Graduate Courses for Executive MBA Program (EMBA)

Schedule of Classes: Fall | Winter | Spring | Summer
(Only current and next semester available)

EMBA 610 Introduction to Financial Accounting (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Overview of financial accounting, periodic financial statements and the financial reporting process. Importance of financial statements as information source for creditors and investors and as a means by which managers can communicate information about their firms.

EMBA 611 Managerial Accounting (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Use of accounting data in corporate planning and control. Cost-volume- profit analysis, budgeting, pricing decisions and cost data, transfer pricing, activity-based management, performance measures, and standard costing.

EMBA 616 Accounting for Senior Management (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course is designed to give senior managers an overview of basic financial and managerial accounting principles and tools with emphasis on those principles and tools they can use to support various managerial decision-making tasks.

EMBA 617 Accounting for Decision Making (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
An overview of financial accounting including the emphasis on periodic financial statements, the financial reporting process, the importance of financial statements as (i) an information source for creditors and investors and (ii) a means by which managers can communicate information about their firms. Overview of managerial accounting in corporate planning and control. Specific facets include cost-volume- profit analysis, budgeting, pricing decisions and cost data, transfer pricing, activity-based management, performance measures, and standard costing.

EMBA 620 Strategic Information Systems (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Use of information technology to achieve competitive advantage, efficient operations, and effective decision making. Analysis of functions of information technology and its impact on competitive strategy and organizational operations.

EMBA 623 Data Analysis (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
To introduce basic statistical techniques: summarizing and presenting data; confidence intervals and hypothesis tests; regression analysis. To implement these techniques using spreadsheets. To become active users of data analysis in making managerial decisions.

EMBA 624 Decision Modeling (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
The applicability and use of decision and management science models have increased dramatically in recent years due to the extraordinary improvements in computer, information and communication technologies. These developments in hardware and user interfaces such as spreadsheets have been complemented by the availability of large volumes of data, such as the automatic capture of point-of-sale information, and easy access to large databases. Personal computers and friendly interfaces have become effective delivery vehicles for powerful decision models that were once the exclusive province of experts. In this course, we will examine ways in which complex managerial problems can be tackled with decision models using spreadsheets.

EMBA 627 Data Analysis and Decision Modeling (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Introduces participants to contemporary techniques for arriving at optimal managerial decisions. It draws on fundamental ideas in the fields of statistics and operations research, and demonstrates their application in modern business decision-making.

EMBA 630 Data Models and Decisions (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
To develop probabilistic and statistical concepts, methods and models through examples motivated by real-life data from business and to stress the role that statistics play in the managerial decision making process.

EMBA 632 Corporate Finance I (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course introduces valuation methods in finance. Executive MBA students will learn the basic techniques and language of finance, and will be introduced to some of the responsibilities of the corporate financial manager. In particular, the following issues will be addressed: "The objective of creating shareholder value;" "Valuation of corporate securities, including stocks and bonds;" "The risk-return relationship and its implications for finance." Financial techniques for evaluating corporate investments.

EMBA 633 Corporate Finance II (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course builds on the concepts and analytic methods covered in Corporate Finance I. Executive MBA students will learn about the structure of financial markets, the financing and payout choices of large and small corporations, and the role of risk management in the corporation. In particular, the following issues will be addressed: "Thedrivers of shareholder value;" "Corporate financing alternatives and the design of a company's capital structure;" "Coordinating investment, financing and payout policies;" "Corporate Finance Issues for Start-up firms;" Key issues in international corporate finance."

EMBA 637 Corporate Finance (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Presents key concepts in corporate finance as well as tools used in making corporate financial decisions. Topics include valuation of corporate securities, capital investment decision making, capital market theory, operation and efficiency of financial markets, corporate financing decisions, and risk management.

EMBA 640 Financial Management (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Analysis of major corporate financial decisions using a market-oriented framework. Topics include capital budgeting, security portfolio theory, operation and efficiency of financial markets, options pricing, financing decisions, capital structure, payout policy and international finance.

