing Information 4 Credits

An MBA core course dealing with concepts and methods involved in the collection, organization and dissemination of information that helps managers make operational and strategic decisions. The course also deals with attributes of information and examines enterprise-wide impacts of local decisions. Revenue, cost, time and quality-based information are accorded equal emphasis, while students are exposed to alternative evaluation methods for decisions related to different parts of the value chain. Topics include: activity-based costing; activity-based management; transaction analysis; operational and strategic decisions such as outsourcing, design partnerships, etc; investment analysis for short lifecycle investments; evaluation of uncertainty, risk and ambiguity; metrics development; compensation policies; segment evaluation methods; target costing and functional analysis; quality function deployment; total cost of ownership; and transfer pricing. In addition, the course deals with: information technology enablers which allow firms to improve value delivered to customers; and evaluation and management of emerging forms of Cooperation, such as joint ventures and project based strategic alliances.
Prerequisites: (ECO 401 or BUEC ) and (GBUS 401 or BUAC and MBA 401)
Can be taken Concurrently: MBA 401

MBA 404 Managing Products and Services 4 Credits

An MBA core course focusing on the management of products and services within a firm's value chain. The course addresses exceeding customer expectations, establishing total quality as the core foundation, developing a strong customer focus, creating value through supply chain management, developing new products for competitive advantage, matching aggregate supply with customer demand, and designing market channels and influencing customers.
Prerequisites: MBA 401
Can be taken Concurrently: MBA 401

MBA 405 Managing People 4 Credits

An MBA core course that examines how effective organizations are created, maintained, and improved. The course will focus on how good people are attracted to an organization and how to make them productive. Topics include: organizational design, job design, staffing, training and development, performance, teams, influence, diversity, change, ethical decision-making and current people issues facing today's organizations.
Prerequisites: MBA 401
Can be taken Concurrently: MBA 401

MBA 406 Integrative Experience 3 Credits

An MBA course where students apply the body of knowledge acquired in MBA 401 through 405 through a simulation, case presentations and the cross core project. This course places an emphasis on strategic management and takes the point of view of the general manager to view the organization from an overall perspective in the context of the firm's internal and external environment. In doing so, students examine historical perspectives, contemporary theories, and practical applications all in the spirit of helping them develop a broad understanding of strategic management issues and solutions. By combining high-level class discussions, case analyses, a computer simulation competition and the crosscore project this course exposes students to rigorous theoretical analysis while providing hands-on, simulated real world business experiences.
Prerequisites: (MBA 401 and MBA 402 and MBA 403 and MBA 404 and MBA 405)
Can be taken Concurrently: MBA 403

MBA 440 Quantitative Methods 3 Credits

The course develops an understanding of the foundational methods and skills of quantitative analysis to a variety of business and economic situations. Areas of focus include probability concepts, data description and visualization, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression. Software packages are used for statistical computing and data analysis.

MBA 441 Professional Development 1 Credit

The course focus is on career-enhancing skills that aid professional development. Assessment tools are used to understand preferred communication styles, motivators and competencies, and facilitation of effective collaboration through high-performance team building. Networking, interviewing, presentation, and communication skills are also covered.
Repeat Status: Course may be repeated.

MBA 442 Societal Shifts I 2 Credits

This course will introduce eight societal shifts and the societal divides that each may lead to. The course explores the linkage between the Societal Shifts and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and focuses on three Societal Shifts in particular, Climate Change, Changing Demographics, and Rapid Urbanization, leading to a focus on Sustainable Cities (SDG 11) and Climate Action (SDG 13), and how society needs to think about sustainable growth in the coming decades.

MBA 443 Societal Shifts II 4 Credits

This course will take an in-depth look at eight societal shifts that were introduced in MBA 442. The societal shifts will be examined in pairs and then integrated to form scenarios for society in the coming decades. The focus is on the impacts of these societal shifts at the industry and individual company level.
Prerequisites: MBA 442

MBA 451 Accounting 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

This course trains students in corporate decision making using financial information that is prepared under mandated accounting principles for external financial statement users. The course also covers accounting practices which provide information for internal users. It studies the use and interpretation of financial statements with a focus on the effect of economic transactions on financial statements and key ratios. Topics include: introduction to financial accounting concepts and principles, the accounting cycle, cost accounting information processing and impact on decision making.

