Courses are listed on this page to provide you with an indication of the scope and depth of the Crummer Early Advantage MBA program. Please note that not all courses listed are offered every year, courses listed may be dropped from the curriculum, and new courses not listed may be added to provide instruction in the latest management topics.
CORE COURSES
MBA 500 Essentials for MBA Success (1.5 credits)
This course introduces students to management analysis skills that provide an essential basis for success in your coursework at the Crummer School. These skills are developed through a comprehensive case that emphasizes situational analysis, problem formulation, development of strategic alternatives, and implementation steps. The course also gives you a strong basis in understanding team organization and dynamics, time management, and presentation skills.
ACCT 503 Accounting for Business Leaders (3 credits)
In a world where business activities have become more complex and global, understanding and interpreting financial information has become more challenging. As business leaders, students must be able to understand, interpret, and utilize financial information to make decisions that affect their organizations. Accounting for Business Leaders covers two major areas: financial accounting and managerial accounting. Financial accounting is focused on understanding the choices business leaders make regarding financial transactions and the impact those decisions have on information communicated in internal and external financial reports. Managerial accounting has an internal emphasis and is concerned with the use of internal and external financial information to make decisions that affect the future of their organizations. Learning is based on classroom discussions, analysis of problems, and analysis of real-world decisions utilizing cases.
ECON 503 Economic Environment of Business (3 credits)
This course explores the economic environment in which firms operate. The first part of the course focuses on analyzing the macroeconomic environment – in particular, economic growth, inflation, and the job market. Next, the course examines the behavior of interest rates and exchange rates as well as workings of the global economy. Once the overall economic framework is established, the class will explore the impact of both fiscal and monetary policy on the economy. The approach taken involves analyzing economic behavior in the real world with particular attention paid to understanding the status of the global economy.
FIN 501 Financial Decision Making (3 credits)
Financial decision-making requires a thorough understanding of how financial management supports corporate strategy. This course emphasizes key concepts such as financial statement analysis and time value of money as they are essential applied tools in this domain. Furthermore, the course provides a rigorous and practice-oriented foundation for topics such as risk and return, bond and stock valuation, cost of capital, budgeting for capital expenditures, cash flow and risk analysis, and managing the working capital.
FIN 502 Topics in Corporate Finance (1.5 credits)
Corporate finance is the discipline concerned with how firms make investment, financing, and payout decisions with the objective of maximizing shareholder value. In this course, we build on concepts introduced in FIN 501 and gain deeper insights into topics such as dividend policy, capital structure policy, multinational financial management, and enterprise risk management using options and futures.
INTL 501 Global Business Experience (4.5 Credit Hours)
This comprehensive course incorporates 12 weeks of in-class work with a one-week international immersion experience and concludes with executive-level presentations blending the learning with the in-country research. Throughout the course, students draw from core business disciplines, as well as insights from anthropology, economics, history, law, political science, and sociology to examine, then experience, how these areas influence international business. Students research differing political, economic, sociocultural, legal, and technological environments to develop recommendations for how firms may expand and adapt their operations to capitalize on overseas opportunities. At the conclusion of the in-class sessions, students travel overseas as a group, accompanied by the instructor, to gain practical experience in conducting business abroad. The international destination provides students with a complete week of immersive experiences in business and cultural environments through a series of presentations, interactive visits to companies and other organizations, as well as cultural events.
MBA 504 Career Strategies I (0.75 credits)
This course is designed to provide strategies and encourage students as they prepare to conduct their job search. It creates opportunities to achieve a heightened awareness of their values, interests, and skills as they examine various career options. Regardless of students’ prior experience, this course offers insights and expertise for the productive career search. The course includes personal assessment, skill evaluation, and the creation of an action plan. Additionally, resume and cover letter development, networking, interviewing skills, as well as job offers and negotiations are examined.
MBA 506 Career Strategies II (0.75 credits)
This experience provides students with several opportunities, including career exploration and preparation, apply academic learning in a professional environment while gaining relevant experience, evaluate employer as a right-fit and contribute to an organization in a meaningful way. Students will coordinate with the Career Development Center to ensure required hours (240) as well as appropriate paperwork are completed.
MBA 508 Introduction to Design Thinking (1.5 credits)
In this immersive course, students will learn and apply design thinking, a methodology for creative problem solving that is useful for leading innovation and creating new human-centered products, services, and experiences. The practice of design thinking results in the development and sharpening of skills and a mindset that combine analytical and creative thinking approaches—utilizing experimentation, prototyping, and fast failure—to deliver innovative solutions. Students will develop each of these skills and mindsets as they work in teams to take on increasingly difficult design challenges.
MBA 510 Critical Thinking in Business (1.5 credits)
This course is designed to challenge how you think and how you recognize logical arguments, their underlying assumptions and their limitations. At the end of this course you should have the tools to improve your critical thinking but becoming a better critical thinker is ultimately up to you and requires practice. “Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking” (Elder and Paul 2006). This course will, to the extent possible, include topics covered in other course being taught concurrently with this one as part of in-class exercises.
