Required Core Courses

ACC 670 - Financial Reporting and Analysis
The course focuses on the analysis and use of financial accounting information in the evaluation of corporate performance.  The course initially demonstrates the accounting process and resulting generation of financial statements. Building on these core accounting concepts, the course emphasizes the understanding of financial statements prepared under U.S. and International Accounting Standards and the analysis of these financial statements including common size analysis, ratio analysis, the impact of taxes, and credit analysis.  Completion of the course will enhance the student’s ability to read, interpret and analyze financial statements for making investment, credit, acquisition and other evaluation decisions.

ACC 671 - Accounting for Decision Making
The course focuses on the use of accounting information in reporting managerial performance and making business decisions.  The course covers the preparation and use of managerial accounting information for use in planning, budgeting, control, break-even analysis and pricing, including the impact of taxes. Completion of the course will enhance the student’s ability to understand managerial accounting reports and use this information in making decisions.

BSL 690 - Legal and Ethical Implications of Business Decision Making
The course includes an introduction to our legal and governmental regulatory system, as well as a review of constitutional considerations for businesses. Morality and ethics are defined and distinguished. Applied philosophy is then introduced, to give the student a foundation upon which to analyze the ethical dimensions of common business questions. The relationship between the letter and the spirit of the law is examined. Specific business topics and their legal and ethical aspects are then addressed.  This includes, but is not limited to, discussion of the following areas: consumer relationships; business organizations; the balancing of corporate vs. individual power (employee rights and responsibilities, employment discrimination); and the emerging ethic of a global economy.

CIS 610 - Foundations of Management Information Systems
This course is designed to provide the foundations in management information systems required to understand and effectively run an enterprise wide systems operation. Topics include: The role of the CIO, managing Information Technology (IT) as a strategic resource, the business of process engineering, IT planning, IT governance and communication, the internet and eBusiness.

ECO 680 - Essentials of Economics
Essentials of Economics introduces the MBA students to the core concepts of economics: the allocation of scarce resources by the laws of supply and demand. The use of the market place as the principle organizing and distribution tool of the economy is stressed. Externalities, market failure and pollution of the environment are treated as needed corrections to be done by public sector regulation – taxation and legislation. The principal forms of firm organization and dissolution of the firm are discussed. Applications of the laws of supply and demand are made to forecasting demand and analyzing cost structure, the entry and exit of firms and the valuation of the firm.

FIN 641 - Valuation and Financial Decision Making
Introduction to finance. Topics include the principles of finance; the time value of money; capital market efficiency; basic security valuation; basic capital budgeting; risk, return, and asset pricing model; and the cost of capital.

FIN 642 - The Financial Environment
A continuation of FIN 641. Topics include an introduction to the global securities markets and foreign exchange; basic derivatives, real options, agency theory, fixed income securities, the term structure, investment banking, short-term financial management and planning, and corporate financial policies.

MAS 631 - Statistics for Managerial Decision Making
This course aims to familiarize the students with statistical theory, tools and methods required for business systems analysis and improvement. Topics include descriptive methods, elementary probability, random variables and their distributions, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, as well as statistical modeling and regression.

MAS 632 - Management Science Models for Decision Making
This course aims to familiarize the student with Management Science tools for business systems analysis and improvement. The coverage includes linear and integer programming models, project management, simulation, queuing and decision analysis. Some widely used software will be illustrated through examples and case studies derived from business applications.

MGT 620 - Managing Through People
This core course in the MBA program introduces students to some of the key behavioral topics necessary to manage oneself and others in organizations. Specifically, the topics covered include individual attributes (personality, perception, motivation, relationship building), group processes (norms, roles, and team basics), leadership views, and organizational culture/change. An understanding of the relationship between each of these areas and organizational outcomes is enhanced through lecture, cases, and interactive exercises.

MGT 643 - Principles of Operations Management
Introduction to operations management, forecasting, process analysis, aggregate planning and capacity management, waiting line management and system design, quality management, inventory management.

MGT 675 - Business Policy and Strategy
The objectives of the course are to improve the student’s ability to think strategically and to provide an intellectual framework that enhances understanding of the MBA program. The course focuses on relationships among the firm, its strategy, and its environment; why firms choose certain businesses; which business strategies are successful; and how firms can change in response to a dynamic environment. Models for strategic formulation, implementation, and control are developed that facilitate an integrated understanding of the courses that comprise the MBA curriculum. Readings and lectures illustrate strategic management theories and frameworks while case discussions, experiential exercises, and team projects provide opportunities for application.

MGT 677 - Corporate Strategy and Organization
This capstone course focuses on the perspective and skills of the general manager. Its purpose is to provide practice in diagnosing and identifying realistic solutions to complex strategic and organizational problems. The course builds on previous coursework by providing an opportunity to integrate various functional areas and by providing a total business perspective. Since the focus is on pragmatic, action-oriented general management skills, the course will be taught primarily through the case method and will require both written analyses and case presentations.