EMBA 646 Global Economics and Public Policy (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course is intended to provide the student with a basic introduction to the microeconomics of the firm. The emphasis will be on the firm decision making process and how that process influences firm performance. Firm performance can have many dimensions, although this course will primarily concern itself with profitability. This course will examine the market environment of the firm and the role of government in the global market. Topics to be covered include the basic microeconomic principles that firms utilize in making business decisions, including demand, elasticities, costs, productivity, and pricing. In addition we will examine the industry environment that the firm faces including the concepts of market structure, market conduct and market performance.

EMBA 647 Economics and Public Policy (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Introduction to the economic concepts essential to business decision-making. Concepts covered include supply, demand, cost pricing, competition, monopoly, non-competitive markets, game theory, vertical integration, regulation, national income accounting, fiscal policy, monetary policy, balance of payments accounting, exchange rates and international economics. Primary attention is given to cases.

EMBA 650 Marketing Management (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Analysis of marketing problems and evaluation of specific marketing efforts regarding the organization's products and services, pricing activities, channel selection, and promotion strategies in both domestic and international markets.

EMBA 656 Leadership and Human Capital (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
The overall objective of this course is to sensitize participants to the fact that managers face many dilemmas (such as the need to maintain control, yet be flexible enough to effectively change as the competitive environment requires); and therefore, managers need to have skills that will enable them to effectively manage and lead, and thus to become leader-managers. How managing versus leading-skills differ will be emphasized in this course. To raise participants' sensitivity to managerial dilemmas and the skills needed to effectively manage these, there will be extensive use of case discussions and video-clips about challenges faced by companies and their managers, and extensive opportunities for self-reflective and experiential exercises. The development of action-plans for implementing a desirable change in participants' current job-situation will also help participants to hone the skills needed to be effective change-agents, hence leaders, in their organization.

EMBA 657 Leadership and Human Capital (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Develops competencies critical for executive success including communication skills (verbal, written, listening), interpersonal sensitivity, teamwork, analytical thinking, decision-making skills, and planning and organizing. Topics for discussion include: leadership, power and influence, empowerment, strategic vision, communication and negotiation, conflict, staffing, legal issues & requirements with human capital, training, mentoring, career development, succession planning, motivation, performance management, goal setting, feedback, coaching, rewards & incentives, discipline, designing and building effective teams, and change management.

EMBA 662 Leadership and Teamwork (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Course examines concepts of team-building and leadership which are critical to managerial success. Topics include leadership, decision- making, communication and conflict, work motivation, building effective teams, and organizational change and culture.

EMBA 663 Managing Human Capital (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Course examines core human resource management principles and emphasizes skills for maximizing an organization's human capital. Topics include recruitment, selection, performance feedback and incentives, termination of poor performers, and managing organizational change through human resource systems and policies.

EMBA 664 IT Transformation of Organizations, Industries and Markets (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Information technology enables the transformation of organizations, industries and markets. The purpose of this course is to understand the forces within organizations and industries that combine with the technology to create these transformations. The course focuses on general models of transformation as well as case studies of specific organizations and industries. Teams of students will select an industry and prepare a report on how technology is now or will transform it, and examine the implications for how businesses will function in the future.

EMBA 667 Information Systems Management (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Introduces the key issues in managing information technology; and stresses management's role in creating the Netcentric firm. Topics include IT and its relationship to corporate strategy, technology itself, the value and return from IT investments, the major functional applications of technology, and organization transformation with IT.

EMBA 671 Supply Chain Logistics and Operations Management (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course introduces students to the concept of value-driven supply chains and its integration with operations. The course focuses on the fundamental principles underlying supply chains, using insights from both operations management and logistics.

EMBA 674 Marketing Simulation (2 credits)
Prerequisite: Marketing Management or Marketing Strategy. For EMBA majors only.
This is a capstone marketing course that is taught primarily through the simulation MARKSTRAT. As we go through the simulation we will discuss marketing strategies designed to manage products in selected market segments. Topics covered include competitor analysis, buyer analysis, market segments, and product strengths and weaknesses; product related issues are identified and marketing strategies developed, assessed and implemented. The material is then complemented with the MARKSTRAT simulation. The prerequisite for this course is Marketing Management or Marketing Strategy.

