Online MBA in Finance

The first half of this course takes students through an in-depth study of portfolio theory. The foundations of modern portfolio theory are rigorously developed and its principles are used to create mean/variance efficient portfolios. Students critically examine the assumptions of modern portfolio theory and its implications. Alternative multifactor pricing models including the Fama/French Three-Factor Model are also explored. The second half of the course focuses on fixed income analytics. Students learn how to price various types of fixed income securities and how to measure their interest rate risk. They learn how to hedge interest rate risk for fixed income portfolios and how to incorporate call and conversion features into the price of a bond. Students learn how to derive implied forward interest rates, how to bootstrap a yield curve and the implications of various theories of the term structure. Finally, students will have the opportunity to conduct an event study, learn the basics of options, and discuss how behavioral finance is changing the way asset pricing is viewed. Case studies will be used to learn how hedge funds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and various other investment managers operate.

The course builds on the core finance sequence by focusing on the practical applications of the tools learned in the earlier courses. In addition to lectures, the course will utilize case studies focusing on real-world financial analysis and decision making. Topics may include forecasting cash flows, business valuation, financing, mergers and acquisitions, dividend policy, IPOs, etc. Students will be expected to work in teams on projects throughout the term and to present their work to class.

This course introduces basic concepts underlying the reporting of economic activities to external users. It emphasizes the concepts and relationships underlying the income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and statement of changes in shareholders’ equity.

The course covers ESG accounting standards, and it builds the accounting skills necessary to help understand and value firms, assess performance and effectively engage in the capital markets.

Managerial accounting is concerned with providing information to managers for use within the organization. Managerial accounting is a company’s internal language and is used for planning, directing, controlling and decision-making activities in the organization. The course covers topics like cost-volume-profit analysis, budgeting, variance analysis, performance measurement and differential analysis.

This course focuses on the economic principles and knowledge necessary for effective enterprise management in the modern business environment. The course is divided into two modules, one focused on applied microeconomics, the other focused on the macroeconomic foundations of the U.S. and world economy. The microeconomic module applies the economic theory of the firm and consumer behavior to analyze household and firm behavior. Applications include market demand analysis and marketing strategy, production and cost efficiency, pricing, product quality and other competitive strategies. The macroeconomic module examines the U.S. and world economy in relation to national income, international trade and patterns of investment. Topics include the determination of interest rates, inflation, investment, wage levels, real output growth, exchange rates and international trade and investment patterns. Also included is a study of the role of financial and governmental institutions in domestic and world commerce.

This course provides an introduction to the discipline of finance and gives students the tools they need to make capital budgeting decisions for firms. It begins with the study of the time value of money and how to value stocks and bonds. From there, it moves into capital budgeting techniques including net present value and internal rate of return. Students will learn how to evaluate an asset’s risk and expected return within the context of a portfolio, leading to the fundamentals of asset pricing theory. Cash flow analysis, inflation and a firm’s cost of capital are all topics that are covered. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the basic tools used to analyze the investment and financing decisions made within firms.

This course introduces the basic concepts of contracts, labor laws, discrimination, torts, partnership, corporations, securities and bankruptcy, and gives students an understanding of the relationships between parties in a typical business setting. Tax consequences relative to various entities used in business transactions are also examined.

A successful manager must analyze communication situations, develop communication strategies and demonstrate appropriate behavior leading to intelligent, flexible decisions. Specifically, students evaluate communication issues in both internal and external environments and communicate orally and in writing. In addition, the course examines corporate communication issues such as communication management, corporate image, identity, reputation, media relations and crisis communication. Topics such as data protection and privacy, employee engagement and community relations are covered.

This course is designed to teach students the vocabulary, framework and critical thinking skills to help them understand and manage individuals’ behavior in organizations. The content and process aspects of this course should be helpful to students as they plan their careers, manage relationships with others and work to achieve goals in dynamic organizational settings. As the result of this course, students should 1) gain an understanding of key concepts and frameworks for understanding individuals and teams in organizations, 2) apply these frameworks to diagnose work situations, evaluate options and propose solutions to organizational problems and 3) effectively communicate observations about organizational behavior in both oral and written form. Topics such as workforce diversity and employee engagement are covered.