MKT 640 - Foundations of Marketing Management
The course introduces students to the analytical concepts and tools of marketing management. Special emphasis is placed on the relationships between marketing and overall company strategy, the development of a customer orientation, the integration of marketing throughout the organization and the implementation of systems for planning and controlling the marketing effort. Students consider problems of consumer analysis, product planning, integrated communication, distribution and pricing. The discovery and application of marketing management skills are developed through the use of readings, cases, exercises, and class discussions.

MKT 650 - Strategic Marketing
The objective of this advanced MBA course is to develop the skills necessary to strategically manage business-unit level marketing activities in a multi-brand firm. This necessitates examining all marketing mix elements, R&D, financial and production considerations simultaneously in the context of the many markets, products and services that may concern a typical firm. The emphasis of the course is on understanding internal capabilities, market competitors as well as our customers. The course will utilize a market simulation exercise, cases and readings.

Elective Offerings

Students enroll in elective courses during the Fall semester and the first half of the Spring semester of the second year of the program (terms 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3). Elective offerings are based on student demand. Additional electives are listed within specific concentrations.

ACC 672 - Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation
Advanced Financial Analysis and Valuation builds on the analytical techniques developed in the basic financial statement analysis course, Accounting 670: Financial Reporting & Analysis, to augment your understanding of more complex financial reporting issues and to introduce you to the valuation of equity investments. The viewpoint is that of the user of financial statements, particularly from the standpoint of an equity investor or purchaser of a business. We discuss each financial reporting issue in terms of its effect on assessments of a firm’s profitability and risk. This course is designed primarily for students who expect to be intensive users of financial statements as part of their professional responsibilities.

ACC 673 - Taxation for Business and Investment Decisions
This course is intended as an elective for all MBA students. This course is designed to introduce tax concepts and planning applications to MBA students.  The primary focus of this course is on business entities (including C corporations, S corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships) with individuals covered in their role as employees and investors.   A sample of topics includes choice of business organizational form, deductible business expenses, employee fringe benefits and retirement planning, capital gains and losses, and tax-deferred exchanges.  Completion of this course will enhance the students' appreciation of the role of taxation in making investment, employment-related, and business decisions.

BSL 691 - The Public Corporation: Legal Perspectives
The Public Corporation: Legal Perspectives reviews the laws governing the formation, operation, regulation, and governance of the public corporation with the objective of providing the graduate business student a sophisticated examination of the legal and social aspects of managing the money of others. Further, the course examines the rules and regulations governing the raising of capital from the public through the sale of securities for the development of and investment in a private enterprise.

BSL 692 - Legal Implications of International Business Transactions
International legal framework, transactional legal issues in finance, marketing, management and distribution. Case studies in substantive international legal topics such as (1) international sales contracts; (2) the international documentary sale and international terms of trade; (3) the legal implications and substantive rules governing international finance, collections, payments, and letters of credit; and (4) the resolution of international disputes with a particular emphasis and examination upon the management of litigation, enforcement of foreign judgments, and alternative dispute resolution.

BSL 693 - Legal Principles of Commercial Contracting
Legal Principles of Commercial Contracting examines the fundamentals of all business dealings: the law of contracts. Reported court cases will be presented and analyzed in order to assist the student’s understanding of basic commercial contracting principles. This methodology is intended to develop the graduate student’s critical thinking process as well as their skills in oral and written communication.

BSL 694 - Real Estate Law
Real Estate Law focuses on the  U.S. legal system as it relates to the buying, selling, and financing of real property. In addition to traditional text material, the analysis of U.S. court cases is used to detail the legal factors of ownership rights and liabilities, specific interests in real property, contracting issues related to the purchase and sale of real property, as well as financing and closing the real estate transaction. The course provides a problem-solving experience, which is intended to develop graduate students’ critical thinking process as well as their skills in oral and written communication.

CIS 612 - Enterprise Technologies
The course addresses the needs of business students who wish to expand their understanding of information technology fundamentals. Focusing upon their use in today's enterprises, the course aims to provide students with knowledge of a variety of technological concepts commonly used in the IT Organization’s systems development initiatives and enables students to understand the implications of deploying such technologies within the enterprise.

CIS 613 - Business Intelligence Technologies

This course facilitates business decision makers in their understanding of data analysis tools that operate over data warehouses and ‘data marts’ more commonly referred to as Business Intelligence. The course focuses upon using technologies to drive effective data driven decision making through effective mining of corporate data warehouses, thus improving operational efficiency and ultimately increasing profitability. Students will be exposed to the concepts, analysis techniques, data cubes and manipulation of information extracted from a data warehouse that enables the formulation and execution of business strategies. Data analysis case studies will be used to reinforce students’ understanding and strategic use of results to accomplish business objectives.