MBA 452 Economics and Markets 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

Fundamental principles and tools of microeconomics with a focus on managerial decision-making. Topics include consumer behavior, input selection, cost analysis, production and pricing strategies in various market structures, decision making under uncertainty, international trade, information asymmetry and organizational design, and game theory as it applies to business strategy. .

MBA 453 Finance 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

This course explores the application of fundamental finance concepts in modern business. Topics covered include Risk and return, Capital budgeting techniques and analysis, financial statement analysis and forecasting, valuation basics, corporate cost of capital, and other corporate finance issues such as capital structure, dividend policy, and working capital policy.

MBA 454 Management - OB/HR 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

This course focuses on understanding human behavior at work and how it is influenced by individual differences, group dynamics, and by the organizational context in which people are employed. Key organizational behavior theories will be applied to fundamental human resource management issues with an emphasis on aligning an organization’s talent with its strategy to maximize performance. Topics will include: staffing and selection, training and development, motivation, performance management, leadership, and optimizing effectiveness by understanding behavioral factors of individuals and groups.

MBA 455 Marketing 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

This course provides a contemporary perspective to introduce the student to the fundamentals of strategic marketing. The course explores the functional marketing operations of organizations and tracks the marketing manager’s decision processes including segmentation and target market development, product/brand positioning and the development of the value proposition, and the integration of the marketing mix elements into a cohesive strategy. Specific learning modules are concerned with the development, evaluation, and implementation of strategic marketing plans.

MBA 456 Strategy 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

Within the context of a multi-stakeholder approach to organizations, strategic management covers overall organizational issues in intent, analysis, strategy formulation, execution, and control within a global environment. The objectives of this course are to provide the student with a better understanding of business organizations and to clarify the way senior managers create and sustain organizational competitive advantage.

MBA 457 Consulting Practicum I 2 Credits

The course enables students to analyze and dissect strategies that speak to market leadership and growth trajectories. The format is intensely interactive. High profile consulting firms shed light on wide-ranging topics from business transformation to board governance. The public company is seen from an analyst or investor perspective. Emphasis is given to the role of CEO as chief strategist and organization builder. The classroom experience comes alive through fast-moving cases and wide-angle discussions with a host of speakers.

MBA 461 Financial Claimants 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

This course will focus on various financial claimants in the modern corporation. The focus will be on the theory behind and practice related to information needs and use by stockholders, bondholders, and other intermediate financial claimants (e.g., preferred stockholders, warrant holders). Coverage will include related governance and agency theory principles as well as the impact of disclosure, fair value accounting, and regulation on financial claimants.
Prerequisites: MBA 451 and MBA 453

MBA 462 Government & Society 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

Economic and strategic analysis of the role of government and social forces in markets and business policies. Topics include environmental controls, consumer protection, antitrust and the promotion of market competition, intellectual property and inventions, and taxation.

MBA 463 Suppliers and Customers 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

Explores how organizations identify customer needs and develop supply chain flows – upstream (backward through the supply levels) and downstream (forward through the channel systems) to deliver goods and services that exceed customer expectations and creates societal value. Covers demand/customer management, supply/capacity planning, raw material/component sourcing, inventory planning, distribution/merchandising, and quality management. Focused on how marketing and supply chain managers make decisions regarding effectiveness vs. efficiency trade-offs. Concerned with the development, evaluation, and implementation of marketing strategy and supply chain.
Prerequisites: MBA 455

MBA 464 Employees 1-MBA 1.5 Credit

This course will focus on the evolving social contract between employers and employees in the modern corporation, their causes and consequences. Topics will build on the basics from the Management OB/HR course from the first session. In particular, coverage will include the following issues: procedural justice and fairness; privacy and freedom of speech; work-life balance, diversity, inclusion, and the bottom line; job security and alternative work arrangements, compensation; employee ownership; performance management and career development.

MBA 465 Consulting Practicum II 4 Credits

Students move from the classroom setting of Consulting Practicum I to the practice or field environment in serving an actual client in Consulting Practicum II. Emphasis is placed on applying analytic, listening, and communication skills through the various stages of a client engagement that include preparation, initial meeting, proposal development, work-in-process, deliverable, and formal presentation at semester’s end. The course challenges students to assume the role of management consultant in creating value through a strategic-level assignment that is time-sensitive.
Prerequisites: MBA 457

MBA 471 Accounting for Executives 3 Credits

This course incorporates both financial reporting and managerial accounting topics emphasizing the analysis and evaluation of accounting data as part of the managerial processes of planning, decision-making, and control. Topics include: financial accounting concepts and principles, cost accounting information processing and its impact on decision making and strategy development and the application of accounting information in the firm’s management of ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) issues.

