Dual Degrees

PMBA 8000 Executive Communications 3 Credits

Professionals spend about seventy percent (70%) of their work-time communicating with other people. It is therefore no surprise that, without good communication skills, it is impossible to succeed in one’s workplace. Yet, effective communication skills do not come naturally for most people. This course aims to prepare you to speak compellingly, write clearly and concisely, listen actively and critically, and persuade others by constructing sound arguments. To that end, we will learn the key aspects of communication: audience analysis, communicator credibility, message construction, and delivery. Deliverables will include written documents and oral presentations, as well as both individual and team presentations. Importantly, in doing so, you will enhance your leadership potential in your workplace by motivating your colleagues, team, and organization to work toward important goals.

PMBA 8210 Information Technology Management 3 Credits

This course introduces the theory and practice of Information and Communication technologies deployment in organizations. This includes planning, analysis, design, and implementation of computer-based management information systems (MIS). The course emphasizes an understanding of emergent cutting-edge technological phenomena and the effect of information systems on the practice of management.

PMBA 8220 Strategic Accounting for Manager 3 Credits

This course emphasizes the issues encountered by managers regarding performance measurement, incentives, ethics and strategic management accounting tools. Students will learn to recognize ethical issues and apply a code of conduct to those issues, understand the criteria for recognizing revenue, analyze cash flows for investment decisions, compute measures of returns on investments, and understand the uses of a Balance Scorecard in performance evaluation. This course will also cover transfer pricing issues and methods in domestic and international settings, the application of differential analysis to a variety of short-run decisions, and the application of traditional costing methods, activity-based costing, activity-based management, and target costing to products and services. Preparation of a master budget and its role in planning, control, and decision making is also discussed. This course is not open to MAcc students.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8020.

PMBA 8230 Managerial Economics 3 Credits

Focuses on using economic methods for making managerial decisions affecting the value of the firm. Topics include demand analysis, production and costs, employment decisions, project evaluation, profit-volume analysis and pricing strategies under a variety of settings. The course emphasizes integration between economics, accounting, and finance.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of MBA pre-program courses.

PMBA 8240 Applied Corporate Finance 3 Credits

This course is designed to further develop the students’ skills through practical application of concepts and tools taught in prior finance courses. Students will learn by solving real-world case studies and learning to communicate clearly their decisions to both sophisticated and lay audiences. The primary method of instruction is the preparation, presentation, and discussion of finance cases. Each case study session will be preceded by lectures and discussion of the main theoretical concepts. The case studies considered will cover a wide range of corporate financial problems including value creation, capital budgeting, capital structure, cost of capital, and mergers and acquisitions. Throughout the course, attention will be given to the international dimensions of the issues and problems presented and discussed.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of PMBA 8040 and PMBA 8020.

PMBA 8250 Operations & Supply Chain Management 3 Credits

This course provides MBA students with the current knowledge and practice of operations and global supply chain management. Supply chain management has become one of the most important and talked about topics in business in recent years. Many companies have realized that they can reduce their costs, increase profits, and increase customer satisfaction by improving their supply chain practices. It is also evident that most supply chains extend beyond the borders on the U.S., and consequently, have global components and challenges. This course is designed to prepare students to meet operations and supply chain related challenges in their careers.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of PMBA 8051 and 8052.

PMBA 8260 Mkt Analysis & Decision Making 3 Credits

The purpose of the course is to provide the analytical skills required to understand complex marketing situations in order to develop and implement appropriate marketing strategies. The decision-making processes in the management of product planning, pricing practices, selection of channels of distribution and development of effective promotion programs are investigated. This involves identification and selection of appropriate target markets, the effective use of marketing research and recognition of organizational dynamics. The case approach is used to develop communication skills and further build team skills as students interact with peers in solving problems.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8060.

PMBA 8270 Advanced Organizational Behavior 3 Credits

A study of key individual, group, and organizational processes. At the individual level, the focus is on different personalities, job attitudes, and work motivation. The implication of individual factors is then considered in a team context focusing on the processes of communication, influence, conflict, and leadership. Finally, we examine the impact of organizational culture and change on workplace behavior. In order to integrate the individual, group, and organizational levels of study, the course emphasizes a team-based approach to learning.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8070.

PMBA 8290 Legal and Ethical Aspects of Management 3 Credits

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to meet the legal, ethical, and regulatory challenges and opportunities they will encounter as they conduct business as managers and entrepreneurs. To excel, managers and entrepreneurs must recognize that the law is important to firm success and that they must always consider the legal ramifications of their business decisions. Students will learn how to identify legal and ethical issues before they become legal problems and how to communicate and work collaboratively with legal counsel. The course begins with an overview of business ethics and social responsibility and goes on to cover the U.S. court system and the laws of contracts, torts, and intellectual property. The course covers corporate governance issues including the fiduciary duties of officers, directors, and controlling shareholders, public and private offerings of securities, and securities fraud. Environmental regulation, product quality, legal aspects of the employment relationship (as they relate to the liability of the corporation and managers for the acts of their employees), wrongful termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment will also be covered.