EMBA 677 Business and Product Marketing Strategy (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Analysis of marketing problems and the design and evaluation of business-level marketing strategies that encompass the organization's products and services, pricing activities, channel selection, and promotion strategies. Theories, concepts and tools synthesized via a computer-based marketing strategy simulation game. Stresses marketing strategy development and implementation activities.

EMBA 681 Managerial Economics and Public Policy (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Basic microeconomic principles used by firms, including supply and demand, elasticities, costs, productivity, pricing, marketing structure and competitive implications of alternative market structures. Market failures and government intervention. Public policy processes affecting business operations.

EMBA 682 Game Theory for Business Executives (2 credits)
This course analyzes the politics of managerial decisions. Our focus is on decision-making in a strategic (or interactive) environment. Such situations are characterized by conflict (or competition), but also hold the possibility of cooperation. We will explore tools from the field of game theory to analyze such decision making.

EMBA 683 The Global Economic Environment (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Relationship between national and international economic environments. Determinants of output, interest rates, prices and exchange rates. Analysis of effect of economic policies (fiscal, monetary, trade, tax) on the firm and the economy.

EMBA 684 Global Strategy (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course focuses on the strategic and organizational challenges facing the multinational firm. The types of questions that we address are: Why do firms go abroad? What differentiates a "global" from a "multidomestic" industry? What are the sources of competitive advantage in a global context? How does a multinational company play the global chess game? Why and when do/should companies engage in cross-border strategic alliances? What are the associated risks and how to guard against them? What potential roles can foreign subsidiaries play in an MNC's global strategy? How do companies choose an optimal global structure? How do companies ensure coordination between the center and the subsidiaries and among subsidiaries? How do companies manage strategic change from one type of global strategy to another?

EMBA 685 Competitive Strategy (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course will focus on the fundamental strategic questions that all general managers, and other members of any company's leadership team, face: How to analyze the structure and evolutionary path of the industry that you are in, how to decide what businesses to stay in, newly enter, or exit, and how to compete in each of the businesses that you choose to be in. With the goal of understanding the key concepts and logic that should guide managers in making these decisions wisely, we will focus on the following more specific topics: what is strategy, analyzing industry structure and industry dynamics, dynamics of competition and creation of competitive advantage, the logic of strategic alliances, and new business creation.

EMBA 686 Competition, Strategy and Globalization (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course will focus on the fundamental strategic questions that general managers and other members of any company's leadership team face in today's dynamic and global environment: (a) how to analyze the global structure and the evolutionary path of the industry that you compete in,(b) how to decide what businesses to stay in, to newly enter, or to exit,(c) how to create sustainable competitive advantage, (d) how to design global expansion strategies, and (e) how to convert global competitive advantage.

EMBA 687 Strategy and Globalization (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Focuses on strategy formulation and implementation in domestic and global settings. Topics include: Industry and competitor analysis, industry and firm value chain, coherence in overall and functional strategies, developing global strategies, leadership, goal setting, organizational structure, and culture. Course utilizes case studies from a variety of settings and emphasizes the evaluation and selection of strategic choices.

EMBA 690 Strategic Management (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Integrative strategic management focusing on strategy formulation and implementation in domestic and global settings. Industry and competitor analysis, industry and firm value chain, leadership, goal setting, organizational structure and culture. Case study approach to top management and organizational problems.

EMBA 693 Supply Chain (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
The age of the real-time supply chain has finally arrived. Companies can now connect instantaneously with suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, customers, and alliance partners around the world. On-line access to up-to-the minute information enables companies to improve communication and project management across the entire supply chain, promote collaboration across departments, and enhance customer service and financial operations. The results are stunning; for example, a recent survey reports dramatic increases in revenues and customer retention and decreases in operating costs and product cycle times. As competition heats up from every direction, the ability to design and manage your supply chain with precision and speed becomes a business imperative. This course offers a practical blueprint for building, implementing, and sustaining supply chains in today's rapidly changing environment.