MBA 511 Professional Communication in Business (1.5 credits)
This course will reinforce the essential business communication skills necessary for today’s managers. You will learn effective communication principles and strategies through self-assessment, reading, writing, and presentations. As a result, you will create a personal action plan for increasing your strengths in professional communication. In order to create a connection between professional communication practices across the curriculum, specific writing assignments from other courses will be utilized within this course. This type of applied learning will work to increase efficiency and applicability as students will strengthen their professional communication competencies on both current and future assignments within the program.
MGT 501 Organizational Behavior and Leadership (3 credits)
This course builds students’ leadership skills by deepening their understanding of and ability to influence human behavior, particularly in business contexts. The course is grounded in theories of individual, group and organizational behavior, with a focus on applying knowledge of topics such as personality, motivation, teamwork, and leadership of self, others, and the organization.
MGT 502 Fundamentals of Business Strategy (1.5 credits)
This course introduces students to the concepts and applications of strategy and explores the relationship of corporate- and business-level strategies to the various functional and process strategies within a firm. The course builds on the case analysis aspects of the orientation program and provides a unifying strategic framework that connects the content covered in courses throughout the remainder of the program. The role of creative decision making and innovation in strategy is examined. This is an experiential course in which students are required to analyze complex situations in contemporary companies and apply concepts learned to develop strategies for the future.
MKT 501 Marketing Management (3 credits)
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Marketing management—leading and managing the facets of marketing to improve individual, unit, and organizational performance—is a core business activity. Through the examination of key marketing plan elements such as segmentation analysis, target marketing, and positioning, as well as the influence of factors such as product design, supply chain variables, and pricing, this course provides the opportunity for students to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to understand the critical role of marketing in successful organizations.
QBA 501 Data Analysis for Business Decision Making (3 credits)
In today’s technology driven society, there is access to unprecedented amounts of information. The significantly enhanced ability to acquire and manipulate quantitative data places new demands on a manager’s decision-making toolbox. It is essential to understand just how to look at this data in ways that allow decision makers to make sense out of it all.
This course utilizes a variety of techniques, including descriptive statistics, probability and probability distributions, sampling and sampling distributions, confidence interval estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis and forecasting. Additionally, it explores basic elements of data visualization through a variety of business discipline perspective; e.g., marketing, economics, production and operations management, human resources, etc.
OM 501 Operations Management (3 credits)
This course offers a broad survey of the central facts, concepts, and techniques of operations, at both the strategic and tactical levels. It covers service and manufacturing industries, domestic and foreign firms. It emphasizes the connections between operations and the other functions of the firm, especially marketing and finance. Operations Management is the platform for launching and maintaining the systems perspective that is essential for competitive advantage in the global arena.
The Integrated Capstone Experience (ICE) course culminates the MBA experience and offers comprehensive application of all curricula throughout the second year. Managers and leaders in today’s organizations need to understand more than how individual organizational functions work (which is covered by disciplinary business core courses); they must also understand the organization as a whole and in particular how interrelated parts of organization work together, the Integrated Capstone Experience provides this synthesis while moving students on a path from professional knowledge to wisdom to insight.
CAP 601 (EAMBA) – Essentials of Project Execution (all tracks) (1.5 credits)
This course prepares students for practical, hands-on experiences during the next two Integrated Capstone Experience modules (CAP 602 – Immersion 1, and CAP 602 – Immersion 2). The primary objective of CAP 601 is to equip students with the necessary skills and practical tools to plan, scope and manage projects. Students will learn how to deploy their existing knowledge and skillsets to build teams, consult for organizations, develop new business ventures, and successfully execute multidisciplinary projects.
CAP 602-603 (EAMBA) – 18-week Immersion terms separated by track
Note: CAP602 is 12 weeks (3 credits) and CAP603 is a continuation of CAP602 and meets for 6 weeks (1.5 credits)
- Consulting Track: Student teams engage directly with vetted external client organizations to deploy the Crummer Consulting Methodology from formalization of project scope through delivery of final reports and presentations, focusing on an identified challenge faced by the client. Each project is facilitated by a faculty member who guides the team through the process of connecting recommendations to organizational impacts.
- NASA Track: Student teams activate the entrepreneurial process of starting and scaling an enterprise from NASA intellectual property. Through the process, participants recognize and seize opportunities to grow new entrepreneurial ventures. The track is facilitated by a faculty member who advises the teams on selecting and commercializing the NASA technology.
CAP 604: Advanced Strategy Applications (all tracks) (1.5 credits)
This course culminates the Integrated Capstone Experience (ICE) course series for the EAMBA students. It is designed to serve three broad purposes: (1) provide an opportunity for demonstration and expansion of student learning drawing on their specific Immersion projects; (2) offer a forum for broader, integrative end-of-program application of capabilities gleaned across their Crummer experiences; and (3) focus students on the criticality of strategy execution as a sine qua non of business success.
