Online Master of Business Administration (MBA): Curriculum

This course emphasizes the use of an organization’s accounting information for decision-making. With a focus on both financial and managerial accounting, the course reviews financial statement analysis and interpretation. The course shifts to managerial accounting, which is defined and contrasted with financial accounting. Managers use of managerial accounting to evaluate business performance and make strategic decisions in management is reviewed. Course topics include financial and managerial accounting concepts, interpreting financial statements, cost-volume-profit relationships, budgeting, and accounting for planning and control.

The student will examine the application of statistical analysis, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis in business decision- making. The course will focus on the utilization of statistical methods as applied to business problems and operations. Descriptive statistics, probability and random variables, sampling and statistical inference, regression analysis, chi-square analysis, and analysis of variance will be investigated. Students will use a statistical software program.

This course covers efficient resource allocation and the application of the analytical tools of economic theory to decision making by managers. The curriculum is designed to show students how to use various tools comprising the economics of effective management for the profit-maximizing firm. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to calculate and apply price elasticity, employ a statistical regression analysis, perform cost analyses, and display competency in other areas of managerial economics. Prerequisite: MBA 5700

This course provides a working knowledge of the tools and analytical conventions used in the practice of corporate financial decision-making. Students will analyze fundamental decisions that financial managers face in capital budgeting, cost of capital, dividend policy, long-term financing and mergers, and working capital management. Course activities include lecture, problem sets, and case studies. Prerequisite: MBA 5000

This course surveys the organization and theory of the American legal system and its relationship to business, including contracts, agency, torts, criminal law, and employment law. This course incorporates the study of ethical issues facing managers in today’s business environment, and provides a conceptual framework for analyzing and addressing these issues.

Successful organizations match the objectives and resources of the firm with the needs and opportunities of the target markets. The focus of the course is how marketing contributes to the delivery of value to individual and business consumers at a profit in management. Emphasis is placed on the managerial activities of strategic planning, market and competitive analyses, customer behavior evaluation, value assessment, market segmentation, targeting, positioning, and marketing mix decisions.

Operations Management focuses on the design and management of the processes involved in the production of goods and delivery of services. The course covers many interdependent aspects of the supply chain and emphasizes the importance of quality, consistency and value in sustaining the firm’s competitive advantage. The topics covered include: operations strategy, designing services and products, managing production capacity, managing inventories, quality philosophies, and supply chain management.

Business Analytics prepares students to bring data-driven decision-making skills to all facets of a business organization and to use quantitative reasoning to solve business problems in a complex environment. Students will be introduced to a wide variety of technical skills, including predictive modeling and econometrics, statistical computing, and data visualization, and will be trained in how to apply those skills in a modern business environment. Prerequisite: MBA 5020 Applied Business Statistics.

Students will explore historical and contemporary leadership and organizational theories. Related cases and hypothetical situations will be analyzed. The course will draw on selected management scenarios to understand organizational effectiveness and change processes that can be used to improve organizational performance. Teams will be utilized throughout the course for presentations of cases.

This course will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the strategies and techniques needed to effectively manage organizational change. Students will learn how to identify the drivers of change, assess their impacts on the organization, and develop and implement a change path that aligns with the organization’s goals and objectives. Topics covered will include change management theory, identifying and evaluating potential change strategies, stakeholder analysis, communication planning, and resistance management. Case studies and real-world examples will be used to illustrate best practices and to provide students with practical experience. As part of this integrative experience, students will explore the concept of change management from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

This course surveys applied topics relating to business ethics, and provides a conceptual framework for thinking about and discussing these topics. This framework has three parts or “themes”: (1) Corporate Social Responsibility; (2) Relationship of Law and Ethics; and (3) Individual Ethical Decision-Making. Class time will be used to explore applied topics with reference to these three themes.

This course is an introduction to business research methods. Students can expect to learn about the types of research methods available to solve business problems. The course will include an introduction to the Institutional Review Board, the ethical requirements of research with human subjects, and working with surveys and survey software. This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental skills necessary for conducting research including selecting a research topic, conducting a literature review, and writing a research proposal. Students will learn about qualitative and quantitative studies, using data, basic methods of statistical analysis and how to critically evaluate research done by others.

International Business Environments covers key aspects of conducting business within an international setting, which includes the role of government, multi-national commercial operations, small and medium-sized firms, and social responsibility issues. The course delivery is framed within the cultural and geographic aspects of International Business and supply-chain challenges.