Online and Hybrid MBA Curriculum

In this course students will learn to prepare and interpret the three major components of the corporate annual report: the Balance Sheet, the Income Statement, and the Statement of Cash Flows. The underlying accounting model that produces these statements will be critically reviewed; both its strengths and limitations will be evaluated. Additionally the role of popular ratios in forecasting firm profitability, risk, and liquidity are considered. Student will gain this knowledge through homework assignments, discussion questions, and an integrative case analysis. This course is a prerequisite for Financial and Managerial Accounting SCH-MGMT 633. (1 Credit)

This is a "high elevation" course covering a wide range of issues regarding financial markets.  The short duration of the course will make this coverage summary in nature, but will not prohibit you from learning much about the financial world, and financial markets. (1 Credit)

This course provides an understanding of the strategic role of Information Technologies (IT) in business; how to successfully integrate IT into the organization; how to manage the challenges associated with conceiving, justifying, implementing and maintaining  IT-based initiatives ; and how to be an active and productive participant in management decisions that involve IT. (3 Credits)

An overview of the concepts and language of financial and managerial accounting that covers how accounting information can be used as an effective tool for communication, monitoring, and resource allocation. Topics include the principles and methodologies underlying financial statements and the inherent limitations of that information. Additional topics include behavior, cost analysis, and tools used to motivate and coordinate business activities. (4 Credits)

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the area of corporate finance and investments. Students will learn about the basic concerns and responsibilities of financial managers, and gain an appreciation of the methods of analysis employed by them. Students will learn both theory and practice of corporate finance and investments. (3 Credits)

This course reviews the foundations of modern economics with an emphasis on its applications in business.  Course coverage includes a range of both microeconomic and macroeconomic subjects.  Topics include demand and supply analysis, consumer theory, theory of the firm, unemployment, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy, economic growth, the causes and consequences of recessions, and issues in global economics. (3 Credits)

This course provides an overview of statistical analysis and inference. The language and methods of statistics are used throughout the MBA curriculum, both in the classroom and in assigned readings. In addition, the language and methods of statistical analysis have permeated much of academic and professional writing as well as media reporting, both inside and beyond the business community. The goal is to present a broad introduction to statistical thinking, concepts, methods, and vocabulary. The course has an emphasis on business applications. (3 Credits)

This course provides an executive viewpoint of marketing concepts, such as branding and segmentation, for strategic and organizational decision-making. There is an emphasis on tools available for analysis and control of marketing activities, including the use of new media. Topics also include industrial life cycles, customer experience, and pricing strategy.

The goal of this course is to teach leaders what they need to know in order to build high-performance operations with world-class processes of innovation and continuous improvement. We cover the most current methodologies and tools, together with the most important soft skills required, to create efficient and responsive operations that deliver the highest quality services and products. (3 Credits)

Provides an overview of different perspectives and approaches to leadership practice and related organizational behavior topics. Relying on a participative multi-learning approach, the course goes beyond traditional leadership practices to examine empowering leadership approaches for addressing contemporary organizational behavior challenges such as leading teams. The overall objective is to increase students' understanding of and ability to apply contemporary leadership and organizational behavior knowledge in work situations. (3 Credits)

Capstone course requiring application of knowledge and techniques derived from previous courses. Course presents strategic management theories and frameworks, uses integrative cases, and leverages empirical observations to guide students in the formulation of successful firm-level strategies. (3 Credits)

This course addresses the essentials of marketing management as applied to service industries such as health care, hospitality, financial, technology, consulting, and other service providers.  Such topics as service quality, segmentation, positioning, consumer expectations, service recovery, internal marketing and relationship marketing are presented, discussed, and analyzed. (3 Credits)

Overview of human resource management theory and practice in organizations. Legal framework; job design; recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, and separation; compensation; benefits; contemporary issues in HRM. (3 Credits)

Examines and evaluates legal problems as they relate to the business environment. Course will deal with areas of law including contracts, agency, ethics, bankruptcy, business organization and other areas of commercial law. (3 Credits)

This course is designed to help you develop and polish essential career and professional development pieces. The idea is that, whether you are looking for a new job, aiming for a promotion, or happily working in your current position, you need certain items in your career toolkit. Those items include resumes, cover letters, elevator pitches, LinkedIn profiles and behavioral interviewing techniques. We'll use assigned readings, instructional videos, and other guidelines to establish criteria for meeting today's standards. Rubrics establish criteria for meeting expectations of each assignment and provide a framework for instructor feedback. Discussions are optional. Successful completion of the course is based on quality submission of assignments. (1 Credit)

This course teaches students how to maximize spreadsheets as a data management tool using advanced functions and formulas. Students will learn how to efficiently manipulate, format, and automate data, and use spreadsheets to build customized reports, dashboards, amazing charts, pivot tables and macros. Students will learn the following software: Advanced Excel with Macros, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Microsoft Office, and Power Query. This course is applicable to all business disciplines. Prerequisites: basic spreadsheet knowledge. (3 Credits)