CONCENTRATIONS & ELECTIVES
Concentrations Approved for the EAMBA (beginning with the EAMBA35)
- Entrepreneurship
- Finance
- International Business
- Marketing
- Operations and Technology Management
- Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Enterprise (SESE)
Note: all courses are three credits unless otherwise noted
Business Analytics: Concentration and Electives (Effective Fall 2023)
At least six credits from the following:
- QBA 601, Data Analytics & Visualization (3 credits)
- OM 614 – Information Technology (IT) Strategy and Leadership (3 credits)
- OM 615 – Corporate Data Management (3 credits)
At most three credits from the following:
- FIN 611, Financial Modeling (3 credits)
- MKT 614, Marketing Analytics (3 credits)
Entrepreneurship: Concentration and Electives
At least six credits from the following:
- ENT 608, New Venture Creation (3 credits)
- ENT 613, Raising Capital for Entrepreneurial Ventures (3 credits)
- ENT 614, Commercializing Technology and Science (3 credits)
- ENT 615, The Entrepreneurial Venture (3 credits)
- MGT 611, Negotiations in Business (3 credits) (Effective Fall 2023)
At most three credits from the following:
- ENT 607, Social Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
- ENT 609, Family Business in the 21st Century (1.5 credits)
- ENT 616, Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (1.5 credits)
- FIN 607, Mergers and Acquisitions (3 credits)
- INTL 617, International Entrepreneurship (1.5 cr hrs)
- MKT 606, Strategic Marketing (3 credits)
- MKT 613, Strategic Sales Leadership (3 credits)
Finance: Concentration and Electives
At least six credits from the following:
- FIN 601, Applied Financial Management (3 credits)
- FIN 603, Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (3 credits)
- FIN 605, Derivatives and Risk Management (3 credits)
- FIN 607, Mergers and Acquisitions (3 credits)
- FIN 609, Managing Global Portfolios (3 credits)
- FIN 611, Financial Modeling (3 credits)
At most three credits from the following:
- ACCT 614, Forensic Accounting (3 credits)
- ECO 601, Country Risk Analysis (3 credits)
- ENT 613, Raising Capital for Entrepreneurial Ventures (3 credits)
- FIN 620, Foundations of Block Chain and Applications in Finance (1.5 credits)
- INTL 603, Global Financial Decision Making (3 credits)
International Business: Concentration and Electives
At least six credits from the following:
- INTL 601, Cross Cultural Management (3 credits)
- INTL 602, International Marketing (3 credits)
- INTL 603, Global Financial Decision Making (3 credits)
At most three credits from the following:
- INTL 604, Global Consulting Project (3 credits)
- INTL 609, Global Supply Chain Management (3 credits)
- INTL 610, Doing Business in Europe/Asia/Latin America (3 credits)
- INTL 612, Global Sustainability: Strategies for the Americas (1.5 credits)
- INTL 617, International Entrepreneurship (1.5 credits)
- ECO 601, Country Risk Analysis (3 credits)
- ENT 616, Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (1.5 credits)
Marketing: Concentration and Electives
Nine credits from the following:
- MKT 601, Marketing Research (3 credits)
- MKT 606, Strategic Marketing (3 credits)
- MKT 613, Strategic Sales Leadership (3 credits)
- MKT 614, Marketing Analytics (3 credits)
- MKT 622, Digital Marketing and Social Media (3 credits)
- INTL 602, International Marketing (3 credits)
Operations and Technology Management: Concentration and Electives
At least three credits from the following:
- OM 608, Business Transformation through Operations (3 credits)
- OM 609, Making Supply Meet Demand (3 credits)
- INTL 609, Global Supply Chain Management (3 credits)
At most six credits from the following:
- OM 606, Creating Sustainable Business Practices (3 credits)
- OM 607, Essentials of Business Intelligence and Analysis (1.5 credits)
- ENT 614, Commercializing Technology and Science (3 credits)
Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Enterprise (SESE): Concentration and Electives
Requires both of the following courses:
- ENT 607, Social Entrepreneurship (3 credits)
- OM 606, Creating Sustainable Business Practices (3 credits)
- INTL 612, Global Sustainability: Strategies for the Americas (1.5 credits)
- MBA 614, Enterprise and Sustainable Development (1.5 credits)
Three credits from the following:
- ENT 616, Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development: Global Links (1.5 credits)
ELECTIVE COURSES – TITLES & DESCRIPTIONS
Accounting
ACCT 614 Forensic Accounting
This course provides students with both practice and theory-based knowledge in fraud detection and fraud investigation techniques, valuation of closely – held businesses, and various types of litigation support services. Students will discover how and why fraud occurs in organizations, develop skills to detect fraud and be able to identify and classify the various types of fraud. Fundamental legal concepts governing expert witness testimony are also examined. The course relies less on lectures and focuses more on active learning through case analysis, discussion, problem-solving, and an understanding of ethical dilemmas and professional responsibility.
