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Coursework
There are three different levels of coursework for students enrolled in the Valpo MBA Program.
- Foundation Courses: These courses are required of students who do not have an undergraduate major or minor in business or who have not completed corresponding coursework in a satisfactory manner (with a grade of C+ or better). Transcripts are evaluated on an individual basis as many students, even those without an undergraduate major or minor in business, qualify for waivers of one or more courses.
- Core Courses: These courses are required of all students enrolled in the MBA Program. If a students has satisfactorily completed Master's level coursework elsewhere they may qualify to transfer in three courses, or six credits, worth of work.
- Enhancement Courses: Our unique way of saying "Elective Courses", students enrolled in the MBA Program must take six of these courses. Please note that this is by no means a comprehensive list of our current Enhancement offerings.
Foundation Course Descriptions
This course provides a foundation in economics for business decision making. Topics include demand and supply, production, cost and pricing theory
in competitive and non-competitive product and input markets, the macro-economy and the Federal Reserve, international trade and finance, and environmental
economics.
This course provides a study of the legal aspects of business. Topics explored include contracts, the Uniform Commercial
Code, cyber law, and different legal forms of business organizations such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, sub-s corporations,
etc. In addition, the legal traditions and rules of different nations are compared with a particular focus on legal conflicts and international contracts.
The course finishes with strategies on selecting and working with legal council.
This course involves a study of basic accounting theory and practice, the nature of assets, liabilities, and
owners' equity, income measurement, and financial statement preparation. The course is taught from a "user" perspective, stressing the
understanding, interpretation and analysis of financial statement information. Special emphasis is placed on alternative accounting methods and accounting
estimates that may cause similar companies to report different results.
This course provides a survey of financial management. Major topics include the financial environment, working
capital management, the time value of money, financial statement analysis, capital structure, valuation of securities, capital budgeting, assessment
of risk, and international finance. Consideration is given to these topics as well as to ethical relationships among the firm's contract holders.
Prerequisites: MBA 501, MBA 510,and MBA 540 or equivalent
Emphasis is placed on the ethical application of marketing concepts, theories and principles as they relate to product policy, promotional mix decisions,
distribution and logistical planning and pricing. The international business environment, including social, cultural, economic, political-legal,
competitive and technological variables, is studied and compared with American markets. The areas of buyer analysis, the utilization of market planning
and analysis are also stressed.
This course presents the fundamentals of statistics as they apply to relevant business problems. The use of statistical software and spreadsheets is
emphasized. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, random variables, selected discrete and continuous probability distributions, sampling
distributions, estimation, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Prerequisites: Calculus or Finite Mathematics.
This course examines the foundation of knowledge from the behavioral sciences as it applies to business. Included are discussions of emotions, social
and self-perceptions, social influence, decision making, and creativity and innovation. Students will learn about the nature of people and how
organizations can enhance or repress human growth. Of particular importance is how organizations can be both productive and humane. These topics are
examined by reading the classic writings in each area.
Core Course Descriptions
Students are introduced to topics related to business as a contemporary social institution. Emphasis is placed on the role of business in modern society,
ethical frameworks for business decision-making, the perils and promises of new technology, sustainable business and the natural environment, issues of
social and economic justice, and values-based leadership. This course should be taken early in the MBA program.
This is the first of a two-course sequence built around a speaker series coordinated by faculty from the colleges of Business Administration and
Engineering. Experts are invited to speak on topics related to technology's role in both creating and resolving the critical environmental challenges
confronting society. Emphasis is placed upon the environmental strategies and the technology choices that business leaders must face. Speaker classes
are augmented with seminar classes addressing current concepts in environmental management including sustainable business practices.
This is the second of a two-course sequence built around a speaker series coordinated
by faculty from the colleges of Business Administration and Engineering. Experts are invited to speak on topics related to the management of technology,
ranging from the development and deployment of new technologies to the use of appropriate technologies for competitive advantage. Special emphasis
is given to the human and ethical consequences of technology choices. Speaker classes are augmented with seminar classes addressing current concepts
in technology management.
This course is comprised of a series of lectures on topics relevant to current legal issues confronting
managers. Topics explored may include business planning, environmental law, electronic commerce, international business transactions, white-collar
crime and employment issues. The course focuses on identifying actions, or areas of inaction, that could result in a business violating statutes,
incurring legal liability and possibly being subjected to litigation. Prerequisites: MBA 504 or equivalent.
This course focuses on the relationship between accounting information and management
planning, decision-making and control. The course begins with a discussion and review of basic corporate disclosure. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation
of outcomes reported in financial statements from the perspectives of management, shareholders, auditors, and others. The course continues with an
analysis of internal cost accumulation systems for costing products or services as well as interpretation and evaluation. Coverage will encompass
basic cost management concepts to plan, control, and evaluate operations including the examination of a variety of manufacturing and service industries.
