This course provides the background and framework for successfully transitioning into the role of a working professional MBA student, both in the classroom and the global workplace. Students begin their program with personal assessments and planning, case methods, ethics training, etc. Designed to ensure a successful outcome as an MBA student and as a leader and member of a virtual team across time zones. BA 599 is a prerequisite for all other MBA courses.

Students will learn to identify and articulate the strengths of their own background and merge it with the MBA curriculum as they approach the conclusion of their MBA program. Students will learn how to utilize business tools to analyze a case study from a business perspective, identifying key arguments and fallacies. This course will be taken at the end of the Online MBA program alongside the capstone.

Briefly stated, strategic management is about deciding where you want to go, finding the best way to get there, and ensuring that you stay on track. Originally a military discipline dating back to antiquity (see, for example, the newly popular classic Sun Tzu on The Art of War), it has evolved over the years to become the keystone course in many MBA programs. As such, it asks you to integrate learning from other courses (marketing, finance, operations, etc.) to analyze how a business can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage — the “Holy Grail” of management. (Think, for a moment, about how difficult this is to achieve: How many companies can you identify that have been in business “forever” while consistently earning above-average profits — the definition of sustainable competitive advantage?)

MGMT 593 is focused on understanding and managing organizational behavior. It is designed specifically for students who are, or intend to become, professional managers. In terms of your development, the course has the dual purpose of helping you become a more analytical and effective (1) manager and (2) team leader. It is designed to give you insight into your own attitudes, beliefs, and management philosophy, while providing you with analytical tools that will help you diagnose, understand, and develop solutions to management problems. It is also intended to provide skill development in important areas such as leadership, performance enhancement, teamwork, communication, and giving feedback. The approach to learning will balance cognitive understanding of behavioral science concepts (provided by readings, lectures, and audiovisuals) with application through discussion of readings, cases, and our own experiences, and skill development through experiential exercises. You will be exposed to many different views, concepts, and experiences concerning organizational behavior. Exposure to these varying, often conflicting, and sometimes even paradoxical views can lead to a much better understanding of the management experience. MGMT 593 can improve your ability to "read" organizations and make sense of what's happening in them. Ultimately, you should better understand the forces that influence the behavior of people in organizations, including your own.

Decision-making is an art. To be a successful decision-maker, you want to be able to anticipate and evaluate your alternatives, weighing the benefits and detriments of every option. Accounting 533 features assignments and discussions that can give you the skills to use accounting measurements to make sound, productive decisions. This course integrates fundamental topics in managerial accounting with strategic analysis to show you how organizations use accounting information to make business decisions, design control systems, and evaluate the impact on various stakeholder groups. The coursework will also explore issues of measurement and causality. Accounting is a measurement process. In order for measures to be meaningful, you need to know what to measure, how to measure, and what the consequences of the measure will be. You get to examine both the computations of accounting data and how the resulting information is used in a decision context. The course will focus on information used for internal decision-making purposes to prepare you to use, rather than produce, financial information.

In FIN 526, you can learn to apply finance theory and principles to the analysis of important business problems. Many of the activities of the firm can only be accomplished through the support of the finance function. Other activities have important implications for the firm’s cash flow. As a manager, it’s vital that you understand how to use finance tools and concepts to enhance your decision-making ability and to see how your activities will be viewed at the firm level. Since FIN 526 is the only required finance course in the Online MBA program, we will review foundational concepts and quickly move on to high-level applications. Accordingly, you would be best prepared coming in with a solid understanding of accounting and quantitative methods.

Gain the tools and fundamental conceptual knowledge to understand the emerging role of business analytics in organizations. BA 514 is designed to prepare you to apply analytics specifically within the Excel environment. In this course, you can learn to communicate with analytic professionals to effectively use and interpret models and their outcomes to make better business decisions. BA 514 explains business analytics through clear, complete, and student-friendly instruction and delivery. Learn to recognize and formulate models, determine appropriate tools and techniques, and draw intelligent business conclusions. Explore the four-step decision-making process, learning to conduct each step using a variety of analytical tools and techniques. This is an application/case-oriented course developed to teach you key decision-making concepts using data sets that focus on analyzing business concepts in a data-driven fashion.