CIS 616 - IT Systems Modeling
Overview of the systems development life cycle (SDLC).  Topics include concepts, tools, and techniques of systems modeling with an emphasis on data and process modeling.  Modeling will be accomplished using both structured and object-oriented tools and techniques.  Students will work in groups to model an application system for a business related problem using CASE tools.

CIS 617 - Information Technology Project Management

This course covers the identification and development of information technology plans for projects supporting the organization’s business objectives, and all activities required in the initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing phases of the project’s lifecycle.  It is intended to provide the body of knowledge, and best practices, necessary for a new Consultant, Business Analyst or Project Manager to successfully perform his/her responsibilities on a wide variety of IT enterprise projects.

ECO 685 - Managerial Economics in a Global Economy
Modern techniques of economic analysis and decision science are applied management of the firm in a global environment. Business planning and valuation are an integral part of the course. The principal forms of business organization and dissolution are reviewed. The major issues confronted by the firm: the principal-agent problem (or how to motivate managers to act in the best interest of the owners, the shareholders), moral hazard, discounting of free cash flow and terminal value, economies of scale and scope, and strategic management decision making are covered.

FIN 650 - Financial Investments
Finance 650 builds on Finance 641 and 642. The major topics covered include investment companies, risk aversion, asset allocation, asset pricing theory, the single index model, market efficiency, fixed income portfolio management, advanced issues of the term structure, financial options, and financial futures.

FIN 651 - Advanced Topics in Investments
Finance 651 builds directly on Finance 650, and on the MBA core classes Finance 641 and 642 using a variety of techniques, including case analysis and class discussion. A number of special topics will be covered, such as portfolio management, investment banking, market micro-structure, and financial analysis.

FIN 660 - International Finance
Finance 660 builds on Finance 641 and 642, and is intended to provide an overview of the concepts and importance of international finance. Specifically, the course will cover foreign exchange markets and instruments, international debt and equity markets, management of foreign exchange risk and political risk, and as international investments and taxation.

FIN 661 - Advanced Topics in International Finance
Finance 661 builds directly on Finance 660, and on the MBA core classes Finance 641 and 642 using a variety of techniques, including case analysis and class discussion. A number of special topics will be covered, such as measuring and managing the many additional risk exposures faced by a multi-national enterprise, investment and capital budgeting decisions in a global framework and financing the multi-national firm.

FIN 670 - Corporate Finance
Finance 670 builds on Finance 641 and 642 and focuses on financial decision making from a corporation’s perspective. Issues addressed include capital structure, management of corporate liabilities, leasing and other asset-based financing techniques and advanced treatment of capital budgeting and some of the complex issues involved, and corporate mergers and acquisitions.

FIN 671 - Advanced Topics in Corporate Finance
Finance 671 builds directly on Finance 670, and on the MBA core classes Finance 641 and Finance 642 using a variety of techniques, including case analysis and class discussion. A number of special topics will be covered, such as recapitalizations and bankruptcy, short and long-term financing, capital budgeting sensitivity analysis, risk management, as well as divided policy and share repurchases.

FIN 681 - Financial Institutions
Finance 681 builds on Finance 641 and 642, and focuses on the management of financial institutions, such as banks. Topics include risk management; deposits and deposit insurance; liquidity, reserve requirements, and capital adequacy; liability management; investment interest rate risk; and current issues connected with financial institutions.

FIN 685 - Mathematics of Financial Derivatives
Finance 685 builds on Finance 650, 660, and 670. This course provides an in-depth mathematical treatment of derivatives, and is divided into three parts: (1) options; (2) futures and forwards; and (3) other derivative instruments, which include options on futures, foreign currency derivatives, swaps, exotic options, and financial engineering. The emphasis is on equity instruments, although there is also some coverage of shortened long-term interest bearing instruments.

MAS 633 - Introduction to Quality Management
Participants in this course will be introduced to the major elements of Dr. Deming’s theory of management, including Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge and Fourteen Points for Management. Additionally, participants will be introduced to “Six Sigma” tools and methods. These tools and methods have been adopted with great success by many of the largest organizations in the world, for example, General Electric, Allied Signal, Dupont, American Express, J.P. Morgan, to name a few. Additionally, the course is a prerequisite for the “Six Sigma” Green Belt certification examination.

MAS 634 - Administrative Systems for Quality Management
This course presents a model to pursue quality management (QM). It features administrative systems and structures necessary for Quality Management. The administrative systems and structures presented in this course are required to sit for the Six Sigma Management “Green Belt” certification examination.

