Course Descriptions
The following courses are required for all Professional Evening MBA students.
Required Core Courses
AC711: Financial Reporting and Control
Introduction to accounting and an examination of how it helps in decision-making. Financial accounting (information needs of stockholders, creditors, and analysts) and managerial accounting (information needs of managers) are stressed. Topics covered include income statement/balance sheet format, purposes, and limitations; statement of cash flows; analysis of financial statements; cost behavior; use of relevant costs in decision making; budgeting; and divisional performance measurement.
OB712: Managing Organizations and People
This course introduces you to some fundamental concepts, models and frameworks to help you become better acquainted with the organizations for which you work, the teams in which you work, the people with whom you work, and your own personal development. This course has five tracks: 1) how to develop yourselves as managers, 2) how to work well within teams, 3) how to develop more effective organizations, 4) how to assess the external environment, and 5) how to initiate change in each one of the above arenas. Tying all of these elements together, we will devote particular attention to the traits, skills and behaviors that are indicative of good leadership and how organizations and managers can be transformed for better alignment with the business demands of the future.
QM717: Data Analysis for Managerial Decision-Making
Managers deal with large amounts of information in quantitative form. Effective managers understand the conditions under which quantitative techniques may be appropriately applied for decision-making. In this course, students develop skills in using the computer to examine and report data. The focus is on deriving meaning from particular data sets, and the use of statistical estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression/correlation analysis in decision-making.
MK724: Marketing Management
This course builds an in-depth understanding of basic marketing concepts and applies those concepts to a variety of management situations, including nonprofit and public sector settings. The course provides working knowledge of the tools of marketing (product policy, pricing, distribution, promotion, consumer behavior), and the ways in which these tools can be usefully employed. The course builds practical skills in analyzing marketing problems and opportunities, and in developing marketing programs.
FE722: Financial Management
Financial Management examines three sets of problems: 1) saving and investment decisions by households; 2) investment and financing decisions by corporations; and 3) the role of securities markets and financial intermediaries in the economy. Decisions today affect the timing of and uncertainty about future flows of income; both timing and risk determine the current value of those future flows. This course develops the tools required to analyze these decisions and their interaction within the financial system.
FE730: Economics and Management Decisions
The aim of the course is to present many of the decision problems managers face and to present the economic analysis they need to guide decisions. In the first half of the course, microeconomic tools are used to structure complicated decision problems about production, pricing, investment, and other strategic issues, address uncertainty through probabilistic forecasts and sequential decisions. An additional goal is to distinguish different market structures and apply competitive strategies using game theory. In the second half, the focus shifts to the study of the national and global economic environments within which companies operate. We identify the drivers of fluctuations in GDP, inflation, interest and exchange rates, and other key features of the economies. Since governments play key roles in determining the fate of economies and companies, the final theme is the rationale for and efficacy of government policy tools.
IS711: IT Strategies for a Networked Economy*
This case-based course demonstrates the role that information technology plays in shaping business strategy and business models. It provides an overview of the key technologies that are important in today's business environment and introduces organization and management concepts relating to the information technology function. The course also illustrates the relationships between organizational performance and the ability to leverage knowledge assets.
OM726: Creating Value Through Operations and Technology
This course is case-oriented and focuses on topics of use to managers in any environment: process analysis, process improvement, supply chain management, and strategic operations decision-making. The course emphasizes the importance of effectiveness and efficiency and evaluates the potential trade-offs.
PL700: Current Topics in Law and Ethics
This one-week course will survey contemporary issues in selected areas of law and ethics. We will introduce pivotal areas of law, so that students begin to anticipate legal problems, analyze how to avoid them, and realize how legal principles can be employed to add value in their chosen fields. The subjects are torts, contracts, employment law, securities regulation and corporate governance. We expect that this overview of a few disciplines will encourage students to explore other legal topics relevant to their business interests. We will also offer an analytic structure that enables students to identify ethical issues in business, analyze options and make choices consistent with their own values.
SI751: Competition, Innovation, and Strategy
"Competition, Innovation, and Strategy" is an integrative course designed to capitalize on your understanding of Finance, Operations Management, Marketing, and other functional issues. The course draws on a number of academic disciplines, especially economics, organization theory, and sociology, to build a fundamental understanding of how and why some firms achieve and sustain superior performance. We also study why some firms persistently generate returns that are lower than average. The course is analytically focused and requires that you evaluate both the external environment and the internal capabilities of organizations.