This course introduces a toolkit of analytical approaches and theoretical concepts that can help managers better understand the nature of the competition that their company faces as well as inform their choice and execution of strategy. We will explore how firms achieve competitive advantage in a dynamic and complex environment. The course is organized around frameworks that will assist you in analyzing a wide range of strategic issues facing companies, including: 1) theories for in-depth industry and competitor analysis as well as for anticipating and predicting future industry developments, 2) an examination of the economic underpinnings of competitive advantage, and the conditions that allow firms to conceive, develop and sustain advantageous strategic positions and 3) an examination of both business strategy and corporate strategy issues and how to implement strategies.

Strategies to achieve greater climate and social sustainability are covered in this course.

This course is designed to equip students with a basic understanding of business problems, data analysis tools and mathematical techniques. Students master essential statistics concepts, spreadsheet functions, build descriptive business data measures and develop their aptitude for data modeling. They’ll also explore basic probability concepts, including measuring and modeling uncertainty, using various data distributions and the Linear/Multiple Regression Model to analyze and inform business decisions. The overarching goal is to teach students to use statistics and spreadsheets to analyze models and data for integrated decision-making across multiple domains, including finance, marketing, accounting, strategy and operations.

Business analytics refers to the skills, technologies and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data and statistical methods.

Business analytics has been widely adopted in different functional areas (i.e., accounting, finance, operations, marketing and human resources) as well as a wide range of different industries (energy, healthcare, sports, government, etc.). For example, banks, such as Capital One, use analytics to segment customers based on credit risk, usage behavior and other characteristics and then to match customer characteristics with appropriate product offerings. Harrah’s, the gaming firm, uses analytics based on tracking the consumer behavior to improve its customer loyalty programs.

This course provides students with the fundamental concepts, techniques and applications needed to understand the emerging role of business analytics in organizations, and ability to communicate with analytics professionals to effectively use and interpret analytics models and results for making better business decisions. This course will also familiarize students with R (analyses software) and Tableau (visualization software) which are widely used in the industry.

Corequisites: Introduction to Business Statistics

To achieve a competitive advantage, firms must thoroughly understand the complex processes underlying the manufacturing of products as well as the delivery of services. This course provides students with concepts, tools and techniques to design, analyze and improve the operational capabilities of organizations and supply chains. We will look at the operations function in both manufacturing and service industries and investigate how it can provide a competitive advantage along the dimensions of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. We will then look more broadly at the importance of coordination and risk mitigation for supply chains. The course will introduce several key topics in operations and supply chain management that are essential to any organization.

Operations management is largely based on statistics. Consequently, we will devote a substantial amount of time to mastering analytical methods. The deeper issues surrounding operations and supply chain strategy and ESG implications, however, must be addressed through a broad and conceptual approach. Hence, this course will provide a mix of quantitative and qualitative treatments of the subject using lectures, case discussions, articles, instructional games and exercises.

Pre-requisites: Introduction to Business Statistics

This course is designed as a graduate-level introduction to the basic principles and concepts in marketing. The goal is to expose you to these concepts as they are used in a wide variety of business settings. The course will provide you with a framework that can help you make effective marketing decisions. This framework includes elements of a market situation analysis (company, customer, competition, collaborators, context), marketing strategy formulation (segmentation, targeting, positioning) and the marketing mix (product, price, placement/distribution, promotion) as the tactical implementation of a marketing strategy. Students will combine quantitative and qualitative analyses in applying the principles you learn in class to a variety of real-world marketing issues.

The course covers what societal marketing is and how marketers can contribute more than just product or service value.

This course is designed to expose students to the concepts integral to entrepreneurship and the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities. Students will develop their knowledge about the role of entrepreneurship in dynamic market economies and the particular challenges that come with new venture creation. This highly experiential course provides students with the opportunity to practice the basic tools of business discovery and validation, both as an instrument for new venture formation and as a core capability for addressing challenges in competitive landscapes. It also reviews the key conceptual and theoretical antecedents that underpin opportunity recognition. By the conclusion of this class, students should have a clear idea of how to take an entrepreneurial idea and engage in a series of iterative tests to determine its potential and viability in the market through the formation of a tractable business model.

The focus of the course is on the firm’s financing activities, both long-term and short term. Long-term financing includes raising cash through issuance of debt, equity, preferred stock and convertible bonds. For short-term finance, the course investigates working capital management, including bank loan, cash, credit and inventory management. The course concludes by discussing techniques for firms to maximize value by minimizing their cost of capital through appropriate financial structure policies.