Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing 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.

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.

This course explores business analytics concepts and applications aimed at improving business performance. The course focuses on the three facets of analytics: Descriptive Analytics, Predictive Analytics, and Prescriptive Analytics. An integral part of business analytics is the use of IT tools to support the collection and analysis of data, and converting it into actionable knowledge in the context of organization decision-making and problem-solving. As such the students will learn problem analysis and formulation, data modeling, and the application of various spreadsheet tools.

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 emphasizes the marketing that is addressed to firms in the industrial market: profit, nonprofit, and government organizations, as distinct from the public consumer. Included is a comprehensive overview of the marketing of industrial products with particular emphasis on industrial purchasing behavior, strategic planning, evaluations, and control. Specific relevant cases are employed for emphasis.

The emergence of global organizations (companies that view the entire world as their market as opposed to individual countries) is an important recent development in marketing. This course provides a comprehensive overview of the marketing of products and services by a global organization, with emphasis on international culture, the marketing mix, and marketing strategy. Projects deal with the problems of and opportunities for specific products in specific countries and the world.

The purpose of this course is to provide a foundation for issues related to consumer satisfaction. The major focus of the course is on consumers’ psychological processes. In addition, social, cultural, and sub-cultural influences on behavior are considered. Topics include the processing of marketing information, product knowledge, attitudes, and persuasion; individual, family, and organizational decision-making; group influences; and social marketing issues. Ethical and global dimensions of consumer behavior issues related to consumer satisfaction are embedded within the course content. An emphasis is placed on the student: (1) developing a coherent theory-based view of the consumer’s abilities and shortcomings, and (2) being able to apply this knowledge to alternative marketing scenarios.

This course addresses market-oriented problems for entrepreneurs, including identification and selection of marketing opportunities and demand for forecasting; formulation of competitive strategies; and designing and/or evaluating marketing plans and programs. Includes marketing in special fields such as services and not-for-profit areas. Various marketing decisions are examined with regard to product planning, channels of distribution, promotion activity, pricing, and aspects of international marketing. Integration of the Internet with marketing techniques is also discussed and examined.

This is an overview course that provides both the context of rapid change and means by which we can help guide innovation and entrepreneurship within organizations. By understanding the historical lessons of change, we can minimize potential innovation failures and gear up for disruptive or incremental change. Both entrepreneurs and established firms must respond to multiple changes in their environments to survive. But even more so, these changes that extend from globalization to technology to demographics and beyond provide opportunities for new streams of revenue and competitive advantage. This course will explore a wide range of topics, approaches, and techniques that promote innovation and entrepreneurial behavior in different organizations of all sizes. It will explore how breakthroughs in technologies and markets create opportunities and threats, and how organizations that can master innovation have an advantage over those who lag behind. We will also consider internal structures, processes, core competencies, and cultures of innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity in different size firms.

The main objective of the course is to help participants understand and evaluate ecommerce business models and digital marketing methods from a variety of perspectives such as business analysts, consumers, entrepreneurs and investors. The specific objectives for student learning under the broad goals are to understand digital trends and disruptive technologies and understand their impacts on customer preferences and the competitive environment; to comprehend digital business strategy and the lead roles of marketing in implementing digital business initiatives. In this course there will be a specific focus on value creation in B2B, B2C, C2C markets; to understand how digital technologies can be used to create customer value, within the bounds of the ethical and legal environment; to apply key frameworks and methods to solve digital business problems; to utilize a participant centered learning approach to critically analyze technology issues and develop innovative solutions.

Marketing strategy is a top management responsibility that encompasses financial, strategic management, and marketing research and analytics perspectives. The course will provide students the opportunity to develop and refine their analytical skills to make informed marketing decisions. The course will help develop critical reasoning and improve decision-making skills through the case study process. The marketing concept will be utilized to help understand how marketing strategy is developed, implemented, and monitored. Special emphasis will be given to understanding the role and importance of ethics and corporate social responsibility for marketing practice. The course will also examine the role of innovation and its link to profitability and sustainability in today’s intensely competitive business environment.