Concentrations – Finance
Economics
ECO 601 Country Risk Analysis
Investments in emerging economies may provide significant returns but may also entail substantial risks. How does one analyze the non-financial risks of investing in foreign countries? How does one assess the credit and political risks associated with debt and/or equity investments in say Brazil or India, Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, China or Indonesia? Is sovereign, sub-sovereign, and state-owned enterprise (SOE) risks one of the same? How does one differentiate between them? What if the country I am analyzing as a potential investment isn’t rated by international credit agencies? Does the sector matter? This course provides students with the conceptual underpinnings of analyzing country risks. It uses macroeconomics and microeconomics to examine four major areas of importance, namely the real economy, fiscal, monetary and external accounts. It focuses on real case examples and exposes students to data sources and the modus-operandi of country risk rating committees that are often the backbone process of country credit risk analysis. Students will develop an initial ability to analyze country risk and its use for investment decisions.
Concentrations – Finance / International Business
Entrepreneurship
ENT 607 Social Entrepreneurship
This course is a survey of critical, contemporary, innovative management models and methodologies encapsulated under the umbrella of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing and changing field in which business and nonprofit managers design, grow, and lead mission-driven enterprises with measurable social impact. As the conventional lines between nonprofit enterprises, government, and business blur, it is essential to understand the opportunities and challenges in this new landscape.
Concentrations – SESE / Entrepreneurship
ENT 608 New Venture Creation
This course examines the entrepreneurial process of starting and scaling an enterprise from an idea and business model into a company. Such a process covers a wide variety of activities, philosophies, and skills, all centered on recognizing and seizing opportunities and creating and growing new ventures. The course is directed toward turning an idea and business model into a high-growth company.
Concentrations – Entrepreneurship
ENT 609 Family Business in the 21st Century
Family-owned businesses are ubiquitous and growing in the US and around the world. They comprise 80-90% of all businesses and cover the spectrum of small mom and pops to multi-billion dollar, complex, global enterprises. Families control 35% of Fortune 500 companies. Regardless of the size, family businesses have long been and continue to be an economic engine. The origins of these family enterprises are often entrepreneurial and, as a result, these families can expand their holdings from the original operating business to other entities, including trusts, investment funds, holding companies, family offices, and charitable foundations. Given the dominant presence of family enterprises in the business world, students of business are likely to encounter, work for, work with, or be a member of a business family. While family enterprises can have much in common with non-family, private, or publicly held companies, there are characteristics that are unique only to family businesses. This course is an introduction to the basic concepts specific to family enterprises such as governance, ownership structures, values-based decision making, succession planning, intra-family conflict management, and inter-generational dynamics, and will give students an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of family enterprises in order to be informed employees, owners and/or shareholders.
Concentrations – Entrepreneurship
ENT 613 Raising Capital for Entrepreneurs
This course starts with forming a company and deciding how to allocate the initial equity among the founders, then funding the early stage of the startup by the founders, friends, and family investors. Each class session covers a different phase of capital raising including placing a valuation on the company for each phase and the terms that are typically found in deals with angel investors, venture capital investors, strategic partners, and others. Teams negotiate the terms for each type of financing with the instructor playing the role of the investor. Other sources of capital are discussed including grants from governmental agencies, loans from small business investment companies, and, at a later stage, loans from commercial banks. We then take the company through an initial public offering.
Concentrations – Entrepreneurship / Finance
ENT 614 Commercializing Technology and Science
This course provides the student with an understanding of challenges in using entrepreneurial ventures to commercialize products or services derived from governmental, non-profit, or large for-profit organizations who engage in developing new technologies or scientific breakthroughs.
Concentrations – Operations and Technology Management / Entrepreneurship
ENT 615 The Entrepreneurial Venture
This introductory course serves as an overview of the entrepreneurial venture with a focus on the many ways entrepreneurial ventures compare to traditional companies. Several important topics are covered including the life cycle of a business, strategy development, managing growth, and exit strategies. The course also covers cash flow, bootstrapping, and early-stage financing for entrepreneurial ventures. These topics and others will be engaged in more deeply by students through guest lecturers and immersion trips to analyze entrepreneurial, early-stage companies.
Concentrations – Entrepreneurship
ENT 616 Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (1.5 credits)
This course combines seminar-style classroom activities to augment the end-of-term international travel, which, when combined, gives students experiential learning on organizing and managing a grant-based initiative to develop an ecosystem that supports social and commercial entrepreneurship. The class cross-lists for credit toward the Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Enterprise (SESE) or International Business (IB) concentrations.
