3 hours

This cornerstone core course is aimed at providing an introduction to fundamental business concepts from a global managing perspective. Students will gain fundamental insights into key business activities during different stages of a firm’s lifecycle through lectures, case analyses, team exercises and critical evaluation exercises. The course is based on an integrative framework that especially emphasizes the relationships, connections and dependencies among functional areas in different lifecycle situations.

3 hours

This course presents written and oral business communication as a management strategy critical to success in the workplace by introducing a communication model useful to identify objectives, analyze audiences, choose information, and create the most effective arrangement and channel for written and oral messages. Students will practice drafting and editing clear, precise and readable written business documents, including communications to executive-level readers. Students also will develop skills in the effective design and delivery of unwelcome information, technical information to non-technical audiences and group communication.

3 hours

This course takes a user-oriented approach to the study of financial statements. Students study the role of the financial statements and the annual report in the financial reporting process. Using ratio analysis, students analyze past firm performance and make forecasts of future performance. Students also study the effects of differing accounting methods on financial statement analysis.

3 hours

Companies that ignore their legal and ethical obligations to owners, customers and consumers open the door to parties who seek legal recourse that can limit their gain or even threaten their existence. Law and ethics, when incorporated properly into managerial decision making, provide strategic tools to facilitate growth, creativity, competitive advantage and legal certainty and to reduce legal risk and liability. By examining the application of law and ethics to a variety of business and corporate governance issues, this course offers the master’s student an understanding of how businesses can comply with the law and use an ethical culture as a positive strategy for making successful business decisions.

3 hours

Evidence based decision making is critical to an organization’s ability to compete in the global economy. This course explores the role of data in driving decisions made by managers across and within functional boundaries. Specifically, students learn to understand, visualize and present data that supports organizational decision making processes. They also learn how to create data driven models such as regression and decision trees to make decisions to address critical challenges faced by organizations and society. The course features hands-on exercises with appropriate software.

1.5 hours

The Analytics Experience gives students the opportunity to work on real-world data analytics problems and apply analytical techniques to solve a diverse set of problems. The course is housed in the Insight Lab, the “big data analytics” facility where analytics students and faculty conduct research and work with companies on obtaining analytical insights from data. It also teaches students to find solutions to big data challenges facing real companies and organizations. The specific problems that students will address depend on what research projects and company projects are ongoing at the time of the course. Student teams will compete to produce and communicate the best solution.

1.5 hours

This course examines a wide range of fundamental managerial techniques used by companies in their internal planning and control functions. In particular, it focuses on (a) techniques useful in analyzing and managing costs and profits and (b) control systems (e.g., performance evaluation) that cater to large and decentralized business enterprises. In addition to building a basic knowledge base of managerial control and costing systems, students are expected to develop analytical skills necessary for making cost-related decisions and evaluating alternative designs of control systems.

3 hours

Issues and various approaches involved in defining, developing or acquiring, and deploying information systems are studied within both strategic and support roles. Students will examine how information technology can be used as an enabler for business process improvement and service innovation, how to recognize business processes and assess their information-related needs, and how to develop organizational agility through business process innovations enabled by information technology.

3 hours

This course focuses on the financial management of both publicly-held and private corporations. Students are presented with a conceptual framework for understanding and addressing problems commonly faced by corporate decision-makers and are provided opportunities to apply these concepts to contemporary business situations. Topics covered include, but are not limited to: the valuation and role of debt and equity, capital acquisition and the organization of domestic and international financial markets, the relationship between risk and return including the capital asset pricing model, capital budgeting/project evaluation techniques, cost of capital, cash flow estimation, project risk analysis, real options, company valuation and capital structure decisions.

3 hours

This course is a study of the managerial aspects of marketing. Emphasis is placed on the quantitative and qualitative criteria used in evaluating marketing alternatives and in choosing among these alternatives. The course includes topics related to market segmentation, marketing research, product/service development, branding, promotion, pricing, channels of distribution, marketing strategy, and global marketing.

3 hours

This course focuses on the basic concepts, principles and techniques for efficient and effective operations. Special emphasis is placed on process improvement and supply chain management. Topics such as operations strategy, product and service design, process analysis, lean production, materials and inventory management, quality management, six sigma, and project management will be covered in the context of domestic and international marketplaces.

3 hours

What do managers need to know about organizations and people within organizations? This class will develop an understanding of the key issues managers need to master in order to manage the interface between people and organizations. The course begins with a focus on the individual within the organization, including topics of attitudes, motives and personality. The course then progresses to a broader focus on the organization as a whole, including topics of power and political concerns, group and organizational leadership, and organizational culture.

3 hours

This course explores methods of directing an entire organization or a significant division in an internationally competitive environment. The perspective is that of the general manager who must integrate many business functions to successfully lead a multi-national organization. Topics include the identification of organizational competence in light of external environmental and international conditions, the development of business/corporate strategy that addresses the international marketplace and the internal processes required for successful implementation of that strategy.