This course provides an introduction to Business Intelligence, including the processes, methodologies, infrastructure, and current practices used to transform business data into useful information and support business decision-making.  Business Intelligence requires foundation knowledge in data storage and retrieval, thus this course will review logical data models for both database management systems and data warehouses. Students will learn to extract and manipulate data from these systems and assess security-related issues. Students will learn the following software and skills: Database management, SQL, data warehousing, and visualization with Tableau. Data mining, visualization, and statistical analysis along with reporting options such as management dashboards and balanced scorecards will be covered. (3 Credits)

This course provides an introduction to programming with a focus on business and analytics applications. The curriculum supports the development of skills in data extraction and manipulation as well as automating data analysis tasks. Students will become adept in the use of important libraries and will be able to use trusted open-source resources to support continued development of programming skills. Students will learn Python w/ visualization and analytics libraries. No prior programming experience expected. (3 Credits)

The course Negotiation Theory and Practice examines negotiation fundamentals, including the two core strategies of competitive (win-lose) negotiation and integrative (win-win) negotiation.  Course content focuses on negotiation preparation, strategy formulation, determination of goals and objectives, and processes for bringing about a successful settlement.  The course will also explore psychological processes, power dynamics, communications at all stages of negotiation, ethical issues and the challenges of cross-cultural negotiations.  The format of the course will be organized around a series of bargaining simulations and cases that are supported by readings, videos, and cases. (3 Credit)

This graduate course provides comprehensive coverage of project management, focusing on the methods and competencies needed to effectively manage projects. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to understand different project management techniques, terminology and trends; define project success measures and methods; improve quality, cost and efficiency with the project management process; and gain basic competency using project management software. Students will learn MS Project and earn credit hours for PMI-CAPM certification. (3 Credits)

This course explores issues in emerging best practices for operating a business in the online environments of today. We will review various digital marketing efforts which generate web traffic (SEO and organic search vs. paid adverting venues, i.e. Google Adwords).  Specifically, this course will explore the collection, measurement and analysis of Internet information for the purposes of improving the customer online experience.  Use of a demo Google Analytics (GA) account will provide a practical and applied learning environment.   Student will work through the analytics reports available in GA and create user specific dashboards.  Students will be able to plan, execute and manage a web analytics strategy, including key performance indicators and a measurement plan.  No previous programming or technical skills are required. (3 Credits)

Supply chain constitutes a core competency, spanning most business functions required for the delivery of products and services to consumers. Advances in information technology and analytics facilitate continued improvement in supply chain infrastructure and op-erations efficiency. This course will introduce fundamental concepts in supply chain management, IT-enabled supply chain operations, procurement management, production planning, inventory management, and logistics and transportation. The course involves the use of Excel to support decision making, the study of selected business case studies, and the use of a team-based supply chain simulation game. (3 Credits)

Salesforce is a hugely popular-and powerful-customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides a variety of tools for managing marketing workflows, including digital marketing and paid advertising. Through this course you will be introduced to Salesforce applications including Marketing Cloud, email marketing, managing the lead life cycle within a Salesforce account, tracking vendor expenses, communicating with your sales teams, and visualizing marketing project success. (1 Credit)

From self-driving cars to digital assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa, and cognitive computing platforms, such as IBM's Watson, many of today's revolutionary products depend on artificial intelligence (AI). This course is designed to introduce business students to AI in a thorough but non-technical manner. We will look at the history of AI and then look at developments in machine learning (ML) which have driven many of the recent commercial applications of AI. We will compare and contrast traditional natural language processing (NLP) and traditional expert systems, with ML systems based on deep learning. Student will be assigned readings and instructional videos which will be assessed through a couple of weekly quizzes, there will also be a class discussion and a hands-on ML exercise that will demonstrate how some of these AI systems "learn". (2 Credits)

As people are increasingly sharing their daily lives on social media, organizations and celebrities are using it as a channel to directly engage with followers. A lot of data is being generated in these interactions. This course seeks to provide students with frameworks and tools to gather insights from this data. For an organization this might allow them to gain insights into their market structure and their customers' perceptions of the brand. Other areas of interest may be studying the changing perceptions about the brands in response to the exchanges amongst netzines or the organization's marketing campaigns. This course will have several hands-on exercises based on the R language (No previous experience with R is required). Students will work with some near real-time datasets of tweets, US stock market data for select ticker symbols, and some popular RSS news feeds from the instructor's research projects in this field. Students will work in groups on a project that will use these datasets.  While there are no prerequires for this course, a few skills would be helpful for anyone intending to take this course and these are; a basic understanding of descriptive statistics, some experience with spreadsheets, and any experience writing spreadsheet macros, database queries or some basic computer programming. (1 Credit)