Concentrations – International Business / SESE / Entrepreneurship
Finance
FIN 601 Applied Financial Management
This course has three primary components. One component involves student participation in a comprehensive multi-period case that attempts to simulate real-world business situations. Each group begins the simulation with an identical company as described by a set of financial statements and forecasts of key economic variables such as interest rates and product demand. Based on company strategy and the expected economic environment, each group makes a variety of financial (and other) decisions about the firm including the level of production, dividend distributions, investment in capital budgeting projects, sources of external financing, and so forth. Important feedback comes to participants in the form of financial statements that reflect the impact of the economic environment and the group’s decisions. Success is measured in terms of shareholder wealth enhancement. Students who devote sufficient time and effort into understanding how their simulated firms function are likely to enjoy the class and learn much about corporate finance. The second course component involves topics covered in FIN 501 such as capital budgeting, capital structure, and financial analysis. These topics will be covered in more depth and discussed in the context of the simulation. The third course component involves corporate finance topics beyond those discussed in Financial Decision Making, such as hybrid securities and derivatives.
Concentrations – Finance
FIN 603 Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
This course is designed to help students understand how security analysts use investment information to value global companies. Students learn the fundamental theories and practical applications of financial analysis for both equity and debt, using case assignments, class discussions, and projects. Students learn the principles of portfolio management for different individuals, institutions and countries and explore contemporary issues facing the investment profession. The class familiarizes students with commercial databases and professional software as they observe and evaluate portfolio management practice.
Concentrations – Finance
FIN 605 Derivatives and Risk Management
This course introduces students to a wide range of derivative securities in global financial markets. More specifically, forward contracts, futures, options, and swaps are examined, with an emphasis on the pricing of these instruments. In this respect, a solid coverage of arbitrage-free valuation is provided as well as the cost-of-carry model, the binomial option-pricing model, and the Black-Scholes formula. The course also provides the students with a general framework for measuring and managing financial risks and focuses on how derivative securities are used against common risk factors such as interest rates, exchange rates and credit risk. In addition to hedging strategies created with derivative securities, various other trading strategies involving options (spreads and combinations) are presented. Simulations are used extensively to introduce delta hedging and portfolio insurance.
Concentrations – Finance
FIN 607 Mergers and Acquisitions
This course explores mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate control transactions using limited background lectures, readings, case study analysis, and project work. This course will enhance your knowledge and maturity of judgment with respect to Mergers & Acquisitions decisions. The focus is on the mechanics of the transactions themselves, the valuation of the firms involved, the role of the various parties involved, and the causes and consequences of these activities. Because mergers and acquisitions represent significant changes that involve the entire enterprise the course pulls together material covered in previous finance courses and links financial decisions with the overall strategy of the firm.
Concentrations – Finance / Entrepreneurship
FIN 609 Managing Global Portfolios
This course is designed to give students advanced knowledge of modern techniques and practices of portfolio management. The course builds on the student’s earlier courses in security analysis and portfolio management with an opportunity to apply the techniques learned in these earlier courses. In coordination with the instructor, industry practitioners play an important instructional role in detailing and discussing current investment practices. A major focus of the course is the students’ decision-making process in directing the real-world investment decisions of the Crummer/SunTrust (Truist) Portfolio. Prerequisite: FIN 603.
Concentrations – Finance
FIN 611 Financial Modeling
Financial modeling is the quantitative representation of the relationships among the variables of financial problems. A well-designed financial model captures the interdependencies among the variables at hand and makes it easy to answer “what-if” questions. Developing good financial models requires combining knowledge of finance and modeling skills. Because the financial principles supporting the models we build are covered in other finance courses, we will only spend a little time on the financial theory behind each model. Financial and statistical functions as well as more complex Excel and VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) operations, such as using data tables, working with matrices, loops and arrays, and generating random numbers, will be introduced as necessary. No prior VBA knowledge is expected. The corporate finance and investment models we will focus on include: cost of capital, financial statement modeling, capital budgeting, portfolio construction methods including mean-variance portfolio optimization, value at risk, equity options valuation, and bond portfolio management. The overriding goal of this course is to get the students to the skill level where they can model and solve most finance problems they will face in the business world.
Concentrations – Finance
FIN 620 – Foundations of Block Chain and Applications in Finance
Since 2008, a new asset class has been created through blockchain with wide reaching implications. In this course, we will examine the underlying technology of blockchain, different types of cryptocurrencies, and how digital assets impact finance. To do so, we will go through a few steps, including a simulated exercise of investing in cryptocurrencies. Throughout the semester, you will be asked to manage a simulated cryptocurrency portfolio and update it, at least, once a week. We will review the performance of your crypto portfolio and, at the end of the semester, assess your gains/losses. This will offer a unique experience in the different types of digital assets, custody solutions for private and public keys, and the volatility of the crypto markets. Furthermore, you will learn about blockchain’s pseudo-anonymity, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Centralized Finance (CeFi), Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), different types of tokens (i.e. Non-Fungible Tokens), Decentralized Exchanges (DEX), Centralized Exchanges (CEX), Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), regulations around blockchain, and the metaverse. Each of these applications have an impact on traditional finance and we will compare the risks and benefits.
