Business Foundations Graduate Certificate

In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of finance and accounting. All the methods covered in this course will be used extensively throughout the MBA program. The topics covered include: the accounting process that results in preparation of financial statements for external users, techniques for analyzing basic sets of financial statements, how to use accounting information to support management decisions, and using time value of money techniques to assess capital asset decisions. (MS Accounting students cannot earn credit by taking this course.) Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22DOC, 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS.

In this course, students will learn the fundamentals of Finance. The main focus of the course is on using time value of money techniques to assess capital asset decisions. – Prerequisite Definition: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22GC, 22MAS, 22DOC, 22GOP.

This course provides students with a foundation in the study of Organizations (strategy, structure, design, and context) in preparation for the MBA or MS program. This course helps students navigate through the advanced graduate course work while learning how to become a more effective manager. Learning objectives cover an understanding on how organizations work as well as developing essential personal skills in problem analysis and writing.Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22DOC, 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS.

This course provides students with a foundation in Marketing. Concepts covered include segmentation, targeting, position, customer and market analysis, and basic marketing planning. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of these Programs 22DOC, 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS.

This course provides students a foundation in how managerial decisions are made in corporations using accounting data. The course work is focused on concepts including cost allocation, break even analysis, ABC costing, product costing and budgeting decisions. (MS Accounting students cannot earn credit by taking this course.)Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of these Programs 22DOC, 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS.

In this course, students will develop the ability to exercise informed judgement in regards to the ethical and legal issues that arise in both domestic and global business in the context of employment relationships, financial decisions, environmental protections, and product development. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of these Programs 22DOC, 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS.

Students will be introduced to data analysis and statistical methods with an emphasis on practical decisions using quantitative models in a spreadsheet environment. Topics covered include descriptive and graphical statistical methods, probability, distributions, sampling and sampling distributions, estimation, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of these Programs 22GOP, 22DOC, 22MAS, 22GC.

Continuation of BANA7011. This course covers topics that include regression modeling and analysis including simple and multiple regression, decision analysis for making decisions under uncertainty, risk analysis and simulation of complex models in a spreadsheet environment, what-if models and spreadsheet engineering, optimization models and solving them with spreadsheet tools, optimization models in business applications. BANA7012 cannot be taken for credit by MS-Business Analytics students. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22DOC, 22GOP, 22MAS, 22GC.

This introductory course provides students at the grad level without previous economics coursework an introduction to the fundamentals of economics. The course will cover topics that cover the supply and demand mechanism, how markets are affected by regulation and taxation, costs of production, and how market structure affects outcomes. Macroeconomic topics covered include the fundamental measures of the aggregate economy, the sources of economic growth, explaining short-run fluctuations in economic activity, and how government policies can affect these fluctuations. A specific focus will be on understanding how fundamental economic principles at the micro and macro level can affect companies, investments, industries, and national economies. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22DOC, 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS.

Students will be introduced to the economic tools for managerial decision-making. This course proceeds from describing the general demand and cost conditions faced by a firm, to its market environment characterized by few to many other firms in the market, and finally to its extended environment of potential competitors and upstream and downstream members of its supply chain. Outside of the substantive aspects of the course, students are expected to describe consumer demand and costs using spreadsheet software. Specific topics include profit and revenue maximization, consumer behavior and demand, production and cost, competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, social welfare, merger policy, limit pricing, vertical arrangements such as franchising, and game theory. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22GC, 22GOP, 22MAS, 22DOC.

Building upon the foundational material covered in FIN 7000 (Foundations in Finance), the focus of this course is to develop techniques for valuing capital investment projects in privately and publically traded companies. To support this goal, the course (1) will develop a set of investment criterion, (2) examine different valuation techniques, (3) develop asset pricing models (the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) in particular) to decide the appropriate opportunity cost of capital for discounting future cash flows, (4) consider basic risk management techniques, (5) examine the way in which firms raise capital, and (6) analyze the effect of financing choices on shareholder wealth, firm value, risk, and tax payments. This course will also define real options and examine how real options are valued and affect capital budgeting decisions. The course will examine the definition, use, and pricing of derivative securities such as financial options. A secondary goal of this course is to consider what decision firms should implement in regards to the profits they generate given effective financial policies and decisions. Particularly, the course examines payout policy. Students will develop intuition on financial issues so that they able to both analyze a variety of standard finance problems and become capable of analyzing new issues that arise in a business environment. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22DOC, 22MAS, 22GC, 22GOP.

This course implements the case method to discuss the managerial and strategic implications of the use of Information Systems in organizations. The course will begin with a review of concepts related to Information Technology in the real of networking, databases, application development, and architecture. From here, students will examine the value of Information Technology in modern organizations. Multiple cases will be discussed, covering themes such as Enterprise Resource Planning, Digital Convergence, e-Marketing and Social Media, Disruptive Innovations, Virtual Teams, and IT Resources and Capabilities. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22GOP, 22MAS, 22GC, 22DOC

The focus of this course it to provide concepts and applications related to organizations and the individuals who design and work within them. Students will better understand and practice individual and organizational management. This course will cover micro-level issues (e.g., individual differences and motivation), mid-level issues (e.g., leadership, groups and teams), and macro-level issues (e.g., organizational culture and structure). The goal of this is to help students better see and understand organizational phenomena that may now be taken for granted. This course will also help students become more effective in the organizations in which they manage and participate. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22GOP, 22DOC, 22MAS, 22GC.

As consumers we cultivate a surface-level familiarity with the actions and institutions of the market place. This course focuses on providing a closer look at the players, decision-making issues, processes and key lessons from the commercial trading environment. Students will develop an understanding of system dynamics and causal linkages in the marketplace. Why do some products fail while others succeed? How can we structure productive relationships? What happens to prices when distribution or advertising intensifies? The course takes up these questions and more. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following programs 22DOC, 22MAS, 22GOP, 22GC.

This course introduces basic operation principles through a collection of case studies and exploring major operations problems. Areas of focus include decisions and activities related to product and process design, the use and control of resources, scheduling and quality management, supply chain management, and project management. Prerequisite: Students must be enrolled in one of these Programs 22MAS, 22GOP, 22DOC, 22GC.

The electives listed above represent the typical set from which most students will choose. Students may be able to choose other electives to match specific career goals, with the approval of the Program Director.