Advanced core courses are structured to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of management decision making.

MBA candidates are required to take 24 advanced core credits:

Human Behavior in Organizations (3 credits)

• MBA 8510 Leadership and Team Building

Managerial Decision Areas (18 credits)

• MBA 8110 Management Accounting: Concepts for Planning, Control and Decision Making
• MBA 8410 Applied Corporate Finance
• MBA 8503 Operations and Supply Chain
• MBA 85xx Management Information Technology Course — select from:
           MBA 8551  Systems Analysis and Design 
           MBA 8552  Database Management
           MBA 8553  Telecommunications Networks
           MBA 8555  E-Business
• MBA 8610 Strategic Management of Marketing

Choose one of the following:

• MBA 8310 Economics of Strategy
• MBA 8515 Decision Technology for Business Application

Integrative Capstone Course (3 credits)

• MBA 8900 Strategic Management (Must be taken in last semester.)

Course Descriptions

Human Behavior in Organizations

MBA 8510 Leadership and Team Building
Focuses on the behavioral dimension of managerial action and decision making, emphasizing the dynamics and challenges of developing high performance teams and providing effective leadership. Topics include: business ethics, demographic diversity, motivation, communication, performance evaluation, conflict management, organizational change, and organizational learning in the global business environment. Prerequisite: Completion of the Basic Core

Managerial Decision Areas

MBA 8110 Management Accounting: Concepts for Planning, Control and Decision Making
Introduces cost accounting systems and how such systems can be used internally by managers to support planning, control, and decision making with particular emphasis on Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and Activity-Based Management (ABM) principles. Cases and group projects are generally required. Prerequisite: MBA 8101 or equivalent

MBA 8310 Economics of Strategy
Analyzes how economic reasoning can inform and develop useful insights for practicing managers, both with respect to the firm's external market environment and its internal organization. Emphasizes the importance of economic reasoning in making key strategic managerial decisions. Prerequisite: MBA 8301 or equivalent

MBA 8410 Applied Corporate Finance
Focuses on the application of theories and concepts of financial management to practical business problems and situations by means of case analysis and problem-solving techniques. Topics include valuation, risk and return relationships, working capital management, capital budgeting analysis, risk management, capital structure, and dividend policy. Prerequisite: MBA 8401 or equivalent

MBA 8503 Operations and Supply Chain
Provides an understanding of the complex process underlying the development and manufacture of products as well as the creation and delivery of services. Examines the concepts of operations management, operations technology, and the responsibilities of operation managers in the management of production systems, including problems and techniques of systems design, operation, and control. Prerequisite: MBA 8502 or equivalent

MBA 8515 Decision Technology for Business Application
Empower students to successfully apply computer-based decision technologies to practical problems faced by business organizations. Incorporates the theory and application of mathematical programming, decision analysis, and simulation.  Requires student teams to conduct self-directed projects that are often implemented within their own organizations. Software packages, including LINGO, Expert Choice, Excel, StatFit, Extend, and web-based courseware, such as Lotus Learning Space, support learning and project activities.

MBA 8610 Strategic Management of Marketing
Emphasizes on the analysis, implementation, and control of strategic market decisions designed to accomplish an organization's objectives. Utilizes both theory and practice to aid in the effective development of integrated corporate strategies and detailed programs of actions. Prerequisites: MBA 8401 and MBA 8601 or equivalents

Information Technology Courses

MBA 8551 Systems Analysis & Design
Explores tools and techniques used to document information systems. Applies classical and structured methodologies for describing data flow, date structure, process flow, file design, input and output designs, and program specifications to documenting systems. Surveys data gathering and reporting, project management, and cost/benefit analysis. Visible Analyst Workbench will be the CASE tool used to demonstrate how current technology can support the analysis and design process.

MBA 8552 Database Management
Provides an understanding of the theoretic and practical issues related to the management of a database in a business environment. Combines lectures and supplemental articles with extensive use of Microsoft Access to solve cases related to the text material. Emphasizes the important characteristics of distributed databases and client/server database technologies. Topics include: the role of databases and database applications in contemporary organizations, data modeling using the entity-relationship and semantic object models, and the fundamentals of the relational data model and its implementation to SQL. The use of Visual Basic in a database environment provides a computer language component.

MBA 8553 Telecommunications Networks
Focuses of the use of data communication technologies to support the effective and efficient management of information in an organization. Topics include: the different competing data telecommunications architectures and protocols, and an overview of different network topologies and technologies such as LAN, WAN, intranets, and Value-added networks.

MBA 8555 E-Business
Provides an awareness and understanding of the relevant issues, advantages and disadvantages, and specific techniques involved in using electronic commerce to assist in the production, coordination, marketing, and delivery of goods and services. Explores how electronic commerce can support the development, manufacturing, and marketing of goods and services, and how the different facets of electronic commerce can be used to support business practices.

Integrative Capstone Course

MBA 8900 Strategic Management
Provides an executive perspective to develop an understanding of strategy research and practices.  Emphasizes ways to formulate, implement, and control the strategic direction of a stakeholder-responsive organization within competitive markets and a global economy. Prerequisites: Must be taken in last semester