The purpose of this course is to provide the essential diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) knowledge and language for business professionals and organizations. We will explore definitions, frameworks, and the most current issues as they relate to DEI in the workplace. This course will provide the basic knowledge needed for more advanced courses such as Inclusive Leadership and Building Inclusive Workplace Cultures. (1 Credit)

This course will examine the history of quality, performance improvement, and patient safety in healthcare. An overview of governmental and non-governmental agencies involvement in healthcare quality and performance improvement will be included. Learn key measures and tools to improve healthcare quality and performance improvement in hospitals and physician groups, including employer and health plans perspectives. Learn how healthcare leadership can improve organizational quality. Discussion topics will include current trends in healthcare quality and performance improvement. (3 Credits)

The student should demonstrate proficiency in the management and life cycle of corporate real estate: that real estate that is owned, leased or otherwise occupied by corporate users for purposes of business operation.  The life cycle will include strategic planning, transaction management, capital markets, project management, facility management, and lease administration. (3 Credits)

Regardless of the industry (e.g. healthcare, finance, retail, etc.) organizations today face heightened regulatory pressures and higher customers' demands for quality of products and services. This course provides an understanding of how to leverage data and analytics tools to obtain visibility into operational processes, identify quality issues before they become serious problems, evaluate cost of poor quality and to gain insights about how to drive continuous quality improvements and increase profitability. (1 Credit)

Product Marketing holds a unique and powerful position within any organization, accountable for the overall go-to-market strategy and success of the product.  This course is designed to introduce you to the core principles of Product Marketing, primarily focusing on positioning and messaging, sales enablement, competitive intelligence, buyer personas, analyst relations and corporate and industry events. By understanding these concepts, both theoretically and practically, you will be better positioned to land a job in Product Marketing and other relevant careers in marketing. (2 Credits)

Ecommerce continues to accelerate at a rapid pace, now accounting for about 10% of US retail sales and much more than that in other countries. While both start-ups and long-established brick and mortar businesses are relying on ecommerce for growth, logistics has become a major impediment. The shipping of orders is fraught with operating issues and a big drag on profits:
- Should shipments originate from a retail location or a separate warehouse?
- When should additional shipping locations be added and where should they be located?
- What parts of ecommerce operations can be outsourced?
- How can ecommerce operations be made more efficient?
- Returns: a big problem every business must contend with
- Managing and measuring logistics costs: difficult for the big players, a death knell for start-ups
This course will provide answers to all of the above and will outline how more successful ecommerce companies manage logistics. (1 Credit)

In this course, students will learn about the major sources of financing for new products:  traditional venture capital, corporate capital, and angel capital.  How those sources are accessed will be done through reading and individual research projects. The thinking process investors use to evaluate new venture deals will be explained. A major outcome of the course will be fluency in the terminology of entrepreneurial finance:  cap rates and cap tables, burn rate, accredited investor, CAGR, dilution and anti-dilution, clawback, drag-along rights, exit strategy, multiples, and many more.  Methods of learning will include Harvard case studies, problem solving, and individual research projects. (3 Credits)

First module of five module program.  Active involvement in the course will provide critical personal finance skills vital in life for financial stability and success. This course is especially useful for mature students with business and professional experience who have a desire to learn about the basics, including what information needs to be gathered, setting financial goals, implementing strategies to achieve goals and understanding and recognizing opportunity costs. By covering such topics as Time Value of Money, Financial Aspects of Career Planning, Personal Financial Statements, Budgets, and Introduction to Taxes, students will gain a foundation for making sound personal financial decisions useful for the rest of your life. You may take this course alone or with any or all of the five modules in the course. There are no prerequisites. (1 Credit)

Second module of five module program.  Active involvement in the course will provide critical personal finance skills vital in life for financial stability and success. This course is especially useful for mature students with business and professional experience who have a desire to learn about cash management including types of financial institutions, using, determining the cost of and choosing a source of credit, making smart purchases of consumer items, determining your housing needs, renting vs. owning, and understanding mortgages. By covering such topics as Cash Management, Savings and Payment Accounts, Consumer Borrowing and Credit, Purchasing Strategies, Warranties, Housing Decisions and Mortgage Strategies, students will gain a foundation for making sound personal financial decisions useful for the rest of your life.  You may take this course alone or with any or all of the five modules in the course.  There are no prerequisites. (1 Credit)

Innovation is one the major forces that enable organizations, regardless of industry (i.e. healthcare, finance, retail, etc.) to strategically gain and sustain competitive advantage.  The objective of this course is to equip you with relevant skills necessary to identify innovative ideas, effectively manage innovation and technological change, and to become a positive participant in an organization that is undergoing change.  Topics include: sources, types and patterns of innovation, standards and design dominance, timing of entry, collaboration strategies, protecting innovation, and managing new product development. The course addresses issues such as managing innovation in small vs. large organizations, closed vs. open innovation, how to connect to the market and more. No technical background is required. (1 Credit)

