COURSES DESIGNED TO HELP YOU SUCCEED

Students will attain or re-attain a level of understanding and proficiency with regard to statistical concepts, team building, ethical frameworks, and other twenty-first century business practices in support of the remainder of the MBA program.

Using theories and models of leadership, management, and organizational behavior, students analyze organizational effectiveness and make recommendations for improvement. Students will identify and evaluate examples of functional and dysfunctional leadership, drawing on models of leadership with sensitivity to cross-cultural differences. Students also apply theories and models of team development, structure, and performance to improve personal and team effectiveness and to direct teams to achieve their objectives. Additionally, students apply and analyze frameworks for understanding and thinking strategically about employment relations and elements of human resources management.

Students develop the ability to read, understand, and use corporate financial statements and published accounting reports. Students will gain an understanding of how cost information can be used for decision making. Students will also examine both financial and nonfinancial performance measures for evaluating business strategies and business unit success. Students will be asked to prepare and analyze financial statements and financial projections for investments, corporations, and proposed projects. Additionally, students identify and evaluate sources of financing for new and existing ventures.

Students become familiar with microeconomic and macroeconomic concepts relevant to managerial decision making. Topics may include demand and supply analysis, consumer demand theory, production theory, price discrimination, perfect competition, externalities and public goods, risk aversion and risk sharing, hidden information and market signaling, moral hazards and incentives, rudimentary game theory, oligopoly, reputation and credibility, and transaction cost economics.

Students study how to be innovative and why innovation is important to business success in the twenty-first century. Students will analyze innovation from three perspectives: product, process, and organization. Students will gain an appreciation for the importance of the intricacies of developing new products, processes, and organizations, and their impact on businesses. Students also gain an understanding of how information-based systems can be used to meet the needs and challenges of organizations. Additionally, students will gain an understanding of how internet-related technology solutions add value to organizational functions. Students will be asked to employ principles of operations management to improve strategies, processes, operations, and the decision making of an enterprise to better meet customer needs.

Students integrate current literature (research and practice), historical perspectives, analytical tools, and theoretical frameworks to design and conduct a market analysis and plan. Students will make marketing-related decisions based on identification and analysis of target markets, marketing mix variables, and market feasibility. Students will also systematically identify and analyze high-potential opportunities and develop a plan associated with potential entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial ventures.

Students gain an understanding of today's global economy and the people, institutions, and environmental elements that underlie international and global commerce. Students will focus on the world economy and its impact on local business, as well as become educated citizens who understand major issues impacting the global economy. Students will also gain an understanding of organizational sustainability issues as they impact organizations and the economy as a whole. Students are provided with a framework for understanding, interpreting, and managing national differences while being reminded of key cultural, legal, and political differences between countries.

Students will analyze, study, and create business policies and strategies. Students will consider the strategic direction of a firm and its organizational design, as well as the manner in which the organization progresses into the future with regard to leadership succession and organizational growth. Students will develop perspectives of the general manager's role and responsibilities in various types of organizations. Organizational structure and strategy are examined as major course activities, as is the culture, and students gain an understanding of how an organization relates to the industry that it is a part of, in addition to its competitive environment. Students will also place special emphasis on how globalization and cultural diversity affect the competitive dynamics of today's firms.