Prerequisite(s): Completion of MBA pre-program courses.

PMBA 8311 Information Security for the Enterprise 3 Credits

This course will teach students how businesses can implement security policies which will protect their significant investment in computer systems. The course topics include but are not limited to security attacks, attack prevention and mediation and security audits. Security devices, firewalls, PC and server security, authentication methods and procedures, and network security will all be discussed. The course will be delivered through a combination of hands-on labs where students will evaluate and implement computer security on computers, and class lectures.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8210.

PMBA 8314 Project Management 3 Credits

In our complex world of global economies and pervasive technology, change is constant. It is a persistent challenge to manage this change. It is the body of knowledge that is project management that helps managers address this change. This course will introduce students to project management for a variety of disciplines. The methods and techniques taught will be applicable not only to software development, but to any series of tasks that could constitute a project. The course content will cover the identification, approval, and management of complex projects. Various project management tools, techniques, and approaches will be covered.

PMBA 8317 Applied Data Management for Business Users 3 Credits

Learn the benefits of data sharing in a business organization , the benefits of the relational database model, how data is structured in a relational database model, and how data can be accessed in a relational database using the structured query language (SQL). The process of formatting, loading, and accessing data for data analytics will be shown as well as the interaction with data warehouse schemas such as the star schema and snowflake scheme.

PMBA 8318 Business Analysis and Design 3 Credits

This course will integrate the skills of business analysis with those of system design. Students will learn a dynamic visioning/planning process which will guide the development of a technology architecture model for the business enterprise. Students will learn requirements elicitation techniques and use cases. Design methods such as object modeling and prototyping and data modeling with enterprise relationship diagrams will also be covered.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8210.

PMBA 8351 Business Analytics Fundamentals 3 Credits

This course introduces (i) data analysis tools that are appropriate for generating useful information for decision-making and (ii) a framework for analyzing decisions based on partial information. Examples from financial analysis, marketing, and operations management are used to illustrate applications of the topics covered. Microsoft Excel and associated add-ins are used for the purpose of analysis. Students who have earned credits for CIS 350 or equivalent cannot take PMBA 8351 for credit.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8051.

PMBA 8352 Design Thinking and Innovation 3 Credits

This graduate course on Design Thinking and Innovation provides students with a framework for dealing with unstructured problems, and for managing the innovation process. This course introduces students to design thinking as a systematic approach to innovation, but also guide students through the process to identify and translate broadly defined opportunities into actionable innovation possibilities. Students who have earned credits for CIS 388 or equivalent cannot take PMBA 8352 for credit.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8210.

PMBA 8353 Digital Futures 3 Credits

This course is a holistic course drawing on all areas of Information Technology. It leverages the in-depth understanding of Technology that MSIS students possess and transforms such knowledge into a new skill set of strategic leadership development at the level of the firm, economy and society. It will enable the student to assess and respond to challenges in their current work environment as well as develop strategic leadership capacity going into the future. Case studies and readings will familiarize students with literature on rapid technology-led transformations such as Schumpeterian theories of ‘creative destruction’ and derivative theories of technological restructuring at the scale of an industry such as disruptive technology/innovation. Students will be engaged in a discussion of multi-firm cases of strategic innovation and will examine policy decisions by the firm and various ethical dilemmas engendered by technological changes of the last four decades.

Prerequisites: PMBA 8210.

PMBA 8355 Visual Analytics 3 Credits

This graduate course will equip the students with the fundamental skills to perform visual analytics with Tableau. Specifically, students will learn how to prepare a dataset for visual analysis, and how to “tell a good story” using basic and advanced visualizations. At the completion of this course, students will be able to apply best visualization practices and create effective visualizations to convey analytical insights to a business audience. Students who have earned credits for BDA 205 or equivalent cannot take PMBA 8355 for credit.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8351.

PMBA 8358 Data-Driven Strategies for Business 3 Credits

In this course, several real-world business problems will be presented as case studies for the application of descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. Relevant business areas for these problems include online recommendations, healthcare, sports management, marketing, and revenue management. Through these business case studies, students will (1) define a real-world problem in the context of business analytics (2) develop hands-on experience on implementing analytics methodologies (3) learn to derive and communicate insights from analytics results and (4) practice the formulation of data-driven strategies.

Prerequisite(s): PMBA 8051, PMBA 8351.

PMBA 8880 Strategic Management 3 Credits

This course provides an understanding of the strategic management process. Students will analyze and discuss concepts and cases relating to strategic management, make strategic decisions for a hypothetical company in the online computer simulation project, and develop a detailed action plan to resolve a hypothetical business situation. This course will cover the analysis of the strategic process of studying and forecasting the external environment of the firm, assessing the present and future enterprise strengths and weaknesses, setting enterprise goals with recognition of personal and societal goals, and evaluating performance and progress toward those goals. Provides the student with an integrated view of the functional decisions and corporate strategy.

Prerequisite(s): All other MBA breadth courses.