ES700: Executive Presentation
A presenter's delivery skills impact the audience's image of the presenter and the clarity of the message being communicated. A combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on practice and simulation, this course is designed to help you exercise leadership through verbal communication.
ES701: Executive Written Communication
This course is a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on practice. It's designed to help you exercise leadership through writing and understand how strategies of written communication are an essential aspect of effective management, working relationships in the network era, and overall business strategy.
ES707: Managing Career Growth
The MBA is simply a step along the path of a career. It provides the skills and tools necessary to take many steps forward, but you must manage where those steps lead and how. Managing Career Growth will provide you the understanding to manage your own career going forward. The class will cover: 1) career self-assessment (interests, values and skills), 2) networking and developmental relationships, 3) career management/ advancement strategies, 4) developing your career marketing plan and professional portfolio, all with the purpose of providing a foundation to not only manage your next steps but continuously assess, network, market and manage yourself. You are indeed a business of one, and you are the one responsible for managing that business.
Electives
North Campus students may also pursue other electives, but some coursework may need to be completed at our Boston location. The following electives are a sample of classes currenlty being offered at our North Campus:
FE820: Corporate Financial Management
This course provides an in-depth analysis of financial considerations relating to corporate growth. It addresses the setting of financial or corporate goals in terms of maximizing shareholders' equity, and relationships among dividend policy, debt levels, capital costs, return on investments, and growth.
FE822: Fixed Income Markets
This is a course primarily on fixed-income debt securities and markets. Emphasis is placed on the factors that determine bond yields, factors such as the coupon and maturity structure, liquidity, credit risk, and tax status of the security, and on measures of return and risk, statistics such as the yield to maturity, horizon yield, duration, and convexity. We will cover government debt (Treasuries and municipals), corporate bonds (investment-grade and high-yield), agency (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and mortgage-backed debt created via securitization (i.e., collateralized mortgage obligations). We will emphasize how interest rate and credit derivatives are used to manage portfolios of fixed-income securities.
FE823: Investments
This course looks at speculative markets, including organized security markets and exchanges; definitions of securities; relevant tax law and sources of nvestment information; principles of stock and bond valuation; and security price behavior. Also discussed in this course are problems and models associated with portfolio analysis and management.
FE827: International Financial Management
This course examines the acquisition, investment, management, and conversion of funds in the international context. Other areas of discussion include: foreign exchange exposure and risk, investment decisions, international capital markets and banking, trade financing and tax planning, balance of payments and national goals, and financial planning from a multinational perspective.
FE829: Futures, Options & Financial Risk Management
Futures and stock options are recognized as important tools of investment and risk reduction. This course covers the theory of futures and option pricing and develops a framework for analyzing hedging and investment decisions using futures and options. Attention is paid to practical considerations in the use of these investments, tax and accounting issues and the institutional features of the market in which the various instruments are traded.
IM845: Asian Field Seminar
How do we prepare for the emerging opportunities and challenges that China’s economic development and Asia’s growing presence continue to create? This two-week seminar through six cities in China and Korea provides future global business leaders with an opportunity to contemplate answers to the above question. We visit companies (both multinational and local) competing in this dynamic market, meet governmental officials to hear about policies and implications, learn from local MBA professors about what they see our strengths and weaknesses are, participate in real market activities, and develop global network of knowledge with local MBA students and BU alumni in the region. Through this process, students will deepen their understanding of the unique nature of opportunities and challenges in the region, become more comfortable with the myriads of cultural and communicational details, and explore professional opportunities located in the region.
IM851: European Field Seminar
The European Field Seminar gives students an appreciation of "competing in Europe." The European competitive landscape is changing rapidly. Three Boston-based class sessions introduce students to topics such as the history of the European Union, European Community Law, Member States, European Monetary Union and Competition Policy. During a two week period, the class visits a variety of organizations in Europe to learn about relevant competition issues; students experience first-hand how firms are dealing with them (or should be dealing with them). The wide variety of sectors covered appeals to broad segments of the MBA population.
IM852: Global Social Enterprise Field Seminar - Brazil
This intensive ten day seminar will provide students with a broad understanding of the ways in which business strategies can create value at the base of the economic pyramid. Students will gain first hand experience of how businesses, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and government are using models of social enterprise to address social and economic issues in the fields of health, education and the environment in the context of an emerging market—in this case, Brazil. This study program will include extensive site visits throughout the country to social enterprises, multi-national firms, NGO ventures and government organizations. Students will also hear from a wide variety of Latin American specialists in topic areas. A broad range of topics will be covered including: renewable energy, sustainable development, eco-tourism, new models for providing health and education services to underserved populations, social enterprise, micro-enterprise, corporate social responsibility and public/private partnerships.