This course offers a broad overview of real estate investments and addresses some of the concepts and techniques involved in analyzing these financial decisions. Topics include valuation of real property, investment performance measurements and ratios, cash flow analysis, and financing strategies. (2 Credits)

Fourth module of four module program. Course provides critical personal finance skills vital in life for financial stability and success. This course is especially useful for mature students with business and professional experience who have a desire to learn about how to choose investments on their own or for their 401(k) plan, risk and returns, building an investment portfolio, passive and active investing, portfolio theory and terms, asset allocation, risk reduction and investment expenses.  By covering such topics as Investment Fundamentals, Stocks, Bonds, Mutual, Exchange Traded and other types of Funds, Alternative and Real Estate Investments, you will gain a foundation for making sound personal financial decisions useful for the rest of your life.  You may take this course alone or with any or all of the five modules in the course.  There are no prerequisites. (1 Credit)

Third module of four module program.  Course provides critical personal finance skills vital in life for financial stability and success. This course is especially useful for mature students with business and professional experience who have a desire to learn about personal finance risks and a financially-sound way of planning with insurance to provide funds to handle those risks, retirement and estate planning. By covering such topics as Insurance Fundamentals, Health and Personal Insurance, Financial and Living Aspects of Retirement, and Estate Planning, Wills and Estate Taxes, you will gain a foundation for making sound personal financial decisions useful for the rest of your life.  You may take this course alone or with any or all of the five modules in the course.  There are no prerequisites. (1 Credit)

This course will begin by determining when and why a "turnaround or workout" is necessary for an organization. An assessment of warning signs both qualitative and quantitative will be undertaken. We will look at alternative strategies employed successfully in manufacturing and service industries ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 sized firms that have led to a more vital positioning. Leadership characteristics necessary for turnaround strategy employment will be studied. Students will subsequently develop a "business turnaround plan" within a project format. (2 Credits)

Course will address the needs of students considering starting their own business or purchasing and managing a business or franchise. Areas to be covered during the class are as follows: Idea generation ? differentiate or die; discuss the importance of ?differentiation? and why most new businesses underestimate this critical concept.  Choosing the appropriate business structure: Limited Liability Company, Subchapter C Corporation, Subchapter S Corporation.  Developing the business plan: gathering and preparing the proper information to attract financing.  Funding your business: identifying sources of funding such as Venture Capital, Private Equity, partners, lenders.  Human resources: hiring your first employee, evaluating potential sales people, choosing incentive programs.  Successful marketing strategies: numerous examples of creative and effective marketing decisions propelling companies forward.  Successful sales strategies: numerous examples of tactics designed to get consumers to buy.  Exit strategies: selling to private firms, going public, maintaining partial ownership while remaining in management. (3 Credits)

Basic concepts of supply chain management such as synchronized information, product and financial flow, channel design and configuration, supplier relationships, internal and external logistics, and inventory deployment and replenishment. Supply chain modeling for the optimization and monitoring of a supply chain, or a segment thereof, using network (mathematical programming) models. (3 Credit)

Value Investing is designed to equip students with an historical perspective of the stock market and to acquaint them with some basic techniques for analyzing opportunities for investments in publicly traded companies. Such opportunities, it is assumed, are based in market inefficiencies that detach price from value and on the value-creating role of companies. As such, the course draws deeply on what we know about crowd psychology and as well on the approaches to analyzing the profit potential of specific companies. In effect, Value Investing is about investing in public companies the old fashioned way ? one company at a time. Along with concepts/tools from psychology, strategy and finance, this course draws upon the teachings of Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher, Warren Buffet, and on more modern practitioners such as Bill Miller and Seth Klarman. Prerequisite: A working knowledge of Microsoft Excel or equivalent spreadsheet software. (3 Credits)

The goal of this course is to improve students' decision making in today's highly complex and uncertain world. It does so by first teaching prediction and forecasting skills for business managers. Then, the second part of the course builds on those topics and skills to teach "futuring," the process of envisioning and considering future outcomes and making business decisions accordingly. The course teaches students to better understand and describe what may happen in the future and act optimally. The ultimate goal is to improve managers' effectiveness in dealing with change. (1 Credit)

This course is designed to teach students the skills necessary to develop, implement, analyze, and interpret survey data. Specifically, the course covers types of surveys and how to design a questionnaire or survey with different levels of measurements and scales. By the end of the course, students should be able to design and conduct an original survey using online platforms  and descriptive analysis of data using such programs as SPSS, JMP, Excel. (1 Credit)