The goal is to demonstrate the design of flexible cost systems to match the firm's technological, competitive and/or multinational environments.
Prerequisites: MBA 510 or equivalent.
This course is intended to extend knowledge and experience in financial statement analysis. Further, it will
deal with issues of valuation (public and private companies both traditional and e-commerce orientations), and relating to mergers and acquisitions.
Prerequisites: MBA 520 or equivalent.
This course engages the student in an exploration of the practice of marketing as it's currently evolving.
With a view towards the future, attention will be given to the fundamental concepts and tools of marketing as they apply in an environment that is
becoming increasingly dynamic, complex, and uncertain. Moreover, marketing's role as a driver of an organization's value chain will be emphasized
as value chains are increasingly shaped by consumer demands and expectations. Consequently, special attention will be given to the topics of one-to-one
marketing strategy, experiential marketing, e-marketing, globalization, and green marketing. Prerequisites: MBA530 or equivalent.
This course focuses on statistical modeling of business problems and processes. Topics include design
of experiments, analysis of variance, simple and multiple regression, correlation, covariance, time-series analysis and statistical quality control
in the context of Total Quality Management. The emphasis is on model building and verification using real world data. Statistical software is used
with each topic. Prerequisite: MBA 540 or equivalent.
This course focuses on the planning and control of operations and processes in manufacturing and service
organizations. Topics include facility location, layout, aggregate planning, environmentally responsible manufacturing, capacity planning, inventory
management, ERP/MRP, scheduling, transportation models and project management. The models are used in the context of realistic business scenarios
and computer software is used to solve the problems. Prerequisites: MBA 540 or equivalent.
This course provides managers with an understanding of information systems/technologies,
and the capabilities they have to enhance company performance. Topics explored include management information systems, group decision support systems,
and knowledge-based systems. Emphasis is placed on networking technologies such as internet/intranet/extranet and related connections, EDI, and other
data communication technologies as they may be used to inform people, transform the firm, and change competitive rules. Prerequisites: MBA 540 or
equivalent.
The rigid command and control organizations of the industrial age are being pushed aside
by more nimble, high-performance, information-age organizations. This course focuses on creating such companies by examining: organizational theory
and development; transformation to high commitment, learning organizations; power, influence, and politics; and building ethical corporate cultures
concerned about peoples' wellbeing and the natural environment. The role played by technology - as change driver, problem solver, and problem creator -
is integrated throughout the course. Prerequisite: MBA 550 or equivalent.
This course focuses on issues related to being an effective leader, follower, and team member in the modern business world. To foster development of
leadership, followership, and team competencies, this course explores the following topics: interpersonal skills, effective leadership and followership,
empowerment and delegation, conflict resolution and negotiation, team problem solving, team development, and entrepreneurship. Special emphasis is put
on the importance of values-based leadership in creating ethical and humane organizations. Prerequisite: MBA 550 or equivalent.
People are the most important part of any organization. This course focuses on recruiting, training, and developing human resources, thereby enabling
employees to be competent performers within organizations. Areas covered include: designing and redesigning jobs, coaching/mentoring, conducting
performance appraisals, providing feedback, and administering discipline. A major focus of the course relates to developing people and workforce
environments that creatively capitalize on today's information technologies. The course addresses ethical concerns related to dealing with people and
their development in changing organizations. Prerequisite: MBA 550 or equivalent.
This course focuses on aligning the entire organization with its environment to achieve competitive advantage. As the capstone course for the MBA
program, it integrates new and previously learned concepts to address complex, unstructured strategic challenges through field projects and cases
drawn from contemporary business events. Classic and new strategies are applied to information-age challenges including developing and sustaining
competitive advantage, the strategic use of new technology, and creating natural environment-friendly organizations. Prerequisite: Completion of at
least 16 credits of MBA core requirements.
Enhancement Course Descriptions
The course examines the effect of taxes on business decisions, including investment strategies and financial policies. Emphasis is placed on tax planning
and evaluating the tax consequences of business decisions. The framework developed is highly integrative -investment strategies and financing policies
within firms are linked through taxes. Prerequisite: MBA 510 or equivalent.
A study of generally accepted accounting principles as applied to partnerships, corporate consolidations, and international operations. Prerequisite:
ACC 311 or equivalent.
An exploration of the concepts of taxation by providing opportunities to investigate the effects of taxation on various entities (corporations,
partnerships, trusts, and individuals). Special emphasis on complete tax planning including the long-range and short-range effects of management decisions.