MK852: Marketing Research
This course examines a variety of exploratory and survey research approaches and their associated data analysis procedures. It provides participants with state-of-the-art tools for identifying and assessing customer needs and requirements to improve the performance of profit-oriented and public-sector organizations.
MK853: Global Strategic Marketing
This course focuses on the key strategic marketing decisions managers must make: deciding whether to market globally; selecting countries in which to market; choosing marketing strategies and tactics for entry and growth; and organizing for and managing the implementation of global marketing strategies.
MK854: Product and Brand Management
This is a course about branding, and the ways that brands acquire and sustain value in the marketplace. The course is embedded in sociological, anthropological, and psychological theories of consumer behavior and culture, and relies on these disciplines for insight into effective strategic management of the brand. The cases, readings, in-class discussions, and assignments are designed to provide you with: an understanding of brands as co-creations of consumers, marketers, and cultures, and brand management as a collaborative process of meaning management; a sound foundation in consumer-brand behavior; and a capacity to think creatively and with increased precision about the strategies and tactics involved in building, leveraging, defending, and sustaining strong brands. Select topics we will cover include brand (re)positioning, brand design, brand community, product placements and grassroots marketing, internal branding, brand relationships, brand architecture, brand leverage and extensions, brand metrics, and brand stewardship. A group brand planning project weaves content throughout the course; individual write-ups allow you to explore select branding topics in more detail. Several guest speakers from the branding services, consulting, and practice sides will provide their insights throughout the course.
MK856: Consumer Behavior
In order to successfully implement strategy, marketers need to understand their consumers who they are, what they want, how they make decisions, and how their behavior is influenced by marketers’ actions. This course will cover topics such as the role of culture, psychological processes (e.g. motivation, perception, memory, attitudes, etc.) and marketplace behaviors (e.g. in retail settings, online, post-purchase, etc.). We will also look at such marketing concepts as segmentation strategy, value-based pricing, brand equity, new product adoption, and customer relationship management. The course involves a team project focused on discovering an unmet consumer need and designing a product and marketing plan to address that a need.
MK859: Business to Business Marketing
This course provides an in-depth understanding of the unique aspects of marketing in a business-to-business environment. Students apply current marketing theory and techniques to industrial market settings. In addition, they develop managerial skills in the marketing planning and execution process, as well as critical analysis and problem-solving abilities with respect to marketing working relationships. The course allows participants to experiment with and apply strategic marketing concepts in a complex industrial marketing environment. Topics covered include the dynamics of relationships between suppliers and customers, the increasing reliance on the marketing-/R&D interface, the structuring of alliances between so-called competitors, and the process of negotiations - to better understand how organizations endeavor to become and stay market-oriented. Includes guest speakers and interactive marketing simulation.
OB853: Negotiations
This course uses the theory and research on effective negotiating strategies to build students’ understanding of, and skills for, managing differences and negotiation situations. The course considers, among other topics, the issues of negotiating across functions, between levels, across national and cultural differences, over race and gender differences, and between organizations. Students examine: 1) problems of influence and self-defense in highly competitive "hardball" negotiations; and 2) the art of using differences for creative problem-solving and "mutual gain" outcomes. The emphasis is on developing practical skills for effective negotiations that can be applied to concrete situations. Students should be prepared to learn from their own experiences and practice in this course.
SI852: Starting New Ventures
This course focuses on the process of identifying and obtaining the necessary resources to launch an entrepreneurial venture through the development of a business plan. A well-written business plan will communicate the business concept in a way that attracts the various resource providers necessary for the venture’s success. Students will individually develop a business concept and prepare and present a professional business plan.
SI859: Strategy Implementation
Gain the skills and know-how to manage up and across your organization, passing the normal organizational tests along the way from technical expert to cross-functional integrator to directing the future course of your organization. This is strategy implementation for the middle manager who needs to 1) size-up the situation and 2) determine how to gain the power needed to achieve their objectives. One of the qualitative factors that will be explored in great detail is personal style choice vis à vis different stakeholders and organizational politics and the resultant perceptions of you and your programs. Students will study both successful and less-successful managers through cases and readings, honing their own, personal managerial style.