MAS 635 - Design of Experiments
This course will present tools and methodology useful in conducting experiments that provide valid answers to questions of interest to the experimenter. The course will discuss an overall approach to obtaining and analyzing experimental data, the advantages of using structured multi factor experiments to screen for important factors, ways of minimizing the amount of data points needed to obtain desired information, and how to identify values of experimental factors that optimize the value of measured responses. Factorial designs, fractional factorial designs, screening designs, and response surface designs will be presented. Emphasis will be on the knowledge required for proper application of these MAS 631 methods through many examples in business and quality management.

MAS 636 - Statistical Process Control and Reliability
This course aims to introduce some fundamental concepts of statistical process control and reliability with an emphasis on business applications. The first part of the course focuses on control charts and other tools that are used to monitor and improve business processes. The second part of the course introduces some basic ideas of reliability models and presents methods used in identifying failure modes in products and in business systems.

MAS 637 - Applied Regression Analysis and Forecasting
This course aims to familiarize the student with statistical prediction. It covers simple and multiple regression methods as well as time series and forecasting models in business. Instead of theoretical development, the course emphasizes the application of these methods in business systems analysis and improvement.

MGT 621 - High Performance Leadership
Leadership skills are critical for high performing organizations. Consequently, this course will utilize lecture, cases, exercises and self-assessments, and contemporary reading materials to present leadership approaches that both motivate and enable employees to perform beyond normal or ordinary expectations. Topics covered include: followership and organizational culture; power, influence, rewards, and punishments; path-goal and exchange theories; participation and empowerment; charismatic and transformational leadership; and contingency and cognitive resources theory.

MGT 622 - High Performance Teams
This elective course highlights how to manage and construct effective teams to achieve strategic goals. Team-based organizations have been created to enhance organizational performance. The benefits of effective team leadership are performance beyond expectations and enhancement of learning for employees. Topics covered include team decision-making, team leadership, diversity in teams, conflict resolution, and team creativity.

MGT 623 - Human Resource Systems
Leaders must manage their human resource assets effectively to achieve high performance organizations. This course will cover such topics as recruitment and selection of high performance employees, designing performance appraisal systems, implementing policies to satisfy legal issues impacting human resources, and instituting training/development systems.

MGT 645 - Principles of Supply Chain Management
The goal of this course is to introduce students to the business discipline of Supply Chain Management (SCM), which centers on concepts and techniques that enable firms to better coordinate material and information flows, and non-material activities associated with logistical and marketing processes that occur within and across organizations. This course will also discuss concepts and recent influential innovations in SCM (e.g., Cross-Docking, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), Third-Party Logistics (3PL), Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), and Quick Response (QR)).

MGT 691 - International Management
This MBA course is designed to provide an overview of management problems and issues for organizations and executives operating internationally. Students will learn how multinational enterprises are different, why they behave as they do, and how to apply management principles to problem-solving in such contexts.

MKT 641 - Marketing Research
The objective of the course is to allow students to understand functional analysis of consumer and market behaviors utilizing statistical tools. The course will cover topics of secondary sources of data, sampling, questionnaire design, and analysis and interpretation of data. Project and case analysis methods will be used for instruction.

MKT 644 - Services Marketing
The objective of this advanced MBA course is to develop the skills necessary to manage companies in an increasingly service-oriented and technology-driven economy and to gain sustainable competitive advantage through delivering superior quality services. This course will cover the special marketing challenges posed by the unique characteristics of services and discuss their managerial implications. It will also discuss the need and strategies for synergistic management of Operations, Systems and People to satisfy customers so as to achieve marketing excellence and superior financial performance.

MKT 645 - International Marketing
The objective of this course is to analyze theories and practice of international marketing management. The course will allow students to understand markets and aid them in developing marketing plans based on the nature of national as well as international markets. The course will address the issues of globalization, standardization, intermarket segments, trading blocks, global marketing strategies, local branding, and global branding in the context of customer movements, product development, pricing, distribution, communication and segmentation in global markets.

MKT 646 - Consumer Behavior
The course offers an overview of psychological and normative principles of consumer decision-making and judgment by focusing on underlying behavioral research and theory. It focuses on how people process information and make decisions involving risk and uncertainty, conflicting objectives, and imperfect information. The implications of consumer behavior on marketing strategy will be highlighted.

MKT 647 - Advertising and Communication Management

Billions of dollars are wasted every year on ineffective advertising and communication campaigns. This is not typically because of poor creativity. The problem is an absence of a compelling strategy to serve as a foundation for developing creative executions and media plans. This advanced MBA course provides a balanced analysis of strategy and execution of integrated marketing communication campaigns. The effectiveness of existing and emerging communication vehicles to attain strategic marketing goals, are assessed. Special emphasis is given to advertising, sales promotions, and online communications. Current and historical campaigns are reviewed. The requirements include case reports, projects and class participation.