Concentrations – Finance
International
INTL 601 Cross Cultural Management
This course examines the opportunities and problems that face managers who are working in a global environment, the types of decisions that managers at every level have to make every day, and the issues that arise from the implementation of their decisions. These include, but are not limited to: developing cross-cultural sensitivity, assessing foreign projects, choice of foreign growth strategies, creating/implementing global strategies, managing one’s own and others’ careers, and corporate ethics in a global economy.
Concentrations – International Business
INTL 602 International Marketing
Together we examine different stages of international expansion efforts from market selection to global marketing management. Building on core courses in marketing and international business, this course examines the types of decisions that marketing managers make with a focus on four stages: 1. Analyzing business environments with an eye toward market selection, 2. Engaging in market research to detect opportunities and avoid pitfalls in international expansion, 3. Balancing the need to adapt and standardize marketing initiatives across markets, 4. Managing global marketing efforts to plan, organize, and control operations to achieve success. Special emphasis is placed on the impact of cultural values and political systems on how marketing is conducted how business transactions occur. The course is taught in a seminar-style with emphasis on application and case methods. The class lecture sections are intended to explain and discuss major issues related to specified topics rather than examine specific content of readings. Students are expected to engage in class and case discussions with an active partition in problem-solving exercises.
Concentrations – International Business / Marketing
INTL 603 Global Financial Decision Making
The primary objective of the course is to introduce you to concepts of international finance with a special emphasis on corporate finance and risk management. The following concepts will be addressed in this course: Essential institutional aspects of the international financial markets; foreign exchange markets, exchange rate determination, and international parities; measure and management of multinational firm’s exposure to economic and financial risks by applying risk management tools (i.e. Financial Futures, Forwards, Options and Swaps); financing and foreign investment decisions by management including raising capital and investing (i.e. M&As) internationally.
Concentrations – Finance / International Business
INTL 604 Global Consulting Project
These projects give students hands-on experience dealing with a real business issue in a company or not-for-profit organization. Student teams are assigned to a specific management project with a domestic or foreign corporation under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Student teams define the issues, identify the salient facts, and analyze the situation. In a series of classroom meetings, students present an overview of the country in which the project is located, including a cultural profile of that country. Student teams then travel overseas during the school’s project weeks in Fall and Spring terms, gathering information through on-site visits and data-based research, after which student teams prepare and present their final report to the company.
Concentrations – International Business
INTL 609 Global Supply Chain Management
This course will help students understand the linkage between a firm´s supply chain strategy and business strategy, utilize firm resources more effectively, and coordinate the movement of goods and services through different echelons of supply chains in order to create a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Theoretical frameworks, practical examples from firms in different industrial sectors, and an illustration through a hands-on experiential simulation exercise will provide key insights to students on how to lower costs, increase flexibility, enhance customer satisfaction, and simultaneously drive up firm profitability.
Concentrations – Operations and Technology Management / International Business
INTL 610 Doing Business in Europe/Asia/Latin America
This is a 3-credit elective course that is offered with our partner schools each year for EAMBA and PMBA students eligible for elective courses. This intensive in-country course explores the unique business environment of the destination country/countries (e.g., France/China/Mexico). Students earn either Crummer credits or transfer credits, depending on the location. Students are responsible for the additional travel and accommodation costs; accommodations or assistance with accommodation are provided by the partner schools.
Concentrations – International Business
INTL 612 Global Sustainability: Strategies for the Americas (1.5 credits)
This course presents students with a unique immersion opportunity to learn the fundamental principles and practices of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility in the context of Latin America. This week-long, intensive experience in Costa Rica is offered in collaboration with INCAE (www.incae.edu), consistently rated among the very top MBA programs in Latin America. The class will explore topics including global sustainable development, global corporate sustainability strategy in agriculture, tourism, and other sectors. This rigorous course is case-based and includes lecture/discussion sessions, and will include a 4-day immersion set in a rural mountain community, renowned for its ecological conservation and eco-tourism. Students will engage in a project designed to add value to this community.
Concentrations – International Business / SESE
INTL 617 International Entrepreneurship (1.5 credits)
This course provides students with a practical, hands-on approach to launching a venture internationally. Students will study the processes of launching an entrepreneurial venture in one or more international markets. As part of the course, students will be able to:
• analyze the processes of international entrepreneurship from both theoretical and practical perspectives
• identify the main characteristics of successful international entrepreneurs
• understand the advantages and disadvantages of international expansion
• distinguish between traditional and new forms of international entrepreneurship
• identify and evaluate suitable sources of funds for international expansion
• create an appropriate international strategy and an expansion plan for an entrepreneurial firm.