MBA 472 Essentials of Economics for Executives 3 Credits

Applications of concepts and tools of economics to broader topics such as markets and government; open-economy macroeconomics; international trade and finance; and growth, inequality, and poverty. Real data will be used to demonstrate how current issues can be explained by economic analysis.

MBA 473 Financial Management for Executives 3 Credits

This course provides the background to optimally manage the financial well-being of corporations. Topics include: time value of money, capital-budgeting analysis, net present value, internal rate of return (IRR) and its pitfalls, real options, making cash-flow forecasts from accounting data, financial statement ratio analysis, tradeoff between risk and return, portfolio theory, and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), estimating a project’s or firm’s cost of capital, corporate claimants and capital structure theory, dividend policy, and elements of corporate restructuring.

MBA 474 Marketing Essentials for Executives 3 Credits

The course equips professionals with emerging and time-tested marketing management principles and techniques for the changing world shaped by technological advances, social media, and unprecedented amounts of data. From decisions on targeting to developing and communicating brands’ value propositions, professionals will examine the ways in which marketing creates a lasting strategic impact. Participants will engage in a dynamic learning environment that uses the latest case studies, readings, simulations, and other learning modules to apply marketing knowledge for solving complex problems.

MBA 475 Operations and Supply Chain Management for Executives 3 Credits

The course is designed to explore how organizations develop supply chain flows from upstream supply management, to internal processes, and to distribution channels, in order to deliver goods and services that exceed customer expectations and create societal value. New business models and forms of operations enabled by technological innovations will be explored. Topics covered include operations strategy, demand/customer management, supply/capacity planning, raw material/component sourcing, inventory planning, fulfillment and distribution, sustainability, and industry 4.0.

MBA 476 Talent Management for Executives 3 Credits

This course highlights key principles of human behavior at work to address talent management issues in organizations and delves into how those principles can be ethically applied in a data analytics age, not just to attract and select the right employees for a given organization, but also to motivate, lead, empower, and develop others. Students will acquire skills and knowledge that will enhance your ability to analyze and resolve individual performance issues and organizational talent challenges with a global perspective.

MBA 481 Mastering Strategy 3 Credits

This course emphasizes strategic management from a general manager standpoint. Students apply essential business knowledge through simulation, case presentations, and the cross core project. We examine historical perspectives, contemporary theories, and practical applications to develop students’ broad understanding of strategic management issues and solutions. By combining high-level class discussions, case analyses, a computer simulation competition, and the cross core project, this course exposes students to rigorous theoretical analysis while providing hands-on, simulated real-world business experiences.
Prerequisites: MBA 471 and MBA 472 and MBA 473 and MBA 474 and MBA 475 and MBA 476

MBA 482 Executive Leadership 3 Credits

This course examines leadership at the organization and team levels. It aims to develop leadership skills and the ability to diagnose leadership needs in different situations. The course focuses on the decisions leaders need to make, and the appropriate leadership decision-making processes required in various contexts and at different stages of an organization's existence. Cases and developmental exercises including in-depth decision-making exercises are utilized and cover diverse situations and cross-cultural dimensions including crisis and change management or ethically difficult decisions.
Prerequisites: MBA 471 and MBA 472 and MBA 473 and MBA 474 and MBA 475 and MBA 476

MBA 483 Digital Strategies for Organization Transformation 3 Credits

The course is designed to develop an understanding of how new business strategies can be developed and existing business strategies be improved through the introduction of technologies and digital systems. The course will highlight opportunities created by new digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and big data, identify organizational challenges and barriers to digital transformation, and present frameworks and roadmaps to developing and implementing digital transformation strategies.
Prerequisites: MBA 471 and MBA 472 and MBA 473 and MBA 474 and MBA 475 and MBA 476

MBA 484 Societal Challenges: Implications for Business 3 Credits

This course examines societal shifts (e.g., artificial intelligence, blockchain, changing demographics, and climate change) and how society needs to think about sustainable growth in the coming decades. The societal shifts will be examined in pairs and then integrated to form scenarios for society in the coming decades. The focus is on the impacts of these societal shifts at the industry and individual company level.
Prerequisites: MBA 471 and MBA 472 and MBA 473 and MBA 474 and MBA 475 and MBA 476