Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance online

This course provides students with an introduction to basic accounting fundamentals and skills necessary to analyze financial information of firms from a decision-maker perspective. Financial information is presented in the form of financial statements, principally, the income statement, balance sheet, statement of retained earnings, and cash flow statement. We will discuss how accountants organize the results of business transactions and report them to external users who will then use the reports to make decisions.

This course will help students to develop a comprehensive analysis of the micro and macroeconomic forces that shape and modify our economy. Supply and Demand, Revenue and Cost, wages, employment, regulations and taxation are discussed as they affect production, consumption, investment, trade, prices, quantities, profits, inequality, and the economy as a whole.

A study of the basic principles and practices of financial management of private (as opposed to government owned or affiliated) business operations. The principles and models discussed in the course can be equally applied to publicly listed companies as well as privately owned ones. This course includes an operational framework for financial analysis, financial planning including capital budgeting, along with valuation analysis and cost of capital. The basic framework of analysis used is that of risk and return, emphasizing that the objective of the firm is to maximize shareholder return, subject to satisfying societal and other stakeholder concerns.

The main objective of this course is to introduce the basic statistical concepts and tools in order to form the foundation through which students can analyze data used for decision-making. The course is application-oriented and focuses on topics that are useful in business and industry such as descriptive statistics, probability, conceptual modeling, and problem formulation and decision analysis. The course prepares students to develop an understanding of how to deal with new trends in the industry such as big data and data mining.

This course takes a broad-based look at management and organizations in order to provide students with the building blocks needed for more advanced classes in the program. It exposes students to the history of management thought and to some of the most influential organizational theories. It uses insights from multiple disciplines such as economics, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and political economy and offers frameworks for analyzing modern organizations and current managerial practices. The course concludes with a discussion of contemporary issues in management.

Marketing is viewed as a system designed to create, capture, distribute, and communicate value to consumers and businesses. The course emphasizes the managerial approach to developing marketing strategy through analyses of business conditions, customers, and competitors. Emphasis is given to understanding buyer motivations, behaviors, and contexts as the basis for marketing decisions.

The course is designed to offer management accounting and costing tools for decision-making and business strategy. Some examples of these tools are: cost-volume-profit analysis, product costing, incremental analysis, investment and operational budgeting, and standard costing. Real world cases and examples will be used extensively. Students will learn how financial and non-financial information can be integrated in areas such as strategic positioning and value-chain analysis to gain and enhance competitive advantage in the market place.

This course deals with the environment in which international business is conducted, including economic and financial relations, environmental and strategic factors that affect business operations within different nations. Topics include international trade, the balance of payment, exchange rate determination, hedging of foreign exchange exposure, tariffs and other trade restrictions, economic development, economic integration, and international economic organizations within different nations. Also reviewed are the economic, political and cultural conditions that influence international business.

Students may choose to investigate an issue at their place of work, undertake research that will lead them to new fields, or create proposals for business models or start-ups. The capstone experience will provide students with direct exposure into various industries and also serve as a basis for planning and advancement. Finally, the course will also help MBA candidates establish their professional identities through reflective assignments and self-assessments as guided by their instructor. The course is taken in the MBA student’s last semester, or after completing the majority of courses.

The course studies strategic management from the perspective of environmental sustainability, with an emphasis on the impact of innovation on corporate social responsibility. Sustainable Strategic Management refers to strategic management policies and processes that seek competitive advantages consistent with a core value of environmental sustainability. Firms that pursue sustainable strategic management base the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of their strategies on an analysis of the ecological issues they face, the values they hold that support sustainability, and the ecological interests of their stakeholders.

Managers need resources to succeed, and successful managers tend to negotiate well to give themselves the best chance to succeed. They negotiate with customers and suppliers for better prices, and they negotiate with internal functions to get better support and key resources to deliver value to both internal and external stakeholders. As managers move up the corporate ladder, they negotiate with their team members for better commitment and they negotiate with their superiors for domain independence. This course will focus on managers’ need to influence others, manage conflict, and negotiate agreements in a wide range of business scenarios both within and outside the organization. Students will be introduced to basic theories of negotiation, practices and frameworks of negotiation. Students will be provided with opportunities to reshape their understanding of negotiation, discover their own negotiation styles, and apply negotiation principles to critical issues. The course takes a view that negotiation is also a life skill that comes in handy in career growth and addresses the managers need to understand that influencing often occurs without formal power or authority. The course uses a combination of lectures, discussions, role-play exercises, cases, and exams.

This course provides an analysis of the Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) and valuation of securities. It explores the risk and return characteristics of various financial investment instruments, such as stocks, fixed income securities, options, and other derivatives. The student develops an understanding of pricing processes, valuation models, efficient markets, international capital markets, and rational expectations. The student is also exposed to global financial markets from the perspective of long-term investments. A simulation portfolio investment game is conducted in the class. The course extensively uses both global and domestic real-time data available at the trading floor.

The primary objective of this course is to discuss the process of portfolio management. It covers the concepts of management of individual investor portfolios, management of institutional investor portfolios, professional ethical standards of practice, equity portfolio management strategies, debt portfolio management strategies, real estate and alternative investments in portfolio management, portfolio risk management, and portfolio performance measurement and presentation.

This course covers introduction to derivatives and basic trading strategies. Attention is paid to two primary types of derivative securities: options and futures. It examines the nature of various strategies involving futures and options on stocks, stock indexes, currencies, and underlying futures. Both the standard binomial and Black-Scholes option pricing models are developed to value the options and futures. The feature of embedded options in convertible bond and other exotic options is discussed.

The course provides a rigorous introduction to the world of commercial banking and related financial services which includes an overview of field, an analysis of commercial banks, including how to analyze and evaluate bank financial statements; profit drivers in banking; managing principal risks in banking, including credit (loan management) and interest rate (asset liability management) risks, and finally the evolving role of commercial banking in the twenty first century. The course is designed for students who are interested in a career in banking and financial services, or for those who are already there and would like to upgrade their discipline based analytical and other skills.

This course is designed to provide in-depth overview of financial management concepts and tools and their applications. The topics include cost of capital, discounted cash flow analysis, optimal capital structure theory, dividend payout policy, real options valuation in capital budgeting decision, valuation of risky debt and term structure of interest rates, warrants and convertibles, lease analysis, and the analysis of mergers and acquisitions.

A study of the theoretical and empirical bases for international economic transactions among nations. Emphasis is placed on understanding various theories of trade; cost and benefits of international specialization; and protectionism, quotas, tariffs, and trade policy. In addition, the course examines several topics in international finance such as exchange rate determination, balance of payments, and open economy macroeconomics.