Prerequisite: ACC 350 or equivalent. MBA 713 (2 credits): Auditing and Assurance Services A study of the principles, procedures, standards, and ethical
responsibilities involved in conducting auditing and assurance services. Prerequisites: ACC 311 and ACC330 or equivalent.
A study of the principles, procedures, standards, and ethical responsibilities involved in conducting auditing and
assurance services. Prerequisites: Intermediate Accounting II and Accounting Information Systems or equivalent.
Examination of important topics that are not covered or minimally covered in other accounting courses. The focus will be on current, cutting-edge
issues faced by the accounting profession. The course will make extensive use of case studies and provide special research opportunities for students.
Prerequisites: ACC 311 or equivalent.
A study of the use, evaluation, and design of accounting information systems. Prerequisite: MBA 510 or equivalent.
This course provides a focus on accounting systems and processes unique to noncommercial enterprises. Emphasis is placed on accounting, reporting, and analysis of organizations whose primary purpose is to provide services. The course addresses the changing financial reporting environment in the non-for-profit sector of business as well as in government. Attention is given to issues both in external financial reporting and in managerial accounting analysis. Prerequisite: Intermediate Accounting I or equivalent.
Investment opportunities will be immediately or eventually important for most students. This course discusses many practical and conceptual factors
influencing the value of the investment opportunities and the success of investment approaches. These are considered within increasingly global financial
markets. The objective of the course is to equip students with the necessary tools to evaluate investment opportunities, and to apply these tools.
Prerequisite: MBA 520 or equivalent.
This course both extends and deepens what was learned in Financial Management. The
course is taught on a "quasi-seminar" basis with cases,
general discussions of intellectual topics, and outside speakers. The emphasis is on cases in order to develop the skills necessary to deal with
ambiguous situations in an increasingly complex world. Prerequisite: MBA 620 or equivalent.
This course investigates the strategies and tactical management of products and services. Using the product life cycle as its framework, brand
decisions will be considered in the following situations: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Special consideration will be given to the
implications of e-commerce and globalization.
This course explores the evolving utilization of the Internet as both a strategic and tactical tool in building customer relationships. The
primary focus will be on the Internet's role as a component of an organization's integrated marketing communication strategy, thus placing the Internet
in a broader strategic context. Attention will be given to both new "Internet only" businesses as well as "bricks and mortar" organizations. Prerequisite:
MBA 530 or equivalent.
This course examines how management science models can be used to assist managerial decision-making by applying a scientific approach to managerial
problems with quantitative factors. The topics include linear programming, integer programming, network optimization, simulation, multi-criteria and waiting
line models. The focus of the course is on problem definition, model formulation, and computer based, spreadsheet solutions and analysis of results in the
context of recommendations for management. Prerequisite: MBA540 or equivalent.
This course investigates the supply chain and logistics for more effective and efficient delivery of products and services to customers in today's
global environment. The focus is on continuous improvement of supply chain operations to meet the requirements of internal and external as well as global
customers. The analysis of trade-offs and synergies between environmental and economic factors is included. The topics include purchasing, value analysis,
supplier selection, vendor analysis, supplier audits, certification, and partnerships, evaluation of shipping and mode of transportation alternatives, JIT,
supply chain optimization, ISO 14000, reverse logistics and Distribution Requirements Planning. Prerequisite: MBA 540 or equivalent.
Entrepreneurs are creative risk takers often creating new industries by applying emerging technologies to commercial advantage. The explosion of
the Internet's e-businesses is led by such people, some of whom will be profiled in this course. The course examines entrepreneurship and what is required
for a new venture to succeed. A primary course task will be the creation of a new business. Student plans will be evaluated and critiqued by experts
involved in financing new ventures. Prerequisite: MBA 550 or equivalent.
Today's graduates are likely to change careers eight times during their careers. The reality of our modern high-velocity,high-stress work
environment means individuals must take responsibility for their own career success. This course focuses on issues related to career and self-management.
Topics include: self-assessment and understanding, time management, career development, stress management, balancing work and non-work issues, perspective
and bias, surviving office politics, and personal ethical philosophy and behavior. A major theme of the course involves values-based lifetime learning and
development in a rapidly changing technological world.
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Students are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to study business abroad. Options range from an intensive two-week study trip to enrolling
for a term in an appropriate graduate school partner abroad. Prerequisite: Permission of the MBA Program Director.
This course involves the study of special or timely topics. Students are not limited in the number of special topics courses taken. Prerequisites
may vary based upon the topics covered.
A student may undertake independent study on a topic of special interest and relevance to her/his program. The student must have a supervising
faculty member and a project defined and approved by the MBA Director and the Dean of Graduate Studies prior to registration. Students may take no more
than four credits of independent study work as part of their program.
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