MBA Program Course Descriptions
 

The DWC MBA degree requires 39 credit hours of graduate study and may be completed in 24 or 30 months. Certain prerequisite knowledge and skills are expected. Competency in these knowledge-based skills may be demonstrated through the completion of courses or documented work experience.

Required course of study for the MBA:

1. BM 575 Applied Techniques in Organizational Behavior
2. BM 540 Management Accounting
3. BM 543 Marketing Management
4. BM 545 Finance for Managers
5. BM 550 Marketing Research and Marketing Strategy
6. BM 560 Forecasting and Demand Analysis
7. BM 530 Leadership in Times of Change
8. BM 580 Operations Management
9. BM 610 Business Models and Strategies for E-Business
10. BM 625 Project Management
11. BM 650 Global Management
12. BM 680 Strategic Management
13. BM 695 Capstone Research Project

COURSE 1: BM 575 APPLIED TECHNIQUES IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

3 CREDITS

This course surveys the major theories in organizational behavior, including theory of learning organizations, and theories of organizational change, decision making, and advanced concepts in team development. The course also provides techniques for management activities such as negotiating agreements, turning confrontation into cooperation, and conflict resolution. Students will act as a consultant to a real company and make meaningful recommendations to senior management as the final project for the course.

COURSE 2: BM 540 MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

3 CREDITS

This course helps you understand the importance of internal accounting data in making sound business decisions from the perspectives of the manager and the accountant. You will examine both roles how the accountant prepares reports and how the effective manager uses these reports in decision-making, evaluating, planning and product costing as well as strategic implications. It incorporates the use of spreadsheet and/or accounting software. Analysis and evaluation of balance sheets, P & L income statements, cash flow statements and ratios are emphasized. Case methodology will be applied.

COURSE 3: BM 543  MARKETING MANAGEMENT

3 CREDITS

This course focuses on a wide variety of marketing concepts, including building on and managing profitable customer relationships and creating a competitive advantage.  In addition to the classical “Four P’s” (product, price, positioning, promotion), this course also covers managing marketing information, building strong brands and brand equity, consumer and business buying behavior, segmentation, product life-cycle strategies, advertising and promotion, and socially responsible marketing around the globe. During the course, students will consult for a real company. Through lectures, case studies, practical exercises, and research, students will have the skills and information needed to make meaningful recommendations that solve critical marketing problems.

COURSE 4: BM 545 FINANCE FOR MANAGERS

3 CREDITS

Terminology, theory, and analytical techniques of corporate financial management are discussed in this course. Specifically, the course will address the valuation principles such as timevalue of money, investment-value and required rates of return, and the valuation of securities. Topics covered under the long-term investment decisions will include capital expenditure decisions, risk, and control in capital budgeting. The course will also include topics of short-term financial management such as working capital policy, short-term financing decisions, contribution accounting, and management of accounts receivable and inventory. Cases discussed in management accounting will be revisited to show how finance managers make decisions.

COURSE 5: BM 550 MARKETING RESEARCH AND MARKETING STRATEGY

3 CREDITS

You will develop an understanding of how a successful company uses marketing concepts to deliver value to its customers more efficiently and effectively than its competitors. Topics will deal with tactical issues related to product design, pricing, distribution and communications. Students will complete a formal research project. In this class we incorporate the use of quantitative analysis and statistics to make marketing decisions.

COURSE 6: BM 560 FORECASTING AND DEMAND ANALYSIS

3 CREDITS

The aim of this course is to introduce the students to a wide variety of forecasting techniques and demand analysis. The course concentrates on the quantitative approaches to forecasting. In particular, it emphasizes three approaches: regression analysis, exponential smoothing, and ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) models. In addition, the course will address Bayesian analysis as a tool in decision-making.

COURSE 7: BM 530 LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF CHANGE

3 CREDITS

The various theoretical frameworks that contribute to the study and practice of leadership in contemporary organizational environments are explored. Emphasis will be placed on the ability to effect positive and sustainable change in a pluralistic and fast moving society. Students will explore four types of vision essential for a leader: organization, future, personal, and strategic. Emerging research and perspectives on leading strategic development, teams, change, corporate responsibility, and organizational design will be explored. The importance of effective communications in times of change will be included.

COURSE 8: BM 580 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

3 CREDITS

The focus of this course is on how operations can provide a competitive advantage for the firm, and how operation strategies connect with marketing and other functional strategies. You will develop a foundation in the concepts of process analysis and improvement, and explore ways that outstanding quality can provide a strategic advantage and improved profitability. The fundamentals of project planning, capacity analysis, and supply chain management are examined, along with information technology’s impact on today’s business operations. Skills learned in the forecasting and demand analysis course will be an integral part of operations management. As a class project, you will reengineer a process that cuts across functional areas of your company, resulting in a significant improvement. Computer applications include acceptance sampling and reliability, linear programming and transportation analysis, control charts, and scheduling.

COURSE 9: BM610 BUSINESS MODELS AND STRATEGIES FOR E-BUSINESS

3 CREDITS

Students are exposed to cutting-edge proprietary frameworks devised from the instructors current work with Fortune 100 clients as they grapple with the unique challenges and opportunities of the Internet. Through a combination of lectures, case studies, and classroom discussion, the future of the Internet and its impact on both established old economy companies as well as the surviving startups is debated. The course examines what it takes to win, why some companies will succeed and others will not, and takes a close look at the unique challenges and virtual organizational forms, strategic and tactical integration, and future marketing. It also examines industries as diverse as retailing, financial services, computing, professional services, media, and marketing companies and takes a look at emerging technologies such as wireless and broadband and discusses implications for future applications. As a project for this course, students will create a part of an E-Business, either technical component such as the business web page or managerial component such as a business plan or marketing plan.

COURSE 10: BM 625 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

3 CREDITS

Students will act as consultants to a real business (or non-profit organization) and will study a problem or opportunity at that organization. The students will produce a consultant’s report, such as a business plan, a marketing plan, an operation analysis, or a project evaluation. This report will include ‘real’ data and analysis and will recommend specific, concrete action plan.

COURSE 11: BM 650 GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

3 CREDITS

This course provides an overview of a continuously evolving global business environment in which varying nations, governments, economic systems, and business cultures interact, compete and sometimes cooperate in the promotion of trade. Although approaches vary, each trade participant seeks to provide employment, income and well being for those it represents. Issues discussed will include free trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT, and WTO), the varying degrees of capitalism including the evolution from centrally planned economies to private ownership/free enterprise, the emerging economies of developing nations, the influence of the powerful developed economies (US, Europe, Japan) and their corporations, job protection/development, the impact of culture, the danger to the environment, and the ethical questions which impact us all. Ultimately the goal is to recognize the managerial implications and challenges of these global trends and to move forward with renewed vision and action.

COURSE 12: BM 680 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

3 CREDITS

The course focuses on how to build value-creating business strategies and how those strategies must be adapted to changing markets and technologies. You will practice your skills – and utilize the knowledge gained from previous courses – by participating in a computer simulation project. You team will develop and implement a business strategy (applying the concepts learned in the accounting, finance, demand analysis and forecasting) in a state-of-the-art computer simulation.

COURSE 13: BM 695 CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT

3 CREDITS

Students will act as a consultant to a real business and analyze a problem or opportunity at that business. Students use all that they learned in their prior courses and will produce a consultant’s report and recommend an action plan based on at least three of the four areas of Organizational Behavior, Accounting and Finance, Operations Management, and Marketing. Students will use all they have learned in the program, their business acumen, and research skills to develop research problems, generate and test hypotheses, and make recommendations based on their findings.