EMBA 694 Operations Management (2 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
A firm has the opportunity to create competitive advantage through proficient management of its operations. To do so, the firm must first recognize and establish the strategic role of its operations within the organization. Then, at the more detailed operational level, the firm must execute effectively and efficiently. This course examines the strategic role that the operations function can play, and offers specific tools and techniques that the firm can use for strategy execution. We cover concepts of operations managment applied to both manufacturing and services, including operations strategy, analysis of process flows and bottlenecks, waiting line models, total quality management, six sigma, and revenue management.

EMBA 697 Supply Chain Management (4 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Introduces students to the concept of value-driven supply chains and its integration with operations. It illustrates the design and management of effective supply chains, based on the principles developed and the current practices of firms, illustrated with case studies.

EMBA 724 International Financial Management (3 credits)
Prerequisite: EMBA640. For EMBA majors only.
The role of financial management in the multinational firm. The financing and managing of foreign investments, assets, currencies, imports and exports. National and international financial institutions and markets.

EMBA 732 Supply Chain Management (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
This course allows students to experience the real-time world of a glo bal supply chain manager through a simulation experience, the Global Supply Chain game. Additionally, it covers the following topics: supply chain leadership; multi-channeled demand and supply management; and supply chains as a system. Additionally, this course discusses the architecture, software, and technology of the real-time supply chains. It provides an analysis of the process improvements and steps required for firms to re-engineer their supply chains in order to reach the new model. As part of this re-engineering process, there is a discussion of agile manufacturing as well as the role of third party logistics providers. A final section is devoted to the globalization of supply chains.

EMBA 751 Implementing Strategy (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Organizational dynamics of competitive advantage. Impact of alternative organizational structures, planning and control systems, human resource management practices, and executive leadership styles on the implementation of archetypically different strategies.

EMBA 757 Marketing Strategy (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
A capstone marketing course. Marketing strategies designed to manage products in selected market segments. Topics covered include competitor analysis, buyer analysis, market segments, and product strengths and weaknesses; product related issues are identified and marketing strategies developed, assessed and implemented.

EMBA 758 Special Topics (2-3 credits)
For EMBA majors only. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs.
Selected advanced topics in the various fields of graduate study in business.

EMBA 759 Independent Study (1-6 credits)
For EMBA majors only. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs.
Independent study for Masters students in Business.

EMBA 788 Executive Skills Mastery (1-2 credits)
Two hours of lecture per week. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs. Formerly BMGT788A.
This course is designed to focus on the development of the specific set of skills that executives need to successfully perform in today's organizational environment. Students complete assessments which help to target their specific skill level and in the aggregate give instructors clear ideas on the needs of the cohort. The assessments also augment executive coaching, when provided. This is typically registered as a one credit course except when a particular program's cirriculum allocates enough contact hours to all course topics to be covered at a more advanced level.

EMBA 789 Leadership Mastery (1-2 credits)
Two hours of lecture per week. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs. Formerly BMGT788B.
This course addresses organizational challenges from the CEO or C-level perspective. At this level, the ability to engage ambiguity and chaos effectively is essential. Creating strategy while using a systems approach and understanding how each functional area interacts with the other (with both the short-term and long-term in mind) are of very high importance. The course covers topics that consume the days of senior level leaders in organizations. This is typically registered as a one credit course except when a particular program's cirriculum allocates enough contact hours to all course topics to be covered at a more advanced level.

EMBA 790 Management of Technology (3 credits)
For EMBA majors only.
Students are introduced to a variety of strategic and operational issues that arise when managing in the presence of technological innovation, and provides techniques to approach these issues. Topics include the formulation of innovation strategies, technology diffusion and forecasting, the process of developing new products and services, productivity measurement, and the implementation of process technologies aimed at improving productivity (manufacturing and services).

EMBA 798 Action Learning Project (1-2 credits)
Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs.
This course is designed to give the student the opportunity to work on a real-time, salient business challenge or issue for the sponsoring organization. This is often the student's employer. Students are encouraged to design projects which extend beyond a single functional area and require them to examine the interaction of multiple functional areas from a systems perspective. Students work in teams for the projects. This allows them to learn from one another, as well as to learn how to work more effectively in teams - especially in a largely virtual environment. This is typically a two credit course when projects are initiated and completed entirely within a single term. It may be a one credit course when projects extend over more than one term.