As a general manager, it’s so important that you understand the primary tenets of information systems (IS). It’s sometimes asked why general managers need to learn about IS when organizations typically have a designated IS/IT department. It’s true that most IS/IT departments are made up of skilled individuals who, more and more, also have strong business backgrounds. However, it is still very important for you to have a strong knowledge of IS-related issues so you can make informed IS/IT decisions that lead to positive outcomes on an organizational level. Don’t expect this to be a technical course (although there will be some level of hands-on software training). Look at MIS 580 as your introduction to the dynamics of information systems and the challenges associated with integrating such systems into the modern business enterprise. Particular emphasis will be placed on the strategic importance of IT in an organization’s operations. Other topics will include the design and development of enterprise systems, as well as the challenges that come along with their implementation. The course will also cover emerging topics in the field and organizational strategy for approaching the adoption of new technology before concluding on a topic that is a key concern for virtually all organizations—security.

MKTG 506 is designed to give you the tools to develop an action-oriented marketing plan. This course can prepare you to use the Marketing Analysis for Revenue Enhancement (MARE) model and apply systematic guidelines to develop a marketing strategy. Further, coursework is intended to teach you to modify the model as needed, since no single model works in all situations. MKTG 506 focuses on marketing analysis and planning for new market entry, but the concepts you learn can be used for any type of marketing strategy.

This class takes you through the process of choosing a new product idea, testing the new product for commercial potential through a feasibility study, and making a final decision about whether or not to move toward commercialization. From there you will plan how you will introduce your product into the market and how you will operate the business. In addition, you will finalize the presentation of your business plan. Critical to this class is your commitment to be creative, take risks, experience failure, and try again until you finally "get it right." You will be asked to use information from previous classes, your previous personal and professional experience, and data you discover during the course.

Applying the principles of design thinking to life and career decisions; will reflect on the meaning of work and life and how to build (one of the many options that lead to) one's best life.

Service businesses are an increasingly dominant force in world economics. Approximately 79% of our labor force, 76% of the GDP, 45% of the average American family’s budget, and 32% of all U.S. exports are accounted for by services. This course explores concepts, principles, and issues within the service management area. We will study service management from an integrated viewpoint with a focus on service quality and customer satisfaction. The material will integrate operations, marketing strategy, information technology, and organizational and human resources issues.

This course concentrates on techniques and concepts of international tourism, destination management and marketing, and its role in developing customer- and service-oriented managerial approach in a tourism organization. This course is designed to provide you a working knowledge of international tourism, destination management and marketing process, and the interrelationships between destination marketing decisions, marketing research, buyer behavior, product strategy, channels of distribution, promotional activities, and pricing decisions.

Yield/revenue management and managerial accounting concepts within the hospitality industry.

The course is designed to provide graduate students the knowledge and skills for identifying global opportunities and developing international marketing strategies in a fast-changing global business environment, and to develop analytical and decision-making, professional communication, and market research skills in the global marketing context.

This course intends to give you the skills and knowledge to thrive in the rapidly changing international business environment. Using reading, research, active participation, and discussion, you will be exposed to the challenges and opportunities presented to you, the manager, by differences in the economic, cultural, and political realities in the business world today. We will take a practical approach emphasizing decision-making.

This course is designed to assist students in obtaining a basic understanding of and appreciation for the communication tools used in planning, implementing, and evaluating promotional strategies. Students completing this course are expected to have acquired the expertise necessary to develop and/or critically evaluate a promotional plan for a company, product, or service of their choosing. Course discussions, activities, and graded assignments will rely upon theoretical insights applied to marketing/advertising practice.

This course is designed with the intention of analyzing both theory and practice in developing, managing, and marketing a new consumer product. Students will work to evaluate new product development and new product marketing processes, including idea generation and selection, concept development, market research, marketing goals, demographic assessment, objective development and testing, marketing strategy, and business analysis. By the end of the course, students will have acquired the knowledge and tools to develop appropriate launch strategies for new products, taking into consideration customer price perception and price sensitivity factors, competitive pricing strategies, and costs, while understanding intended market positioning and target markets.

This course provides an introduction to international financial management, built upon the domestic corporate finance covered in earlier prerequisite courses. The central theme is how to make corporate financing and investment decisions in an international environment. This course helps students understand additional risks and challenges of international financial management compared to domestic financial management. Students will learn the basic techniques of measuring and managing international financial risks and will be able to apply the techniques to corporate financing and investment decisions in an international environment. Quantitative techniques are heavily emphasized in this class.

This course introduces students to interest rates and interest rate theory, bond pricing, the term and risk structure of interest rates, and financial futures. Students will also examine the application of this knowledge in the investment and commercial banking sectors.

Learn the theory and practice of investments, covering the topic areas of capital markets, valuation, security analysis, portfolio management, derivatives, and investor psychology. The course is designed to develop a theoretical framework for investing and to provide the student with some practice in applying that framework to typical investment decision-making.