Concentrations – International Business / Entrepreneurship
MBA
MBA 614 Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
This course focuses on the role corporations can play in shaping the world of the future. Complementary to their internal operations and sustainability practices, companies interface extensively with the communities around them, the communities that give them their “social license to operate”. The area of Corporate Social Responsibility has evolved, from being a Public Relations overhead exercise to being seen as a major strategic imperative for companies with the foresight to look beyond short time horizons. We explore innovative ways in which business, through collaboration with varied external stakeholders (increasingly including competitors), is seeking to create shared value and to minimize negative externalities in their industries.
Concentrations – SESE
Management
MGT 611 Negotiations in Business
The purpose of this course is to help you develop an analytical understanding of negotiation and the management of differences so you can become more effective problem solvers in the face of conflict. This is a course in critical thinking and decision-making. The need for bargaining and dispute resolution skills arises wherever joint decision-making is necessary. The context may be bi-lateral, or it may involve three or more interested parties, each with veto power over any solution. As in most decision-making, the aim of effective negotiation is not simply to reach an acceptable outcome for all participants but to create optimum value in the deal-making process for all participants. In that light, students with an interest in managing any enterprise, including all areas of business, non-profits, and government, should find the lessons of this course useful. Negotiating skills are as critical as technical skills for effective managers. Moreover, managers are increasingly confronted with conflicting viewpoints offered by subordinates as firms emphasize employee participation in the operation of the enterprise. The effective manager will secure cooperative resolution to such conflict using negotiation skills.
Concentrations – Entrepreneurship
MGT 629 Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, has been defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, as well as to handle interpersonal relationships empathetically. EQ is considered to be key for effective leadership, teamwork, and psychological wellbeing at work. This course will give students an understanding of research findings regarding EQ and its relationship to work-related outcomes. Students will hone their EQ skills through participation in experiential exercises and guided self-reflection. Finally, concrete strategies for applying EQ in the context of workplace situations will be discussed and practiced.
Concentrations – None
Marketing
MKT 601 Marketing Research
This course provides students with the understanding and skills of marketing research methods to help make better business decisions. The course helps users of market information determine the scope of the research and covers the various types of research design, techniques of data collection, and data analysis. There is particular emphasis on the interpretation and use of results. In addition, the course explains the differences between systematic information gathering versus the need for primary research to answer a specific research question.
Concentrations – Marketing
MKT 606 Strategic Marketing
Strategic marketing focuses on making decisions about resource investment in products and markets in order to generate firm growth and enhance firm performance. This course provides students with solid experience in creating market-driving strategies for the future success of an enterprise. A focus is on discovering and developing a set of competencies for a firm that, through well-executed strategic differentiation, optimize the prospects for sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Students are provided ample opportunity to develop and practice creative problem-solving, ideation for innovation, and sound decision-making skills to simulate the requirements of today’s complex business environment. Industry analyses will be performed that include but are not limited to the following: internal/external analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis, market/submarket analysis, and comparative strategy assessment.
Concentrations – Marketing / Entrepreneurship
MKT 613 Strategic Sales Leadership
This course focuses on the core business process of securing, developing, and maintaining long-term relationships with profitable customers in the business-to-business market space. Issues of creating, communicating, and delivering value are central to the course. Managing the customer relationship initiative in the firm, whether driven by one-to-one seller-buyer interactions or technology-driven processes, is a central theme. Innovation and leadership on the customer management side of the enterprise are important overarching topics.
Concentrations – Marketing / Entrepreneurship
MKT 614 Marketing Analytics
This course takes a fully hands-on and experiential approach to expose students to the usage and interpretation of a variety of marketing analytic methods and tools. Emphasis is placed on gaining skills in transforming various types of data into powerful insights capable of driving key marketing and business decisions. It builds on MKT 501 by demonstrating how key marketing activities learned in that course are informed via data-driven approaches. Analytical approaches covered within the course include customer lifetime value analysis, the identification of consumer segments, perceptual mapping for the product positioning, pricing decisions, new product development, sales forecasting, and others that impact important marketing-related decisions. Closely coached by the instructor, students will have the opportunity to use a powerful yet user-friendly Excel-augmenting software program to conduct complex analyses with relative ease. Engaging case exercises and a competitive simulation play a significant role in the course experience, giving students multiple opportunities to apply the concepts and methods learned to different scenarios faced by large and small companies.
Concentrations – Marketing
MKT 622 Digital Marketing and Social Media
Organizations have turned to digital and social media as an effective and efficient way to reach their market. In addition, the majority of consumers use digital, mobile and social media on a daily basis. This course offers a forum for graduate level students to examine the fundamental relationship between an organization and the best way to position themselves to their customer’s using digital and social media marketing channels.
