Part-Time MBA Foundation Courses

Personal and Leadership Development Workshop

BSCI 650 (1 unit)

This workshop serves as an orientation toward the experiential and team based models of learning used at Graziadio. Students engage in exercises and reflection that are meant to enhance communication, ethical decision-making, career development and other relevant skills for interpersonal effectiveness in business. It is scheduled over an extended weekend in the greater area near our campus locations. The course is graded credit or no credit, and taken in conjunction with our 4-unit Organizational Behavior and Personal Development course.

Organizational Behavior and Personal Development 

BSCI 652 (4 units)

As students solidify their identity as an ethical practitioner and MBA student (in BSCI 650), you will learn to apply the behavioral sciences to management issues through the integration of conceptual and experiential approaches. This course provides students with increased self-awareness in order to enhance their personal and professional development. Students will reflect on their own skills and values along with learning to effectively collaborate and communicate with others in organizations. Students will develop leadership and teamwork skills that enhance interpersonal dynamics and organizational effectiveness

Analytics for Business Decisions

DESC 607 (4 units)

The focus of this course is on the application of analytics for strategic business decision making. The course introduces analytical tools that can be used to leverage data and information for complex problems. The course is designed to support the integration experience and includes an introduction to production and service operations. Specific business modeling applications include: regression analysis, time series forecasting, decision analysis, simulation, linear programming, queuing theory, and project management. These techniques assist managerial decision making in the dynamic and highly competitive world of business, including applications to finance, marketing engineering, manufacturing, quality, service and human resources problems in such industries as health care, aerospace, high technology, entertainment, global business, and banking. Software technologies and spreadsheets are used extensively throughout this course.

Accounting: The Language of Business

ACCT 606 (4 units)

This course integrates financial and managerial accounting topics to provide a structural model of business and its operation. Financial accounting information is examined as a means to make rational business decisions. Students learn to gauge a firm's position of liquidity and profitability. Business operating cycles are explained. Financial statements are constructed using spreadsheets. Traditional and globally competitive management control systems are critiqued for their utility in guiding management's resource allocation decisions.

Prices, Profit, and the Market Economy

ECNM 657 (4 units)

The purpose of this course is to develop an economic framework for business managers. It emphasizes the integration of theory, data, and judgment in the analysis
of business decisions and government policy, within a changing economic environment. Topics such as pricing, market analysis, forecasting, resource deployment, incentives for innovation, and economic metrics are covered.

Managing Corporate Financial Resources

FINC 603 (4 units) 

This course explores financial decision making within businesses, including how to raise capital, invest capital, and pay out earnings to owners. Risk and reward from investing is considered, in order to assign value to stocks, bonds, and projects or companies. Students will learn how to measure a project or company's cost of capital. Firm capital structure will be covered, along with dividend payments and stock repurchases. Students will also use financial ratios to analyze the performance of companies and recommend courses of action. The course will provide an overview of how corporations are governed, and the structure of the financial system.

The Art and Science of Marketing

MKTG 603 (4 units)

Marketing is a company-wide undertaking which informs an organization’s vision, mission, and strategic planning. It begins with an understanding of what the market looks like and entails a sequence of key decisions, including: Who is our target customer? What specific customer needs are we going to satisfy with ourofferings? How should we set and adapt our prices? What channels of distribution should we use? What means do we use to communicate with our customers? How do we gain and retain customers? In some aspects, marketing follows systematic and scientific approaches to answer these questions. However, there are elements of marketing which are impossible to
measure and therefore an artistic exercise. 

The purpose of this course is to both educate and excite students about the world of marketing. Businesses today face a number of challenges and opportunities including globalization, the effects of advances in technology, and increased competition. In today's rapidly changing environment, a deep understanding of marketing concepts will help organizations develop and maintain their competitive advantage. Emphasis in this course is placed on the practical application of
marketing concepts to solve business problems.

Competition and Executive Decision-Making

STGY 612 (1 units)

This course provides students hands-on experience managing a business cross-functionally in a competitive environment. The course introduces the concept of business models, which describe how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, and business strategy, which outlines the high-level vision for achieving a company's goals. Teams will apply the concepts and compete against each other in a simulated environment to improve overall organizational performance and increase long-term value.

Technology Management and Digital Innovation

ISTM 602 (4 units)

Digital technology is now enmeshed in the fabric of business. Companies in all industries will continue to employ large datasets and powerful digital technologies to transform the way they do business. Business strategy must be fused with digital strategy and leaders must be well-versed in the fundamentals of digital systems and how they can be used to innovate. 

This course will prepare business leaders for the opportunities and challenges that data and digital technologies offer. The course will cover foundational technology concepts like data management, how emerging technologies impact customer facing and back end processes, including supply chain management and cybersecurity, among others. The overarching focus of the course will be to prepare leaders to understand systems, analyze data, use technology for innovation, and make sound technology investment decisions.

Fundamentals of Business Law and Ethics

LEGL 611 (2 units)

This course lays the essential foundation for the student to understand and navigate the complex modern legal, regulatory, and ethical business environment. It addresses the legal process encountered in business litigation, including alternative dispute resolution. The course explores the basic structure of the American federal and state-level legal and regulatory systems and briefly covers substantive law and related ethical considerations in areas that apply to the private business sector, such as: contract law, agency law,
business organizations, intellectual property law, tort law, and criminal law.

Elective

(4 units)

Choose from more than 25 elective courses to complement core coursework or grow in an area of specialization. See "Electives" (below).

Strategic Management

STGY 659 (4 units)

Strategic Management is a capstone course that examines an enterprise from the CEO's point of view. It is designed to help students conduct external and internal assessments of an organization, pinpoint key strategic issues, identify and choose from alternative strategies, and defend those decisions. We illuminate the interplay among an organization's structure, culture, technology, and the global environment through experiential learning techniques like case studies and a project that addresses the issues of an existing company.

By integrating all subject matter covered thus far in your MBA curriculum, Strategic Management provides a foundational understanding for managing change from a top-level perspective.

Elective

(4 units)

Choose from more than 25 elective courses to complement core coursework or grow in an area of specialization. See "Electives" (below).

Elective

(8 units)

Choose from a wide array of elective courses to complement core coursework or grow in an area of interest. See "Electives" (below).