Full Time MBA Core Course Descriptions
MODULE 1
MGMT7701 - Introduction to Strategic Management
Section 01: Metin Sengul | (617)552-4277 | metin.sengul@bc.edu
Section 02: Tieying Yu | (617)552-2731 | tieying.yu@bc.edu
The course is designed to provide you with a general understanding of how firms formulate and implement strategies to create competitive advantage. Relying exclusively on the case method, it will expose you to some basic strategy concepts, which will lay the foundation for the strategic management core course that you will take later on. The cases chosen for this course will place you in diversity of managerial situations?large multinational firms and small startups, manufacturing and service industries, growing and mature organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. settings. Discussion of these cases will enable you to learn different analytic techniques, and illustrate (1) the essence of strategy, (2) how to understand the external competitive environment, (3) ways to consider beyond the current business landscape, and (4) the role of top management in strategy implementation.
GSOM770501 - MBA Professional Development Workshop
This course is the first of two required workshops which are dedicated to professional development. Workshop 1 will focus on communication skills. The topic for Workshop 1 will be determined prior to the start of each incoming class based on current trends in the world of business as they relate to the necessary communication skills required of qualified MBAs. Workshop 2 will focus on business problem-solving skills. The topic for Workshop 2 will be determined prior to the start of each incoming class and will be consistent with skills required of MBAs in the professional world including: breaking down problems, requesting and analyzing data, and communicating integrated recommendations.
MODULE 2
OPER7716 - Data Analytics 1: Model Building
Pieter Vanderwerf (617)552-2433 | pieter.vanderwerf@bc.edu
This course focuses on the use of quantitative methods to support managerial decisions. Fundamental to this type of decision analysis is a model, which is a representation of reality. A child enjoys a model car or a model train. An engineer uses a model of an airplane wing in a wind tunnel. An architect uses a set of blueprints as a model to illustrate what is to be built. The National Weather Service uses computer models to predict the track of a hurricane. In this course we will see how mathematical models and modern spreadsheet software can be used to support managerial decision analysis. We will pay special attention to the assumptions and limitations of using mathematical models as part of the iterative process of making operational and strategic management decisions. Examples will be used to illustrate this process in real world situations.
MKTG7720 - Marketing
Jon Kerbs | (617)552-0420 | jon.kerbs@bc.edu
This course focuses on the managerial skills, tools, and concepts required to produce a mutually satisfying exchange between consumers and providers of goods, services, and ideas. The material is presented in a three-part sequence. Part one deals with understanding the marketplace. Part two deals with the individual parts of the marketing program such as pricing, promotion, product decisions, and distribution. Part three of the course deals with overall strategy formulation and control of the marketing function. Students in this course will come to understand the critical links between marketing and the other functional areas of management.
ACCT7713 - Accounting
Mark Bradshaw | (617)552-3831 | mark.bradshaw@bc.edu
The focus of the course will be on the uses of accounting information in managerial decisions. Areas of study will include evaluation of performance of a business and its units, cost and price determinations, make or buy decisions, and managerial issues to be considered in expansion and contraction decisions.
MGMT7712 - Managing People & Organizations
Maria Opazo | opazo@bc.edu
Among the major facets of organizational management, its human dynamics have consistently proven to be the most challenging to understand, predict, and control. This course introduces the accumulated knowledge about individual, group, and system-wide behavior in organizations, as well as contemporary approaches for both diagnosing and intervening in situations at each of these systems levels. Students will be exposed to theories, concepts, and important literature in the field, with frequent opportunities to integrate and apply this knowledge.
MODULE 3
ISYS772001 - Data Analytics 2: Using Databases
George Wyner | (617)552-1659 | george.wyner@bc.edu
This course provides students with a deeper understanding of data by exploring the methods by which data is modeled, databases are designed, and data is queried from those databases. Topics include entity relationship diagramming, the relational database model, and in depth coverage of SQL.
MFIN7701 - Economics
Clifford Holderness | clifford.holderness@bc.edu
The course is intended to introduce the students to basic economic concepts such as supply and demand, market equilibrium, efficiency, opportunity costs, sunk costs, different market structures, gross domestic product (GDP), money, inflation, unemployment, and monetary policy. The course will be divided into two parts: (1) Microeconomics where the focus is on individual economic agents. In this part consumer demand, firm supply, market structure, equilibrium, efficiency, opportunity costs, and sunk costs are covered. (2) Macroeconomics where the focus is the economy as a whole. In this part the topics are GDP, growth, money, inflation, and unemployment.
MFIN7722 - Financial Management
Robert Taggart | robert.taggart@bc.edu
This is a First Year M.B.A. Core course in finance. The course will deal with an organization's investment and financing decisions and its interactions with the capital markets. Topics include valuation and risk assessment, capital budgeting, financial decisions and working capital management. Investors' valuation of securities is linked to both the net present value rule for corporate decisions, and possible sources of value creation.
*elective offerings are subject to change each spring semester
MODULE 1
MGMT7730 - Strategic Management
Tieying Yu| tieying.yu@bc.edu
This course introduces you to a set of analytical frameworks that enable you to explain performance differences among firms and that provide a structure for strategic decisions to enhance firms? future competitive positions. Building on the foundation laid by the Introduction to Strategic Management course that you took earlier, we will cover strategy both at the business level (introducing tools of industry analysis and competitive positioning) and at the corporate level (examining how decisions regarding corporate scope ?horizontal, vertical, and global? create or destroy value in multibusiness firms). We will also study strategy implementation, focusing on the organizational structure, systems and processes that are put in place to manage the corporation. Throughout the course, our viewpoint will be that of the top management team who has responsibility for the long-term health of the entire organization.