Digital marketing is where marketing meets the internet, mobile/desktop platforms and social media. Online advertising and participating in social media falls under the umbrella of digital marketing, but it also includes online listening, monitoring and search engine optimization. Through a combination of lectures, case examples and course projects, you will increase your capabilities of developing, implementing and evaluating digital marketing strategies.
Concentrations – Marketing
Operations and Technology Management
OM 606 Creating Sustainable Business Practices
This course focuses on the principles and practices of corporate sustainability. The objective is to develop students’ understanding of how business leaders can make their organizations stronger, sharper, and more secure in the future through innovative management of their impact on the environment in which they operate. This environment includes both the physical and ecological environment as well as the human and social environment. Using examples from a variety of industries, this course will delve into the “Why?”, the “What?” and the “How?” of embedding sustainability into business practices and making them PAY OFF. Topics covered will include: the business imperative for sustainability, critical sustainability frameworks, and tools, product life-cycle considerations, strategy implications for design, operations and sourcing, and corporate sustainability reporting. Additionally, we will see sustainability in action through a company visit and guest speakers.
Concentrations – Operations and Technology Management / SESE
OM 607 Essentials of Business Intelligence and Analytics (1.5 credits)
This course presents an overview of business intelligence and analytics concepts, technology, and processes. The course provides “hands-on” experience with a leading data analytics tool (Tableau) through weekly exercises and a team case project. We will also critically examine ethical issues, social impacts, and future trends of advanced information systems and analytics technologies. Lectures, cases, guest speakers, and related articles from business management journals are all used to facilitate learning.
Concentrations – Operations and Technology Management
OM 608 Business Transformation through Operations
This course is intended for students with an interest in the transformation of organizations that have a focus on manufacturing, distribution, and sourcing operations; however, the principles and methods used in this course are applicable to a wide range of industries and organizational settings also include service organizations. In this course, we will focus on strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making and how these decisions interact with different functional areas of the firm to include manufacturing, sales, distribution, procurement, marketing, finance, information systems, and human resource management. We will develop a general and robust approach to evaluating a firm’s operations, organization, and business processes as a system, and we will consider organizational design, information system design, and financial considerations and decisions in detail. The teaching approach in this course is highly experiential in nature – being driven with computer games and simulations – in order to increase our understanding of how financial indicators, operational metrics, and other executive-driven measures all interact and affect overall organizational performance.
Concentrations – Operations and Technology Management
OM 609 Making Supply Equal Demand
This course will prepare future professionals to take part in one of the most important functions in operations management: operations and supply chain planning and control. The course covers the most current issues, concepts, and techniques related to quantitative and qualitative demand forecasting & management as well as those related to supply planning and control. Topics will include advanced inventory management, hierarchical planning, and control systems including all hierarchical levels: Sales & operations planning (S&OP), master planning of resources (MPS/RCCP), Detailed scheduling, and planning of resources (MRP/ CRP), and Execution and control of operations. The course will cover a substantial part of the content of the “Basics of SCM” certification, part of the prestigious CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) of APICS.
Concentrations – Operations and Technology Management
OM 614 – Information Technology (IT) Strategy and Leadership (3 credits)
This course presents an overview of the information technology function with emphasis on IT strategy and leadership. The course will demonstrate how IT delivers value to an organization by highlighting key aspects of the IT management process. This includes describing the IT planning, application development, and infrastructure support processes including measuring value. We will also examine future technology trends, how to monitor the technology landscape and how to evaluate new technologies for appropriate business value. The course will provide a brief history of IT in business along with an overview of how competitors, suppliers and customers are using technology. We will also discuss and study emerging issues such as cybersecurity, international regulations and privacy. The intent of this experience is to prepare you to take a responsible role in your organization when managing or interfacing with this critical and dramatically changing organizational function.
The course combines traditional classroom lectures, readings, guest speakers, cases and projects to facilitate learning. This includes discussion of concepts, frameworks, terms and tools that are needed by business leaders to strategically and appropriately leverage information technology to support the business. Throughout the term, IT leaders will be invited to discuss their perspective of the IT function and share their experience in how to facilitate effective communication between business and IT leaders. Lastly, we will critically examine ethical issues and social impacts of emerging technology.
Concentration – Business Analytics, Operations & Technology Management
Quantitative Business Analysis
QBA 601 – Data Analytics & Visualization (3 credits)
This course introduces students to various techniques and methodologies of using data to communicate information and ideas for strategic and operational business decision making. The course introduces students to the various data sources and data structures which may be encounter in the enterprise consumed by business intelligence (BI) tools for reporting. Students learn fundamental data design and modeling principles. This course will also expose students to data manipulation and query languages such as Structured Query Language (SQL). Students will learn BI scripting and how to use various technologies to analyze data and develop data visualizations in BI dashboards. The course discusses various data types encountered in the enterprise such as categorical, hierarchical, relational, temporal, and spatial data and the visualizations that can be used to display them.
Concentration – Business Analytics