ISYS7730 - Data Analytics 3: In Practice
Samuel Ransbotham | (617)552-2331 | sam.ransbotham@bc.edu
Modern information systems now generate massive volumes of data. Organizations everywhere struggle to aggregate, analyze, and monetize the growing deluge of data. Business Analytics capitalizes on this data by combining statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive modeling, and fact-based management. Managers can explore patterns, predict future trends and develop proactive, knowledge-driven decisions that affect all parts of modern organizations. This course provides students with a pragmatic familiarity with the capabilities and limitations of emerging analytics techniques, an introduction to the R statistical computing software, an overview of methods and tools, and a core understanding required to be an intelligent manager, designer and consumer of analytics models.
MFIN880702 - Corporate Finance
Vyacheslav Fos | (617)552-0460 | vyacheslav.fos@bc.edu
This course studies the techniques of financial analysis, including financial statement analysis, cash budgeting, and pro forma analysis. It also covers the firm's investment and financing decisions, including the concepts of present and net present value, capital budgeting analysis, investment analysis under uncertainty, the cost of capital, capital structure theory and policy and the interrelation of the firm's investment and financing decisions.
MKTG800101 - Marketing Research
Linda Salisbury | (617)552-3142 | linda.salisbury@bc.edu
The current business environment rewards companies that respond to consumer demand faster than their competitors, and marketing research is a key route for companies to learn about their target markets. This course seeks to make you both a smarter producer and consumer of marketing research. Topics covered include formulating project-based research questions, the major styles of marketing research, and fundamental research design such as measurement theory and sampling. SPSS and data analysis are covered from a managerial perspective, and you will learn how to conduct and interpret common forms of data analysis seen in marketing research reports.
MODULE 2
OPER7720 - Operations Management
Delvon Parker | (617)552-0460 |
This course discusses the resource structure and the execution of activities that produce goods or deliver services. It focuses on the design and integration of the supply chain processes that support a company's business strategy. It offers a blend of the theory and practice of operations management. At the same time, the course shows the role of quantitative techniques in guiding the operations decisions. The pedagogy involves lecture, readings, and discussion of case studies.
MGMT7760 - Thinking Strategically: A Global Integrative Simulation
Juan Montes | (617)552-0450 | juan.montes@bc.edu
This course is about the art of strategy. Courses like marketing, organizational behavior, operations, accounting, and finance help you understand the functional areas of management, but now (and before you finish your first-year MBA), you need to close the knowing and doing gap, and that is the role of the present course. We will use a simulation called Global DNA in which teams compete in planning and executing a multi-year, multinational business strategy in a highly competitive global market. The course utilizes a sophisticated, market-leading simulation platform to create a realistic, hands-on learning experience. Engaging with the complexities of the simulated international business environment will prompt discussions on decision making, team dynamics, strategic planning and tactical execution. Thinking strategically is what C-level managers need to understanding competitive contexts, and make decisions that take into account all the relations and variables inside and outside the organization. A simulation presents a unique opportunity to challenge your managerial and strategic skills, and additionally, it creates a virtual competitive context that is usually fun, demanding and complex. This course culminates with the Diane Weiss Competition in which student teams will compete in a final round of the simulation.
OPER880401 - Quality Management
Joy Field | (617)552-0442 | joy.field@bc.edu
This course focuses on quality management as a critical operations management capability. Students will explore a variety of quality programs and tools with an emphasis on the Six Sigma approach to quality analysis and process improvement in both services and goods producing operations. During the course students will have an opportunity to pursue Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
MFIN8801 - Investments
Robert James | (617)552-3985 | robert.james.2@bc.edu
In a competitive market, investors allocate funds among financial securities in response to perceived values and subjective attitudes toward risk. This course addresses the issues that seem to determine the relative values of financial instruments and the techniques available to assist the investor in making risk/return tradeoff. The course will include the development and implementation of various pricing models of financial assets. Section numbers 1 and 2 will be offered on-campus and section number 11 will be offered online. Please see the link http://bit.ly/CSOM1 for details about the online section.
MKTG8015 - Strategic Brand Management
Gerald Smith | (617)552-0427 | gerald.smith@bc.edu
This course teaches students fundamental and leading-edge concepts in brand management. Students learn to develop and articulate brand strategy, how to give strategic brand direction, and how to measure strategic brand progress. They learn how to manage key relationships and functions that surround the brand, e.g., advertising, promotion, public relations, licensing, and product and package design agencies. A capable brand manager has exceptional strategic, quantitative, interpersonal, and presentation skills and must be comfortable with decision-making and leadership. The course will focus on the development and application of these skills in brand management via in-class learning, case discussion, and project work.
MFIN8812 - CIRM1: The Investment Management Business
Jeffrey Cho | (617)552-3773 | jeffrey.cho@bc.edu
Eric Fischman | (617)552-3985 | eric.fischman@bc.edu
The key objective of the course is to teach students how to analyze and pitch equity securities. The class will analyze one stock together to build a framework to analyze other companies. Additionally, each student will be assigned a specific stock to follow all semester and will be required to follow news flow, stock movements and understand its business thoroughly. At the end of the semester, the student will pitch the stock either as a buy or sell to the class. This will be a very interactive class that will require significant weekly preparation. The class is designed to be a practical application of the theoretical principals learned in previous MBA accounting and finance courses. The assignments and analysis will be exactly what professional investment managers do every single day. We will analyze and break down the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements. We will focus on key drivers and valuation to estimate price targets and stock recommendations, Buy/Sell